Last Thursday, I attended the Transgender/Transsexual workshop during the Diversity Symposium; it was interesting to say the least! Kendra was the presenter, and I think that she did an awesome job, not only with providing resources used to educate, but with sharing her own personal experiences and relating them with the changes that she would like to see made within our society.
I think that I definitely live my life with a sense of "straight privilege", meaning that I never really have to worry about my sexual orientation, hiding who I am, or being discriminated against in that aspect. This may prevent me from seeing things from the perspective of others of different orientations in the LGBTQ community, which is really discouraging. However, that is the point of these workshops, I suppose- to gain the ability to relate to those who you do not normally relate to.
Kendra started the session off by, after kicking off her heels and complaining about hot flashes due to hormone therapy, educating the crowd on what it meant to be ignorant versus what it meant to be a trans person. One was a choice, and the other simply was not. She had us write our names with our non-dominant hand, then with our dominant. The audience commented that the non-dominant handwriting was "out of control", "messy", "challenging", and "didn't feel right at all", while writing with the dominant hand "felt natural". She then compared this with someone being born as the wrong sex- writing with your non-dominant hand. She emphasized the term "living authentically", which really put things into perspective for me! Hate, ignorance, and prejudiced are all choices, while wanting to live as who you really are is not.
My favorite quote from the session, which I felt provided an overall theme for the topic, was "Gender is what is between your ears, sex is what is between your legs." Kendra explained to us that, while she was born with a penis, her heart, her brain, and her feelings were all that of a woman. Leaving the session, I felt more informed about trans people and the issues that they encounter in their every day lives that I am lucky enough not to have to worry about. Although I cannot empathize, I can be an ally for the LGBTQ community and provide sympathy, support, and empowerment for those different than me. I really admire Kendra for standing up, speaking out, educating our society, and rockin' those heels better than anyone I know.
I went to this workshop too! It was really helpful to hear what the differences were between transgender, transsexual, gender nonconforming, etc. Although I had an idea of what all of these things meant, it was nice to have it explained. Also, it is really awesome to hear that Sioux Falls has an organization like the Center for Equality!
ReplyDelete