Transgender = Human
Why is it that when someone decides to be themselves it’s suddenly everyone’s problem? Let’s talk about it.
As a disclaimer, I personally do not understand what it feels like to be transgender or go through those hardships. I am here to represent the allies and spread awareness.
This week is Transgender Awareness week which is leading up to Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th. This is meant to memorialize all the individuals whose lives have been taken due to transphobia.
Transphobia, defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people.” This irrational fear or discrimination against other humans is real and has cost so many their lives. This week of awareness is helping the transgender people and allies educate the public about themselves and who they are. Many organizations such as glaad.org are helping spread that awareness by sharing their stories and suggesting ways others can help.
Transequality.org defines being transgender as “… people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender.” For example, a transwoman is someone who lives as a woman today but when they were born they were thought to be male. The same goes with a transman. There are also those that don’t identify with either gender and would rather be recognized as gender neutral or non-binary.
One big way many people are encouraged to help is to educate themselves. One easy way many of us can educate ourselves is with the Netflix documentary “Disclosure”. It shows us the world through the eyes of everyone discriminated against in the transgender community. We look at the media through that frame and start to understand just how hurtful it’s been to the community throughout the years.
If you’re still confused on gender, sexuality, and identity here is an easy to follow diagram on how people identify.
Transgender awareness has been happening more the past five years and it’s partially due to influencers on social media that have gained big followings because they were themselves and inspired many others to be okay with who they are. However, because they are in the public eye this makes many feel that they need to give their opinion even when it’s not needed. One youtuber, Nikkietutorials, was blackmailed into saying she was once a man because the blackmailer thought that information was more important than who she is today. Despite that horrendous threat she has come out the other end stronger and even more confident in who she is and who she’s meant to be than ever before.
That was just an example of an attack against the transgender community that luckily ended happier than most. Many attacks against the community leave many dead, sadly this is still prevalent today and why we need to acknowledge the wrongdoings and help the world be better towards each other and other humans.
Like many people and sources say, the best way to understand what it means to be transgender is to talk to and listen to their stories first hand. Be open minded to change and understand that everyone views the world and each other in different ways than your own.
Sources: https://www.glaad.org/transweek
