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Transphobia: The Movie
  • Ok. here it is. Your chance to let me have it for being a loudmouthed asshole for so long. Here is my soft belly beneath my gruff exterior. I'm transgendered.

    Regarding my decision to public identify as trans… there were a number of factors that went into this decision that I won’t get into here. As for the backstory: Back in 1998 I began Hormone therapy to transition my body from that of a male to that of a female. As of 2000 I was about to make the full leap into living full time as a woman when I developed a blood clot the size of my little finger in my hip nearly ending my life…afterwards the doctors did not feel safe continuing HRT and things were put on hold for quite awhile… Upon arriving in LA in 2004, I consulted with a few people in the industry and told them of my intention to resume my transition along with pursuing a career as a writer/director, and was cautioned against the former. In short I was told, “Your chances of ever being a successful filmmaker on the level you're seeking are already as thin as they are for everyone else…but as a transgendered individual those chances drop to zero.”

    My instinct was to shake my fist at the universe and say, “Damn the odds!”, but the truth is I was afraid, and I let my fear get the best of me. I decided to do what Lana and Lilly Wachowski would later do, and wait until I had enough money and enough gravitas to make the change… but in doing so, I’ve made myself miserable. 12 years have passed, and those who on rare occasion over this period have seen me in my feminine state are shocked to discover someone who is personable and filled with joy.... and gone is the sometimes surly curmudgeon many of you have learned to tolerate… Someone I really don’t like. While slowly building my career, I’ve been waiting for that perfect situation… waiting to resume my life once again… I can no longer wait. I haven’t the time. I have many regrets. I do not want to regret having never truly been myself. This was determining factor number 1.

    I’m no fool. I know now that because I’m trans, my opinion instantly counts less than it did when I appeared to be a man. Whenever I have a crazy idea, instead of those I work with thinking that maybe there’s a spark of genius in the idea, eyes will roll, “She’s crazy.” I’ve instantly tilted the odds against myself in almost every aspect of life. Every challenge women face, in not only this industry, but the entire business landscape, will now be levied against me, add to that the prejudices and pre-conceived stereotypes that come with being a member of the Trans community. I’ve made my task of succeeding in any measure infinitely more difficult. Why not wait a little longer? You’ve waited this long. So why…WHY would I do something so colossally foolish - knowing full well the consequences?

    Because I see a tide of hate, violence, and discrimination against my trans brothers and sisters that I can no longer tolerate. I’ve been able to conveniently hide from it in my male persona. I could loudly advocate for justice, but then retreat to the safety of “normalcy”. I could carry on with my life without the fear of discrimination, ridicule, or violence. This is unfair to those struggling to live their lives in the skin they feel most comfortable in, and yet are placed squarely in the crosshairs of bigotry and misunderstanding while I hide from it. My family and friends of course worry for my safety as do all people who are connected to a Trans person. I’m now amongst the ones targeted for such barbarian nastiness. But I did this, because the fight for equality and acceptance needs people who despite their fear, are willing to take a stand, and endure the storm. So, I will stand proudly as a trans woman, and shout down the voices of insanity that call for the persecution of those of us who don’t fit conveniently into a black & white world viewpoint. I can’t let a rabid minority of people with archaic world views attack and oppress people like me who just want to know peace and find love. It is not just.

    My coming out will not change the world today. But maybe someday I can help leave the world a better place than I found it.

  • 52 Replies sorted by
  • Time to close.

  • @kurth Consult wiki? Lulz! wiki isn't knowledge, social interaction is.

    What you don't get is it's you that has a human decency problem. Privileged white males have no idea how hurtful the bigotry minorities have to endure is. I have some idea because from a young age I engaged with and became good friends with people of color and LGBT people. I took many beatings at school because I was seen as a traitor to the white race. But unlike my LGBT and POC friends, as a white male I can walk down the street and not have to endure the hate they cannot escape. My partner who is Asian isn't so lucky. It's the greed, hate, and intolerance that will ultimately destroy us.

  • @shian I have a few questions, strictly out of curiosity, which I'm going to ask simply because you seem amenable to discussing your transformation in a public forum.That being said, you're under no obligation to answer. Here we go...

    Do you identify as a woman or a trans woman?

  • @squig .... so when the state says it's true , it must be so. From your list of the world's maladies, I would have assumed you'd be suspicious of the state sponsoring whatever. Oregon has also criminalized the collection of one's own rainwater ! And if you consult wiki, "aboriginal" is also frowned upon by the aussie politically correct crowd. However in anthropological circles, indigenous is commonly used for the new world, native for the old world, and aboriginal, or aborigine for asia. Just convention. Reminds me of the PC movement to eradicate Mr. and Mrs. , or the pronouns he and she. It's all done in tiny incremental steps. Grammatical structure shapes our worldview...another levi-straussian/whorf concept.

  • Oregon outlines sweeping protections for transgender students http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/06/oregon-transgender-students-protection-guidelines Go Oregon!

    Metamorphosis is happening whether the knuckledraggers like it or not.

  • @kurth "aborigine" is derogatory. It's "Aboriginal".

    Thousands of nukes on hair trigger alert, runaway climate change, horrifying amount of freedoms lost to the fascist military surveillance state. And you're worried about trans people? Lulz! What a joke.

  • sabes que @eatstoomuchham .... I've attempted to place the discussion beyond the personal...but truth be told....it was shian who publicized his world. Nobody forced him. I seriously doubt he only wanted "oh, you're so brave" comments. And actually the term "moral equivalence" is always applicable to both sides of an unresolvable conflict, and conversely both sides always feel the other is false. So it's redundant to say "false moral equivalency" ! And most likely, if interviewed and asked the same questions, you would have responded in the same inane manner as those lost kids, but that's only my regressive opinion !

  • @kurth Seriously, why are you even talking in this conversation? Whatever gender @shian identifies with, and whether she undergoes hormone therapy and/or surgery to better fit in with the gender she identifies with, none of it will impact your life even in the slightest. What possible greater good could you possibly be serving by any of the comments that you've made here or by linking to manipulative videos full of false equivalencies?

    There are times when it might be better to just keep your regressive opinions to yourself. This is one of them. It takes a lot of guts for people to come out of the closet. No need to shit on them when they do.

  • juvenile provocateur

    @LPowell...provocative surely, but the juvenile part is only your value judgement.It looks to me as if the responses he elicits are revealing. But as is usual strategy when people don't approve of the message, they go after the messenger. And in reference to your post with 4 points, only number 1 has any validity whatsoever, and coincidentally the only one with a scientific article attached. And while it appears a human embryo somehow miraculously chooses it's sex around 6 weeks, maybe the real answer is we don't understand the mechanism whereby it does it, and it's really done at conception w/o us understanding how. N 2 is absurd from an anthropological perspective, much less genetic sequencing, easily exposed by comparing an australian aborigine to a european. And 3 and 4 devolve into absurdist comedy. But of course, shooting the messenger is the easiest strategy.

  • @LPowell: Would you prefer interviewers to not ask provocative questions? Isn't asking provocative questions an essential part of their job?

  • @karl I evaluated the interviewer's talking points in a post above. I think he accurately identified himself as a juvenile provocateur.

  • "unisex-toilets" would be the most rational thing anyway, also saving lots of resources.

    Well, for male ones it will be opposite - more resources :-) And also not so handy.

  • @LPowell: Just because the interviewer supports some organization which promotes irrational anti-gay politics doesn't mean he doesn't have a point at all.

    It's harmless to tolerate people living out personas as long as this is of no significant disadvantage to others. Some adult claiming to be a 7-year old is certainly not harmless if the answer to "If I wanted to enroll in a 1st grade class, should I be allowed to?" was "yes".

    Think of some president who one day starts to claim he's actually some deity born in a mere mortal. Can we agree this would also be significantly dangerous and would require some serios "intolerance" for his claim?

    I for one cannot understand the turmoil regarding marginal stuff like gender-specific toilets that recently filled US-media - to me "unisex-toilets" would be the most rational thing anyway, also saving lots of resources. But it seems that some double-X-chromosome people feel frightened by visitors with XY-chromosomes in what they regard "their" gender-specific toilet, and that fear is real regardless of how little it is justified.

  • @maxr

    Huh, it can go wrong.

    I think tomorrow will be time to close topic.

  • @kurth youuuu, you devil forshiper, arrre you saying that individual me was betterr then collective social business of me?!!!
    Kidding aside, I don't have kids, I'm not allowed, but I do love kids, they are the greatest teachers. There's this friend's couple that have 3 kids 18, 11, 3. From scratch they had always provide their children very different education, different values of what's "normal" and the kind of laid back context (some say careless/lazy) one often sees hippy parents raising their children with. When the second was borned, they even went to live in Brazil's jungle for some years.

    Among common friends there was this, not even concern, more like a doubt about how would the children mingle afterwards into more "standard" school, jobs, life; about their social skills and common ground with others, about the possibility of them being prey of evil natured people and that sort of stuff. I dunno 'bout others but personally I never mentioned any of those with the couple as I fully trusted their judgment and could also see with my own eyes, the kids were healthy, and not only physically.

    Fast forward some years and at a party I meet with the oldest (almost 18) and a gay friend of his. The last time I saw him was at his mother funeral some years back; she was consumed very fast to a second cancer, previously she had managed. After spending some time together (couldn't stop mentioning the pleasure of buying him a beer) any remaining doubts were forever gone. He talked about "normal" teenage things, parties, girls, drugs, etc.

    But these children, they're not normal, they're the sweetest, most joyous, attentive and curious little people I've met.
    It is just a story, a real one.

    As good as it might look in the films, I believe revenge takes you nowhere, same as bashing, same as being a selfless prick. I do agree with you about practicing with the example, about actions and not appearance... but I was not always like this, I had piercings, many earrings, addiction problems and zero consciousness of what surrounded me. My own troubled childhood may or may not explain these and other things, nevertheless I'm the same person =)

  • @LPowell....absurdity, like water always runs downhill !

    @maxr....in search of themselves ? Check out the parrot man, or the dragon lady ! They're in nirvana. And your first comment was really "you"...and then socialization stepped in. You were alot better as "you" ! And I've got kids....16 & 18. You might be surprised at how close that sample was to reality. When I see young people all tattooed up, or with dozens of piercings all over their face...I tell my sons that those kid's parents didn't love them enough. That's why they want the attention they didn't get at home ! Distinguish yourself by your actions, not by your appearance. And finally the two paths really do converge at the same point. When the pursuit of individual happiness conflicts with our belief system, it becomes destructive , and the social fabric begins to tear. So where will it end, if we as humans are being forced by shaming to be accepting of everyones desire for "happiness" ? That's what you see in the video of the kids....they've been socially shamed, so they deny obvious truth.

    @shian....you deserve all the political rights we all have, even as they diminish equally to us all. An artist can dress how they wish, but tolerance is proportional to talent.

  • @kurth jajaj ja I knew that wouldn't scape the scrutiny of your sharp eagle eyes, ja ja ja. Yes, despite it's heartfelt and honest my comment is borderline righteous drunk preacher asshole; though no hypocrite in any way. There =)

    Now, I think my friend that you're putting two different things in the same bag. One is your legitimate concern for the future of humans (just a species) and other is THE LIMIT as individuals on how "far" are we allow to go in pursuit of happiness. And though there might be a relation, former does depend on much much more than later and "far" would always be the deviation to (and measured against) the majority norm.

    As an optimist I agree that we are doomed alright, I visualise earth going happy enough without the flies. Those kids are lost it's true but humanity (included) is quite lost too. The problem I have is that those kids in the video are a targeted sample to illustrate a pre-stablished discourse in quite a manipulative fashion, they don't by any means represent all kids on this planet.

    Despite we all strive for happiness/peace/realisation/success/whatnot it seems most people are unhappy and lost... and still that same people are telling other individuals they only can go as far in pursuit of their own happiness... and you see, for me if we were ants, that social (group) concern/self-limiting would probably work, the kind of ants that make lifeboats of themselves to protect the species; but we're not, we're much weaker, uglier, stupidly complex, individualistic (yet group dependant) and emotionally unstable. So (and stealing VK's words) unless you have serious medically proven brain issue, I believe that ideally happier individuals would surely contribute to a happier group - long ago someone told me my freedom doesn't end where yours begins, my freedom is (depends on) your freedom - in praxis there are too big forces that want individuals lost, unhappy... powerless

    BTW

    Pity doesn't convince me to not look at the larger issue....which is transhumanism

    1 - I feel no pity whatsoever for Shian, but a strong empathy for any individual in the search of his/her true nature
    2 - humans stopped to be humane a long time ago

  • Let's examine the arguments posed by the FPI's interviewer from a scientific basis.

    "If I told you I was a woman, what would your response be?"

    Every human fetus begins life with both male and female formative organs, either of which may subsequently develop into maturity, producing individuals whose reproductive organs are predominately male or predominately female.

    The human brain also develops to some extent along sexually dimorphic paths, which may differ from the path taken by an individual's reproductive organs. That phenonemon could easily account for the congenital occurance of transgender identities among a significant percentage of human beings:

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan/

    "If I told you I was Chinese what would your response be?"

    There is no scientific basis for dividing humanity into separate "races", it is nothing more than a concoction of social myths based on superficial cosmetic markers. Genetic variation within each so-called race far exceeds any supposed genetic distinctions between races:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/22/science/do-races-differ-not-really-genes-show.html?pagewanted=all

    "If I told you I was seven years old, what would your response be?"

    The interviewer shows unmistakeable signs of puberty. Aside from rare cases of premature aging, the onset of human puberty comes no earlier than eight years old:

    http://www.healthofchildren.com/P/Puberty.html

    "If I wanted to enroll in a 1st grade class, should I be allowed to?"

    Judging from the interviewer's contentious passive-aggressive behavior, resocialization among peers at an earlier stage of interpersonal development might prove therapeutic.

  • I believe it's ...

    The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts

    @Tron ... that's why I called attention to "body integrity disorder" in my first post. thanks for having the guts to step in.

  • The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

    Bertrand Russell

  • Normally I would fall back on my libertarian ideology and say simply - "I don't give a fuck how someone else chooses to live out their life."

    I really wish participating in society could be that easy.

    Unfortunately, I recently heard about a woman who decided she was actually a "blind person living in a seeing person's body."

    http://fox6now.com/2015/10/01/woman-desperate-to-be-blind-had-drain-cleaner-poured-in-eyes-now-happier-than-ever/

    This woman was actually able to get a psychologist to help her burn her eyes out with drain cleaner. This "doctor" was not at all conflicted because her patient's happiness was, well - the most important thing to consider!!

    I'm sorry, but that was just one step too damn far for me to take. I now find myself actively questioning the psychological norms of our evolving society and the "righteous" people who voraciously defend them.

    To those who come out in support of helping other people disable themselves because you think their happiness is all that matters, you should look in the mirror because you are probably as mentally ill as the person who you claim to support.

    I realize that the story is mostly off topic here and am in no way equating Shian's own life choices to that of the trans-blind woman, but my point is that people like @kurth should have every right to question the actions and motivations of our self-declared, cutting-edge, social engineering "professionals."

  • Once I worked with mentally disabled children for a year. The first day was culture shock. Not so much inside the facility, but after work, when I walked out into the real world...and saw that just about everyone we call normal exhibited the same symptoms.

  • those young people are mentally disabled...retarded, I would say...and this phenomenon is spreading.

    Until you have serious medically proven brain issue it is very hard to find "mentally disabled". But very easy to find people with lack of certain information.

  • @LPowell ... obviously they have a political agenda...just like your link source. Doesn't disqualify the obvious fact that, if representative of today's youth, those young people are mentally disabled...retarded, I would say...and this phenomenon is spreading.

  • Some background on the "Family Policy Institute":

    http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201202030004

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