A PowerPoint presentation, titled  Mythbusting: Transgender Truths,  given by Bernadette Barton, Meg Akers, and Stephanie Perry at the Justice Festival held on the campus of Morehead State University on October 11, 2023

Akers, Meg

Barton, Bernadette

Perry, Stephanie

English

Morehead State University

Mythbusting: Transgender TruthsDr. Bernadette BartonMeg AkersStephanie Perry What does transgender mean?What does non-binary mean?Do you know anyone who is transgender?Why bother?Why bother?Why bother?● Bans all gender-affirming medical care for trans youths;● Requires doctors to detransition minors in their care;● Prohibits conversations around sexual orientation or gender identity in school for students of all grades;● Requires school districts to forbid trans students from using the bathroom tied to their gender identities;● Allows teachers to refuse to use the pronouns a student identifies with.SB 150Grace, woman, 52, whiteI knew that if I let these other things about myself out, it was going to basically be a death sentence. One time I started sashaying like a girl would, walking, and my father saw it and he lost it on me: screaming at me to “Never do that again! That's not how boys do things.” So I realized that that could not be seen by anybody. That it was absolutely wrong to let that out. That is the day that I started absolutely suppressing and denying the fact that this existed with me.  Men aren’t monsters but I am because I am stuck in this wrong body.“”MYTHSTransgender people are dangerous to society.02Transgender people are new.01People regret transitioning to another gender.04Children are being recruited and hurt by transgender people.03TRANS PEOPLEARE NEWMYTH 01Transgender people have existed for as long as people have existedPublic Universal Friendb. 1752 Mary Jonesb. 1803Albert Cashierb. 1843Grace - a Spiritual dimensionWhat's going on is I have to find some way that I can exist. Cause something is out of whack, because this female entity that was always inside me, my own true self, even though I denied it and suppressed it and did everything I could to keep it away from ever revealing itself, it would sneak out.   It was ethereal.  It was dream-like. You know when you wake you have fragments of a dream? That's what it was like inside of me all the time.  It was evasive, but it was there.“”TRANS PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUSMYTH 02What have you heard?Transgender people are approximately 1% of the United States population according to the U.S. Census.Reality!● Nondiscrimination laws that allow transgender people to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity have no link to crime.● According to RAINN, 8 out of 10 sexual assaults are commited by someone who the victim knows.Reality!BATHROOMS● Transgender athletes have no unfair advantages in sports.● These policies hurt cisgender women also.○ Women with naturally high testosterone are discriminated against in national/international sports.○ Reinforces a sexist view of women as weaker than men.SPORTS● “Transgender people are over 4 times more likely to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault”Reality!November 20thMorgan, non-binary, white, 21Being transgender can be very isolating. The misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic society actively suppresses the language, representation, and resources that trans kids —and trans adults— need to survive. There is so much intense, unnecessary suffering throughout the trans community where so many of us regularly feel like aliens and monsters. Almost every trans person I know has felt this way consistently at some point in our lives. I’ve even noticed a reclamation of this feeling of ‘otherness.’ On the internet, especially Tumblr and possibly Twitter, some the younger trans community has embraced this, posting obsessively about fantasy monsters like werewolves, vampires, elves, dragons, various cryptids, etc. Many of these people identify with these monsters or express attraction to these monsters, possibly due to this alienation that is common with transgender experience.“”TRANS PEOPLE GROOM CHILDRENMYTH 03Anita Bryant● Anti-gay activist from the 1970’s who started the “Save Our Children” campaign.● Her main talking points were:○ Gay people are recruiting your children to be gay.○ Gay people molest/physically hurt children.Any Similarities?This is all to incite fear.● Children are being groomed into identifying as transgender. ● Children’s bodies are being hurt irreparably by hormones and surgeries.MYTH● Talking/teaching about gender and sexuality is not turning anybody transgender. Increased social acceptance of LGBTQ identities is making it safer for people to explore their gender and sexuality.● Gender affirming treatment for minors primarily consists of Puberty Blockers, which stop puberty temporarily and are fully reversible. Surgeries are exceedingly rare under the age of 18.REALITYGrace I become a single parent. I had full custody of my daughter. I know how rare that is. Her and I have a fantastic relationship. We’ve grown very tight. Because it was a shared survival! Getting out of that marriage, getting out of that family. Then we just grew together. It's been wonderful. She handled when this came out, wonderfully. One of my greatest prides of being a parent was that she was at summer camp and all the kids were around the pool and talking, and all the kids were talking about if they were gay how their parents would react. They all were talking about negative reactions, and my daughter Katherine said, “Oh no, my dad would just tell me he was glad for me and just wanted me to be happy and healthy.” That was incredible for her to know that that would have been my response. “”PEOPLE REGRET TRANSITIONINGMYTH 04What is transitioning?● Social transition○ Coming out as transgender○ Changing one’s name or pronouns (informally and/or legally)○ Speech therapy○ Wearing different clothes or presenting differently● Medical transition○ Also referred to as Gender-Affirming Care○ Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)○ Hair removal procedures○ Gender-Affirming SurgeryThe facts of the matterMYTH REALITY● Transitioning is dangerous and hurts people.● All transgender people have to medically transition.● Gender Affirming Care is evidence-based and supported by every major medical and mental health association.● Just as there is no one way to be cis, there is no one way to be trans. Many transgender people do not medically transition.Transitioning Saves Lives - GraceTowards the end of March (2020), I can't fight this anymore. It was like a massive panic attack, an anxiety attack. I'm pacing around my house, and it's just growing bigger and bigger inside of me, and I feel like I'm about to burst at the seams. I didn't know what to do so I just put myself in the shower. I ended up curled up in a ball on the floor on the shower with water cascading over me, and me crying my fucking eyes out. Because this is that moment when I finally said "What's going on here is that I've always been a woman," and I had never even contemplated the idea of actually doing this. Or, "I have to do something about this, I don't even know what the fuck I'm going to do about this. I have to do something about this otherwise I'm just going to either go back to drinking or I'm going to kill myself... and if I go back to drinking, I'm just going to kill myself.“”The facts of the matterMYTH REALITY● It is easy to get access to gender affirming care.● Many people who transition later regret it.● There are numerous barriers to accessing gender affirming care: counselling, medical referral letters, cost, transportation. etc.● Studies estimate that 1-2% of people regret medically transitioning. Additionally, some of this regret may spring from living in a transphobic society.Who gets the most mastectomies?The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database from 2005 to 2017 found that, out of 4,170 mastectomies:Transmasculine: made up 14.8%, with a 3.7% complication rateBreast Cancer: made up 17.6%, with a 10.4% complication rateGynecomastia: made up 67.6%, with a 4.7% complication rateRegrets?TRUTHTransgender people are much more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.02Transgender people have a robust history and are not a recent trend.01Very few people regret transitioning to another gender, and it is not an easy thing to do.04Children are not being hurt by transgender people; these are the same talking points that were once used against gay people.03GraceIt’s the best my life has ever been! It's beyond compare. The shift in my artwork, as an artist, it's like night and day! There's just no comparison; it's so dark and so painful to so light and so healing. And that's the way it is. It was a click; it was a turning on of the switch and I'm living in daylight now. Sure, I get misgendered, and that sucks... but that's reality. Like, my voice isn't the best; I mean, I get it, and that's going to happen. That's where I started to develop my attitudes about, you know, living this and still being misaligned, to use your term. Because I want the world to understand me. I want the world to accept me. If I'm busy pointing at the world, I'm accusing it or saying it needs to change, I'm telling it and I'm dictating it, and nobody likes that. If I act with understanding and caring and compassion, which is what I do with all of this, people respond in such a beautiful way.“”Questions?

Mythbusting: Transgender Truths

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=justice_festival_msu

Mythbusting: Transgender Truths

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Morehead State University