It's been just over six
months since I made my publishing début with my essay in Jim C.
Hines' Invisible, in which I wrote about my perception of a lack of
transgender representation in fiction. At the time I was excited to
be published, in a way to be almost validated, but as time marches on
I've barely even thought about it – heck, I suddenly remembered in
the shower that I was published. Looking back, it's almost with a
sense of regret, and no pride whatsoever, that I view my piece.
Whilst I am legally an
adult (I'm in my mid-20s) and more than capable of making my own
decisions, I can't help but feel that on some level my piece was a
mistake. I haven't heard any feedback about it directly, nor has Jim
alerted me to any, so I assume that it went down okay (if people read
it), which is both good and perhaps not so good.
The core of the issue
is, for me, responsibility. Whilst I spoke for myself and myself
alone, to the reader I may have been representing the transgender
community, and that's a responsibility I cannot shoulder. Whilst I
have known for coming on a decade that I am not a male-identified
person, my lack of progress in that area and my reluctance to come
out and a dozen other factors put me in a place where I am
continually unsure of my own identity and feelings, my own lack of
internal 'correctness' giving me a perpetual case of self-doubt. It's
fun. But I don't have the experience of living as an out or
transitioning transgender person, I don't have the bit of paper that
says everyone who calls me by male names is wrong. All I have is an
inner turmoil.
I do believe I made
valid points at the time, and ones that are still valid today. I
believe transgender representation is something we certainly need to
work at in all forms of media, and whilst I'm especially grateful to
authors and figures such as Mark Charan Newton for creating a transgender icon of
mine (Lan in his The Book of Transformations), Alison Croggon for
discussing with me how transgender issues could be dealt with in her
world of Pellinor, Cheryl Morgan for her years of guidance and support, and a dozen other creators for either including
transgender characters or talking about those issues with me, I feel
like I have an erratum to release.
I don't speak for the
transgender community, and in hindsight I feel I should not have
participated. I don't think it's out of fear of causing damage or
saying something wrong, but simply because I put myself in a position
I'm no longer comfortable with and I assumed a responsibility I don't
feel is or ever has been mine to take. It is one thing for me to talk
about how these issues seem to me via Twitter, Tumblr or my blog, but
it is another to publish under what is technically a pseudonym and to
possibly be considered a spokesperson for other
transgender-identified people. I won't withdraw my piece from any
possible revisions, but I will be much less hasty to sign up to
projects in the future.
The plus side of this,
however, is that I have not profited at all from this – as I stated
when the collection released, I forfeited the payment and any
royalties so that all the money goes to the chosen charity.
