howcouldiknow

My brother has recently decided to transition to living full time as a woman.  Until a month ago I have never known that my brother was experiencing gender dysphoria.  He has dealt his whole life with an irreconcilable physical sex and subconscious understanding of his gender.  Previous to this I have believed in being an open-minded individual regarding sexuality and gender roles but I would say also very uneducated.  I have never had a transsexual friend or family member; or read/seen any legitimate accounts, memoirs, experiences etc.  My dear friend Melissa (who wrote a post about this book also) loaned me Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity which she had read for a gender studies class and I have been fascinated with it from the start.  I enjoy academic reading as well as personal perspectives so this work by Julia Serano has been enthralling.  She is a transsexual woman writing about not only her experiences as a man, as a woman, and specifically as a transsexual woman; but also critically analyzes our cultures depictions, inspection, and judgment of transgender individuals and all those who transgress gender norms while rallying for acceptance of gender and sexuality as a broad spectrum rather than a set of finite categories.  I am not even finished reading and so it is sinful for me to even discuss yet but reading it has been such a significant aspect of my recovery and growth that I feel entitled.  It is helping me to understand my brothers past, present, and future experience while also engaging me to think critically about gender and culture from an academic perspective that keeps my brain working hard.

NB:  From this point on I intend to refer to my brother as my sister and use the gender appropriate pronouns she/her.