Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Every Transwoman Needs Sistafriends In Her Life

One of the things I've discovered in this ongoing feminine journey is that every transwoman needs a group of sistahfriends in her life.

Roberta Angela Dee, one of my trans mentors once said, "I'm a woman in mind, heart and spirit. That's all that matters. They can cut things off, paste things on, or reconfigure my body parts. If you're a woman, you're a woman. Period."

But the problem becomes getting to that point in your life in which you get to that level of confidence that Roberta expressed in that quote.

And that's where your sistahfriends enter the equation.

Your cis and trans sistahfriends can not only help you learn, grow and deal with some of the issues currently affecting your life, they can give you a comforting hug when you need it or that swift motivational kick in the butt to get you going when you feel down.

They are your mutual support system. They help you celebrate your triumphs and are there to console you when life hands you momentary defeats. They help you confidently get through this journey we call life.

Your trans sistahfriends not only help kick knowledge to you about dealing with some of the issues we have to grapple with inside and outside the community as transwomen, but help us avoid situations that could get us severely beat down or killed if we're not cognizant about it at all times.

If you are fortunate enough as a transwoman to have a group of ciswomen as your friends, they are invaluable in helping you to understand what it's like to grow up female with a developing female body in a male dominated society.

They can explain or clue you in on the drama you missed growing up, share some of the good and bad times of their early feminine journeys, and help you make sense of various issues that crop up in your own life in terms of dealing with sexism, misogyny, and sexual harassment issues.

It's also crucial to get you to the point of understanding that the feminine journey is a lifelong and constantly evolving one.

A transwoman that has a network of sistahfriends around her made up of cis and trans women not only gets untold benefits from it, she emerges from that stronger in spirit and better equipped to take on a hostile world arrayed against her.

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