GLAAD launches trans microaggressions photo project #transwk

#1

http://www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-launche ... ct-transwk

Kita Updike, woman, she/her, model

Every day, trans and gender non-conforming people face overt and subtle discrimination as they try to go about their lives. As part of Transgender Awareness Week, GLAAD created a photo essay to highlight the more subtle forms of oppression trans people experience - often called microaggressions. Microaggressions are subtle verbal or behavioral slights that invalidate a person's identity or experience.

Shane Henise, GLAAD's Trans Media Intern and a Columbia University graduate student, created this project as part of his fall internship. Thank you to Shane and all of the people participating in the project.

Trans people are encouraged to participate in the photo project by sending in their own photos illustrating a transgender microaggression. Tweet a picture of yourself holding a sign with a trans microaggression you've experienced and use #didyoujustsaythat and #transwk.

Now, let's hear from Shane about why he chose to make this photo project.

SHANE HENISE: I first conceptualized this photo essay because of an academic article I recently published titled Transgender Microaggressions in the Context of Friendship: Patterns of Experience Across Friends' Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

As I was learning about microaggressions in my academic coursework, there was little to no discussion of how they impact transgender people. The research calls microaggressions "death by a thousand cuts" and has shown that microaggressions can be just as, if not more harmful than overt expressions of bias. I wanted to take a concept that was dense and academic and make it simple and understandable for everyone by using photos of trans people holding statements that had actually been said to them. As heinous as some of these quotes may seem, I know that they have been repeatedly said to trans people, myself included. These are not isolated incidents.

I hope that this project will help people to be better allies. I encourage everyone to examine the underlying meaning behind their comments to trans and gender non-conforming people. Even a well-intentioned remark can be isolating; for example "You don't even look trans" was always startling to me because I am trans - and this is how I look!

I will close with words from the great Audre Lorde who said: "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

Please see the photos from the project below:

Maya Jafer, trans woman, she/her, actress, advocate, and holistic doctor

Jacob Tobia, genderqueer, they/them, writer, performer, and part-time fashion icon

Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, trans man, advocate and social justice fundraiser

Seven King, trans male, he/him, writer, director, producer

Tyler Ford, agender/queer, they/them, writer and speaker

Tiq Milan, trans man, he/him, writer, advocate, and co-founder of MMaps (Milan Media Arts and Production)

Zoey Luna, trans teenager, she/her, student and advocate

Cherno Biko, Black trans woman, she/they, artivist

[Translation: "I can't give you a job, you would confuse people."]
Drian Juarez, trans human, she/her/they/them, activist, program manager, and educator

continued...

#2

D'Lo, trans, he/him, actor, writer, and comedian

D'Lo and his partner - cisgender, she/her, doctoral candidate in psychology

Cecilia Gentili, transgender gender non-conforming person, any pronoun, activist, trans health program coordinator, and contributor for "Trans Bodies, Trans Selves"

Michelle Enfield, Nadleeh/feminine, she/her, activist and advocate [Nadleeh is a Navajo word.]

Peche Di, transgender, she/her, pansexual, founder and CEO of Trans Models

Shane Henise, trans man, he/him, researcher, advocate, speaker

#3

I posted this on Tumblr before, I feel the "compliments" ones should be especially noted. Saying someone looks good for trans is actually enforcing cissexism among other back handed compliments issues.

Also the "you used to be x" line; being transgender means you never WERE your assigned gender

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · #4

One of those signs is not like the others. Accident?

YouTube · #5

I'm not calling her an "artivist"; that's just pretentious. ;)

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

#6

[QUOTE="I REALLY HATE POKEMON!, post: 1594713, member: 18119"]One of those signs is not like the others. Accident?[/QUOTE]
Which one are you referring to? I think I know (and can explain why it's relevant), but I don't want to conclude anything out of line. :)

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · #7

[QUOTE="Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds, post: 1594782, member: 17429"]Which one are you referring to? I think I know (and can explain why it's relevant), but I don't want to conclude anything out of line. :) [/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's the one. I can imagine there's a connection between the issues to some degree, some overlap, but then one can follow that and end up with all manner of signs. I mean it's their project, but it seems a bit like a plug for a different topic.

Just to be clear despite you knowing, yes, #AllLivesMatter, haha. Dunno why I wanted to be cryptic.

#8

Yeah, okay. I'll break it right down from the top as best I can (with the disclaimer that I am speaking on a subject I obviously don't have firsthand experience with, not being a person of colour, but I have tried to gain some semblance of understanding on the issue involved, however I might be missing nuances thanks to my position of privilege). So, first off, the signs are there to show when these people have felt disrespected or invalidated, occasionally from words which might seem complimentary or supportive but ultimately express very subtle, ingrained oppression. It's about seeing the implications behind these supposed praises.

"You are so beautiful for a trans girl" - why, are trans girls not beautiful by default? Are they not allowed to show grace and elegance and meet conventional appearances if they wish to?
"Cool! You're my first trans friend" - why, are trans people objects to collect? Badges to show how progressive and accepting the cisgender person is?

Their value is being based exclusively on being trans, which is pretty weird and unfair. No one would say, "You are so handsome for a cis guy," even though there are legions of cisgendered men who don't reach the heights of cultural masculine attractiveness, so why would it be more noteworthy whether it's a trans person or a cis person meeting that "standard" of appearance?
It would be creepy if someone enthused over, "Cool! You're my first foreign/disabled/elderly friend," which is part of why it's rather unpleasant that anyone would get excited about having their first trans friend. (Also, it's actually really important to note how no one can even KNOW if they are already friends with a trans person, because many conventionally "pass" for their identified gender which makes their being trans effectively invisible to anyone who is not their doctor or intimate partner.)

Moving along, some of the signs show hostility ("Did you transition because you thought you were an ugly girl?", "Why can't you just be okay being a stud/butch?"), and some are outright rude ("When are you going to really transition?", "Did you have the surgery?", "How do you have sex?"). These are all questions which show a lack of tact and thoughtfulness from the asker, and pretty much are not anyone's business.

Then you get to #AllLivesMatter. The reason why that tag can be a microaggression is thanks to how often social movements which claim to be fighting for equality for all, still display significant intolerance and fail to acknowledge intersectionality while they trample ahead shouting about rights.

#ALM seems like a good idea from the outer. But where it came from... it's an "answer" to #BlackLivesMatter, which was a rallying cry for those who experience systematic oppression as people of colour in an inherently racist culture. It's a tag which arose from Black people being murdered and unjustly prosecuted by police and other authorities. Of being described as "thugs" in the media reporting on their deaths just because they are Black. Of the photo chosen when reporting on those deaths being something normal from a party depicting alcohol and smoking, rather than a year book picture, the way something so respectable would otherwise be chosen for white young adults. Of being targeted for hatred and violence and racial profiling, exclusively due to their skin colour (or some variant in their culture, ie. the disrespect of naming trends. This is a good read on that subject.)

In a general sense, it's well-documented how people of colour have a certain degree of hardship in life in the Western world. Female people of colour experience moreso, due to the combination of racism and sexism working against them. Trans people of colour get even further marginalised.

For Cherno to be holding that tag as her sign in a project to discuss how trans people have experienced microaggressions, she is saying that #AllLivesMatter, as a movement, has failed her in some way - whether because people who use #AllLivesMatter are utterly minimising #BlackLivesMatter, since #BLM is directly and specifically addressing the dangers inherent in living amongst racism, or perhaps because many, many proponents of #ALM still overlook and ostracise trans people, and particularly, will overlook the unique struggles of a Black transwoman in this culture. "All" lives matter, unless you don't fit into the nice, neat framework of what is already culturally acceptable. Then it just becomes an erasure of everything #BLM started as, and instead of showing solidarity, becomes another facet of the oppression she experiences.

Bad Dragonite · #9

half of these sound like honest questions by uninformed individuals, half are intended compliments and are in no way "aggressive." Micro aggressions in general are ridiculous and only for people who are overly sensitive. They're not actually being oppressed so they have to make up a boogeyman. Also I don't see how saying all lives matter is an aggressive thing. Of course you have #black lives matter activists saying white suicide is a good idea so I guess it makes some sense, saying white lives matter just offends because white people existing offends them.
as far as "promoting CISgender as a norm" it is a norm. Transgender people make up about 1 percent of the population. Being cis is normal by the very definition.
Also just a thought I had, if someone is asking you when you're really gonna transition, then you're not doing a good job at transitioning. Sorry that's just true.[DOUBLEPOST=1462570054,1462569902][/DOUBLEPOST]in general if transgendered men to women don't look like women, so saying you look beautiful for a trans girl is not only calling them beautiful but saying they are transitioning well

saying "cool youre my first trans friend" just shows more that trans people are exotic to the normal person. If being CIS were as uncommon as being trans I'm 100% certain it'd be just the same in reverse.

Bad Dragonite · #10

black lives matter isn't for equal rights, black lives matter is a black supremacy movement.
you talk about black men being portrayed as thugs in the media, did you forget Michael Brown, I mean every major news network was portraying this guy as an innocent bystandard they didnt talk about him being a known criminal or him going for the cops gun, or any of the actual evidence, instead they tried to paint him as a saint, a martyr gunned down by a WHITE cop of all people, who is obviously racist because he's white, because it sells, because it's mainstream. If this is mainstream then it is the system, if it is the system then there isn't a way for you to be oppressed by it since you are the system.

YouTube · #11

Vgfian, post: 1594839, member: 32425 wrote:half of these sound like honest questions by uninformed individuals

Fair.

half are intended compliments and are in no way "aggressive."

Not fair. Compliments can backfire.

Micro aggressions in general are ridiculous and only for people who are overly sensitive.

I think the term is silly, but the idea behind it is sensible.

Also I don't see how saying all lives matter is an aggressive thing.

Read the post immediately before yours.

Of course you have #black lives matter activists saying white suicide is a good idea

You also had #gamer gaters saying female suicide is a good idea. Doesn't mean they represent the majority.

Also just a thought I had, if someone is asking you when you're really gonna transition, then you're not doing a good job at transitioning.

Still rude & irrelevant to ask.

so saying you look beautiful for a trans girl is not only calling them beautiful but saying they are transitioning well

Which is something that most people aren't qualified to gauge.

saying "cool youre my first trans friend" just shows more that trans people are exotic to the normal person. If being CIS were as uncommon as being trans I'm 100% certain it'd be just the same in reverse.

"You're my first black friend" has always been a stupid thing to say; why would "you're my first trans friend" be any different?

Don't bring up Michael Brown in this discussion; it'll just derail everything.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Deepfake · #12

The Brown discussion is both unwelcome, and what you've alleged is inaccurate. Media and the public demanded that the cop's claims be proven within reason, and the whole situation was mishandled. The public and media response was not exclusively about Brown, the potential victim, but the public's fear of police overreach and unculpability. End of discussion on the matter, make a new thread if you want to continue this complex subject.

"failing at transitioning" is a notion that extends from traditional gender binarism. The insinuation that a person must 'pass' is in itself inherently sexist. Masculine women are women. Effeminate men are still men.

I still don't get why people who fail to fullfill obligations necessary to succeed in either binary rolls adhere so closely to the worship of them.[DOUBLEPOST=1462614900,1462614299][/DOUBLEPOST][QUOTE="CaptHayfever, post: 1594844, member: 25169"]Not fair. Compliments can backfire.[/QUOTE]
You're really responsible, for a black guy.

It's called a backhanded compliment.

Bad Dragonite · #13

^it doesn't seem that complex, at least on the point I made, since all you have to do is look at the original reports, but fine we'll shelf it.

its only backhanded if you intend harm, but say you live in an area where most black people or whatever are notably irresponsible, it's just an honest compliment at that point, of course that's all subjective, in this case we're talking about trans people being unable to fit into any generalized look of the gender they're attempting to transition in to, so most peoples general experience is trans women don't look attractive, this person does, with no intended harm I don't see it being a backhanded compliment just an honest one. I'm not saying it's not a bit untactful, but it's no less an honest intended compliment. Though if it's intended to be harmful then yes, but generally it depends on subtleties in speech more than anything and we can't fully discuss this personal experience without hearing the original compliment.

Either way being rude isn't necessarily a bad thing.

@capt: Yes I'm sure there were trolls online in gamergate saying that but in this case I'm talking about prominent figures in the black lives matters movement as well as large groups of students on campuses arguing for white suicide and racial segregation in actual debates. How ass backwards is that?

and I did read the post ahead of mine. My point still stands. Black people aren't systematically oppressed, and black lives matter activists call for killing white cops and their kids yet not saying anything about black on black crime, so all lives matter isn't a response belittling the trials black people have faced, it's calling out the hypocrisy and utter racism rampant in the movement. So capt whose lives dont matter? Whites? Latinos? Asians? Native Americans? Who?

I REALLY HATE POKEMON! · #14

[QUOTE="Vgfian, post: 1594917, member: 32425"]its only backhanded if you intend harm, but say you live in an area where most black people or whatever are notably irresponsible, it's just an honest compliment at that point[/quote]

Even if that's the case I don't think it would be a good thing to say, just seems unnecessary.

[quote="Vgfian]being rude isn't necessarily a bad thing.[/quote]

Only if someone deserves it. Being rude for no reason is uncalled for.

[quote=Vgfian]@capt: Yes I'm sure there were trolls online in gamergate saying that but in this case I'm talking about prominent figures in the black lives matters movement as well as large groups of students on campuses arguing for white suicide and racial segregation in actual debates. How ass backwards is that?[/quote"]

I've heard of racism amongst BLM, but haven't seen (read: looked for) proof. Is there any?