Ignorance of trans* issues. (***TW***)

[Jill F]

Rant time.  You have been warned.

I have seen my share of hateful things being said about transgender people over the internet-  everything from the mild "ewww, gross" to how we need to be put away or even brutally exterminated.  We seem to be the most widely misunderstood group of people in the world, and this is why so many of us end up destitute, miserable and even dead.  I have read that we make up probably .3% of the population, but only a small percentage of us ever fully transition or are even able to express ourselves as we wish.

Why? 

People hate us, and for no good reason.  People hate what they fear, and fear what they fail to understand.  It all boils down to ignorance.   Odds are that the average person never gets to know a trans* person, and the little they do know about transfolk comes from the media that generally portrays us negatively.   It's no wonder that many people's goal is to go stealth.  The sad thing about being forced into hiding is that the hidden transsexual can no longer do what an open transsexual can do in order to further the cause of achieving acceptance in society.   I would like to live in a world where having gender dysphoria and being treated for it is not a horrible taboo, but when we are forced to hide our condition, progress comes much more slowly and more of us will feel the need to hide.

The time has come to fight ignorance tooth and nail.   With more high-profile transgender people these days, trans* awareness in the general public is at an all-time high.   I want to see us ride this wave and get the word out that we are not the crazy, deviant perverts that we are made out to be.  We need to educate the lawmakers, teachers and even medical professionals that we are simply normal people who just got dealt a bad hand.

I'm ready to fight.  No stealth for Jill.

[Pikachu]

No stealth for me, either! Rawr!

[Devlyn]

There's ignorance here in the community too. For example, that .3% number. That's the number of transsexuals, not the number of transgender people. There is a broader base available for us, we shouldn't be paring off anyone.

[Jill F]

There's ignorance here in the community too. For example, that .3% number. That's the number of transsexuals, not the number of transgender people. There is a broader base available for us, we shouldn't be paring off anyone.

It doesn't matter what the exact number is.  We are a small minority regardless.  I'd like to see everyone under the umbrella be able to express themselves without fear of repercussion.

[Devlyn]

Maybe not, but I think the number stands at around 5%, and that's a huge difference.

[evecrook]

no stealth for me either

[Mark3]

Im kinda stealth at home i guess, but im not really transitioning physically, at least not much..

Yes, there's tons of ignorance out there, that's for sure.
There's a lot of good people out there to, we just don't recognize them sometimes.
3-4 months ago I considered myself CIS, but came here anyway, cuz I cared about what was going on.. Little did I know I'd soon realize I'm N/B or gender fluid trans*, but still, there's good people out there, they're just the ones who leave us alone, don't look at us as we walk by, and treat us how we always say in we want to be treated.?

[suzifrommd]

I agree 100%, Jill. The main problem is ignorance. A lot of us have the attitude that we don't feel like educating cis people, and why can't they educate themselves. But the fact is that we're the ones who benefit when voters, policy makers, and cisgender people in general have a better understanding, so we need to be the ones to do it.

I came out to my church. In November I'm giving a talk entitled "what you probably don't know about trans women".

That's the upside. The downside is that I offered to do a similar talk to my PFLAG chapter and they have not been interested.

[Zumbagirl]

Rant time.  You have been warned.

I have seen my share of hateful things being said about transgender people over the internet-  everything from the mild "ewww, gross" to how we need to be put away or even brutally exterminated.  We seem to be the most widely misunderstood group of people in the world, and this is why so many of us end up destitute, miserable and even dead.  I have read that we make up probably .3% of the population, but only a small percentage of us ever fully transition or are even able to express ourselves as we wish.

Why? 

People hate us, and for no good reason.  People hate what they fear, and fear what they fail to understand.  It all boils down to ignorance.   Odds are that the average person never gets to know a trans* person, and the little they do know about transfolk comes from the media that generally portrays us negatively.   It's no wonder that many people's goal is to go stealth.  The sad thing about being forced into hiding is that the hidden transsexual can no longer do what an open transsexual can do in order to further the cause of achieving acceptance in society.   I would like to live in a world where having gender dysphoria and being treated for it is not a horrible taboo, but when we are forced to hide our condition, progress comes much more slowly and more of us will feel the need to hide.

The time has come to fight ignorance tooth and nail.   With more high-profile transgender people these days, trans* awareness in the general public is at an all-time high.   I want to see us ride this wave and get the word out that we are not the crazy, deviant perverts that we are made out to be.  We need to educate the lawmakers, teachers and even medical professionals that we are simply normal people who just got dealt a bad hand.

I'm ready to fight.  No stealth for Jill.

We all exercise stereotyping in our minds. Fear and this type of judgement is a survival mechanism. I can be walking down the street and see someone who looks like a drug addict begging people for money. The first thought that goes through my mind is to cross the street and avoid this person. Likewise you could be walking down the street and see a bunch of "thug looking" guys walking your way and suddenly the adrenaline is pumping from the potential fear. In the end they could be going to church and 100% harmless but the fear is still there. It's the same thing for people who don't know anything or maybe have not met transgender people. They have stereotypes of hairy men in dresses or outlandish drag queens with an overly exaggerated sense of self-expression and they are afraid. We all do this, every last one of us. It's a survival mechanism. It's only human after all.

We cannot fight stereotypes from the court room. Our best bet is assimilation and living a quality life. Once people see a transgender person and think, hey he or she is just like anyone else, maybe even their own best friend, in other words nothing special, then the fear is gone. Being familiar with something removes the obstacle of fear. There will always be people in this world in small groups who walk around with blinders on and miss the beautiful world we live and the diversity of life, simply because they cannot remove the blinders. There is nothing we can do about them.

If you want to live your life as a transgender person, then do it. No matter how much or how little surgery you have be the best person you can possibly be. That will remove the fear from peoples minds. Once people see us and know that we are just like them living a life and trying to get along and thrive, then the fear will be gone. Who knows maybe some of those people will want you or I as a friend. Over the years I have made friends and allies in the most unlikeliest of places only because I am not afraid of the unknown and willing to take a chance. Everyone one of us can do the same thing and make the world a little more friendly and happy.