OK, so in my first
blog post I talked about how few historical figures there are for trans people,
how alone we seem in the grand scheme of the universe. I still think we lack the historical context
I would like, and I'm going to be embarking on some research into that sector,
but one thing is for sure: we have some amazing people to look to today. I was reminded of that when I saw Martine Rothblatt's TED
talk today.
Martine Rothblatt is
the most financially successful trans person that I'm aware of, and she is the
highest paid female CEO in the United States.
She started Sirius Radio and has a number of companies that she's
responsible for. Honestly, we could stop
there and see how being trans doesn't actually hold us back from achieving big
big things, but we don't have to.
As she discusses in
her TED talk she was able to start a whole medical company to help people with
orphaned diseases, starting with her ailing daughter. That's something that I think a trans person
is specifically well suited for. There
aren't a lot of us, and we feel that weight sometimes, but I only imagine how
that must feel for people with other disorders that only affect a small number
of people. That lonely feeling I talked
about before has to be even greater when there's not even a culture around your
disorder; it's just you and then "normal" people.
I can't imagine that
that didn't resonate with her, but it's her quality as a parent that really got
the whole thing rolling. It's her
quality as a spouse that led her to putting together a mental "file" of oneself that could live on. It's her quality as
an inventor that led to the creation of satellite radio. Being trans has been formative, I'm sure, but
it's only been a bump on her journey.
We don't have to be
defined by our "transness" and I don't think there are a lot of
people who prove that more thoroughly.
Food for thought as we feel alone, being trans is only a small part of
us, it's just the part we have to focus on harder than we would like for a
while.
No comments:
Post a Comment