Transgender Flourishing Rules: the First Six

[VickySGV]

Dr. Dana Jennett Bevan is an analyst and compiler of actual science and medicine research on being Transgender.  I have met her at several conferences over the past 10 years and have enjoyed her observations on being Trans (herself) and the community.  All of her points are something to take to heart.  I will keep my eye out for her next 6.

 

https://tgforum.com/transgender-flourishing-rules-the-first-six/?fbclid=IwAR1D8B19OsfVppP9KByhhYQQ17QatChCKem5tinIL76fFiKG3SO_jBOBwTs

[Audrey]

Thank you for sharing, Vicky. The notion in point #4 that being transgender is a pathology is a belief that stayed with me for many years, and surely delayed my seeking the right kind of help and deciding to transition.

 

Love,

~Audrey.

[Carolyn Marie]

I like this.  I like all of her six points but disagree with the details of some.  For example, #5 talks about being entrepreneurial and industrious.  That's all well and good, but a great many trans people have been marginalized, losing jobs and careers, or not being able to find either while young.  Too many are underemployed.  But I don't want to nitpick; the basic idea is a sound one. 

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

Carolyn Marie

[Mx.Drago]

Many Thanks for this, it definitely focuses and gives direction towards motivating progress inclusiveness. Fates and all divine grant us fortune and fruit on our journey and mission.??️

[KayC]

Love this!  Thank you @VickySGV!

I think #1 is the hardest for me, until I come Out.  @Carolyn Marie I agree with your point, but I also take #5 a little less by the title and more like ..  be yourself, have dreams and goals and don't be afraid to make efforts to achieve them.

 

Its a nice roadmap of reminders and affirmation, though.

[magical realism]

I have mixed feelings about this article, on one hand I can get behind her ideas about general well being and mental health and being a responsible advocate and citizen. On the other I feel like her politics kind of lacks optics to the situation were all in right now, and perhaps kind of has a misplaced belief in the establishment. Politicians are not your friends,I guess I mean to say. But what do I know.

[VickySGV]

As I said above, I have been in Dr. Bevan's seminars and even had lunch with her and she is a scientist's scientist to be sure. 

 

13 hours ago, KayC said:

I also take #5 a little less by the title and more like ..  be yourself, have dreams and goals and don't be afraid to make efforts to achieve them.

 

Kay C has caught the real meaning of what the person I met and dialogued with has said about being Entrepreneurial, it is not about work or doing business, sell yourself and set yourself up for success not failure which is what Dr. Bevan has done with being Trans.  Her company deals with making Trans research available to scholastic and professional research.  It was her "Lemonade Stand" when I first met her 11 years ago getting started when she was starting out.  

 

*************************

 

2 hours ago, magical realism said:

Politicians are not your friends,I guess I mean to say.

 

For this one: It is along lines of seeing the politicians have accurate information in understandable form for the Politico's. I have 40% of a 2 TB portable HD with my references to VALID Trans health and safety issues and about 3 versions of a Trans 101 presentation and film clips of Trans people in daily life, and oh yes, a couple doing the most political thing any of us can do:  VOTE.

 

Politicians can become our allies or as we have seen they are our  peers and siblings in the number of Trans individuals who have become "politicians" during the last election cycle.  I have spoken to a goodly number of local and state representatives and show them how I and others of our community can be sources of information, influence and power for them or against them.  It is not best buddy thing or good colleague like I am with the staff here but it can be a working relationship that makes life better for all of us. I can't say much now, but I know something in the works that is a bit sneaky, but beneficial beyond just Trans friends.  The ones I know are fully aware that I am capable of informing their opponents of a bad smell in the wood pile. This past election I voted by official drop off box at my local civic center, but for the last several years I have a Trans Pride shirt or two that I have proudly worn into the polling places and been smiled at by the election supervisors.  

[Sally Stone]

Well, after reading Dr. Bevan's first six rules, they all resonate with me.  I follow most of them and as a social transwoman, many of the practices she is espousing, have worked extremely well for me.

 

1. Be visible and personable.  Of course, I want people to meet my feminine persona and when I'm personable, it is generally returned.

 

2.  Be rational.  Life isn't perfect so there will be bumps and potholes along the way.  If I didn't accept these, life would never live up to my expectations.

 

3. Be individualistic.   I am my own woman and I don't waste time trying to make myself into someone I'm not.

 

4. Resist pathologization.  I'm not broken, so I don't need to be fixed.  Additionally, I don't feel the need to align myself with someone else's concept of what being trans means.

 

5.  Be industrious.  To me, this isn't about being an entrepreneur, it has more to do with manipulating the world around me to suit my needs.  Waiting around for someone else to rescue me from my woes will only result in a very long wait.  I want to live my femme life on my own timeline.

 

6.  Exercise your freedoms.  Quite simply this means I can be who I want to be when and where I want.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much in step with these rules.   

[nympheanelumbo]

This actually makes sense to me, and honestly, it makes me feel more authentic just by reading it, like. . Someone gets it, you know? I've spent a year trying to figure out what "being trans" means to me, and having people ask me that same question without actually having any answers myself, makes things difficult. But seeing this actually clears things up in a new light for me personally. Knowing I can "be who I want whenever," past all the judgement, makes me happy. Gives validation I never received before. 

[rainflower]

I'm interested to know the next 6 too.

[VickySGV]

1 hour ago, AwesomeClaire said:

I'm interested to know the next 6 too.

I am keeping my eye out for them!!