When i first read that passage, i seriously wondered if somebody had reformatted a Halimede tweet. I don't want to dunk on Serrano too much here, i've taken a lot of good input out of her works, but this is one of her takes that has aged poorly. Like, seriously, i am so fed up with that view of being trans. The one that always, always without fail, centers suffering and pain and misery, that can only frame our joy and our thriving in contrast to the damage that has been inflicted on us, the one that can never let the past rest.
I am not like this. And it's beginning to become a problem.
You see, i like being in community with other trans people. I'm at home there, i've made friends there, found lovers there. It's where i belong. As long as i stay within my own bubble. As soon as i step out of it, i immediately get bombarded with unsolicited trauma dumps, dysphoriaposts out of a 4chan hellhole and a trainload full of internalized transphobia. Everything is a trigger for me. I cannot safely navigate most trans spaces anymore because the people there just drag me down. I logged in yesterday after a long hiatus and looked into the trans megathread and the first thing i had to do was block a user for her unspoilered loathing of the trans existence. I don't know how to handle this anymore. I used to be the kind of woman who writes big effortposts about self acceptance and how to figure yourself out and how to begin navigating systems of medical gatekeeping, but the further i go along in my own transition, the further i am removed from making these early experiences myself, the less i have it in me to unpack all that needs to be unpacked when baby trans yell their pain into the void.
And that's eating at me. It makes me feel guilt, it makes me feel like a failure to my community. My second puberty feels as if i get to sit at the table with the pretty, cool and popular girls, giving fashion advice to the prom queen while i'm leaving the most vulnerable trans people out in the rain, the ones that would need my experience and my encouragement the most. But when i try to be there for them, i harm myself. I can't say it otherwise, it is burning me out to expose myself to that kind of pain. It feels as if i'm walking backwards into a darkness i have escaped from. How do i deal with this? Do i retreat to my wonderland of privileged, happy women and girlthings or is there a way to move beyond the triggers and face the misery of others without becoming miserable myself? Because that's what i would need if i wanted to keep helping my siblings.
This image is sort of the liberal fascination with suffering. They love the idea that all the minorities they adulate for are little Jesus figures that can be painted with a big brush as 'so strong for overcoming adversity'. Adversity is obviously not foisted upon a group of people evenly, so its just yet another generalization against a minority group (even if the liberal themselves is a minority). And of course, no one wants to deal with adversity. And it feels like it sort of jumps over the people that weren't 'strong' enough to be the steely eyed Jesus figure.
This is an issue with a lot of trans spaces. People really need to cw / spoiler their comments. A lot of new transitioners often go full hog on trauma dumping, which they haven't been able to do before. Its important to make sure these people feel welcome, but its also important that they understand that other people have worked very hard on their traumas, and the dumping can cause those to resurface in others when they aren't expecting it.
I've been involved in the trans community for so long that its become a very obvious cycle to observe. New transitioners are very excited, emotionally and with their trauma, to participate in something they've suppressed for so long. But after a certain point, they mature, they learn how to handle their trauma, and they check out of the community. I think its important to understand this cycle so that we can keep the community from fragmenting into multiple parts as people age and heal.