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.)

For folks unaware, the identified shooter in today's Minneapolis Catholic school shooting appears to have been a trans woman. There are a lot of uncertainties at this time and this isn't the thread to discuss the shooting*, but regardless it seems clear that trans people, perhaps particularly trans adults this time (and unfortunately my trans sisters always) will be the target of increased bigoted and violent rhetoric. Even if you're not in the US the words being spoken already have an impact on people worldwide.

Be safe, take care of yourselves and each other and find ways to get involved and speak out when and where you can. And look out for the trans kids too.

💜🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊

*Please don't make this thread that, nor tag it as such. It's purely a support thread with context. Ty

Refresher about me and my work: I work in higher ed as essentially a social worker for our on-campus students. Many of the students I support are trans, non-binary, and queer. They often come to me or are directed to me because I'm visibly queer, and use she/they pronouns. A recent survey* listed about 30% of our campus populations as queer (ace-inclusive, not mentioning gender identity), the same survey demonstrated nearly double the risk of suicide, mental health crisis, etc among our trans and gender non-conforming students. This survey was from before the 2024 election.

My point with this post is asking y'all for any suggestions in supporting my trans youth in particular and queer youth in general during this time of increasing demonization and as the feds have started to pressure schools to remove protections for trans women specifically.**

What things would you have wanted to hear from adults around you? What things helped you continue to feel safe with trusted adults? When the conversations keep getting tougher - talking about staying in or returning to the closet for safety or surviving that necessity when at home, or whatever fresh political hell hits next? When your roommate's mom compares her daughter living with you to sexual violence?

I have a lot of experience with tough questions, and dealt some of these. I've talked about how you have to take care of yourself and water your plants or you have dead plants and fascism. But my experiences coming out in grad school and figuring out my demi-gender-ness much later aren't the same as these kids' life experiences. And I always want to make sure I'm doing better. What helped you? What would you have wanted to hear? What message would you want to pass to them?

Feel free to DM if preferred for safety or privacy

*I can't say how representative this was but between 4 and 5 percent of the population took the survey so unless that was particularly skewed in some way that should be a decent sample.
** There's a chance my speech will be restricted as an employee, we'll see, but that's an area I can fight more effectively.

I recently watched Rūrangi (2020) and appreciated it¹ for having a story centered on a trans man and his experiences.

I’m interested in recommendations of other media featuring trans men/masc individuals. I want to cast a broad net, especially if there are other people who might find this useful, so:

• Any type of media is fine (books, memoirs, movies, shows, webcomics, anime, manga, games, etc.)
• Trans men and/or trans masc people should feature, but they don’t have to be the main focus
• The media can be specifically about the individual(s) trans identity or journey, but it can also simply feature the character(s) without delving into those aspects

Now, I’ll also add some more parameters for what I’m looking for specifically if you’re looking to recommend to me personally rather than in general. Don’t limit your recommendations to just these, though. I’m ultimately open to anything and want this topic to be valuable to others with different tastes/preferences as well:

• I’d love for the trans man to be older, since a lot of the trans representation I do already see tends towards depicting younger individuals (nothing wrong with that, of course, and I definitely understand why that is, but as a middle-aged guy myself I’m more drawn towards stories about people my age/older)
• I am interested in stories that are specifically focused on trans identity and journey
• As a gay guy, I’d love to read about my gay trans brethren
• Like Chappell Roan, I want nonfiction (but fiction is cool too)

1. While I did enjoy it, I thought the pacing of the movie was really odd. It wasn’t until after I watched it that I learned it was originally broadcast as a series and was later cut into a single film (which explains the pacing issues). For anyone interested in watching it, I assume the series version does a better job with pacing than the film version.