Transgressive

0001 - Why We are Here

April 25, 2021 Tananda D. Season 1 Episode 1
Transgressive
0001 - Why We are Here
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Inaugural episode: A bit about why I chose to do this podcast.

Visit us at www.transgressive.net

Contact us at  podcast@transgressive.net or on Twitter
@Transgressive21 or on facebook at www.facebook.com/transgressive.podcast

Tananda:

I transitioned in 1989. So roughly 32 years ago now. And I'm making this podcast because I feel that the voice of trans people from my generation has been somewhat absent. And today I want to talk a little bit about some of the factors of why that might be.[INTRODUCTION] You're listening to transgressive; a podcast about gender identity, LGBTQIA, and social justice issues. Before I really begin though, I want to take a moment to say absolutely loudly and clearly that I really do love the voices that we have in the trans community today. There are a lot of people who are young and starting out and able to transition at incredibly young ages who are really pushing for their rights and their voice to be heard. There are people who are willing to stand out and identify as trans or identify as non-binary and be their authentic selves and share their truth, their authentic selves with others. Folks who are transitioning later in life, but who are just starting out today, finding their voices, demanding equality and demanding human rights. I don't in any way, want to make it seem like I'm down on that or against that. I'm not in any way being all"Bah humbug". What I am talking about though, is that my generation of trans people, our voices are silent, partly because we ourselves have been silent. So that's really what I wanted to start with today. But I wanted to give you that little disclaimer, that in no way, is this meant as a rebuttal to, or any kind of statement that I have anything against how the trans community is communicating and expressing their identity and their true selves today. This is really about my desire to give a little bit of a voice to our silent trans generation. So I'm not going to attempt to cover all of everything in depth right here. And right now, because this is a short form podcast, I will certainly touch upon many of these issues in future episodes, but I just want to talk about that lost generation, those lost voices. Don't get me wrong. It's not that trans people didn't exist back then, obviously. And it's not that they're all dead or anything else. It's just that there was a very strong emphasis, both in the trans community and also among the helping professionals of that era that a friend of mine has referred to as the"pass or die" era. And I think that kind of sums it up that the gate- keeping that professionals did was such that they judged whether or not you were going to pass and they might not write your letters for your surgery. If they didn't think you would. Now in theory, this was well-intentioned. Their attitude seems to have been that, Hey, if you're going to not pass, then you're going to be miserable and unhappy. And surgery is gonna maybe be a mistake for you. And I say it might've been well-intentioned, but it was sure wrong. I think that today, the understanding that"non passing", people are just as trans. They are just as valid. And at the end of the day, informed consent; people getting to decide their own fate judging their own happiness is what is important. But during that generation, it was sort of drummed into us by our trans community, our peers, and also the helping professionals that you get your hormones, you do your transition, you get your surgeries, and then you keep your head down that you just live your life as if you were a CIS person of whatever gender you transitioned to and you don't make waves. And I think that I, myself and many other people from that generation, we internalize that and we did keep our heads down and we didn't make waves. And so the voices of that era of trans people have been lost because we just wanted to get on with our lives. And there's nothing wrong about that or wanting to do that. I myself did it for 30 years, but I've just found this need to speak up to our past, and our history and talk about how things are better and how things are worse, because there's been a lot of improvements, but there's also been a lot of backsliding. There's been tremendous progress in understanding of gender as being a spectrum as understanding that gender identity and sexual orientation are completely independent. Things that you don't necessarily need to have a surgical transition. If you don't want to, that you are still just as valid that trans women who choose not to have bottom surgery that choose not to have gender reassignment surgery. As it used to be called are just as valid as those who have had it, that trans men who choose not to have top surgery or who choose not to have bottom surgery are just as valid that at the end of the day, trans men aren't real men, trans women are real women and non-binary people or people who were trans feminine or trans masculine or gender queer or gender fluid or agegender; that they are all valid. They are all beautiful. And that is such an important thing I think today, but talking a little bit about the history and some of the attitudes and some of the changes that have happened both good and bad is useful and important. We should know where we came from to know where we want to go. And I guess that's why I'm doing this podcast. So thank you for listening. And I hope to put more content out soon. This is sort of a short first episode to be an episode of record. So I can get this out to the various podcast directories and start to get listed. Our website is www.transgressive.net. You can reach out to us at podcast@transgressive.net. We can also be reached at Twitter@transgressive21. Please consider leaving a five star review on your favorite podcast platform. I'm Tananda, and this was Transgressive.

Cold Open
Introduction
A word About Todays Trans Voices
The SIlent Trans Generation
Closing