Writing Trans: Traditional Narratives

waystoraise:

A traditional trans narrative: Child has known seemingly since birth that they were born in the wrong body, or are not the gender their parents claim them to be. Child struggles, suffers for arbitrary length of time till at least young adulthood.  Young adult works hard, battling dysphoria and transphobia, possibly abused, possibly estranged from family. They suffer more, scrabbling towards surgery while obtaining HRT. Eventually, through saving, windfall, or the kindness of strangers, trans adult is able to undergo surgery. Story ends.

The details differ, but too often it’s the only story told, the only one encouraged. Far too often the subject of the story is white. It’s the story treated as “right,” instead of common, and as it is now can be used as proof against being trans by people who have no business being involved in our community at all. It’s used as easily to invalidate people as it is to relate to, all because its treated as the narrative we go through. Instead of a possibility. Instead of a set of common experiences that some trans people go through and can draw from.

We need new stories, stories from trans people of color, stories of those that don’t struggle with dysphoria, or do to differing degrees, of those who’s gender doesn’t fall on the binary, the story of those who didn’t always know. We need them everywhere, because trans people are everywhere. We don’t have a single story. We have galaxies of them, and not all of them are about our gender.

Part of the reason these sorts of traditional narratives about us are so common is that they’re more easily parsed by cisgender people. The issue with this, of course, is that being trans isn’t about them. Our stories aren’t for them, though they’re welcome to glean from them.

When only one narrative, or kind of narrative, is amplified it allows other people to control what it means to be trans, to control who gains access to medical treatments based on how we fit to it, to govern our legal identities. The solution to this, or one of them, is to tell more stories. More kinds of stories. So that nobody has to wonder if they’re “trans enough.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with those whose experience is summed up by traditional narratives, but there needs to be room for others too. For all of them. Common experiences are empowering, important, relatable, and necessary. Knowing that there are people, there are characters, that struggle with the same issues you do is such a wonderful vital feeling. We need to make sure that everyone has someone, multiple someones, to relate to. Write Trans. 

Please feel free to send us your favorite trans authors, a little bit about your favorite trans characters, or any questions or topics you’d like to see me address. For some of our new followers, you can find past Writing Trans articles here in the tag.

-Chris