Image description: 4 panel comic titled If Trans People Said the Things Cis People Tell Them.
Panel one has an androgynous individual talking to a woman. The androgynous individual, "To me, you are 100% a girl, you know?" The woman has a look of confusion and disgust and responds with, "Wow, thanks."
Panel two has the same androgynous individual speaking with a man. The androgynous individual is saying, "It's so incredibly you look just like an actual boy!" The man is rubbing the back of his head in nervous confusion and says, "Yeah, I... am one?"
Panel three has the androgynous individual speaking with someone of ambiguous gender. The androgynous individual says, "I would never have guessed you were cis! Congratulations!" The other person is looking at them with an expression of confusion and concern.
Panel four has the androgynous individual speaking to a man. The androgynous individual says, "I think you are so brave for being who you are." The man is frowning at them.
The comic is credited to @assignedmale on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr and SophieLabelledraws on YouTube. Their merch is at assignedmale.etsy.com and Pateron is at patreon.com/sophielabelle
It’s kinda like calling a cancer patient brave. Like yeah, this shit’s rough, but holy hell the alternative is not good. At least that’s what my mom and I agreed when I was just starting transitioning and she was going through chemo. Both of us got called brave a lot
I get that, I do.
That being said, I still think it is brave because of the society we live in. I do my best to support my trans friends and new friends. I'll gladly walk up to a transphobic person and deck them in the face.
No one takes me up on that offer, but the point remains I do what I can to make the world a better place to be trans, sadly the world isn't. To be willing to be yourself in a world that hates it? That's bravery to me.
Take it from a loud and proud Jew with a resurregence of Nazism. Like it or not, walking around with a target on your back is an act of bravery and defiance.
I guess the comparison is, how would you feel if people came up to you and said "You're so brave" because you're Jewish? And even if you'd be ok with that, is the same true for everyone in the Jewish community? If you know people that wouldn't be comfortable with it, can you understand why? If so, you get why most trans people find it uncomfortable when you do it to them
I don't like the comic for the lack of context. People who do difficult things need support.
For instance, I'm a minority gender in my career and every conference has people who randomly tell me how brave I am for bring born with a specific set of chromosomes - that's annoying.
However, when I bitch to my peers about the biases and difficulties I encounter - I want my friends to validate my struggle.