Let's Celebrate: International Transgender Day of Visibility as an ally


[Transgender Flag, photo by Stephanie Gonot]


Wednesday 31st March 2021 marks the 12th annual International Transgender Day of Visibility[1]. This is a day all about celebrating wonderful transgender people and some of their amazing work. This blog post is going to do a couple of thing;

- Tell you about some findings and research on the experiences of transgender people in sport and physical activity. 

- Celebrate some wonderful openly transgender individuals and their work and adventures in the outdoors and sport. 

- Explain why people include their pronouns in bios and email signatures.


Transgender individuals continue to face transphobic treatment across societies and in many cases violence [7]. Since 2015, transphobic hate crimes have quadrupled in the UK [8].Research by Out for Sport has found that 66% of their LGBT (abbreviation used in the report) survey respondents think that there is a problem with transphobia in sport[3]. That means that if you had ten people in a room, approximately of six of them would think there is a problem with transphobia in sport. 62% of LGBT respondents have witnessed or experienced homophobia or transphobia in sport[4]. That means, that if you had ten people in a room, approximately six of those people have actually experienced this abuse. We need to listen to this. The report found that experiences of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia continue to be faced by LGBTQIA+ people in sport and physical activity and subsequently reduces the number of of LGBTQIA+ people participating in sport and physical activity[5]. 

So what this evidence tells us, is there are people out there who may want to but are not participating in physical activity (including in the outdoors and adventure) because of negative experiences and in more than 6/10 instances, because of abuse. In the outdoors industry, culture and community we have seen a big shift in awareness on inclusion. This is fantastic and more people are listening. If you’ve made the decision to click on this blog post and read, you’re already making a conscious effort to learn. We need to be acting on our words and put in the work that is facilitating greater inclusivity.

There a number of openly identifying transgender adventure and outdoors (and non-outdoors too obviously) individuals on Instagram who are doing amazing things. I have asked all individuals for permission to highlight their profiles. So in celebration of the International Transgender Day of Visibility, here are a few fantastic people that you should be following! 

These individuals are being highlighted here, but what you really need to do is and go and follow their profiles and listen to their experiences in their own words. There's a reason why there isn't a full written profile for each person, you need to go directly to them, enjoy their glorious work and adventures. 

Toby Fells (he/him)


                                            [Photo from @transgender_trail_runner on Instagram]

Toby is based in the Lake District, owner of the most beautiful border collies and Founder of Queer Runnings. 

"Queer Runnings is an online run club and coaching service for queer/LGBTQIA+ people who want to start running, improve their running, reach a running goal or just want to be part of a queer run club that understands the unique challenges that we can face" [10]. 


Bobbi Fisher (she/her)


           [Bobbi Fisher @bobbi_pins_swims on Instagram]

Bobbi is a Lake District based open water swimmer and coffee bar owner. She had her GRS operation on the day after her birthday, 13th June 2019. Later that year Bobbi got involved with the Wonderful Wild Women and discovered a love for outdoor cold water swimming. This year, Bobbi has rediscovered her love for mountain biking and more recently roller skating. She says that although the start of this year, like for so many, has been a struggle, being able to nip out locally for a cold swim has kept her going during lockdown.  


Eden Elgeti (she/her)

@thetransgenderswimmer

[ Eden @thetransgenderswimmer on Instagram] 

Eden is on a mission to make swimming ​more accessible for the LGBTQIA+ community [11]. Eden recently appeared on the ‘How To Breathe So You Don’t Look Fat’ Podcast with Anna Mansell [12]. Go and have a listen to hear about Eden’s experiences in her own words.

Louise McMahon (she/her) 

@louisemcmahonphotography 

[Louise McMahon @louisemcmahonphotography on Instagram]

Louise McMahon is a Sheffield based Caver, Diver, Climber and Maker. Her photography is absolutely stunning, go and check it out on her Instagram profile. 

Nikki Smith (she/her) 

[ Nikki Smith @nikkik_smith on Instagram] 

Nikki Smith is a photographer, artist and a climber with more than 150 first ascents and a vocal advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. Nikki is truly inspiring. her honesty about her experiences in the outdoor community as a transgender woman is extremely powerful . Head over to her profile to hear more about Nikki in her own voice. 

Holland Oliver Wild (he/him)

 
[ Holland Oliver Ward @wildhol on Instagram]

"Hi I’m Holland, I’m 22 and from the Yorkshire Dales. I’m currently at the end of my second winter season skiing in the Alps. In summer you’ll find me climbing, camping, swimming and doing all sorts in the outdoors - always taking photos along the way."


...

Use social media for its positives, directly engage with and learn from people who live across the country or the world from you. It is incredibly important that we never ask somebody to re-live trauma unless they open up to you, if you want to ask somebody about their experiences in line with an aspect of their identity and you’ve judged it would be okay to do that, you need to make sure that they are happy to, that they have the capacity to engage with that conversation and are comfortable. This applies to all people, all identities. 

It’s not enough to say “I think transgender people are awesome and they are more than welcome to participate in the activity that I do, in the space that I also occupy.” We need to show that transgender people are included, not just keep that sentiments to ourselves. We can start doing this by including our pronouns in our bios on social media and in our email signatures. [I am also aware and accept that action takes place offline too, this is just an example of one action that can be taken]. 

Your pronouns are what you commonly go by when people are referring to you not by name. For example, I go by she/her. Somebody else goes by he/him. Others go by they/them. It is so important that you use the correct pronouns, it is hurtful and it is mis-identifying somebody to refer to them by the wrong pronouns [6].  If we all include our pronouns in digital spaces, we are normalising stating our pronouns and asking for them. This translates into face to face interaction too – if we can begin to normalise asking people for their pronouns, then you’re less likely to make anyone feel uncomfortable. If we start talking about this, if we start doing it, then we are being inclusive in a more meaningful way [9]. Makes a lot of sense right? These are very simple, very small steps that can make a big difference. I’ve heard climbing centre staff ask for pronouns at the start of an instructed session, actions like this are simple but demonstrate that all genders and gender identities are welcome.

Due to the nature of my job(s) I get the incredible opportunity to learn all day, every day. However, I also am in danger of falling into a trap of false consciousness where I might think that everybody is learning all day, every day too. My learning opportunities and processes have allowed me to write this. There is no shame in not understanding a certain term, or concept, or idea, especially when such terms have worked their way out of academia or they’re from an area that you don’t cross into very often. I'm constantly learning, I make mistakes all the time, but I'm able to accept those and move forward. What is important, is doing your best to learn, and not giving up, and look a bit further. I'm worried that this blog post might make things appear more simple than they actually are. I'm not saying that including your pronouns will fix all issues around equity and inclusivity for the transgender community. We should all be putting in the work. It's up to you to continue to learn and listen. 

I must do what we call in academia addressing my “positionality”[2]. It’s quite difficult for this not to sound like I just want to talk about myself, but it is important when you’re writing and talking about matters outside of your own experience, that you address why you’re writing about them and that you acknowledge your privilege and position. Hence, positionality. I am a white, heterosexual, middle-class by background, importantly for this context, cis-gendered female. Cis-gendered means that I identify with the gender that I was assigned at birth. The other factors of my identity mean that I have benefitted from almost every privilege under the UK sun, and I live in a society that simultaneously continues to marginalize. That means, that a) I need to be super aware of how my experiences and pre-conceptions are informed by my personal history and background and b) I should never and will never try and represent or speak on behalf of others. I’m writing this post using reading and notes that I have gathered over the past year through my role as an academic researcher, and also through general reading that I do in my own time. As somebody who is very privileged, I have the time, energy and resources to do my best to support and elevate. Addressing positionality is important so that you know who I am and the position I am writing from, as an ally. It is really hard to balance a piece like this, because I never want to talk on somebody else's behalf, and that means that I can only talk using the knowledge I have, from my perspective, but this isn't about me. It is a privilege to be writing this piece, as I have never personally experienced any of the issues discussed and so this is not traumatic or tiring for me. I have the privilege to take some of that strain away as best I can. It should not be up to transgender folk to do all the educating, it is not just a matter for the LGBTQIA+ community, this is about everybody putting in the effort. 

Excellent Articles, Content and Useful Resources: 





Adventures in Time and Gender Podcast, a time travelling podcast drama series exploring how sexologists from late 19th/early 20th century Europe shaped the western system of medicalisation and diagnosis navigated by trans and non-binary people in the present day. 







... 

By Emily Ankers (she/her)

"I am an academic researcher, Co-Founder and Editor of Beta Magazine and passionate about making research and knowledge more accessible."

[2] Brackenridge, C. (1999) ‘MANAGING MYSELF: Investigator Survival in Sensitive Research’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 34(4), pp. 399–410.

[3] Equality Network (2021). Out for Sport: The Facts. < https://www.equality-network.org/our-work/policyandcampaign/out-for-sport/the-facts/ > [Accessed 28th March 2021]

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[7] Halberstam, J. (2005) In a Queer Time & Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York University Press.

[8] BBC (2021) < https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-54486122 > [Accessed 28th March 2021]

[9] Wareham, J. (2019) < https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiewareham/2020/12/30/should-you-put-pronouns-in-email-signatures-and-social-media-bios/?sh=285015876320 > [Accessed 28th March 2021] 

[10] Fell, T (2021) < https://www.queerrunnings.com/ > [Accessed 28th March 2021]

[11] Elgeti, E. (2021) < http://www.thetransgenderswimmer.co.uk/ > [Accessed 20th March 2021]

[12] How To Breathe So You Don’t Look Fat with Eden Elgeti (2021) < https://anchor.fm/htbsydlf/ > [Accessed 28th March 2021] 


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