Date: 2010-11-20 23:21 Security: Public xpost http://soph.livejournal.com/212623.html Tags: gender identity, link, personal, transgender day of rememberance Subject: Transgender Day of Rememberance 2010

Today was the Transgender Day of Rememberance. I forgot about this fact until just now, when here in the UK there's only about 80 minutes of it left, which I'm not proud of. But I wanted to post about it because I know there's still a lot of time left in some parts of the world. And really, even if it's not the 20th where you are, the main aim of TDOR is to promote awareness of the issue, not to get everybody to do something on one specific day.

I, as many of you already know, am transgendered myself; I'm a trans woman. A lot - and I mean a lot - of transgendered people have had their lives cut short the past year. I say a lot even though there are 'only' 27 listed (page lists causes of death and links to articles) because to me, it is a lot, and there are almost certainly a whole lot of others not listed.

None of these deaths were necessary, and they speak to a big problem in this world. We need to be able to accept people; that's all it takes. The fact that we can't even do that makes me really sad. :(

Like my friend rho (who has written her own piece on this year's TDoR), I'm public about my transgendered status. That's not to say that everybody I interact with will know, but that if it comes up or is relevant, I'll tell them about it. That's a personal choice I've made, because in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening, people need to know that we exist, and that we're not freaks; we're just normal people, like everybody else.

But I completely support those who don't want to do that, because some people don't want to be known as 'that girl who thinks she's a guy' or 'the weirdo in the skirt'. And I can't say I blame them - that sort of crap hurts. And, of course, this is speaking from a position of privilege; I have it really easy compared to a lot of others.

Yet even in the privileged world I live in, the threat to trans people is a lot greater than to cis people (cis- being the opposite to trans-). Quite frankly, it sucks in a lot of ways to be trans. No, we are most emphatically not "getting the best of both worlds", and if you think we are, let me know so I can point you to some resources and explain why that isn't the case.

But it doesn't have to be this way. You can help, by spreading the word. Let people know we exist, and explain to them why it's not okay to think of us as freaks. Don't let the deaths of transgendered people in the last year be in vain.

Our time will come.

I have a big problem.

The thing is, I think I have some sort of eating disorder. I don't have anorexia, but I do know that I'm not able to eat as much as I *should* be eating.

( Rest of entry cut for triggers )

Date: 2010-10-24 11:43 Security: Public Mood: unhappy xpost http://soph.livejournal.com/210808.html Tags: personal, short posts Subject: (no subject)

Sometimes I hate my life. :/

It's been far too long since I last posted here, and even longer since I last posted anything about myself. Mostly that's because not much of note has happened since I had to go back to live with my parents. However, recently quite a few things have happened, including easily the most important thing to date, so you all get an update!

The important thing first - things are progressing well with the GIC. A few days ago I got a letter from them to say that the Berkshire West PCT had approved the funding for the referral and wanting me to reply back to let them know if I still wanted to attend the GIC. (Apparently they get a lot of people who don't attend and don't let them know otherwise.) Needless to say, I responded to that one the same day I got it, and then about 2 days after that I got a call to confirm the address to send the appointment details to. I'm hopefully going to get that tomorrow, at which point I will have a definite appointment with the GIC, yay!

Now that this has happened, this makes moving back to Berkshire much more important. So it's time to start looking in earnest again. (I hadn't really been actively doing so before now.)

Secondly, the4thcircle and I are going to be meeting up this weekend for filk-related purposes. More specifically, we're going to be basically transcribing music for a project of hers which I'm not sure I'm allowed to talk about, so I shall say no more on the matter! But I might not be around a lot this weekend if you want to get hold of me.

Finally, today I discovered that some kind soul had created a thread for me on the anonymous love meme that's going about. I hadn't created one for myself for various reasons, but I love that someone else did, and that it got replies! :D I will say that it makes me sad that the meme is anonymous because I'd love to know who y'all were, but I understand that it's probably not for me to ask that. ;p

And that pretty much concludes my update for the month. Most of this month has been spent in bed...

Hi, all. Yep, I'm still here.

Those of you who don't read my LJ because I'm on DW now will have missed this post from the 24th, which I posted to LJ only because DW wasn't letting me get to the Update page. (I think it was being subjected to a DDoS attack at the time.)

Fairly obviously, I really wasn't feeling good when I wrote that post. (For those who can't see it, I can add you to my LJ friends list if you want - otherwise, it was basically a whole lot of swearing, which as a rule I just Don't Do. That's how bad it was.)

I'm feeling somewhat better now, thank goodness. I might explain it later, but for now I just wanted to let you all know I'm here and safe, and apologise for worrying you guys.