Trans Woman's Journey (Judgment #20)
Hi,
Eventually Trans Woman looks back upon her life in Judgment. What might she have done differently? How well has transition worked for her? Has she had a good life? One Judgment I hear over and over and that echoes throughout my own life, I can sum up in one word, "Sooner." So many of us wish we had come out earlier and/or transitioned at an earlier age, and I do not count myself as an exception. That stands as my one major regret about transition. And yet I know that I transitioned as soon as I had the will, support, and understanding to do so.
And so Judgment turns outward. We live in a world where Trans Women often face both a lack of resources and the many Devils which plague us. We live in a world where Gender Enforcement makes many lives miserable not only those of Trans Women. And we live in a world which all to often lacks or even rejects those insights that Trans Woman has to offer.
With Judgment, we come to a place of not only Judging the World, but of trying to change it through various forms of activism. Some of us act as quiet activists who gently educate those around us about our life and our essential humanity. Some of us try to reform and expand systems that disrespect or ignore us. Some of us try to provide the resources and information that we once lacked. Some of us seek to find or create places of acceptance, healing, and growth. And some of us seek to tear down the systems and organizations that attack us. Each type of activism has a place and each aims to change the world for the better.
I focus much of my personal activism through Camp Trans. I work at making the Feminist community more Trans inclusive because I believe that such inclusivity fits well with Feminist ideals and that exclusion largely grows from misunderstanding of Trans Woman and Patriarchally inculcated misogyny. If I did not believe that Feminist communities such as the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival would benefit by becoming Trans Woman inclusive I would instead focus my energies on the goal of creating separate spaces for Trans Women. I feel that as a feminist I must not accept any Feminist community that insists on treating any Woman as second class or unacceptable based on Trans status, disability, race, age, sexual orientation, weight, religion, national origin or any similar category.
I also consider these essays activist as I attempt to order and share my thoughts on Trans Womanhood in the hope that someone may learn from my insights and my mistakes. And much of my activism happens even more quietly as I gently advocate for a better world in my everyday life.
I sometimes feel amazed by how forgiving Trans Woman's Judgments often turn out. Despite the pain and abuse that many of us suffer, we Judge the world as worth not only joining, but improving. I don't fault my sisters who strike out at the world in anger, but I marvel at the many who do not. And together, albeit slowly, I believe that we do make a better world.
Thanks.
Lorrraine
Eventually Trans Woman looks back upon her life in Judgment. What might she have done differently? How well has transition worked for her? Has she had a good life? One Judgment I hear over and over and that echoes throughout my own life, I can sum up in one word, "Sooner." So many of us wish we had come out earlier and/or transitioned at an earlier age, and I do not count myself as an exception. That stands as my one major regret about transition. And yet I know that I transitioned as soon as I had the will, support, and understanding to do so.
And so Judgment turns outward. We live in a world where Trans Women often face both a lack of resources and the many Devils which plague us. We live in a world where Gender Enforcement makes many lives miserable not only those of Trans Women. And we live in a world which all to often lacks or even rejects those insights that Trans Woman has to offer.
With Judgment, we come to a place of not only Judging the World, but of trying to change it through various forms of activism. Some of us act as quiet activists who gently educate those around us about our life and our essential humanity. Some of us try to reform and expand systems that disrespect or ignore us. Some of us try to provide the resources and information that we once lacked. Some of us seek to find or create places of acceptance, healing, and growth. And some of us seek to tear down the systems and organizations that attack us. Each type of activism has a place and each aims to change the world for the better.
I focus much of my personal activism through Camp Trans. I work at making the Feminist community more Trans inclusive because I believe that such inclusivity fits well with Feminist ideals and that exclusion largely grows from misunderstanding of Trans Woman and Patriarchally inculcated misogyny. If I did not believe that Feminist communities such as the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival would benefit by becoming Trans Woman inclusive I would instead focus my energies on the goal of creating separate spaces for Trans Women. I feel that as a feminist I must not accept any Feminist community that insists on treating any Woman as second class or unacceptable based on Trans status, disability, race, age, sexual orientation, weight, religion, national origin or any similar category.
I also consider these essays activist as I attempt to order and share my thoughts on Trans Womanhood in the hope that someone may learn from my insights and my mistakes. And much of my activism happens even more quietly as I gently advocate for a better world in my everyday life.
I sometimes feel amazed by how forgiving Trans Woman's Judgments often turn out. Despite the pain and abuse that many of us suffer, we Judge the world as worth not only joining, but improving. I don't fault my sisters who strike out at the world in anger, but I marvel at the many who do not. And together, albeit slowly, I believe that we do make a better world.
Thanks.
Lorrraine