multimodalproject

The podcast episode discusses the topic of gender-affirming procedures on minors. The host shares her personal journey of learning about transgender issues and the importance of acceptance. She explains the concepts of gender, sex, and gender dysphoria. The host emphasizes the need for understanding and support for transgender individuals, including the option of gender-affirming procedures for minors to alleviate gender dysphoria. She also addresses common misconceptions and challenges faced by the transgender community, such as societal judgment and religious beliefs. The episode concludes by promoting the organization WPATH and encouraging listeners to respect others' choices and identities. Hey podcast BFFs, welcome back to Malayka Talks, which is basically my life, but in podcast form. And I talk with all of you lovely people about life and living and everything about being okay with who you are, as well as navigating through whatever life may throw at us. Because as we know, and have discussed numerous times now, we are much bigger than our problems and dilemmas. Today's episode is sponsored by WPATH, also known as World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Welcome back to Malayka Talks and welcome if this is your first time listening. Today's discussion will be a little different from my usual conversations, which once again for the new listeners is typically about everything related to life and living. If that interests you, then make sure to check out some of my other episodes, but for today, the conversation will be about gender affirming procedures on minors. For people that don't directly relate to this topic, it may seem irrelevant, but more awareness of the happenings of this can lead to a greater response and more progress, or so I believe. I do not and will not claim to be an expert on this topic, but I see it as something we can all take the time to understand as best as we can so there can be progress and decision making for those affected heavily by this. Now we all know that I'm an infamous IG Reeler because I refuse to add another social platform on my phone, and I actually don't mind seeing or hearing about things until two weeks after they happened. Thank you. But that's besides the point. I say this to lead into my little knowledge I had about any trans issues. I had recently learned about the Leah Thomas and Riley Gaines situation, probably much later than it happened, but that's not a necessary piece of information right now. Don't drag me. Yeah, the situation led people to question the roles of trans people and where they should and shouldn't be in whichever scenario. This was the start to my learning of many things that were transgender-individual related. Of course, as someone who swam competitively had a hard time in seeing how it was fair, and how someone who trained so hard for their sport could be passed up by someone who seemed to have taken a shortcut to success. Each of these athletes were deserving of their awards, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I for some time let this one situation dictate how I saw trans people. I'm ashamed to say, I took it upon myself to seek more that didn't reflect the narrative that I had adopted and realized how hard it is for trans individuals to find and receive acceptance in today's society. Although like mentioned in previous episodes, we do not need to seek validation from anyone. We have to also understand that we can't do it all alone, which is sometimes what it can feel like for someone who is having a hard time accepting themselves as well. Allowing gender-affirming procedures on minors is a necessary step in accepting a growing community and reducing the symptoms of gender dysphoria that can be experienced by many minors and leave lasting effects if not treated. And this is what I believe. In order to have a clear understanding for today's discussion, there are a few topics that are necessary to know because they'll be mentioned throughout today's podcast. The main ones that seem to be the most misunderstood include gender and sex. Gender according to the Canadian Health Research Institute, gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. Sex refers to a set of biological attributes in humans and animals. It is primarily associated with physical and physiological features including chromosomes, gene expression, hormone levels and function, and reproductive slash sexual anatomy. And the other one that will be mentioned throughout the episode is gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is when someone does not identify as their assigned given sex at birth. Now, of course, not everyone lives by the same definitions. I took a class that was filled with conversation of gender and identity. A reading about gender identity had stated there truly was no simple answer, but instead said that gender is how you internally define yourself in terms of what you understand gender to be. This definition really brought things to light for me. We don't always stick with what we're given, and that's a part of life, especially if this makes it more difficult to feel accepted in the world around us. Today's sponsor is WPATH, also known as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which is a non-profit, interdisciplinary professional and educational organization devoted to transgender health with a mission to promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health. Supporting this would mean that you're putting in an active effort to support those who are most often left feeling unsupported. I urge you to take some time to check out what they do and see how you can get involved. Okay, now that we've talked about almost everything necessary for the conversation, we can get down into what it's all about. According to our favorite source, Wikipedia, who else, Wikipedia says that gender-affirming surgery is a surgical procedure or a series of procedures that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender. These procedures are not always necessary to combat gender dysphoria, but they can and are proven to be very helpful to those who do it and choose so. Sadly to say, most of the time a person's self-worth and value are based on appearance. To never feel like they are enough can cause someone to have deep inner trauma. As a kid, many of us have probably experienced our parents telling us that our problems are not as big as we're making them and that we're just overreacting. This can make adjusting even harder, especially if the thing that they're not accepting is your identity and who you are. There are many preconceived beliefs about trans individuals, the main one being, kids don't know if they're trans at a young age. And this can be very far from the truth, depending on how you look at it. In a reading that I read by German Lopez, The Transgender People of Ten Common Myths by Vox, it talks about a study of transgender people who had different but yet shared experiences growing up as trans. Something that stuck out to me in this reading was a theory from a developmental psychologist that stated, by age six, you should know your gender or something's wrong with you. With this being true, it is a fact that goes unacknowledged until it is something that does not reflect the norm. For example, when a kid to the age of six tells an adult their gender, except it's not their assigned gender at birth, then the questions begin. Questions arise because of misunderstandings like this, who's to say that a kid cannot make up their mind? The same as the, oh, he's going to be a ladies man or you better keep all the guys away from her in a way, not slightly directed, but in the same ballpark, kind of, sort of. A big reason some people have a hard time accepting this is because of religious beliefs. But in today's age, we have to understand that religion cannot take over everything. I consider myself to be a religious person, but when I go through life, I can't allow my beliefs to intrude or interfere with another person's life. This can be seen from the policy makers who make it their goal to put an end to gender affirming procedures for minors, not seeing anything from a different perspective because of their religion. If you know, you know. There's so many directions that this conversation can go, but I only hope that I was able to help bring a little bit more perspective into your life, to understand that gender affirming procedures for minors is not only the way that their body looks, but it's also to validate their voices and to be on the side that positively benefits their mental health and their well-being and encourages them to care for themselves more. It doesn't have to be something that we all agree on or everybody understands, but as long as you respect other people's choices and their lives and identities, then I think it will be a better and more productive society. I myself have learned to not generalize our community from one individual's actions. This being from the Leah Thomas and Riley Gaines situation, and I urge others to not judge people for their physical characteristics, but for their character. This can also lead to preventing trans discrimination on any end. If you find yourself in a situation to use your voice for others and their health, then I would suggest you try to use that in a positive way. If you clicked on this podcast because you just want to be there to listen to what happens to people who may be different than you and experience different life situations, then I appreciate you for taking the time out of your day to do so. I hope this not only helped you to learn a few new things, but also allows you to question things differently. Thanks again for supporting me by listening, and I hope to have you around next time for next episode.