By BRIANA SPINA
News Editor
As a part of Pride and Ally Week, Identity brought in Sean Desiree and Maybe Burke from Sex Discussed Here to present their Transgender 101 workshop. They both identify as trans and are passionate about teaching others about their community. They started out by telling the audience members to write down one thing they know about trans identities and one thing they want to learn. Desiree encouraged the audience to not be afraid of accidentally saying something offensive while asking questions.
“Feel free to use whatever language that you have and we’ll reframe it with affirming language,” they said.
The presentation started with a general explanation of terms referenced in regard to the LGBTQ+ community. They explained the difference between sex assigned, gender identity, and gender expression: the assigned sex is the label a medical professional puts on newborn babies, whereas gender identity refers to the words you use to describe who you are and how you identify, and gender expression is the way you physically portray your gender identity.
The latter two can vary over time, which Desiree and Burke illustrated by discarding the concept of a linear gender spectrum and replacing it with a two-dimensional gender chart.
“You can run to a different corner or somewhere in the middle, or even be in multiple spots at a time or a different spot every day,” Burke explained.
After the overview of these distinctions, the audience members were invited to think of terms they know regarding gender and to write them on a presenter’s easel. Desiree and Burke then facilitated a discussion of what the audience wrote.
Hunter Hitchcock, a sophomore, noted that the term “ ‘trans’ is becoming an umbrella term,” to which Desiree responded that they themself identify as both trans and nonbinary. This led to a discussion of dysmorphia in the transgender community. Dysmorphia, as explained by Burke, is a feeling of “disconnect with your body due to social standards.” Because people who are trans do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, these dysmorphic feelings tend to come as a result of feeling that their bodies do not reflect who they really are or that they do not look the right way to be accepted within the trans community or society at large.
This is not the case with every trans-identifying individual, however. Desiree and Burke explained that “not all trans people have access to surgery” and that a person does not have to undergo transitional surgery in order to identify as trans. The language used in regards to pre- and post-transition, like MTF and FTM, can also be problematic.
“When referring to trans people, men, and women, we want to use affirming language, not their dead gender,” Burke said.
The concept of “passing” as a binary gender and “living in stealth” followed. Hitchcock explained these two ideas.
“Passing is how well you’re being perceived as the gender you are trying to portray,” he said, which can tie into stereotyped gender expression. “Living in stealth is when you don’t want the world to know that you’re trans. I don’t introduce myself like ‘Hi, I’m trans’ for safety reasons and bathroom access.”
Desiree talked about the way trans people are presented in the media, stating that the only “trans people we see are ones who are white, passing, and pretty,” which brings up a critical point about the intersections of race and identifying as trans. In regards to hate crimes, they pointed out that “trans women of color are the most targeted.”
Alyssa Palmer, president of Identity, also brought up the “microaggressions that go along with standing in the crossroads.” She pointed out that it is a tenet of intersectionality to remember that “you can’t single out one variable.”
Further on this, Clay Iaquinta, a freshman student, brought up the history of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Trans women of color founded this movement, yet they are the most targeted,” he said. “We have straight allies within the LGBTQ+ community, but we in the community must be allies with each other.”
Burke affirmed that a community is facing an injustice and it “isn’t affecting you, then you have to fight alongside them.”
“Allies, it’s about making mistakes and learning from them,” they continued.
Kiyonna Friday, a freshman, came to do just that: learn about the trans community. She, as a cis woman, wanted to “get more experience” in discussions about identities unlike her own. Friday is an active member of Identity, which she joined because of her families polarizing views on LGBTQ+ related issues. In learning this information firsthand, she intends to “teach [her] cousins about it…to make them have an open mind.” In addition to broadening her understanding of the trans community, she sees this as very valuable on a more generic level.
“I am going to meet so many different people in the future, in the real world,” she said. “This will definitely help with forming interpersonal relationships.”
