hi ile, i'm glad that you're doing this - i didn't know that yesterday was ITDV until my boyfriend mentioned it :P if it wouldn't step all over your party here, i would welcome answering any questions as well - two data points is better than one when i see trans women in the media it's either pornstars, the target of female athletes angry to compete against them, or some elementary schooler that the world rages over and i think it's really important to try and show that there's more kinds of tran out there than that it's hard but it needs to happen
Yes please answer as much as you want! I like reading other folks' thoughts on transness. If it weren't for all the other trans people talking about their experiences I'd never have thought this could have been for me. And certainly there's a big difference between the visibility of "trans person on the news" and the visibility of "my friend talking about being trans". Last year I saw a bunch of trans folks posting about "tdov" and I was all "wait, what holiday is tdov and how do I know so many Jewish trans people?" Took me a couple of hours to figure out what was going on :)
These are all good points. I blew my top at kb over the topic of transness. Besides just trolling on my part I remember him mentioning Kaitlyn Jenner as an example of progress in the wider culture. True I guess. But umm, like, I don't think most trans people would have chosen her as the first trans Vanity Fair cover girl. She's not a great ambassador to the community.
On the one hand, she's quite imperfect; on the other, I try not to overly disparage the trans folks who are willing to be vocal and use their resources to push for making things better even if they aren't doing a great job of it. It's the loud pushy folks who make it possible for me to be quieter and unobtrusive and yet still have a decent life.
Your voice is more important than mine and I try to just stay out of the conversation now. Sorry kb. I was very drunk Bad ambassador or not the south park version of her makes me want to force those dudes to eat dog shit Apropos of nothing you or anyone interested in queer history might enjoy this