Thread by @QuinceMountain

People wonder why I'd want to appear--especially appear naked--on an unscripted documentary series (aka "Reality TV"), when #trans people have had so many negative experiences in the media, our stories given shallow treatments and exploited for dramatic effect. 1/?

But if I'm honest, I wasn't drawn to appearing on @NakedAndAfraid despite the nudity requirement--it was an alluring feature.

I felt, as a trans guy, that stripping down would be a relief, a way to get it over with & just finally say the unsayable, widely and publicly.

So often our bodies are under scrutiny, spoken or unspoken -- whether at work, at the doctor's office, around the family of a love interest, etc.

People seem to think your junk is their business. But always on their terms.

We are supposed to apologize for our bodies. This is something expected of women, and perhaps even more so for trans people.

When I was maybe 8 or 9, older boys knocked me to the street, held me down, sprayed shaving cream on me, stole my bicycle and threw it in a creek. A neighbor girl ransacked our house & put hate letter in mailbox. Later, someone set the car I drove to school on fire, totaling it.

These experiences were formative, and they were meant to keep me in line.

This stuff still goes on and policies are being made to encourage more of it.

Trans people are in the news all the time for the things that are done to us.

To be an openly trans person doing something beyond transitioning, dating, losing a job, or being harassed in a bathroom—to be in the public square, able to act rather than simply being acted upon—It’s a big deal.

I once proposed a book, & I was told my proposal was good, very good, but could I just add a scene where I face difficulty or harassment using the bathroom.

"But that’s not my story."

"But yes, we need something about the bathroom."

Bathroom difficulty, or it didn’t happen.

So now I'm sharing something that is a part of my story.

But what about acting? Aren’t reality shows completely fake at worst, contrived and gimmicky at best?

Well, put aside the fact–
& this is a FACT
feel free to @/fight me if you think otherwise–
that surivivalists on Naked & Afraid are expected to go outdoors without primary human shelter (clothing) & remain for 21-days w/ precious few supplies beyond what the wilderness provides…

I'm very happy to talk about acting and authenticity.

My authentic experience growing up as a trans person was one of fictional performance.

When you are raised to act as a person you are not. And when you grow up & assert yourself & you are told to hide your body, but also told that you are deceptive when you do so...

No wonder trans folks are so often portrayed as liars.

And yes, perhaps we have been deceivers—but not in the ways that you think, and almost always for our own security.

People mistrust us, whether or not they stop to think about it. This is the trans double bind.

So I have always wanted to share more of my life on my own terms. And here was a chance. The wilderness could care less about my body. And gender is relational/social, but here I would have only myself and my partner to look out for.

It’s no accident that the “sports” or athletic challenges I’m involved in include outdoor survival and mushing.

Sports are divided by gender, and my experience made most of them inaccessible.

But dogs don’t ask for ID cards, and neither does the wilderness.

I'm probably not really the 1st trans person to take on this challenge, but I’m the first to do so openly &

I feel incredibly grateful that someone gave me a partner, a good knife, and an on-call emergency medic and otherwise got the fck out of the way.

https://twitter.com/NakedAndAfraid/status/1138846059550126081?s=20

Because look what we can accomplish when people just get the fck out of the way.