Trans awareness week 2021 ............
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this annual ‘Thing’ at some point before, I mean I must’ve done right ?? or maybe not, either way, I’m doing it now. For anyone reading that doesn’t know, this happens every year in the week before the Global Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) on 20th November, TDoR is there to provide a memorial to all the victims of trans hate crimes and violence who either took their own lives or had their lives taken. This is still all too commonplace, and to be honest, there are not many trans people, if any at all out there that have not been on the receiving end of hate, aggression, physical or sexual violence, discrimination and most commonly, openly shamed and ridiculed, simply for being themselves. If I even just look at my own life and the lives of every trans person I know personally, we have all been victims of some or all of these, and sadly some amazing people I had the pleasure to have known and call friends, are no longer with us. The big question is why ?? Why is this still happening in 2021 ?? Why are people in so called progressive and educated societies still being treated in this way. I’ll tell you the simplest reason, fear, simply the fear of something they don’t understand and as such don’t accept. I mean there are lots of things I don’t understand, like why I’m trans, why someone else is gay, why someone has black hair or green eyes. Do I single them out and treat then differently ?? Of course not, how ridiculous is that ?? I mean seriously, I don’t know why I’m wired the way I am, I just know that this is me and this is my life, and I can put my hand on my heart and say, no one would ever get up one day and say ‘Hey world, I’m trans’, why the hell would anyone put themselves through this kind of treatment for fun. So, what can be done ?? in short, that’s down to the world to get on board and realise that trans people are real, transmen are men and transwomen are women, we don’t have any other agenda, other than to live normal lives and be ourselves. To get there, we need support and lots of it, we need allies, we need friends, we need people to champion the fact that just because we are not the same, we are THE SAME, we are just people. We need people to be better educated and to be aware, and there we have it, Aware !! Raising awareness is the whole point of this week, educating, informing and showing the world we are normal. But how can this be done ?? well, there’re loads of ways, in a time when even here in the UK, the scaremongers and TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) are going all out with the hate campaigns, please be that person that stands up and knocks the bullshit propaganda down with facts acceptance and facts. Please don’t stand by and let misinformation spread. Talk to people, and talk openly, talk to people like me, ask questions, there are no really bad questions, well, apart from ‘What’s in your knickers’ or any variation, its none of your business any more than its mine to ask what’s in yours ?? none of us are the ‘Panty Police’ so if you want to know something, then ask away. Go to a Trans Rights protest and show support as an ally, I can tell you one thing, you’ll get to see both sides of this life, the bit where all we want is equality and recognition and to be treated like everyone cisgender person, and the bit where those people who want to take away or supress our right to exist will spit out the hate, and try to invalidate our existence through misinformation. It doesn’t always happen but there is always a fair chance. During this trans awareness week, watch a few documentaries, and I don’t mean Caitlin Jenner, she is real and her life is real and it’s as valid as anyone else’s. But I mean the real lives of people who don’t have that massive financial security that would ensure that if the world cut them off, they’d be fine. I mean those whose families and friends reject them, those that are forced from their jobs and the oh so many that fall into depression and despair, and those that feel their lives are so hopeless that they feel ending everything is the only option left. These are the very real things that happen when trans people try to live authentically. They don’t get multi-million pound contracts from Netflix to sell their story, and some are so desperate that they will sign up to some channel 4 documentary that ends up portraying them as something to ridicule, although these days it’s more likely that the BBC will do that as they seem to be getting on board with the anti-trans lobby and supporting some very dangerous and one sided journalism. The truth is that so many trans people are lucky to survive the fallout, keep a roof over their heads and still see their kids. I am going to add in here, that at this time, I am one of the incredibly lucky ones, in that I am in a position where I have family, I have 50/50 equal custody of my kids, I have a reasonably secure job, a fairly comfortable life and lots of really supportive and accepting friends. That said, I still have a long way to go in life, and things could change at any time. I’d really hoped that the proposed changes last year to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) would help make my life easier moving forward, but Boris and his Right Wing Cronies saw fit to pretty much ignore all the recommendations of the 2017 consultation and make a few minor administrative tweaks. Anyway, I digress, although understanding the difficulties in processes, and the shocking way that the health and welfare support system catastrophically fails to manage the ever growing number of people that need that support is another way to understand just how bad things are. Trans people are an entire sector of the population who are being failed in every possible way, you think its bad being told your e-consult appointment for your repeat prescription review is in 2 weeks, or getting a referral for a hospital appointment will be in 6 months, try being told that your first appointment after referral might be in about 5 years, but they can’t be sure as they are not taking any more referrals. That means no progress to the start of any medical support at all, don’t even throw the dice. Just keep waiting, beyond that it took your whole life so far to take that first step towards being you. Here’s another idea, start educating children, they are sponges for facts and they are not biased by Piers Morgan, JK Rowling or The Mail Online. If you are an accepting adult, an ally then set your kids off with that same mindset, add a book into the bedtime stories that gets them thinking about things a bit more, let them know its ok to ask questions, because the younger generations feel more comfortable to be more open about their own identities and pretty much everything. They will also likely have friends who are either gender diverse or maybe even transgender. Remember, children aren’t born with any binary opinions, they learn them from those who have influence over them. Being trans and a parent, I can absolutely say that as I am someone who accepts everyone for who they are, so do my kids, without any preconceived judgments, and if every child had this attitude to everyone else around them, we really would be just a generation away from the biggest leap forward in inclusion that the world has ever seen. Then there is Hate Crime, and this is a real, its highly damaging and can be almost unseen to most people, if you can, step up and help stamp this out because here in the UK, it’s on the rise and the year on year figures are getting worse not better. Hate crimes takes many forms, and here are a few types that may surprise you where trans people are concerned. The are not all violent or sexually motivated, but its subtle things like ……… Deliberate Misgendering, calling a transwoman Sir, or using male pronouns like he or him, and vice versa for transmen. Using a Deadname, refusing to call someone by the name they choose to be known by, in a past time her name may have been Dave, but she is now known as Katie, so call her Katie, you wouldn’t allow someone to continuously use the wrong name when referring to you, would you ?? its not just rude to a trans person, its dismissive of their whole being and identity. The last thing I’m going to mention is Conversion Therapy, also known as cisgender, heteronormative indoctrination. It’s the practice of attempting to change, supress or divert someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity and shockingly this is still legal in the UK. These practices use coercive methods to try and ‘fix’ people and yet coercive control of an individual is classed as a crime. There are many practices used, psychological, psychiatric, religious and cultural and all of them seek to treat being transgender as a curable disorder. Its not, and these practices need to be stopped entirely, they don’t work, they are abusive and oppressive, and they all do more long term harm than any kind of good. There is currently a government consultation that was opened at the start of November 21 and is only running for 6 weeks until 10 December 21, the link is here https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-conversion-therapy/banning-conversion-therapy and I appeal to each and every UK resident reading this blog to visit the government website and participate in this. Only with support and the highlighting of the severity of this will this proposal pass through when it’s legislated for, when time allows (This governments quote for when they can be bothered) in 2022. Before I finish off, I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has supported and continues to support me, a huge thanks to all my friends. Without all of you in my life, I couldn’t be the person I am today, I couldn’t step up and speak out. Finally thanks so much for taking the time to read this and I would be happy to receive any comments or feedback that you may have. There are lots more posts on here as well. Just check out the archives and, if you would like to follow me, that would make me very happy. Just click on the social media links below to add, follow and like my feeds and pages. Thanks again, love and hugs to all. Sophie xxxx Facebook www.facebook.com/beingsophie Twitter www.twitter.com/sophietgirl Bloglovin www.bloglovin.com/blogs/being-sophie-17676297 Instagram www.instagram.com/sophie.smallman TikTok www.tiktok.com/@sophies045
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AuthorHi, I'm Sophie. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Please leave some comments on what you think of my blog x Archives
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