Alok Vaid-Menon: Gender Selfie-Determination

This hour and fifteen minute lecture by Alok Vaid-Menon at the Annenberg Space for Photography is brilliant, and thought-provoking, and very moving.

Some highlights:

On speaking of themselves and fellow Trans and gender non-conforming people, Alok says,

"the reason we are punished is not because we are different but rather because people recognize a part of themselves in us that they had to destroy in order to get here."

and

"There are as many genders as there are people in the world."

"I am not actually gender non-conforming. You only see me as such because you are filtering my image through your gender binary."

"You are not who you look like, you are who you are."

"When we're talking about being tortured in the streets and you call us beautiful..." means you see us as "walking portraits and not actually as people."

and

"I'm fighting to be recognized as a person, but we exist in a culture right now where trans people are not people."

Alok's talk is important and, as a starting point, I wish every GSA would watch and discuss. I encourage you to watch and discuss it as well!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee