The American Masculine Man

During Alex Meyers presentation and through the story of his book I was able to try and understand  what someone who is transgender has to deal with in their daily lives. I was really interested to learn that transgender, even with a new name, has actually be traced throughout our history. Alex's presentation taught us about historical figures who identified as transgender and how they chose to come out to their societies. The historic paintings of men who identified as women and women who identified as male shocked me because I had never truly stopped to think about why I had never seen or talked about these images in my history classes. Transgender rights is a very influential topic in the present day and is something I have been invested in because of people in my life who have come out as transgender. I never thought to think about how there have always been people who have been transgender through out our history. Why haven't we talked about this? Why haven't we learned about this in our education? Meyers even pointed out how there are stories in the Bible that depicts a women who is transgender who becomes a monk to protect her purity for god. When she dies the other monks are shocked to find she was actually a women. These clear elements of transgender people throughout our history should not have been surprising but in our society they are ignored or covered up to hide a truth that others do not understand or try to understand.

In Meyers presentation to the school he told his story of becoming a transgender man. I found this story very moving and made connections between his true story and his novel, "Continental Divide". In his talk Meyers explains about how his spent a summer out west trying to immerse himself with what he thought was the stereotypical American masculine man. He tells his story of going out west to work on a ranch and in the end getting kicked out because his boss found out he was trans. Ron the main character of his novel goes through a similar path, moving out west after his transition to try and discover the true "man" in himself. Ron as well is fired when his boss finds out he is trans. One of the most important and influential parts of Meyers talk was when he discussed the way his parents and family took the news of him coming out. He explained that while they did not immediately kick him out of the house they were also scared and not completely comfortable or at ease with the idea that their little girl was now going to be a little boy. He said it wasn't until about four years after he came out that he and his parents were finally in a good place and they truly understood who he was. This was very powerful to me and allowed me to draw the connection to his book when Ron, the main character, receives a letter from his parents after he has come out to them. One line of the letter reads, "Your announcement took us by surprise, and I, for one, felt hurt that you wouldn't even discuss it, that you expected us just to accept that you were now a boy, as if it could be true because you said it". This reaction was very real to me because I understand how overwhelming it would be to have a child just out of the blue tell you that they no longer consider themselves the gender you had raised them as. While their confusion and fear is clear from the letter, it is also clear how much his parents are trying to understand him and do truly love him even if they can't fully grasp why this has happened yet. This part of the book was very similar to Meyers real life experience with his parents. Meyers explained that at the time he was angry for their response but years later understood they did love him and also understood their fear and confusion over his decision. Meyers story and his book showed an inside into becoming a transgender man and what life is like after coming out and how he and Dan come to terms with their own masculinity.