There are two types of people in the world: There are those who believe unequivocally that what they think is true and never question anything once they come to a conclusion about it, and there are those who are open to the fact that they are human beings, and sometimes human beings can make mistakes—not just mistakes like they said the wrong thing to someone, or they backed into a telephone pole while trying to parallel park, or they tripped over a curb and embarrassingly spilled themselves all over the sidewalk in front of a herd of ritzy and annoying onlookers, but mistakes in how their thoughts, views, and opinions were constructed.
If you're one of the people who fall into the former group and you think you make exactly zero mistakes, please stop reading now and seek therapy, because you're obviously grappling with an astounding amount of delusion and you have FAR more important things to do than waste time reading my stupid website.
Okay, now that to those never-wrong fools have been addressed and are out of the way, let's move on.
Since this blog is about what it's like to be trans, I am now going to bring that into the conversation.
There are a ton of people in the world who don't understand what transsexuality is, or they fear it, or they're revulsed by it, or they have <insert terrible reaction here> to it.
Sure there are a bunch of people who "get it" as much as anybody can who's not actually dealing with these feelings, and these people are wonderfully understanding and supportive (to say the least). As awesome as these people are, and as thankful for them as trans people are, this post really isn't written for them; but they can feel free to stick around and read on. Maybe I'll even amaze everyone by saying something funny, or interesting, or insightful. I mean, you certainly wouldn't want to miss that, would you?
Annnnyway...
This particular post is specifically addressed to those who either don't understand transsexualism or have an adverse reaction to it. To those people I ask a simple question: "What If?"
What if, much like people are born intersexed (or as hermaphrodites as people might say) and have biological characteristics of both sexes, some people are born with the body of one sex, but the brain of another? Put away your skepticism just for the moment and simply ponder the thought: What if this were true? I mean, do you know with 100% certainty that it couldn't be possible? Do you just want to believe that it couldn't be true because it's easier to process and deal with if it's not? Seriously, WHAT IF this were true?
Could you imagine the amount of suffering that these people would go through, not only because of the condition itself, but because of how society sees and treats them?
What if people were born like that—born, in essence, to suffer and wage a lifelong war against their own biology solely because they just happened to be made differently? What if people were sickened and revulsed by these people who were born with and struggling with an issue that they did nothing to bring upon themselves?
Couldn't it be possible that this could be true? Can you really, undeniably prove that it's not? Perhaps more importantly, how would you treat these people if they did exist?
Well, I'm telling you flat out that we do, and that every "what if" question I asked above is what I and many other people are struggling with on a daily basis. And please believe me when I say this is true because we have spent more time thinking about, examining, and questioning this situation from every. possible. angle. than all of the other people in the world combined, so we're kind of experts here... and this is without even getting into all of the medical corroboration that backs up what trans people like myself feel.
For who only knows what reason, a switch got flicked in the womb and we developed this condition. Would you treat anyone else with a congenital condition like this as badly? Would you be sickened and revulsed by someone with autism, or someone with a heart defect, or someone born with diabetes? Is it right to ostracize these people and treat them badly because they were born with a condition that makes them different? Is it right to deny them the care they need to get healthy? I mean, wouldn't you want these people to have the best life they could possibly have because they're dealing with something that most of us are lucky enough to NOT have to contend with?
So this is up to you. What if people are born transgendered? What if that meant that they're going to be internally tortured their whole life, especially so if they can't even get treatment for their condition because insurance companies can get away with not covering it due to the fact that most people don't care about it or are staunchly against it for some reason? Do you want these people to continue to be marginalized and suffer even more than they have to, or do you want to help them, because we as good human beings are supposed to care for each other, love one another, and help those less fortunate than us to get something out of life?
Again... what if all of this was true? How would you personally deal with the situation then? Would you hate or would you love people who were born with a condition that caused them to suffer? I can only hope that most people would come down on the side of love.
All the best to you.
