"Awareness week" - don't we have enough attention already?
Bit of a negative post or rant, so feel free to skip if not in the mood for a kinda sour take.
Apparently this week is transgender awareness week and while it's obviously about more than just being aware of the thing (like breast cancer awareness month is also about educating etc.) I still feel like the purpose is so far removed from what it's supposed to be that it may as well be satirical.
From that link:
While most of the discussion of trans folks online can often be centered on negativity, Transgender Awareness Week gives us the opportunity to uplift positive and insightful stories of trans people across the country.
Does it though? gif
Is anybody outside of our community going to actually learn anything this week?
Are they going to an extra event or something just because someone decided this week is special for us?
Because I think it's nothing except detrimental to us. It only gives more ammunition to those who already hate us and already at best want us to go away.
(Day of remembrance, also this week, is on the other hand an important day I think.)
Ally perspective only, might be uninformed and naive alert.
I read a little blogpost recently that was written from the perspective of a not openly gay man living in a very conservative country. He said that at work, he has this very kindly mentor, a lady older than him he politely refers to as "(older) Sis", who has frequently complimented him on being a good son, very conscientious and meticulous in his work and polite. One day, their country was having a referendum on gay marriage, and Sis posted things on social media that were hurtful and not supportive. He asked for some time to talk one on one, and came out to her, and asked, all the nice things you said about me, now that you know, does it change your opinion of me as a person and the work that I do? Can I please ask that you give it some more thought? She didn't say anything, and just nodded. On the referendum day, the country's overwhelmingly voted No....but Sis texted him to say, " I'm sorry the results are disappointing, but your big Sis voted 'Yes' today. Keep fighting".
Long story, but I think though it may take time, the time will come, one personal connection at a time. I was watching a show recently with someone who used to be very uncomfortable with trans people, and they felt okay to watch the show together with their teen, even though one of the guests is trans. A generation above me would have turned it off in a huff, or at best grudgingly watch the episode while making comments. My generation might pretend not to see it and
oldhold our tongue. The teen thought her hair colour was very pretty and otherwise didnt see why anything was amiss or different from any of the other episodes.The awareness week thing might sound hokey for now....but every employee sitting at a corporate meeting has to watch upper management give it lip service, and everyone has to mark an mass email as Read. If it can make them shut up at work, it means the next generation can work in a space that has fewer verbalized hate in the air.
I think that blog post is spot on. I've felt very strongly for a while that all of the people who hate those in the LGBTQ+ community just haven't met anyone that isn't a cis person. Maybe they saw them at the coffee shop or had them as a bagger at a grocery store, but they've never had an actual conversation with a queer person.
Nearly every single person I've met who used to be homophobic has said their mind changed because they found out that their friend or colleague that they knew well turned out to be queer and they realized they weren't any different from everyone else they knew. I've seen some real, true rednecks in the American south come around this way.
Lack of exposure is a huge reason for so much of the world's homophobia.
...well we observed gay pride week at my studio a few years ago and two people in our office took the opportunity to distribute short factoid essays each day, which i think did improve demographic empathy by virtue of making the unfamiliar a little more human: it's not just saying we exist, it's saying we're people too, just like you...