A Tabooed Tradition of Transition

          I was lucky enough to have worked with a person named Lynsey this summer as a tour guide. Lynsey is the kind of person everyone wants for a co-worker and good friend. He is full of life: a conscientious, loving and amazing friend who really added to our team. He accomplishes all this in spite of the fact that Lynsey is a candidate for daily discrimination. You see, Lynsey is transgendered. Throw that in, and immediately the situation becomes awkward.

          So who are transgender people? What does this mean, and why has the term been downplayed in public discussion? These are all pertinent questions that must be addressed into order to clarify that we live in an equal, prejudice-free society. To be blunt, our society is far from having reached equality and acceptance for all types of people, and a clear example of this can be found in the little-known transgender community. Unfortunately, the perception of transgender people held by the majority of the public is still peppered with prejudice, misunderstanding and confusion. Education on the subject is the only way to dispel ignorant bias. Teaching people about the concept of transgender does not have to be hard; willingness to learn is all it takes. 

           First, a simple explanation: A person who is transgender is someone whose gender identity does not match his or her biological sex. Some people feel as though the sex they were assigned at birth does not fit them, and they cannot identify with that social gender. The diagnosis: Gender Identity Disorder, or GID. Females with GID do not identify with being women and can transition to the other gender. They take on the appearance and identity of a man, known as changing from Female to Male (FTM). Transgender women are the opposite, going from Male to Female (MTF). Once a person has transitioned into the other gender, often taking hormone replacement therapy and having sex reassignment surgery, some prefer to identify with their new gender and not as ‘trans’ anymore. This article explores mainly issues from FTM transgender perspective, although many of the problems can be applied to the MTF population as well.

          Before this summer, I personally had absolutely no idea what entailed being transgender. It was a word that was heard of, being present in the renowned GLBTQ (Gay Lesbian Bi Trans Queer) acronym, but it was a subject never further explored. Andre, a shy 17-year-old FTM trans person at University of Ottawa, mentions, “Throughout my 16 years in the (Ontario) school system, only one of my teachers ever mentioned the idea of being transgender. She showed us a short video, and it was not even in the curriculum.

           This lack of visibility and understanding may be explained because the concept ‘transgender’ is not a very widespread and has not gained as much visibility. For instance, Lynsey would sometimes get upset when curious tourists would whisper, “Boy or girl?” As it is such a hushed subject, misunderstandings and problems can arise as a result due to ignorance. Do we call Lynsey by the pronoun he, or she? (The answer, which most FTM people would agree on, would be to use the male pronoun). Bernie, a transgender FTM at Algonquin College, tells me, “There are so many ways to ask someone. You can ask them politely, rather than blurt out, “Are you a boy or a girl?”

           Why are people being kept in the dark? Why is there so much confusion, and why is it so off-topic? Evan of the Pride Centre on campus explains, “It’s like painting a target on your forehead.” He elaborates on one distinguishing factor explaining the difference between the relatively open discussion on being gay and the little-known notion on being transgender. “When someone comes out as a gay person, they come together in the community, they like to meet other gay people,” says Evan, “but if you’re transgender, you’re in the community for a short while, just for a transitional period. The idea of being transgender is to change to the other gender, then trans people want to live like their new gender.”

           Saying this, the transgender community obviously has a high turnover rate. Its main role is to exist for that transitional period when the person is adjusting to the new way they have decided to live as the other gender. However, this does not mean that transgender people do not feel it important to have a sense of community. Transition can be a confusing time, and belonging to a community is one thing that helps ease this change in lifestyle. The transgendered community is, therefore, existent but much smaller, which explains the background position it has on public knowledge concerning the notion. Because people hear so little about it, poking fun at the trans community is also very different than other groups. Jokes abound on TV where the punch line of a joke will be, for example, cross-dressing. This ridicule, often unintentional, pushes the trans identity to the side. Broadcasting stations will screen blatant sexism, homophobia, racism, but jokes about this can stay. Harmless, except when coupled with public ignorance. “There’s this preconceived notion that we are freaks,” says Evan.

           Some people ask why anyone would want to transition MTF, Male to Female. Females are more frequently assaulted, on average earn less than men, etc. “Anyone who says this just doesn’t get it at all,” says Bernie. Evan makes his decision clear: “It is not a political statement to be transgender. It’s so that I can function as a person.”

           Now for the understatement of the year: being transgender is not easy. Many transgender people are not fortunate enough to live and work under accepting, supportive atmospheres.

           For instance, my friend Lynsey faced some trials while working as a tour guide. There was confusion over which uniform to assign to him. He was temporarily left wearing the upper part of the female uniform, but finally was granted respect toward his identity and was given the male uniform. This was an important part of his life, because a battle had been won: society had taken a step forward in openness and acceptance of all people.

           Andre believes that the school system needs to be changed, and that gender-neutral bathrooms should become more prevalent, which will promote understanding of transgender people. Unfortunately, the new Desmarais building that is so full of bright, new bathrooms is set up for being gender-neutral unfriendly. We are largely myopic in our perception of the two genders, and we make sure that we view things gender binary: A person is either male or female. Females and males are separated into a large bathroom with many stalls, and visibility becomes an issue, because there are going to be people who are not comfortable seeing someone who looks like a man using the women’s bathroom. Evan tells me a terrible anecdote with a grin: “My first year at university, I would literally just not use any bathrooms for the entire day on campus,” which he laughs about now. It is hard to imagine how the basic service of public bathrooms can be a dangerous and hostile environment to some people.

           More important than difficult bathrooms however, is society’s attitude. It is clear that we need to stop thinking about ourselves as divided into girls and boys, women and men, segregation with no further explanations. A lack of knowledge in society continues to marginalize this group of people who already have enough trouble trying to convince everyone that they are normal people with the same human rights. Our society is still moving towards an acceptance for everyone, an acceptance that sadly and surprisingly has not yet been reached. We need to understand that gender is not rigidly set in two categories with no intermediate at all. Trans phobia stems from ignorance, which is what allows some people to maintain that any deviation from the rigid categories of male and female is weird, or wrong. As a society, we need to understand that humans are humans, that it can be akin to a crime against humanity to treat one group of people differently because we don’t understand their story, and out of ignorance, maintain that preconceived notion that they are “freaks”.

           How wonderful, supportive, unique and loving Lynsey is, is not measured by gender. For the sake of delightful and happy people like Lynsey, Evan, bernie and Andre, I urge you to change the world by showing support and solidarity for trans people, whether it be using a gender-neutral bathroom or simply understanding what transgender means. Doing so can mean the world to many, many people, and you have the power to change our perspectives. Accepting people for who they are and refusing to see the world as split in two inseparable genders will allow us to see that there is absolutely no basis for discriminating against the transgender community. Now, when I hear about someone who is transgender, I do not become puzzled and feel like a fool for not understanding. Here is a simple checklist for equality: Is the person a human being? Yes. Are they perhaps different, being transgender? Yes, and aren’t we all different? I will not even dignify that obvious hypothetical question with an answer. After all, why does gender even need to have any impact on a person who is able to change the world? We need to all accept the fact that we are unique and nobody should feel like they must identify according to sex, because gender is secondary. Understanding and support comes first.

           Thanks go to the three helpful people on campus that allowed this issue to be further explored and made this article possible – Evan, Andre and Bernie, whose voices and quotes are heard throughout this article.