In light of Trump's executive order on trans kids, I felt the need to write a video in response. At the same time, what can I really say? I hope that offering part of my story is enough for now.
Every time trans kids are in the news, it's always for a bad reason. It's usually a reason that fills me with fear. It's a strange fear. I imagine myself as a kid, I try to remember the fear I felt as I battled my changing body. What shape would that fear take today? Would it be all-consuming? Would it motivate me to live my life differently?
There are thousands of kids with similar stories to mine. Similar faces, similar names, similar fears. I don't know how to tell them they're not alone. If you tell a kid that their fear and suffering are collectively felt, do you risk it being a testament to a seemingly hopeless future?
Paul B. Preciado's Dysphoria Mundi describes the world as residing in a collective state of dysphoria. We all feel bad, not because we are broken, but because the world feels broken and we refuse to go with it. But we are the world. Our pain creates the conditions for radical desires and orientations.
To my fellow trans people: I hurt alongside you. But as long as we hurt we know we are still alive. Keep living.
Hope Jasentuliyana
2025-01-31 08:17:35 +0000 UTCRichanne Matthews
2025-01-30 14:22:30 +0000 UTC