Susan's Place Transgender Resources

There may be a better place for this, but I ran across a quote from this book that explains something many people don't understand. I did remove some profanity, but it doesn't materially change the quote:

"My friend, still seemingly perplexed, asked me "So if it's not about genitals, what is it about trans women's bodies that you find so attractive?"

I paused for a second to consider the question. Then I replied that it is almost always their eyes.

When I look into them, I see both endless strength and inconsolable sadness.

I see someone who has overcome humiliation and abuses that would flatten the average person.

I see a woman who was made to feel shame for her desires and yet had the courage to pursue them anyway.

I see a woman who was forced against her will into boyhood, who held on to a dream that everybody in her life desperately tried to beat out of her, who refused to listen to the endless stream of people who told her that who she was and what she wanted was impossible.

When I look into a trans woman's eyes, I see a profound appreciation for how empowering it can be to be female, an appreciation that seems lost on many cissexual women who sadly take their female identities and anatomies for granted, or who perpetually seek to cast themselves as victims rather than instigators.

In trans women's eyes, I see a wisdom that can only come from having to fight for your right to be recognised as female, a raw strength that only comes from unabashedly asserting your right to be feminine in an inhospitable world.

In a trans woman's eyes, I see someone who understands that, in a culture that's seemingly fueled on male homophobic hysteria, choosing to be female and openly expressing one's femininity is not a sign of frivolousness, weakness or passivity, it is a badge of courage.

Everybody loves to say that drag queens are "fabulous", but nobody seems to get the fact that trans women are badass!"

While I never considered myself to be 'badass', I can't argue against it.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Very nicely stated and so true.

That's a tremendous book

Thanks, Jessica! Eloquent and inspiring passage!

Whipping Girl just moved to the top of my 'must read' list.