Yeah I get this. There's absolutely a reason I framed my post as "by us for us" not "for them". And if TDoV is for anyone not trans it's for those who don't know they are yet IMO. I think it...
Yeah I get this. There's absolutely a reason I framed my post as "by us for us" not "for them". And if TDoV is for anyone not trans it's for those who don't know they are yet IMO. I think it matters a ton that trans kids mostly don't grow up in trans families (same with queer folks more broadly) and without visibility it can be hard for trans kids to see hope for their adulthood. Even those with strong online and peer support can fall into the feeling that despair is inevitable and this is the only time they have.
That isn't the responsibility of any individual, but I feel it's a community responsibility. Maybe that is me just expressing my feelings of responsibility by imposing them on others. But being a person who isn't directly targeted by attacks on binary trans folks, by being white, by being older, by being in a state that protects me at a job that protects me, I try to do what I can with that privilege regardless of whether that broader community responsibility exists.
It's complicated. Thank you for bringing up some of the positives about visibility - since it's not the focus of the article, the author doesn't spend a lot of time talking about them. It's...
It's complicated. Thank you for bringing up some of the positives about visibility - since it's not the focus of the article, the author doesn't spend a lot of time talking about them. It's important to note that visibility can have other positives as well! In the book The End of Bias by Nordell, Jessica, the author highlights a few studies in which the very presentation of diversity/visibility can be helpful for a handful of other reasons (decreases bias towards the group which is visible) so long as it's done in a way that highlights differences rather than similarities.
I posted this article, however, because it's important to note that visibility can be a double-edged sword and there are many reasons to not be visible. The same book mentioned previously also tackles this in one of its later chapters, showing off how the framing of visibility messages is important to how it influences people (similarity based messaging entrenched existing biases). With trans people increasingly being used as a scapegoat or bogeyman to pass regressive legislation (or rule in the supreme court), it's important to highlight many of the reasons that visibility can be harmful.
Frankly I wish we didn't live in a society where visibility could be so weaponized, but many states are explicitly trying to track trans people and the US is already unfortunately quite actively erasing trans people (also known as genocide) by incremental legislative and judicial policy and rulings. It's important to consider one's own privilege and status when determining whether one is reasonably safe to be visible and to examine visibility through as many lenses as possible.
Fully agree, and that's why I try to balance that. If no one else had responded to my post I would have understood, for example. I didn't want to come off as arguing just how I work through the...
Fully agree, and that's why I try to balance that. If no one else had responded to my post I would have understood, for example.
I didn't want to come off as arguing just how I work through the math of visibility, I'm less at risk, and I can help folks, so it makes sense for me and the math maths. I get for others it isn't safe and doesn't make sense, or just the gender euphoria coming from not being othered is so much greater.
Yeah I get this. There's absolutely a reason I framed my post as "by us for us" not "for them". And if TDoV is for anyone not trans it's for those who don't know they are yet IMO. I think it matters a ton that trans kids mostly don't grow up in trans families (same with queer folks more broadly) and without visibility it can be hard for trans kids to see hope for their adulthood. Even those with strong online and peer support can fall into the feeling that despair is inevitable and this is the only time they have.
That isn't the responsibility of any individual, but I feel it's a community responsibility. Maybe that is me just expressing my feelings of responsibility by imposing them on others. But being a person who isn't directly targeted by attacks on binary trans folks, by being white, by being older, by being in a state that protects me at a job that protects me, I try to do what I can with that privilege regardless of whether that broader community responsibility exists.
It's complicated. Thank you for bringing up some of the positives about visibility - since it's not the focus of the article, the author doesn't spend a lot of time talking about them. It's important to note that visibility can have other positives as well! In the book The End of Bias by Nordell, Jessica, the author highlights a few studies in which the very presentation of diversity/visibility can be helpful for a handful of other reasons (decreases bias towards the group which is visible) so long as it's done in a way that highlights differences rather than similarities.
I posted this article, however, because it's important to note that visibility can be a double-edged sword and there are many reasons to not be visible. The same book mentioned previously also tackles this in one of its later chapters, showing off how the framing of visibility messages is important to how it influences people (similarity based messaging entrenched existing biases). With trans people increasingly being used as a scapegoat or bogeyman to pass regressive legislation (or rule in the supreme court), it's important to highlight many of the reasons that visibility can be harmful.
Frankly I wish we didn't live in a society where visibility could be so weaponized, but many states are explicitly trying to track trans people and the US is already unfortunately quite actively erasing trans people (also known as genocide) by incremental legislative and judicial policy and rulings. It's important to consider one's own privilege and status when determining whether one is reasonably safe to be visible and to examine visibility through as many lenses as possible.
Fully agree, and that's why I try to balance that. If no one else had responded to my post I would have understood, for example.
I didn't want to come off as arguing just how I work through the math of visibility, I'm less at risk, and I can help folks, so it makes sense for me and the math maths. I get for others it isn't safe and doesn't make sense, or just the gender euphoria coming from not being othered is so much greater.