I know me

I’m not the first person to notice that others tend to do a lot of speaking for transsexual people, or members of any minority group, for that matter. It really hit home, though, when multiple people told my partner that watching a recent Oprah episode about transsexual people (I’ll use the word transsexual, even if Oprah won’t) really helped them understand me. This was strange for a couple of reasons. First, I wasn’t on Oprah. Second, I’ve actually explained myself before, often multiple times. What is it about hearing something come out of Oprah’s mouth (or a trans person on the set of her show) that suddenly makes it clear? It’s as if she’s believable, but I’m not.

As I said, that’s kinda problematic. Unlike the staff at Oprah, I won’t tell you that I was “born in the wrong body.” I’ve never understood what that meant. I even asked myself that very same question at a young age, and decided that, no, I was in fact, just me, in my body. But more to the point, I’m not sure why I can’t be considered a trusted expert on me.

None of this is to talk ill of Oprah. It’s actually great that she and others are educating the world about trans people. It’s great that more people know about me by watching her program. It’s just unfortunate, because we can’t all be on TV– among other things, there are producers and whatnot that screen out those of us whose experiences aren’t exactly what they want to hear.

This is oh-so-reminiscent of the debate over ENDA, and HRC’s refusal to help trans people lobby for themselves, as Marti Abernathy and Ethan St. Pierre point out in a recent podcast– it’s as if they know us better than we know ourselves. There’s also been plenty of concern that this has happened in academic studies of transsexuality, a view nicely summarized in a column by Joan Roughgarden.

It’s amazing what having someone famous give voice to your perspective (either directly, or through interviews with selected guests) can do to raise awareness. If only Barbara Walters would interview a poor person who works hard yet still struggles to pay bills, maybe more people would understand that poverty isn’t a choice. Then Ellen DeGeneres, Star Jones, and Stone Phillips could take on on the continued existence of people without health insurance, racism and sexism. Not that that would be a bad thing. It’s just that actually listening to the millions of people who aren’t on TV would be a lot more efficient.