Published in 2022 ‘Nothing to hide’ is an important anthology for the visibility of a broad range of LGBTQIA experience within an Australian context. Often the uniqueness of this experience in comparison to western countries around the world is often overlooked. We have our own troubled colonial history with long term intergenerational trauma, we are a country that has moved away from strong religious affiliations faster than other places and we have a large immigrant population despite the pervasive racism within parts of the country. However, compulsory voting and ideas concerning a ‘fair go’ in recent years have prevented extreme ideas from influencing government policy and shown an ongoing progressive trend. It is important for those of us in the Trans community to build knowledge of the shared history and range of experiences that people have faced within this context to understand each other.
Trauma and hardship
The different works in the anthology do not shy away from the trauma connected with trans experience. At times this means that anthology is very confronting and heartbreaking when we consider the experiences of others. The fact that most of these contributions are still with us is a testament to their strength but also the need for a supportive and strong community. This confronting aspect of the collection is noticeable from the first few pages of Crystal Love Johnson’s account that detail child sexual abuse, possessive boyfriends, drug abuse, HIV and alcoholism. As someone that has been well supported since coming out and only had to deal with verbal and online abuse thus far it was a stark reminder of the truth that many of my trans siblings and our community elders have had to face. It is a lesson that will stay with me inform my own interactions going forward.
However, what is worth noting is that most of these accounts of trauma and abuse do end on a more positive note. In Crystal’s case she persevered living her truth and has been able to represent sistergirls in the Tiwi islands as well as build a determination to help her people. This is the real power of this collection that it does provide a sense of inspiration, as there are individuals in our community that despite everything continue to strive to improve the situation for future generations.
Sistergirls and Brotherboys: Indigenous Voice
A clear focus of the anthology is to provide a voice to indigenous experience. This is a key element of Crystal’s account as a Yimipininni or Sistergirl living in Darwin and the Tiwi islands. In this instance her experience as a transgender woman is in some way intensified by some of the factors more broadly impacting indigenous communities like alcohol abuse and a lack of opportunity. This is experience is once again explicitly discussed in the transcript ‘Imagining Abolitionist Futures’ which provides for multiple voices to be heard on the prison industrial complex and its ongoing impact on the lives of aboriginal and non-indigenous transgender people stuck in the prison system. In some ways this second example creates a link between our experiences as minorities as targets of system wide corruption and abuse.
The most thought provoking and educational element of this discourse is Sandy O’Sullivan’s contribution “The colonial trappings of gender”. As the title suggests, this short essay highlights the impact of the colonial project specifically on the creation and consistent use of the gender binary to further cultural decimation. This is a rich discussion of the complexities of understanding Indigenous gender diversity as O’Sullivan deals with the difficulties of examining indigenous history and the influence of a European Binary on terms like Sistergirl and Brotherboy. In this it is a stark reminder that the indigenous trans community must continually deal with the erasure of colonialism while trying to understand their own place.
The multicultural Voice
On of the other strengths of this anthology is not only the opportunity to provide a voice to trans and gender diverse Australians but to highlight the diversity within our community. Besides a clear desire to emphasis the indigenous experience what really stayed with me is a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience and how this impact the experiences of LGBTQIA people living in Australia. Whether it is the lack of legal protection in Singapore, the impact of British colonisation of India and section 377 of the penal code or potential legal persecution in Malaysia. These accounts pull together a greater understanding of Trans acceptance around the world as well as highlighting the cultural factors the continue impact the lives of those living that live in Australia.
These cultural influences impact an individual’s own inner turmoil and path to self-acceptance as they combat specific expectations, in a similar but different way to those from western backgrounds. Yet, they it also potentially creates a greater level of separation between those in the trans community and family. This is the case for Tiff Tan whose family in Malaysia are ‘somewhat accepting’ he is barred from ever returning home due to the lack of legal protection and possibility for imprisonment. These are considerations that a lot of us would never have to make and until engaging with a more diverse section of our community may be increasingly oblivious. Anthologies like this can therefore bridge some of that gap and at the least allow us to truly recognize our own ignorance.
Change and Modern Trans visibility
The final key take away from reading the anthology is building an understanding of how things have changed in the way we are viewed within Australian society and our level of visibility. This idea is the most relatable to my experience as someone that grew up in the 90s but could never accept herself until 2022 and a time where we have unprecedented visibility. While this is present throughout the collection due to the inclusion of several trans elders it is perhaps Julie Peters “A trans and gender de-mythology” that highlights some of the changing discourse the most. Born in 51 the assertion of her mother that “God had decided [she] was a boy” demonstrates the conservative and narrow views of the time while her later experiences in the 80s showed an ability to live as trans withing other people’s parameters. Her experience in 1985 with a ‘Lesbian Feminist Anarchist’ introduced her to Janice Raymond’s Transexual Empire (an infamous title in our circles now) seems to highlight the conditional nature of this acceptance. Later in the 90s however Julie’s ability to gain some traction critiquing exclusionary politics and contribution to the establishment of Trans Gender Victoria highlight the clear shift by the early 2000s. This snapshot it’s possible to not only see the history of trans experience in Australia but also trace current trends.
One of the last inclusions, Jack Nicholls “Momento Moratorium” focuses on the current level of visibility of the trans community. Something that inspires a lot of complex emotions as it both clearly has created a lot of hate that represents transwomen as “the bogeyman in the bathroom” thanks to the TERFs and a degree of self-loathing and regret. They mention that this newfound visibility happened so fast and created a sense of disconnection between themselves and the younger generation of trans kids that had found themselves through the age of social media. I, as someone with a similar experience especially working in schools and seeing teenagers working shit out a lot earlier than me, find this idea of jealousy relatable. Of course, this is amazing progress and something we need to continually fight for to protect but being perhaps 5 – 10 years away from that same experience it is hard sometimes. Knowing that I am not alone in such thoughts as always is validating but as with the whole anthology I recognize that we must own our experience, share it and allow people to learn.
Not a light read and something that you might approach gradually overtime like I did but a collection that has a lot to teach and allows us as a community in Australia to broaden our understanding of each other. Grab your copy from Amazon today.
Read some of my other reviews of Australian Transgender expereinces from Dani Laidley and Yves Rees
Leave a Reply