I’m not trying to make you feel awkward.
No, genuinely. No matter how much I may despise our current binary gender system, and the sexist and unpleasant ways it manifests itself in this culture, I’m not doing this to get a reaction.
And, when we’re all trying to get along, and I have to stick my oar out, and you’re embarrassed, and I’m embarrassed – I’d love it if we could just skip that. I’d love to live in a world where none of us had to feel awkward, or worry that we were getting something wrong, or feel like we’d done the incorrect thing simply by behaving in a natural way.
Probably the thing I personally despise most about media stereotypes of trans people is that we’re not shown as whole people – being trans is the only thing we do. But the nurses, writers, musicians, scholars, doctors, lawyers, social workers, therapists, scientists, researchers I know – being trans is part of what they are, but it’s hardly a day job. They’d really like to get down to work, exercise their talents and fulfil their vocations – thank you very much.
So – please don’t think that my being trans means I’m not devoted to my work – I am. So very, very much. And don’t think that I’ll assume that you’re a bigot if you stumble with a few phrases, or aren’t quite sure of the correct words – we can’t all be perfect first time round.
We could make this so much easier than it often is.
