Mick's struggle as a transgender man
by: November 16, 2010 8:06 PM
http://www.metro.us/boston/blog/post/693852--mick-s-struggle-as-a-transgender-manEditor's Note: For the next three Wednesdays, Metro will post the stories of three transgender Bostonians and the struggles they've faced on their journey. Their lives are featured as part of a new public education campaign sponsored by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition originally featured in Metro on Nov. 16. This week, we hear from Mick, a licensed clinical social worker, a provider for GLBT youth, a feminist and, in his words, a queer trans man.
Mick: I am a queer trans man and to me what that means is that I can finally look at myself in the mirror and I finally know whom I am when I look at myself.
So I was in a staff meeting and a collegue started talking about my body and specifically saying how my voice sounded different and something about my muscles. He was kind of objectifying me in a staff meeting. I was sort of shocked because in any other kind of context if someone physically looks different, anybody else, someone puts on weight or someone's got more wrinkles- you're not going to be like, "Hey look at so-and-so they just sort of got their first gray hair." Like, that's so inappropriate. You just don't do that. And I didn't get that. And that was one of many different reasons why I was like, I can't, this is not supportive. This does not make me feel safe and like a real person.
