Journal Club: The Joys of Being Trans
A 2024 paper investigates the joys that being trans can bring. Journal Club takes a look at this paper to see just what people had to say.
by Veronica Esposito
The trans experience is frequently thought of as one filled with some of the worst forms of adversity that a person can face. While there is good reason for that—in the United States, trans people are subject to attacks that parallel some of the worst in American history—it shouldn’t prevent us from losing sight of the unique joys that trans people get to experience.
Building on the essential research of Stef Shuster and Laurel Westbrook, researcher Matilda Wurm and colleagues offer us a paper full of insights into the upside of being trans. Breaking her research down into the themes of joy, growth, and peace, Wurm offered compelling reasons why someone would want to live a trans life.
Recruiting some 33 trans individuals, Wurm and colleagues interviewed each for an average of 48 minutes, asking them a series of questions along the lines of, “What advantages do you experience that you have because you are [insert term used by participant, e.g. nonbinary] and what positive experiences have you had that you would not have had if you were cis?” Participants were also asked to brainstorm freely about positive experiences that came with a trans identity.
Many participants expressed that there can be unique privileges that come from being less subservient to social stereotypes around gender, as well as from living a portion of one’s life as a different gender than what they transitioned to. One respondent stated that having lived as two genders gave her “a deeper understanding of people in general,” while another declared having “more broad-mindedness, when it comes to people and the enormous variation of humanity,” and another enthused how the experience had made her a much deeper thinker:
It has made me more critical in my thinking . . . . I believe that on a purely moral level, when you’re forced to think more critically, you develop a more nuanced moral understanding and might become kinder toward others. So, I find a lot of joy in that.
Respondents also emphasized the unique growth experiences that come from the adversity that trans people are forced to address in order to survive. One theme was that in coming out and transitioning, trans people were given the opportunity to understand their life in ways that cis people are rarely called to do. One respondent mused:
It might not be common for people to be forced to sit down at some point and really think through "Who am I?", you know, "What am I doing?" in such a fundamental way. This is something you have to go through if you’re deciding first whether to undergo the entire gender changing process and then actually go through it. . . . I feel much more certain about the fundamental things I’ve needed to think through.
Another common observation was the much greater confidence and courage that trans people are often able to create in their lives due to having to face up to the immense challenges of coming out, transitioning, and understanding life in a gender other than what they had been assigned to live as. They likened transitioning to one of the most momentous personal growth experiences a person could have. One person even expressed awe in the face of realizing the intense journey that life had in store for him, saying that he felt “humility toward life and understanding that life can take you on a journey you never imagined for yourself.”
In contrast to the more familiar minority stress—unique adversities faced by members of a minority group—Wurm discovered shared experiences of relaxation and peacefulness, which she termed “minority peace.” Some participants fondly described periods of respite from poor mental health, particularly after receiving gender-affirming medical care and coming into greater acceptance of their trans identities. Others shared feeling peace while in community with other trans people, while being out in society, and even at locations like nude beaches, where one participant found relaxation in highlighting his body: “I’ve started going to nude beaches in recent years. And it’s also because I feel so comfortable there; it’s incredibly relaxing. So I’ve almost sought out environments where I can feel especially at ease in my body.”
Participants also stressed that their journeys had helped them to develop a trust in their own intuition and a closer relationship with their emotions: “I think I’m much closer to my emotions than I would have been otherwise, because I wouldn’t have dared to be otherwise. That’s something I reflect on and am grateful for.” One shared that finding the confidence to come out to others even though she passed for cisgender was a significant part of having self-acceptance:
This kind of second wave of coming out . . . that I’ve experienced since last summer, is a pretty big deal for me and my life. This self-acceptance, becoming more okay with being trans and being a trans woman, and being able to talk openly about it—it’s like a huge thing.
Popular depictions of trans people understandably center the adverse experiences we can have—given widespread ignorance about trans lives, it is essential to educate the public about just how hard it is to be trans. But it is also important to not let those hardships obscure the wonder that comes with being trans. Mainstream narratives of trans lives like The Matrix and Pose have foregrounded the empowerment and wonder that trans people can uniquely experience—it is essential that we also remember that this is too part of the trans experience.
To conclude with the words of one trans man, finding our true selves can give us the capacity to dare to do more than we ever thought possible:
For me personally, it’s one of the biggest aspects . . . daring to explore all the other positive things that I now have the energy, time, and motivation for. And that leads to all sorts of things. It makes everything more enjoyable, and it leads to me daring to do more things.
Veronica Esposito (she/her) is a writer and therapist based in the Bay Area. She writes regularly for The Guardian, Xtra Magazine, and KQED, the NPR member station for Northern California, on the arts, mental health, and LGBTQ+ issues.