Trans-Torials!
A collection of bite-sized educational cards for the cis folks in your life
“What do you think it means to be trans?” I ask my class. An unusual question to ask, for sure, given that it’s a technical writing class, but today we’re learning about charts and graphs. It happens to be Trans Day of Visibility, so I’ve taken the opportunity to do the class using real-world charts and graphs about what it means to be trans, as a double-whammy chance. I love opportunities to teach on two things at the same time.
“Oh, I know this one!” one student says. “It means that you’ve gotten the surgery.” There’s a bit of an echoing silence in the room for a moment. I’m trans, and out to them, and it seems that everybody' in the room, including the student, has realized that they’ve just said aloud what they think is under my skirts. And that that’s maaaaaaybe not the best thing to say out loud.
“Nope, but I definitely know how you got there,” I say cheerily, as though I hadn’t noticed the implication. “Big surgeries are really expensive, like five or six digits expensive, and that sort of surgery is definitely a big surgery. Do you all think it’d be right to say a person wouldn’t be allowed to be themselves if they just couldn’t afford something like that?”
A rumble of assorted “‘Course not”’s and similar answers. A lot of these students are working their way out of generational poverty. They know better than anyone that identity can’t be locked behind a bank account.
“Anybody else want to take a stab at it?” I ask. A brief beat, as they think.
“It means they’re living as the other gender, so if you were born a man, you’re living as a woman,” another student says, gesturing at me.
“That’s a good answer,” I say with a smile, “But what about nonbinary people? Folks who aren’t either a man or a woman?” There’s a nonbinary student in the class, who I’m very careful to not look at as I say this. Another rumble of low discussion as they process the question.
“Yeah, my best friend growing up was nonbinary,” a third student says. “They said that not all nonbinary people call themselves trans, but they can.” You wouldn’t think a room of students from rural Michigan would be as comfortable with gender diversity as they are, but here we are.
“Well, what is it, then?” asks the first student, and I’m so glad they were the one to ask.
“Believe it or not, your answer used to be right, which is why you had it. Until 1994, that was the literal, medical definition.” A slight fudging of the truth, since the world used “transsexual” back then, but not one that matters. The student straightens in their seat a little, and I gesture at the second student before continuing, “And your answer was the one that replaced it, until a little after 2001.” Surprise on their face, but pleased surprise.
“Believe it or not, the answer is simple: someone wants to live as another gender than they were assigned when they were born,” I say.
“That’s it?” someone says, surprise clear in their voice. I don’t quite see who.
“That’s it,” I say with a smile, and turn back to the graph, behind me, that shows the size of the trans population in the US.
What are we even talking about here?
One of the hard parts about talking to cis people about trans issues is just how far the distance is between what the scientific, psychological, and trans communities know and what the general public thinks that they know. Honestly, a lot of the trouble we face as a community these days is from misconceptions and myths—not the big, scary stuff thrown at us by people who actively hate us, obviously, but the little everyday aggressions and microaggressions. The family members who ask crappy questions about our genitals. The bosses who wonder aloud about what bathrooms it’s right for us to use. The worried parents, afraid for their kids’ safety.
It’s transphobia, of a sort. But it’s from people who are scared and confused, not from people who actively hate.
And we can change that sort of thing.
But at the same time, there aren’t really very many good resources out there that are the proverbial Trans 101 that aren’t five-thousand-word avalanches of information—a crime I myself am guilty of—and which scare people off right from the get-go. And there’s even fewer of these things that are accessible offline, in a print format, or that could be presented as a slideshow, for a roomful of curious people.
I think I can help with that a little.
Trans-Torials
The following seven resources are what I’m calling “Trans-Torials”—visually delightful guides to some of the very, very most basic and common questions and misconceptions that people have about being trans right now. If what we’ve got available to us, collectively, right now is “Trans 101,” these are meant to be a sort of “Trans 091,” to help people catch up a little so they understand what folks are getting at with the Trans 101 stuff.
Each of these files is meant to be portable, so you can share them around as much as you’d like. The longest of them is eight small pages long, and built to be easily accessible even for deeply skeptical and unfamiliar readers.
Finally, all of these Trans-Torials are licensed under the Creative Commons 4.0 By-CC-ND license. That means that you can take them, share them, and reupload them wherever you want to—just no commercialization or modification, and you have to credit me. I kinda have to take that line because it’s my literal face on these things.
What the heck does this stuff mean?
This trans-torial covers the basic vocabulary that we use these days to talk about gender. It’s not everything and it’s not meant to be, but it’s enough to get your grandma conversant enough in the language to read Trans 101 stuff.
What’s up with all this gender stuff?
This trans-torial covers the scientific difference between sex and gender, and why scientists are certain they’re completely different things.
What the heck is gender dysphoria?
This trans-torial explains what gender dysphoria is, what it feels like, and why we treat it the way we do.
Why are there so many trans people?
Written for the folks who are wondering why trans people seem to suddenly be all over the place, this trans-torial aims to walk folks through some of the recent changes, and why they’re nothing to be freaked out about.
But… There were no signs. Why not?
Folks expect there to be Signs That We Were Trans, and are usually really confused that they weren’t there. This trans-torial is meant to help them understand why there maybe weren’t, and that that’s not a big deal at all.
Trans people, bathrooms, and the law
A focused take on anti-trans legislation, this trans-torial explains not just why bathroom and changing-room laws are a bad idea, but that they directly hurt cis people too.
With a little luck, these trans-torials will help you connect a little bit more with the people in your life, or the lives of your friends and family members, a little more deeply. Education can’t solve all of our woes as a community, but I’ve found that a surprising number of people mostly just need to be heard and validated in their insecurities and misconceptions around us. The backfire effect is a thing, after all.
And I, for one, would rather live in a world where people can grow and change when they’re given the chance.
Backgrounds for transtorials designed by starline / Freepik.
Oh my gosh. Thank you. Education is the only thing that can beat lies and misinformation and this has to help. Thank you.
Sexual health librarian here. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Thank you so much 💖💖💖