A Case for Trans Joy
A joint post by me and Jin (Amplifying Trans Joy)
Author’s note: Yo! I know y’all are used to getting a list of news every week, but this is a special newsletter, co-written with the fabulous Jin of Amplifying Trans Joy. I said in my last newsletter that I’m trying out new things with the paid tier; these are the types of things I imagine for it! I’m making this post available for everyone because I like y’all or whateva. Let me know what you think. - KB
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Yo! This is KB Brookins (they/them) and Jin (he/him), editors of the newsletters Trans News That Doesn’t Suck and Amplifying Trans Joy respectively. In this time of global turmoil related to trans lives, we recognize that trans joy can be hard to find. Also, based on notes from our subscribers and conversations within the trans community, we know that trans joy is not only necessary — it is required in these times.
We’ve both gotten the question “Why trans joy?” before, so here are just a few reasons:
Joy is what makes life worth living, not mere survival.
Maslow’s Hierarchy, yada yada yada, but at the end of the day, let’s not base our fight on scarcity. When we talk about trans liberation only in terms of food, shelter, and healthcare, we’re letting the capitalist playbook dictate what we believe life has to offer us. When we put all our focus on unjust laws, we forget that life is more than that which is governed.
Sometimes, in activist spaces, joy is treated like a privilege or a frivolous thing. But fighting for trans rights ultimately means fighting for our right to thrive and express our full selves. It is a travesty that many marginalized folks don’t have access to basic rights that should be guaranteed to everyone. However, fighting that travesty shouldn’t be the entire conversation.
As adrienne maree brown writes in Pleasure Activism: “We all need and deserve pleasure and that our social structures must reflect this. In this moment, we must prioritize the pleasure of those most impacted by oppression.”
Protecting trans lives = protecting our joy.
Trans joy helps us imagine (and create) more livable trans futures.
An incredibly valid response to ingesting negative trans news is anger. It’s upsetting, really, to be confronted with and harmed by people’s ignorance. It’s important, however, to remember that anger and the ways it manifests (loneliness, isolation, etc) can lead to depression, increased cardiovascular risk, and even earlier mortality (Psychology Today). Anger is necessary, and it cannot be the only emotion we feel.
In Uses of the Erotic, Audre Lorde states, “In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change.” Trans joy gives us back our agency over our bodies and minds. It frees up some of the capacity that anger depletes. Trans joy is, then, a vital power source for change.
And further: it is an act of resistance to reimagine. What would a joyous trans future be like? If we can see it in our minds, then we have something to strive for. Philosopher Victor Frankl said that we must overestimate, and even overshoot, to promote ourselves into what we really can be (fs). By this logic, if we resist the temptation of pure negativity and seek out trans joy, then we can fulfill the potential of what our community really can be.
🩵 Reimagine trans realities with us at Amplifying Trans Joy and Trans News That Doesn’t Suck!
Joy and Pain are not a binary.
Oppressive systems love a binary. The joy/pain divide is one of them.
Must there be a binary? Must we pit against each other experiences of dysphoria/euphoria, political outrage/feeling good, trans pain/trans joy? Like gender itself, trans experience spans a vibrant, multifaceted spectrum.
As we’ve seen time and time again, journalistic outlets use these sorts of binaries and extremes as clickbait. They’ll take someone’s complex, thoughtful narrative about the trans struggle and make it out like it’s some kind of shocking statement about how trans joy doesn’t matter.
When in doubt, look to our poets, our artists, our dreamers, for stories that go beyond what can be argued, defended, weaponized. We are not cardboard cutouts, our experiences data points to be sorted.
KB adds: Yes! I even use the example of people laughing at jokes at a funeral. As Dr. Danielle Fuentes Morgan says about Black communities: “We laugh to keep from dying.” Trans people must do the same.
Trans people are so much more than a political moment.
If you log into social media, watch film/TV, or keep up with politics, it’s easy to think that trans identity is simply a “fad” that will go away. Trans joy tells us: that couldn’t be further from the truth! We have Jemima Wilkinson, Frances Thompson, Marsha P. Johnson, and so, so many other trans people in recent and distant history that were able to live lives full of every emotion — including joy. Seeking out trans joy means getting connected to trans history.
Maybe alt-righters have found out about trans people in the last 11 years, but trans people have been existing and experiencing joy way before then. Joy is why we’re still here. Trans people of the past and present remind us that our community has been through many political moments, and yet we are still here. Remembering that trans people are more than this moment is the antidote to today’s negative tokenization. We deserve more than a headline.
Joy is an antidote to apathy.
Apathy is an absolute poison to progress. When you’re resigned to things staying the way that they are, then things will never change. Apathy is not how trans people have gotten puberty blockers, name/gender marker changes, recognition in the LGBTQIA+ acronym, and many of the protections that many trans advocates are now fighting to keep. Apathy is not how the right has been able to threaten our rights in 43 out of 50 US states this year.
ACLU Communications Strategist Gillian Branstetter said, “The suffering of transgender people is a policy choice disguised as an inevitability.” The keyword in this sentence is CHOICE. The right has chosen to spread disinformation and forward policy that hurts trans people, and luckily, there are lawyers, policymakers, grassroots organizers, artists, and more working overtime to push back on that policy.
Pro-trans advocates don’t need your apathy; they need your joy. All is not lost; to think so is to maintain the status quo. Every single time that we’ve sent our newsletters, we’ve found a story about people resisting the anti-trans regime. When we ignore joy, we are denying that things can get better, and we must be a part of that getting better. Joy is a verb.
Joy fights against the negativity bias.
Ever noticed how you can be having a great day, going about your business, then one negative interaction, mistake, or off experience makes it hard to get back to feeling good? Or maybe anxiety is like “oh hey, remember this sad/stressful/guilt-inducing thing?” out of the middle of nowhere?
Our brains and nervous systems are evolutionarily designed to focus on negative experiences, because that’s what keeps us alive. Add to that trauma and oppression, and it’s the easiest thing in the world to get stuck in the heaviness and hopelessness of it all.
But remembering the positive stuff, the good stuff that is actually also happening all the time, alongside the bad? That takes deliberate action. It takes redirecting our attention over and over again from the mucky, magnetic crap our neurons are glued to. It’s one very compelling reason why we should actually put effort into seeking out trans joy, because it takes no effort at all to find the opposite.
🩷 Need help remembering the good stuff? That’s what Trans News That Doesn’t Suck and Amplifying Trans Joy are for!
Trans joy has no value to the system.
This is a short one, but worth thinking about:
Joy has no value to oppressors. Maybe they can temporarily co-opt some aspects to help sell things, but the best parts of joy are intangible, non-materialistic, and alive. The system wants us depressed, inert, and desperately relying on consumption to feel something. In joy, we are free, fulfilled, and ungovernable.
And to them, trans joy makes no sense at all. That means we have a renewable resource that flies under the radar and keeps our community going.
Joy is trans!
Running our newsletters means that we get to see trans joy in action all the time. Trans people are so inspiring with the ways we love, create, adorn ourselves, and explore the world around us, in spite of it all. There is no joy like trans joy.
Meanwhile, the cishets are not OK, lol. What do transphobes know about joy? What do blustery white cis men and angry TERFs know about joy?
What we know is that no one appreciates their bodies more than trans people on the other side of hard-won self love and transitional magics. Our chosen families are absolutely incredible. The only thing more dazzling than our hobbies and interests is how we cross-stitch, write fanfiction, draw, research nerdy subjects, forage, make music, read, dance, move our bodies, perform, and heal through apocalyptic times.
I (Jin) have said it before and I’ll say it again: The world has a lot to learn from trans people about how to live and cherish life itself.
Want more?
We’re not the only ones thinking about this stuff. Below, we’ll share some additional resources that may aid you in answering “why joy” for yourself, and, hopefully, offer some joy while you read. 🙂
If you’re feeling fired up about trans joy, don’t forget to subscribe to Amplifying Trans Joy and Trans News That Doesn’t Suck!
Gratefully,
Jin & KB
Further Reading
Some resources that have shaped our ideas about trans joy:
Lately I get bogged down reading articles about the horrors of the past and present. My fianceé is trans and we are both neurodivergent as well. Everyday we face the reality of navigating a world that wasn't built for us. But throughout our relationship she has encouraged me to find my own passions, and to appreciate the little things even during the hardest times we have faced. She genuinely cares about and supports my authentic self in ways that I didn't know were possible. There is an incredible light and strength in her that she does not always recognize or connect with because of her past. I know that she has a very deep connection to her anger and shame in ways that are different from my own. As an intensely introspective person, I have learned a lesson that personal growth is not something that can be easily explained or forced upon someone. I've also learned that encouraging mutual growth, honesty, and accountability is a lot less stressful than simply waiting for someone to change. Even when we struggle to understand one another, I know at the end of the day we both want to feel safe, supported, and happy. I consider myself extremely lucky to share my life with such a beautiful, unique, and fiercely strong woman, who is capable of much more than she can see right now. Reading this post was a beautiful realization that through it all, the future of joy and belonging we've been dreaming of is still in our hands.
Thank you so much for this article! Often times in my own trans community (in the past), I've felt like I've had to dull down my joy because everyone was either so frightened or angry. For me, it is a balance in equanimity; finding ways to feel both the anger and/or the fear while also having an open enough heart to continue experiencing joy and thriving, and there is SO MUCH JOY in this life and world to experience! We are WORTH IT! We are WORTH thriving, not just "getting by". Love, love, love.