Like many individuals involved in the transgender community,
I was thrilled when Caitlyn Jenner announced that her gender identity differed
from that of her biological sex. There lies a great opportunity for transgender
voices to be heard, for their problems to be noticed and addressed, for the
violence to taper off and acceptance to be spread. Caitlyn Jenner is a huge
figure in the public eye this year, and as such she has the chance to truly
make a difference – not only in the United States, but across the globe.
And she’s
trying, she really is.
It’s
challenging for transgender people to be taken seriously in some spaces;
transphobia is a serious problem not only in the cisgendered sphere of society,
but also in parts of the LG+ community. There are individuals who, rather than
viewing transgender people as also being individuals, see them as “deceptive”
for presenting themselves as a gender other than their birth sex. There are
also people who simply see transgender people as “special snowflakes” that are
looking for attention. With these false perceptions in mind, Caitlyn Jenner’s
attempts to bring transgender problems to light seem more substantial. She’s
trying to help the community, but also trying to be taken seriously and
listened to, which is a struggle trans people face regularly. Caitlyn has brought to light dangerous facts
such as those emphasized in:
The thing is: there is no one way
to be transgender. As individuals, transgender people are trying to speak out,
and as individuals, allies of the community need to not only hear them, but to
listen. Every experience is different, and yet most transgender people face serious
dangers daily. That’s something that won’t change until people take them
seriously rather than as a joke. Trans people are struggling, and they’re
dying, and representatives of the community can only do so much on their own to
fix what’s happening. So even though Caitlyn is trying to get transgender men
and women the recognition and right to equality that they deserve, she needs
the support of her community to do so. She needs more voices, not to praise her
or to tear her down, but to show her what less well-off people are struggling
with in the trans community. To show her HOW she can help, and how she can be
one of the true advocates that the community needs.
Caitlyn Jenner, as hard as she is
trying, recognizes that her experience as a transwoman is not universal. She is
extremely privileged financially, which aided in her speedy and thorough
transition – involving surgeries that are for some transgender people
impossible to afford – and she is further privileged by her race. Other famous
advocates for the transgender community, such as woman of color Laverne Cox,
get less recognition than their white counterparts. My reason for mentioning
this extreme difference in the experiences of Caitlyn Jenner and the experiences
of other trans people is that there has been some backlash towards Caitlyn
because she “doesn’t represent the trans struggle”. But there really is no true
way to represent every aspect of the struggle, because every transgender person
is an individual, with individual experiences.
So yes, Caitlyn has advantages and
privileges that many transgender men and women do not possess. Yes, she has the
opportunity to do something great in terms of working towards equality for
transgender people. But she still needs support and advice from her community
before she can help bring about any change.
It's bad blogging form, verging on clickbait, to have a sentence like: "Caitlyn has brought to light dangerous facts such as those emphasized in: This Bustle article, This Washington Post article". You don't really want the reader to jump from the middle of your post to go and read those two articles, because (unless they're doing it for a grade) there is a good chance they won't come back and finish reading the rest of your argument.
ReplyDeleteYour last sentence is false. Jenner has brought about a great deal of change already, irrespective of how much support they have received from a nebulous "community". Transgender rights are now on the political agenda.
Just because something is "on the political agenda" doesn't mean any real progress has been made. Climate change is "on the political agenda" but we continue to burn fossil fuels, waste food and energy, and throw plastic into the ocean. Transgender rights are "on the political agenda" but trans men and women are still facing discrimination, harassment, and violence in their everyday lives because of their identity. Social awareness doesn't equate to social change, just like how you acknowledge that transgender rights have gained precedence but neglect to use Jenner's correct pronouns.
DeleteI agree -- social awareness doesn't equate to social change. But social awareness is a necessary precursor to social change.
DeleteI remind you of the aphorism, "The best is enemy of the good." Just because we continue to engage in activities that impact climate change, doesn't mean that no "real progress has been made." Many communities have curbside recycling. Solar panel farms are sprouting up anywhere there's an open field. The Keystone Pipeline proposal was just terminated with extreme prejudice.
Social change takes decades. I've watched the struggle for civil rights since the 1960s, gay rights since the 1970s, pagan rights since the 1980s, climate change since the 1990s, gay marriage rights in the 2000s, and now transgender rights. Based on trends I'm seeing in the UU denomination, I'm guessing that that poly rights (polyamorous) will be up next...
With respect to my usage of pronouns -- that is not neglect. It is a conscious and deliberate choice of usage. One of the first symbols the "Womens' Lib" movement took up in the 1960s was patriarchal language -- that the default indefinite pronoun was male-gendered. Ever since I had my consciousness raised in my college days, I have chosen the path of using "them" even when it is grammatically incorrect. I am now extending that. When referring to someone who has "come out of the closet" with respect to their gender dysphoria, I am using a plural gender-neutral pronoun. This will make it easier for me to inadvertently slip and use the wrong gender-specific one.
For example, notice that I did not say "with respect to his gender". I could have said, "with respect to his or her gender", but these days that would tend to exclude people who do not have a binary gender identity.
Thank you for clarifying your intent in your usage of the neutral they. I apologize for assuming it was out of negligence. They has become a popular genderless pronoun for a lot of trans folk, including for a lot of my friends.
DeleteThis post is a clear statement of your opinion about the needs of the transgender community and the role that Caitlyn Jenner plays for that community. I appreciate your thoughtful and sensitive approach to this topic.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from a former Mr. FSU in Micronesia! I was part of the gender and sexuality blog from last year, and even wrote an article on supporting the transgender community myself, so I love that you've covered this topic!
ReplyDeleteYour work here is pretty good, but as Carl said, a more natural integration of your sources would probably help. My internet here isn't very good so I skipped the articles because they took to long to load. If there were important points in them then I'm now missing that information. Maybe if you could quickly paraphrase what they said and connect them to your main argument, it'd help those of us who don't have the luxury of great internet.
Otherwise, yes! Jenner has done a great job of bringing the transgender community into the limelight, and to see more progress, we need to start with supporting her. Then if other major celebrities change gender (or are transgender to begin with), we need to show support for them too. Hopefully we'll see the day that we make enough progress as a society to not treat the transgender community as a joke!