Um hello, those folks are marginalized too.
I've been trying to point out when transgender people are left out of relevant discussions in my social work classes. I don't think we need to make a point of mentioning every marginalized group every class, but to leave a group out completely seems pretty suspect to me.
Today I pointed out that our class on oppression (in a intro to social work practice course) had made no mention of transgender people. Sexual orientation and gender were both mentioned, but the examples given illustrated sexism and homophobia (blaming female victims of rape, a lesbian threatened with violence outside a gay club), not cissexism. I mentioned a couple ways I've seen that transgender people face oppression at various levels, including language, jokes in the media, and difficulties accessing appropriate health care. Usually the prof responds with support of students' examples, including giving another example in the same vein from his own experience, or reiterating how power plays out in the students' examples. I'm guessing he doesn't have experience with transgender people because he looked like he didn't really hear me, and moved on to speak about something else immediately. Maybe I'm reading too much into this... or maybe not. It felt good to put it out there to the room of students, at least.
It didn't feel so good to sit silently with 8 coworkers on our break at the Convention Centre and listen to them trans-bash, a conversation triggered by someone noticing drag queens at the Taboo show that was happening there that weekend. I felt really intimidated to try to speak up in this group and didn't know what to say anyway. I started to think of things later, but I wish I had a handy line ready for the next time. But then, is it worth it? I know I've gotta choose my battles wisely to conserve my energy. But I hate sitting silently. I wanted to throw up or beat someone up.
Today I pointed out that our class on oppression (in a intro to social work practice course) had made no mention of transgender people. Sexual orientation and gender were both mentioned, but the examples given illustrated sexism and homophobia (blaming female victims of rape, a lesbian threatened with violence outside a gay club), not cissexism. I mentioned a couple ways I've seen that transgender people face oppression at various levels, including language, jokes in the media, and difficulties accessing appropriate health care. Usually the prof responds with support of students' examples, including giving another example in the same vein from his own experience, or reiterating how power plays out in the students' examples. I'm guessing he doesn't have experience with transgender people because he looked like he didn't really hear me, and moved on to speak about something else immediately. Maybe I'm reading too much into this... or maybe not. It felt good to put it out there to the room of students, at least.
It didn't feel so good to sit silently with 8 coworkers on our break at the Convention Centre and listen to them trans-bash, a conversation triggered by someone noticing drag queens at the Taboo show that was happening there that weekend. I felt really intimidated to try to speak up in this group and didn't know what to say anyway. I started to think of things later, but I wish I had a handy line ready for the next time. But then, is it worth it? I know I've gotta choose my battles wisely to conserve my energy. But I hate sitting silently. I wanted to throw up or beat someone up.