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If you see cis people doing Trans Military discourse, I strongly suggest sending them resources made by actual trans people.
For example! We interviewed @PaigeKreisman about how she ended up serving in the military and how she feels about it now: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/paige-kreisman/id1330522019?i=1000465182110
For example! We interviewed @PaigeKreisman about how she ended up serving in the military and how she feels about it now: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/paige-kreisman/id1330522019?i=1000465182110
Threading part of the transcript because I know y'all won't listen to it lol.
@PaigeKreisman: "I think it’s incredibly important that we build alternative gateways for disadvantaged young people to get out of poverty and abusive home situations, that aren’t the military."
@PaigeKreisman: "I think it’s incredibly important that we build alternative gateways for disadvantaged young people to get out of poverty and abusive home situations, that aren’t the military."
"Because that’s how the military recruits, is it preys on marginalized and disadvantaged young people. Trans people serve in the military at twice the rate of cis people, and that’s not because we’re super patriotic, not at all."
"It’s incredibly problematic on a couple of levels: One, we’re not supporting the young people in our own communities that are the most at risk. And two, we’re then taking those young people, and turning young people like myself when I was 17 into a middle bully."
"I was forced in the military by cisheteropatriarchy and poverty, but then I became part of a whole other power structure of imperialism and then I just went on to victimize other people, on the other side of the world, and that just perpetuates these power structures."
"It really shows that we can’t dismantle one of these power structures without dismantling all of them. You can’t dismantle cisheteropatriarchy w/o also dismantling imperialism, and we can do that by providing these alternative pathways, like college for all & Medicare for all."
"I can’t tell you how many people I met in the army who joined because they had student loan debt that the army promised to pay off, or because they had a wife with cancer who couldn’t get health insurance pre-Affordable Care Act because of a pre-existing condition."
I think we can recognize that trans people serving in the military is usually as a result of the material conditions that they face in their lives, while also recognizing that the US military is one of the most evil institutions on the face of the Earth & needs to be dismantled"
"That’s important for trans people as well, because the US military is key in propping up far-right-wing governments across the world, & right-wing dictatorships across the world, that are horribly abusive to trans people and don’t uphold the basic human rights of trans people"
"I definitely don’t get angry or upset with other trans people when they have some visceral reaction or distrust for me because I served in the military, I think that is justified and it’s my responsibility to do the work to earn that trust from trans people."
- Paige Kreisman
- Paige Kreisman
A little more on the Discourse:
"Trans people not being able to serve in the military is by far not the most important issue trans people face, but it is the one that gets the most attention, and I think the reason for that is because trans people are so voiceless..."
"Trans people not being able to serve in the military is by far not the most important issue trans people face, but it is the one that gets the most attention, and I think the reason for that is because trans people are so voiceless..."
"...in our political discourse that we have no control over what issues gets platformed. It’s cis people that choose what trans voices & stories to uplift. Cis people will always choose the trans narratives that threaten them the least, and threaten the status quo the least."
"Trans narratives that don’t threaten US imperialism, like trans narratives that blend nationalism with some liberal version of trans equality, are the least threatening trans narratives to a lot of cis people."
"The way we get around that is by giving voices to trans people that are chosen by other trans people, that are uplifted by our own community, to allow trans people to select our own representation."
The full episode is available in all the podcast places, and a full transcript is available at http://genderpodcast.com/listen . Thanks again to @PaigeKreisman for sharing all of this with us.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2GBLQYmKHivsGzeqGJ7i8O?si=iHnJdx22TJW2duVxLkONCg
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2GBLQYmKHivsGzeqGJ7i8O?si=iHnJdx22TJW2duVxLkONCg
