TED Talk Highlight Week 4: I've lived as a man and as a woman — here's what I've learned
Before we dive in, I want to mention that November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week.
This week is focused on helping people understand what it is like for transgender people to exist in the world and making an effort to honor their journeys (we will talk more about this after the video!).
I didn’t seek out this TED talk specifically for this week – it has been on my “favorites” list for years! I just got lucky when I looked at the calendar and am so happy to share it as part of an effort to both raise awareness and share Paula’s experiences. This is just one person’s story, but even one differing point of view can be helpful in opening the door to further understanding.
Without further ado, the video!
Click Here to View the Video on the TED website
(I tried to Embed it but this one wasn't loading properly)
So many things in this video stand out to me as a woman, but the story about the bike shop really resonated with me personally.
I come from a family of car nerds. I sold all manner of car parts, equipment, and even sandpaper at the Portland Auto Swap Meet for years out of my dad’s booth to help earn money to pay for my engineering books during college. I worked in an auto parts store early in my career.
All this to say, when it comes to my cars I am confident and have ideas about what is broken or needs to be done.
Despite my internal confidence, communication can be so frustrating when I go to have work done on my car. When I find a mechanic I can communicate with who listens and has a real conversation with me, I’m instantly a loyal customer!
To hear Paula share her experience being “mansplained” at the bike shop echoed all the times when I felt so frustrated as a woman talking to men about cars.
While I’m sad to hear another woman have that experience, it’s also validating.
It’s real – “mansplaining” happens all the time.
I don’t have a solution for mansplaining. But for a woman who never had it happen to her before when she was living as a man to now experience it through a woman’s eyes was powerful.
I hope stories like Paula’s can help men better understand what we women experience, and perhaps these will encourage them to change.
That said, I promised three Ideas for bringing Transgender Awareness Week to the workplace. Depending on your work environment, this may be easy or it may be really challenging. But there are options -
I did some research and found the GLSEN organization, which is a group of educators focused on creating safe learning environments for LGBTQ students.
They have some great resources that can easily be repurposed for creating safe working environments for LGBTQ workers, and three of their ideas are included below:
Center trans and nonbinary voices:
“‘Centering’ means actively listening to what trans and nonbinary people are saying. If you are planning an event for Transgender Awareness Week, ask the folks who identify as trans and nonbinary what activities they would like to happen, what solidarity and allyship look like in these spaces. Offer if they would like to take the lead on anything you are involved in organizing.”
I thought about how one would go about doing this – if the office already has an Employee Resource Group (ERG) for LGBTQ people, then it is simple – go to their meeting.
However if the company doesn’t have a support system in place already, it may be better to send an email to all staff explaining the awareness week, the goal, and a request for leaders and allies to join you in a small meeting. The meeting could help get things started and ensure a safe space for discussion. You could even start an ERG!
Post posters around the office to help advance understanding of gender terminology, which has changed over time.
Review and circulate the pronoun guide which also includes tips on how to use gender-neutral language.
I hope this list is helpful for you!
What part of Paula’s talk did you relate to most? What is your workplace doing for Trans Awareness Week? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Thanks for joining me,
