Comments on: Worried That You’re Transphobic? You Might Be.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:50:27 +0000

Lyn,
Thanks so much for your kind words.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:01:35 +0000

Dear Anonomous, Thank you for trusting us with your feelings about your own transphobia. I would hope that this is a safe space for us to talk to one another and to get support in our journeys in life as trans people. I also have to look in the mirror and see a non op body and I’m OK with that…for now. But love the person that you are and I’m glad you are working on that with your therapist. We have only one life to live and we need to make it as good as we can get it. Peace and love to you!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:50:40 +0000

“Concentrate on the positive… Do not dwell on the negative, it will wear you down.”

Amen

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Felipe Lima (quacktastic) | Pearltrees — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:26:48 +0000

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By: caroline

caroline — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:47:52 +0000

I hated my unaltered body and eventually almost came to love my halfway transformed self and felt a tinge of regret when the chance came to finish the project. There are an infinite number of human bodies and few are lucky enough to have what they consider to be ideal, even my finished transformation could never be considered ideal but I am learning to deal with it and am starting to love it…

Concentrate on the positive… Do not dwell on the negative, it will wear you down.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:23:19 +0000

I am a recovering transphobe and homophobe. I grew up in an extremely prejudice house with parents who hated anything and anyone they considered ‘other’. While in my teens, I openly admitted that I was ‘other’. First as a lesbian because I didn’t know that I wasn’t the only one who was a boy on the inside but looked like a girl on the outside. Then as a queer trans man who likes men almost as much as I like women.
My crap is self-hatred projected outward because I am ‘other’ according to my blood family. I am working through that with a therapist. I don’t dislike any individual. I hate the lgbt group as a whole and I can’t explain it more than that because it does not make sense except to say that it is self-hatred projected outward. I look at my pre op top and no op bottom body in the mirror and I see a freak with facial hair. I look at other trans people and I see strength because they did, and are doing, what they had to do to live authentically.

And please, if you’re going to comment on my comment remember that this is a safe space and I said that I do Not dislike any individual, that this is self hatred.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:50:12 +0000

With me, I never really actually discriminated against trans women or male cross dressers as human beings. I just don’t understand how they could willfully DRESS in women’s clothing! I always hated being forced to wear that stuff – hated how it looked and felt on me. Hated the fabrics as well. I feel the same way about cis women wearing that stuff.

Another thing is that seeing male-bodied people in women’s clothing is strange to me – especially before i came out as trans and began to see these folks regularly. This is particularly if the cross-dressed or transwoman “passes” well or not.

As a blind person, I know what it is to be discriminated against so I have always been open to anyone as long as they were friendly, nice people. I think more people will be open if they could put aside the fact that something new to them is strange but that goes away when you look beyond that outward appearance and see the human being inside.

By: Aran

Aran — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:42:31 +0000

I am a transman. The first time I attended a trans support group, I had a knee jerk reaction against the transwomen in the group. It’s not that I didn’t like them. It was more like they seemed like a strange & alien race. My reaction really bothered me because they’re like me in many ways. And then I realized that being a woman was an alien concept to me. I’ve since come to know & love many transwomen.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:15:08 +0000

It was the discovery of my biases against trans men that led me to seek out resources such as your blog, in hopes that education and familiarity would help me counteract my prejudices. And thanks to a discussion here a few months ago, I finally made the breakthrough I needed. I continue to examine my cis privilege and look out for cissexism in myself and the world around me. I follow blogs and news that are either focus on trans issues, or that regularly incorporate trans perspectives. I speak up when I encounter transphobia and cissexism. I’m grateful to you for running this space and hosting these discussions, and for helping me on my journey.

By: dentedbluemercedes

dentedbluemercedes — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:19:41 +0000

Worthwhile advice on any oppression, and it’s worth being introspective to identify those areas we all have to work on. I’ve been at plenty of trans support meetings where people start sounding off about “drunk indians” or “those pakis” or making fat jokes. Transphobia is a part of a more global issue of oppression, and we’ve all failed (myself included) to effectively dismantle that. It starts within us, and then moves on to questioning and challenging those around us. It doesn’t mean we can’t have a sense of humour or cynicism, but we do need to parse what we’re thinking and saying based on how it could be received.