Hello! Welcome to my official "As a Trans Kid" thread, which I've been meaning to write for a while. This is a discussion on my experience engaging with trans discourse online and my perspective on the empathy gap between trans kids and many people who purport to care for us 1/18
I'll start us off with a brief intro. My name's Eddie, I'm a 16-year-old transgender guy from Australia. I came out to my parents over three years ago, I am now completely socially and legally transitioned and I started hormone therapy 8 months ago 2/18
Because I have a loving family and supportive community which has allowed me a fairly smooth transition, I've had more energy than many trans kids to speak publically for trans rights. Over the past few months I've become a lot more engaged in trans discussions online, 3/18
which has developed my perspective on a lot of things. This thread is called "As a Trans Kid" because that's ended up feeling like my catch phrase after wading into a lot this discourse. The reason I say it so often is due to the underconsideration of the perspectives- 4/18
-of actual transgender children and teenagers even when the discussion is unequivocally about us. I give my thoughts "As a Trans Kid" in hopes of inspiring empathy and consideration of my experience when it's my experience that's up for discussion. 5/18
Now into the nitty-gritty. It's very transparent to me that many of the discussions around trans kids cloak blatant prejudice with apparent concern for children. It can get sort of surreal to be on the receiving end of this supposed concern while also seeing the true agenda 6/18
Seeing people purport to have only my best interests at heart while also advocating for the defunding of vital support services for trans kids among many, many other things is a pretty strange flavour of dissonance 7/18
I am a child, but I am also transgender. So when you claim to be advocating for children but display open prejudice towards transgender people, it's not me who you're advocating for. Apologies if I seem ungrateful but I assure you that I do not consider you on my side 8/18
When I do confront people who participate in this phony concern, they're kind of put in a slightly sticky situation as they really only have two options. When I openly disagree with them based on my experience, they can either back down or they can condescend and gaslight me 9/18
This is sometimes when the curtain drops, as a lot of the time their care for trans kids doesn't extend to trans kids who directly oppose them. I have been openly misgendered and mocked by adults who claim to only have my best interests at heart even when ridiculing me 10/18
Another popular tactic is gaslighting. As in, telling trans kids that we don't have the mental or emotional capacity to speak or ourselves or know what's best for us. This is the kind of thing that can get to me at first before I realise how ridiculous the thought that- 11/18
-some stranger on the internet could know my experience better than me is. When my experience is affirmed by my family, psychiatrist, councillor and doctors as well as the wider trans community the perspective of a random low-res icon twitter user doesn't hold much weight 12/18
Now I'm gonna take a step back and really try and convey how a wide empathy gap has lead to many people having tunnel vision when it comes to the experiences of trans kids. Because when these people spend so long discussing trans kids without actually listening to- 13/18
-and activity empathizing with us, they lose sight of us as human beings. I am transgender, but I'm also a kid. I'm 16, I just graduated year 10 and enrolled in college. Next year I'm majoring in sociology and english and I also love drawing and photography 14/18
Last week I went to the cricket with my Dad, next week I'm going camping with my family. I listen to a lot of music, I go to festivals, I hang out with friends. This is my life, being trans is part of it, but it's not all that I am 15/18
So when I'm reduced to a pawn in an agenda which seeks to stir up prejudice against my own community, I do feel compelled to speak for myself. Many people see trans kids as a vague concept within online discussions, my goal is to make these people see us as humans, kids 16/18
Being in a loving environment and having access to support and care has allowed me to see myself beyond being trans. Trans people, especially trans kids, can have no hope of living a fulfilling life when us and those who support us are under constant malicious scrutiny 17/18
If there's one thing I want you to take away from this thread, it's that you should listen to trans kids actively and honestly. Without trying to contradict or speak over our experiences. I promise you that you have a lot to gain from listening in good faith. 18/18
Thank you so much for reading, sorry if this is somewhat scattered this is really my first time writing something like this. Hope you got something from it regardless :)
