I’ve noticed a trend in the past year or so. It seems I, and many others, are a new chic commodity. That’s right, it appears that being transgender is now cool. Having a tranny friend in the new millenium is replacing the tired old fashion of the single gay friend in the 90s. The nineties…psh… how boring.
Seriously, though. It seems like the only time new people contact me on Myspace is to get to know a tranny. I read through my bio a few times thinking that maybe in a sleep-deprived stuper i had said something about really enjoying being a token tranny friend, but its just not there. So why do people email me asking me “what is your life like”? Let me ruin the suspense… just like your life, sometimes its really great, sometimes its really fucked up, and its always a struggle to survive.
Myspace isn’t the only place i’ve noticed this trend. About a month ago, an organizer for an upcoming radical environmental campout said something to my partner about how anti-oppression would be discussed because they were having a workshop on gender since “its the hot new topic.” Great, so now us trans folks get to bear the burden for why the many forms of oppression aren’t discussed among supposedly radical activists. happy birthday to me!
I don’t know why we became the “hot new topic.” I mean trannies are hot. No doubt. But so are people with disabilies (as many trans folks are - after all, the APA classifies us all as having a mental disorder). And let’s not forget all the hotties out there in the working and economically-poor classes. people of color? HOT!
But i guess talking about racism is totally 90s huh? Isn’t that a queer club in Minnesota? And the only problem with talking about ableism is that you might have to acknowledge the existance of the other half of the world’s population. Talk about an ecological disaster!
Radical environmentalists are the only one’s turning gender into the hottest thing since hot pants (i just like picking on them because i love them so much). Trans people are popping up everywhere. I waiting impatiently for the first season of Queer Eye for the Trans Guy. What seems less frequent though is the reality of trans identity. The diversity of trans identity. In all honesty and seriousness, I love that people want to make trans people visible. But i don’t want to be tokenized or trivialized. And i don’t want to be made visible because i’m white, temporarily able-bodied, no longer viewed as a young persyn, not yet viewed as an old persyn, middle class, English-speaking, and from the US. You wanna be my friend? Fight for safe spaces for everyone, including trans people. You wanna be my friend? Don’t forget about me when you discover that intersexed people are even hotter than me. You wanna be my friend? Take action everyday for a better world. You’ll find we’re not that much different. In fact, you may discover that we aren’t really different at all.
oh, and don’t ask me to summarize “the trans experience”. no one can do that and my ego doesn’t need the opportunity to speak for millions of diverse people around the world.
