toastykitten (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
toastykitten) wrote2008-05-03 09:32 pm
toastykitten) wrote2008-05-03 09:32 pm
Entry tags:
transgeneration
Just watched the first episode of a multi-part documentary on four trans college students. So far, it's really good.
It's a very diverse mix of kids they followed, and the differences in their openness, sense of confidence, and abilities to be honest were very different.
It's a very diverse mix of kids they followed, and the differences in their openness, sense of confidence, and abilities to be honest were very different.
Raci is a Filipino, deaf, poor male-to-female transsexual and attending college in Los Angeles on a scholarship. She actually reminded me a lot of my cousin Kaitlin, and some of my female relatives who haven't been in the U.S. that long. Especially with the emphasis on acting very, very, stereotypically "girly" - kind of ditzy even though she's smart, and acting all scared or insecure when she has no reason to be. (I find that behavior annoying, but at the same time I kind of empathize and know where it's coming from.) She isn't open with most people about the fact that she is trans, but - I don't know how to phrase this correctly - she's really aware that she's pretty and uses it to get attention from men, but she freaks out about how they'll react if they find out. It looks like one of the upcoming episodes talks about how she looks for illegal hormones, which worries me. In her one-on-one interviews, she's constantly contradicting herself about how she wants to be seen, and how she identifies.
Lucas attends Smith College, which is a traditional women's college campus, and he identifies as male. When the documentary starts, he's decided, along with his friend, another female-to-male transsexual, to opt out of transgender activism for the year, because he's tired of being the spokesperson for transgender issues. I wish he would quit smoking.
TJ is an Armenian student who is a female-to-male transsexual who grows a weird goatee thing that I'd have to say is not flattering. He seems really self-assured and confident, and seems to be involved with just about every club on campus. (This part edited.) I rewatched this part of the episode, and he describes Andy, another female-to-male transgender student as "someone in my life". Andy describes himself as "a revolutionary anarchist" and he shows up at a lot of protests and often has to be bailed out by his peers, including TJ. TJ does not think he's very responsible at all, and that he's not as anti-racist as he thinks he is. He mentions that his mom refuses to speak to him about the issue and thinks that it's Western influences that are corrupting him.
Gabbie is a male-to-female transsexual attending college in Colorado. I kept wanting to yell at the screen to stand up straight. Anyway, watching her was kind of like watching The Office - cringe-inducing. She seems to want a lot of affection, and doesn't seem to be able to read the cues from her female friends about what sort of touching and how much touching is appropriate, even when her friends are yelling at her to knock it off. Part of it I would attribute to her nerdiness - she's got anime posters up everywhere and she plays DDR endlessly. But I think a hammer wouldn't be enough to get through her about the right way to express affection. In this episode we find out that her parents are willing to pay for gender reassignment surgery.
Anyway, watching this episode was pretty fascinating. I was just kind of amazed at how together most of these kids were - at that age I had nowhere near the confidence of any of them. It's just interesting to see how these kids came from different backgrounds and how they're coping with school, social pressures, familial responsibilities, etc.
So I TiVoed the rest of the series, but if you don't have the Sundance Channel you can buy the series on DVD.
Lucas attends Smith College, which is a traditional women's college campus, and he identifies as male. When the documentary starts, he's decided, along with his friend, another female-to-male transsexual, to opt out of transgender activism for the year, because he's tired of being the spokesperson for transgender issues. I wish he would quit smoking.
TJ is an Armenian student who is a female-to-male transsexual who grows a weird goatee thing that I'd have to say is not flattering. He seems really self-assured and confident, and seems to be involved with just about every club on campus. (This part edited.) I rewatched this part of the episode, and he describes Andy, another female-to-male transgender student as "someone in my life". Andy describes himself as "a revolutionary anarchist" and he shows up at a lot of protests and often has to be bailed out by his peers, including TJ. TJ does not think he's very responsible at all, and that he's not as anti-racist as he thinks he is. He mentions that his mom refuses to speak to him about the issue and thinks that it's Western influences that are corrupting him.
Gabbie is a male-to-female transsexual attending college in Colorado. I kept wanting to yell at the screen to stand up straight. Anyway, watching her was kind of like watching The Office - cringe-inducing. She seems to want a lot of affection, and doesn't seem to be able to read the cues from her female friends about what sort of touching and how much touching is appropriate, even when her friends are yelling at her to knock it off. Part of it I would attribute to her nerdiness - she's got anime posters up everywhere and she plays DDR endlessly. But I think a hammer wouldn't be enough to get through her about the right way to express affection. In this episode we find out that her parents are willing to pay for gender reassignment surgery.
Anyway, watching this episode was pretty fascinating. I was just kind of amazed at how together most of these kids were - at that age I had nowhere near the confidence of any of them. It's just interesting to see how these kids came from different backgrounds and how they're coping with school, social pressures, familial responsibilities, etc.
So I TiVoed the rest of the series, but if you don't have the Sundance Channel you can buy the series on DVD.