View from the Other Half

Summary:

View from the Other Half is a podcast episode by Griffin Hansbury. He describes his group of friends, which consists of men who were born in female bodies, transgender people. He goes further into depth on how each person navigates romance, which significantly changes after transitioning. Both Griffin and Ray were considered lesbians in college, and Ray describes how he had no trouble getting women back in those days. The difference between how men and women go about finding partners and flirting is drastically different, so Ray had trouble understanding how to pick up women after he officially transitioned to a man. Ray explains a story about him and some of his transsexual friends driving to Atlantic City and meeting some pretty girls along the way. The girls asked them to go skinny dipping and the guys all realized that it wasn’t going to work out. This was a defining moment for Ray because this was his new reality. Not everyone accepts trans people in society, unfortunately. Griffin adds onto this with his own story of a blind date where a woman did not accept his trans identity. However, their friend Ethan seems to have no trouble securing a woman, even after disclosing his background. He is a very confident guy. However, women seem to have different expectations for him. Nate’s story is a little different. He always knew he was male, but he was also attracted to other men. He struggled greatly with defining who he was. He tried to be a lesbian, because he felt like a boy, but that wasn’t him. Even after finding who he truly was, as a gay man, he still struggles to find a partner who accepts his unique identity. Griffin then asks Amy, Ray’s girlfriend of one year, about their sex life. The most common and frustrating question that trans people receive. Amy says she misses the simplicity of sex before she met Ray.

Outside Example:

This reminds me of a very famous youtuber who is known for her makeup artistry. Nikkie de Jager has been on youtube since 2008 making makeup tutorials for people to recreate. She just recently was forced to come out online as transgender because she was being blackmailed by someone who knew her secret. She had a boyfriend who she had not come out to yet either, which forced her to have a very difficult conversation with him.

Connection to reading:

Nikkie made a long video explaining her own reasoning for keeping her trans identity a secret. She explained how she didn’t want to be seen any differently or have the label “transgender” be the most important thing about her. Her youtube channel is her passion and the focus should not be on her gender. She also had to come out to her boyfriend, who did not yet know that she was born male. Fortunately, he accepted her. It is sad that being transgender makes it difficult to find a life partner because many people today still can’t be accepting. Although she transitioned from male to female, I’m sure she experienced many of the same things mentioned by Hansbury in View from the Other Half.