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Curating a trans narrative
We talk about trans identities like they are this homogenous thing, as if all trans people are the same. Its as if we believe that trans identities are monolithic men in frocks, a predatory subset of the male sex. Yet, as with all things no two trans people are the same, and no two trans narratives are the same. It is stating the obvious when I say this, but it is always worth repeating. For someone like myself, who is 15 years post-gender reassignment surgery and 23 years post-coming out, it is easy for me to wear the trans label and fight for a clearly defined set of rights, my personal narrative is easy to comprehend and grasp. Yet, there are many trans folk who have twisting knotty personal narratives which do not fit this mould, and they are the ones who are often targeted by transphobia and bullying. For them narrative is a hammer to beat them with, their lives at odds with what society expects trans lives to be, their curated meaning forever in the hands of those who do not understand them.
When pressed about my own identity I do reveal certain aspects, such as the above, yet I always leave much of the nuance out of the conversation. Not that I am afraid to talk about it, but it is simply none of anyone else’s business. Even with the gender clinic I was coy, not telling them the whole picture, because the narrative they were interested in was not the one I wanted to tell. My personal…
