When can transgender be viewed as “normal” globally?
By Jacqueline Lo
I came across this documentary series when I was surfing online and it brought up some of my childhood memories in Hong Kong. I remember when I was small; I liked to go to my grandparents? house to play. Besides
the fact that I was free to do whatever I want without anyone yelling “Stop it! what do you think you are doing?? No don’t do that, No, don?t touch that” I also liked to play with my grandparents’ next door neighbor. He was a tall and skinny man in his 40s, and why he caught my attention was the way he dressed. Obviously for a little girl, I was not sure what the moral dress code standards for male and female. At that time, I do not see what other adults viewed and what’s wrong with the neighbor dressing such way. I thought it would be the same since my mum dressed me both ways as well, even though I never saw my grandfather, father or uncles dressed the same way he does.
I seldom saw him step out of his house, but I could always see him playing with his dog in the backyard. Sometimes when he saw me watching, he would smile and waved at me, it seems like he was asking
me if I want to join them. I knew I couldn’t go since everyone had warned me not to get close to him, even though I didn’t know why at that time. As I grew older and moved to Canada, I slowly realized this “type” of person is what we now called as transgender. They are all people who think that they have born in the wrong gender and would like a change to it. As time goes, the acceptability of transgender raised, but I know there are still lots of people who couldn?t accept the fact that someone related or next to them are transgender or wanted to become one. They think that it is a “abnormal” act for someone to act in such way and they have to seek medical attentions. Maybe this issue wasn’t as serious in developed countries like United States or Canada, but for places like Hong Kong, it definitely is. For those who are nice, they might just give you that “look”, but for more serious ones, they would start attacking you verbally or even physically. I don’t know how long it is going to take for people to start accepting transgender people, but I am sure one day we will see this revolution, and everyone could seek the same equality and freedom no matter they are homosexuals, heterosexuals or even transgender.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Te6hhWh8o&feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX7-KDbHqkI&feature=related
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF_QzmpHmAo&feature=channel_page
