Mitchell Enslen

English 103
R. Catherwood
03/20/2014

The Transition to Yourself

I have decided to interview somebody who is transsexual for this paper. The knowledge
gained from this topic is extremely beneficial to American society and will hopefully change the
minds of people who read this. At some point in life we ask ourselves many questions such as
what kind of career path would we like to choose, or how to act around other people or maybe
just simply, who am I? For someone who is privileged in appearance, beliefs, being able bodied,
and the race society deems worthy, it may not be too difficult of a task. Being born cisgender is
what most people in society today would call normal. However, there are many people that
transition their body to become the true being they were meant to be. . For somebody that is
transsexual, it can be a very difficult life emotionally and psychologically to be accepted into
society.
People have been known to react violently to transsexual people, and in a lot of cases
even murder them over the fact that they are simply not like them. Most of the southern areas in
our country like, Atlanta, Georgia have been said by various sources to have the most violent
hate crimes and murders of transsexual people in the U.S. This is a huge problem and people
who are transitioning or have already transitioned should not have to live in fear or denial. We
live in a free country that allows you to be who you want and act and say what you please.
When you see these acts of violence it can put doubt in your heart for this beautiful country of
ours. These are hate crimes, just as if somebody were to harm or kill a homosexual for the fact
that they are attracted to the same gender. Our country should not be a breeding ground for hate,
especially for a legal citizen.
In addition, the media portrays transsexual people as dirty, disgusting, and sometimes
immoral people. You will see them on the television show cops, usually being arrested for
drugs or prostitution. There are not too many transsexual people you see on television shows
imaged or labelled as normal. This is unfortunately because people judge or fear what they do
not understand. The interviewee of mine was born into a completely different world than the rest
of the cisgender population. She was born in a male body when she clearly knew from an early
age that this was not how she was wanted to be. When asked if it was confusing growing up like
this, her response was it was not confusing, but extremely distressing. Can you imagine trying
every day to fit in to societys normal traditions when you knew deep in your heart that you
would never become how everyone else wanted you to be? Every day to the people she had not
disclosed her situation to, she was a man, and if she was known any different she could be
rejected, harassed, or even possibly physically attacked.
People are extremely judgmental in nature, but when it comes to this topic, they are often
off put by the very idea of it and sometimes even scared. What is the reason for fear? The key
word in a transsexual person is undoubtedly person. The word person is the same meaning for
any other person (cisgender or not) in the entire world. There is no reason for fear. There was
an instance when my interviewee used a public female bathroom and was judged by a woman
and in a way harassed. The womans child in the bathroom said hello. My interviewee replied
back with a hello, but when she did, her voice was not accepted in that moment by this
woman. For some reason it was not ok to hear a deeper pitch in a womans voice. The woman
took her child out of the restroom and filed a complaint on her for saying the word hello. There
was no reason to fear her, but that is exactly what happened. She was then approached by a staff
member shortly after and was asked to adhere to the mens rules for using the bathroom. How
would you feel if this happened to you? You might say that you would feel as if you were this
monster that people ran from. At this time in her life she had already transitioned her body to
female, and was legally a female. When asked to adhere to the mens rules, she replied with so
what you are saying is that I am a man? The man was confused and at that point hopefully felt
bad for his unintentional disrespect. Once he found out that she was indeed a female, there was
no longer an issue with her using the restroom.
When people understand other peoples situations or at least try to understand them, they
seem to treat others with the same respect they would want and deserve in return. Lots of us
have many privileges in which we are accepted in todays society. Many of us take these
privileges for granted and go about our life without humility. The man that was rude to her
about the bathroom incident was not thinking about any possible outcomes to the situation,
instead he did what so many of us do, and that is to judge. Judging does not require an
understanding of others, instead it is exactly the opposite and is just what we choose to see and
believe without considering the source.
Before her transition, she was living a double life. She would change clothes up to six
times a day to protect herself from everybody else. One minute she would be portraying this
fake outer image of a man, the next minute dressing as a female to the people she could trust.
The distressing nature of that lifestyle can only be imagined by cisgender people. The reality
to this is that trying to be two different people to be accepted, has to be one of the most difficult
options life has to offer. When being yourself is not acceptable, what do you do? For her, it was
go along with society and pretend to be somebody she was not to avoid the conflict of people
treating her badly. Also consider the hardships these people have to go through before and/or
after a transition, the act of transitioning can be a very painful experience. When a male bodied
individual decides to remove their hair follicles from the facial region, they undergo a procedure
called electrolysis. This is a permanent hair removal procedure that has to be applied to each
individual hair follicle on the face. Each time the follicle is removed, intense pain goes along
with it, and this pain is experienced thousands of times. People may ask if it is worth the
procedures and hormonal reversal treatment, and the time it takes in order to transition. If you
woke up one morning in the body of your opposite gender, would it be worth the pain and time it
takes to switch your body back? We are clearly born to be one gender, and unfortunately there
are people that do not have the same gendered mind and body in sync at birth. Personal beliefs
do not matter when it comes to this topic. Whether cisgender people agree with transsexual
transitioning or not, we owe these people the same exact respect we expect back in return.
Nobody has the right to judge somebodys character of person because of an imbalance of mind
and body. Put yourself in their shoes for once. They are no different.