: Panel discussion :
Yesterday I was a guest speaker for a class on human sexuality at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center. The hour-long class focused on understanding the transgender experience, similar to the reason I started this blog.
I was one of three pre-op transwomen on the panel, which spoke in front of about 50 first-year medical students. I was the youngest, and most recent transitioner on the panel - the other two ladies were 47 and 57 years old, as I recall. They have both been full-time for many years, while I've only been full-time for less than six months. There was supposed to be a trans-guy coming, but he couldn't make it.
After we each took about two minutes to introduce ourselves, we spent the rest of the hour answering questions. We talked about the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association and standards of care, how our transitions affected our family relationships, surgery, and medical care received by TG patients. I'm glad that everyone was very polite, respectful and asked intelligent questions. I seemed to get more questions directed at me than the other two panelists, perhaps because I'm still in transition and I'm dealing with things that they have since left behind. I expect that once I've been full-time and living as a woman for a number of years, little things like passing on the phone or having my ear piercings heal will become unremarkable for me.
Anyway, it was actually a pretty fun time for me. I enjoy helping to educate people about the transgender condition, and I try to do what I can. One of my fellow panelists actually hosts a GLBT-themed radio show on Monday nights, which I'd never heard of. I don't think I'll ever get quite that into it, but I certainly admire her commitment to putting a human face on the TG community.
One thing I did not get to share yesterday was my dream that we will someday live in a world where people do not have to shoehorn themselves into a binary gender society, where gender is not black and white, and where everyone feels free to express their identity without regard to prescribed gender roles. For every one of us who has actually transitioned successfully, there are hundreds who are either trapped in mid-transition or pre-transition, suffering their way through life because of fear, outright discrimination or lack of resources. But even though I can be cynical at times, I actually have faith that this state of affairs will improve, for the betterment of our society as a whole.
I was one of three pre-op transwomen on the panel, which spoke in front of about 50 first-year medical students. I was the youngest, and most recent transitioner on the panel - the other two ladies were 47 and 57 years old, as I recall. They have both been full-time for many years, while I've only been full-time for less than six months. There was supposed to be a trans-guy coming, but he couldn't make it.
After we each took about two minutes to introduce ourselves, we spent the rest of the hour answering questions. We talked about the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association and standards of care, how our transitions affected our family relationships, surgery, and medical care received by TG patients. I'm glad that everyone was very polite, respectful and asked intelligent questions. I seemed to get more questions directed at me than the other two panelists, perhaps because I'm still in transition and I'm dealing with things that they have since left behind. I expect that once I've been full-time and living as a woman for a number of years, little things like passing on the phone or having my ear piercings heal will become unremarkable for me.
Anyway, it was actually a pretty fun time for me. I enjoy helping to educate people about the transgender condition, and I try to do what I can. One of my fellow panelists actually hosts a GLBT-themed radio show on Monday nights, which I'd never heard of. I don't think I'll ever get quite that into it, but I certainly admire her commitment to putting a human face on the TG community.
One thing I did not get to share yesterday was my dream that we will someday live in a world where people do not have to shoehorn themselves into a binary gender society, where gender is not black and white, and where everyone feels free to express their identity without regard to prescribed gender roles. For every one of us who has actually transitioned successfully, there are hundreds who are either trapped in mid-transition or pre-transition, suffering their way through life because of fear, outright discrimination or lack of resources. But even though I can be cynical at times, I actually have faith that this state of affairs will improve, for the betterment of our society as a whole.
