MEMBER BLOG

 Well, today I start my hormone therapy. There are a lot of crazy side effects with brain chemistry and my body. They say its like reversing male puberty, and then going through female puberty and menopause for two years. Awkward. Anyways, this blog is gonna be about being transgender as it pertains to gaming.

   For example, if you have played with me on XBL recently, I may have asked a general question about your knowledge about "transgendered". Something  along the lines of "What do you know or what have you heard about "transgender"? The response was pretty much what I'm used to getting IRL but with a gaming spin.

   The most prominent response was a tie between "F'in queer!" and "Fags don't play games!" Pretty much expected this sort of thing so I just brushed it off.

   The next thing that appeared most commonly was "I have a/n INSERT RELATION who is transgender." With the odds currently at 1 in 22,000 of people being transgender, this was bound to happen among the millions who inhabit XBL. Immediatley after that the most common response was "Shut up and play" or "meh." Again I was playing the odds and sort of expected this too.

   However, the other response that I got was very much a shock to me. With all of my country's boasting of tolerance and "Freedom of BLANK", Americans were the most closeminded that I "met" during my survey. The people who I found to be the most open minded were infact people from other countries. At least those who spoke English, because as a typical American, the only other language I know is enough Spanish to sell things. The Canadians and the British were probably the most jovial and open minded with responses numbering about 15 for "pics" and equally as much said something like "I'm sorry for you" which implied, to me, a good understanding of the disorder. Following closely were some German, Aussies, and one woman from North Africa who told me that the disorder goes largely unrecognized there. I only say "following closely" because there were fewer of those mentioned than there were Brits or Canadians.

   It should be noted however that while gender was not taken into account, as my survey had nothing to do with participants gender, it should be noted that of those who were unawares, a good 30% were willing to learn.

   What my little survery tells me, I have no idea, I just thought it was interesting that the people who claim to be so open minded are either completly intollerant or unaware of the plight of a section of the population that have a crippling birth defect. CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER...