My Transgender Sweet Sixteen
A list of positives for being transgender
I originally wrote “My Sweet 16” as a companion to my first article on Medium, “The Transgender Pain” or simply “The Pain”. Someone challenged me to come up with a list of positives for being transgender. At first it was difficult but as I thought about it more, the list created itself. Without further ado, here it is:
My Transgender Sweet Sixteen
We get to:
1) really know ourselves in a way few people do
2) find out who loves us no matter what
3) find out who our real friends are
4) get to meet new friends
5) have new social experiences
6) understand both sides of gender
7) see the world in way that few people experience
8 ) see sex in a different way
9) try on new clothes and fashions
10) use a different bathroom, hopefully
11) understand people better, with more empathy
12) finally have internal peace after a lifetime of battling
13) reinvent ourselves and the adventure of getting a fresh start
14) discover exciting physical and emotional changes
15) be accepted by others as just one of the girls or one of the boys finally
16) feel the sheer joy every day of just being the real you
I hope this list makes others feel better and please add to this list because I know there is more than just my 16, a lot more.
Warmly,
Emma Holiday
Thank you for reading my work.
Please also read:
Writers note: If you have read any of my writings on Medium you will have noticed a definite theme: the incredible pain of gender dysphoria and all the difficult aspects of just being transgender.
My writing has three specific goals:
1. Writing is my therapy. I have a very limited outlet for my thoughts so I write to find a way to process the most profound experience in my life. I need to understand and I need to accept myself to move forward.
2. Being transgender, for me, is a very lonely existence and if I can share some of the things that I feel and think as I go through the process of transitioning with others who are transgender and, in some way, lessen their pain and sense of loneliness, then all of this public exposure of my personal thoughts is not a waste.
3. I write to help cisgender people understand that all trans people want is to be simply understood, accepted and treated as a normal person. We are.
