This has been glossed over and erased in order to demonize and discredit me. The author states this in the text (“I have been a cute little girl”). This status – an analysis of a film I haven’t seen - was written by a former colleague who was born female. These words, ideas, and life experience are not mine. These forces have misattributed a 2016 Facebook status about girlhood to me that I did not write. Since the majority of news shared on social media is anti-trans and factually incorrect I want to get something straight. This slander continues uninterrupted because it’s profitable. Right wing and trans exclusionary media spread lies about trans and non-binary people to delegitimize our existence and justify harassment against us. I wouldn’t be able to see myself as a human if it weren’t for people like Eddie who reminded me that I was one. Yes, there is so much tragedy, but alongside it - so much resplendence. In these scenarios consider: Is this about their life or my feelings? Is this about affirming or denying their dignity? We are only there to be gawked at, not to lead.Ĭompliments rooted in dehumanization are not compliments. These remarks re-inscribe boundaries of who belongs and who is made a perpetual visitor. Cast us as entertainment in someone else’s story, denied our own. Reduce us to props to mine for inspiration. But the compliments are less about us and more about reinforcing their self-concept as progressive and not like “other people.”Ībleism / transmisogyny render us living metaphors. Sometimes people seek to overcome this discomfort by showering us with praise. Various histories / presents have made it so that people aren’t used to seeing people like us (let alone together). But how much cruelty has been cudgeled in the name of care? How do we hold compliments that land like slurs? Hugs so tight they suffocate? There’s this mistaken notion that compliments are always positive. She called me beautiful and insisted on taking a photo of me to show someone in her life how accepting she was. The other day a white woman came up to us with a bouquet of what I’m sure she thought were affirmations.
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