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Title: Trans, but not like you think
Post by: Shana A on August 07, 2012, 09:08:05 AM
Post by: Shana A on August 07, 2012, 09:08:05 AM
Monday, Aug 6, 2012 08:00 PM EDT
Trans, but not like you think (http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/)
As gender transitions become more visible, it's tempting to think all our stories are the same. They're not
By Thomas Page McBee (http://www.salon.com/writer/thomas_page_mcbee/)
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/ (http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/)
Maybe you think you've heard my story before: I knew I wasn't a girl before I knew much of anything. There were the years of private, simmering mirror-hate; the jealous glances at men, the coveting of facial hair and biceps. As trans people become more visible, our stories have narrowed into a neat narrative arc: born in the wrong body, pushed to the brink of suicide/sanity/society, the agonized decision to begin hormone treatment/surgeries for the reward of ending up ourselves and looking "normal," which ends in a lesson about the tenacity of the human spirit, the gorgeous triumph of believing in yourself.
This is all true. But for me, and many others, it's also more complicated than that.
I don't think I was born in the wrong body. I am not "finally myself." I've never spent a day being anyone else. Mine is another story, a real and complex story, and one, by definition, that's not as easy to tell.
Trans, but not like you think (http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/)
As gender transitions become more visible, it's tempting to think all our stories are the same. They're not
By Thomas Page McBee (http://www.salon.com/writer/thomas_page_mcbee/)
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/ (http://www.salon.com/2012/08/07/trans_but_not_like_you_think/)
Maybe you think you've heard my story before: I knew I wasn't a girl before I knew much of anything. There were the years of private, simmering mirror-hate; the jealous glances at men, the coveting of facial hair and biceps. As trans people become more visible, our stories have narrowed into a neat narrative arc: born in the wrong body, pushed to the brink of suicide/sanity/society, the agonized decision to begin hormone treatment/surgeries for the reward of ending up ourselves and looking "normal," which ends in a lesson about the tenacity of the human spirit, the gorgeous triumph of believing in yourself.
This is all true. But for me, and many others, it's also more complicated than that.
I don't think I was born in the wrong body. I am not "finally myself." I've never spent a day being anyone else. Mine is another story, a real and complex story, and one, by definition, that's not as easy to tell.
Title: Re: Trans, but not like you think
Post by: MariaMx on August 07, 2012, 09:37:48 AM
Post by: MariaMx on August 07, 2012, 09:37:48 AM
Apart from the asses commenting at the bottom that was a good read.
Title: Re: Trans, but not like you think
Post by: dalebert on August 07, 2012, 11:42:21 AM
Post by: dalebert on August 07, 2012, 11:42:21 AM
Quote from: MariaMx on August 07, 2012, 09:37:48 AM
Apart from the asses commenting at the bottom that was a good read.
Agreed. Also, he's hot on so many levels.