The Silent Trans Narrative
Posted on December 14, 2010 by evmaroon
http://transplantportation.com/2010/12/14/the-silent-trans-narrative/I saw Kate Bornstein speak in Seattle last week at a book signing, and even though probably two-thirds of us had heard her story before, she told it to us. And once again I was subject to a familiar-sounding tale: that of confronting one's demons, at the precipice of life itself.
I'm making it sound dramatic because in the final analysis, it is. I've spoken to dozens of people in the years before, during, and after my own transition, and in those stories, there are loads of differences. We come from divergent backgrounds, understand our identity in a multitude of ways, prioritize this aspect or that over others, and have created strategies for transition or for not transitioning (or for de-transitioning) that reflect ourselves. We resist the notion that there is a "Transgender Narrative," namely, that we are all our chosen sex in the wrong body. Postulated decades ago in order to explain to non-trans people why we feel so strongly about our decisions to buck the gender binary, the "girl in a boy's body" trope has pigeonholed the transsexual experience, and among the people I've spoken with, we hate its place in our community's mythos.
But there is common thread I've noticed. In every single story I've heard, including Kate's, we have contemplated suicide.
