melimelo
11-30-2009, 08:57 PM
Hi all,
I had an interesting moment earlier this afternoon. I was at the hospital's laboratory and the nurse taking care of me looked to me like a FtM. He had a male name on his tag, he had a nice mustache but still... And I had so much trouble just behaving normally and not staring! At that moment, I felt so ashamed of myself, no better than anybody on the street who might read me and stare for the little details that give me away. For my defense, there was also some excitement of finding a "brother" who transitioned and made it to his new life.
Then I understood something: if it was hard for me, who is transgender myself, is informed on the subject and has many transgender friends, imagine how hard it is for people whose lives barely touch ours to look past the strange feeling that something is not quite like they would expect, to not stare and judge.
This is NOT an apology of any abuse toward us, just a reflexion about acceptation. We are special people, and special people take time to accept.
I had an interesting moment earlier this afternoon. I was at the hospital's laboratory and the nurse taking care of me looked to me like a FtM. He had a male name on his tag, he had a nice mustache but still... And I had so much trouble just behaving normally and not staring! At that moment, I felt so ashamed of myself, no better than anybody on the street who might read me and stare for the little details that give me away. For my defense, there was also some excitement of finding a "brother" who transitioned and made it to his new life.
Then I understood something: if it was hard for me, who is transgender myself, is informed on the subject and has many transgender friends, imagine how hard it is for people whose lives barely touch ours to look past the strange feeling that something is not quite like they would expect, to not stare and judge.
This is NOT an apology of any abuse toward us, just a reflexion about acceptation. We are special people, and special people take time to accept.