Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Yo-Yo Transition

Transition, detransition, retransition that is what Dawn Ennis did last week and according to some reports, ABC News fired her for 'performance-related issues' while other reports says she requested medical leave but was fired instead.

There are many trans-people who say that she is not trans or that she gives us a bad name, I say that this proves more than anything else that she has “gender dysphoria” which is a conflict between a person's physical gender and the gender he or she identifies as. She is struggling to find her gender identity, and there is no easy or right way to do it.

In the New Yorker she is quoted as saying,
"I am transgender," says an unequivocal Ennis now. "Yes, there was a time beginning in August 2013 that despite being female I opted to present publicly as male ... The reasons for this are complex and a source of great distress for both myself and for my family. Unfortunately, my change in presentation, and my later decision to publicly acknowledge that I had resumed my transition and to once again present as myself in the workplace, were almost immediately followed by meetings with corporate managers about the future of my employment with Disney/ABC." 
Part of the Standard of Care is that you have to live for a full year in your true gender before you can have surgery, there is a reason for that, and it is not just to make sure you are transsexual. It is also to see if you can handle the stresses of the transition and there is also no rule that you only get one shot at it.

For some people there is tremendous stress of not living in their true gender but at the same time there incredible societal pressure not to transition and this conflict creates even more stress. That is one reason why over 40 percent of trans-people attempted suicide sometime in their lives.

She goes on to say,
"The issues of gender identity and transgender rights are very much in the news right now, and I can understand that to most people, who have never questioned their gender, this must be confusing and even strange. Imagine then how hard it is then to be living it, and having to do so publicly," says Ennis. "I have urged friends who are activists in the transgender community to not make matters worse and to await the outcome of our negotiations."
So when I hear someone saying that Dawn Ennis is not transgender I hear that as a form of “lateral hostility” they are trying to separate her from “us” …I’m/we’re not like that, we are transgender she is not.

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