It’s the inside that counts

I am saddened to hear yet again of trans-women facing this type of abuse.

The old me is often described as ‘HORRIFIC’!

In the talks I give I often show a picture of me at 16 wearing a skirt as part of my Police Cadet Uniform. I’m lucky to be blessed with a body that easily passes as male, even before testosterone, so this image is often received with shock, and has even been described as ‘horrific’.

For most people all they can see is what they perceive as a 16-year-old male forced to wear a female Police Uniform.

Once they’ve seen this and I’ve described what life was like, they really begin to understand how disturbing it was to be a male who was forced to live as female.

This horrific situation of living life in the wrong gender, is absolutely no different for any trans person. As trans people we all begin our lives living the wrong gender and it’s just as stressful for each of us whether we pass or not.

Yet some people think it’s OK to victimize others based on their own perceived notion of what a particular gender should or should not look like. But remember gender comes from within.

Lesson

I think the lesson here is that people sometimes find it hard to imagine things they can’t see. Because my outward appearance matches me on the inside people can’t help but understand my situation. In fact they wouldn’t be able to understand me NOT transitioning!

The fact is though that I am no different to the many trans-women and trans-men who are attacked, discriminated against and abused simply for being transgender.