It’s Transgender Day of Visibility: a day to celebrate the existence (and resistance) of transgender and non-binary people and to raise awareness of the discrimination still faced by the community.
To mark the occasion, we enlisted Munroe Bergdorf, author, activist, model, and former GLAMOUR Woman of the Year, and Bel Priestley, Heartstopper actor and content creator, to chat about all things trans visibility.
Sofi Adams
Nic Ford
On transgender visibility…
Munroe Bergdorf: I think visibility is a gateway. I think we’ve rested a lot on visibility and representation as being the goal, but ultimately, if we don’t have that structural visibility and representation, in politics, the boardroom, and behind the scenes, then everything else is easily taken away.
We need representation in politics because everything goes back to the fact that we are politicised bodies. If we don’t have that representation in Downing Street or in the Houses of Parliament, then visibility in the media doesn’t actually have as much power.
Bel Priestley: You never forget about being transgender. You are always aware in every room that you are in, every relationship, and friendship. It’s something that never goes.
M: This is why I always say to younger trans people that they really need to fall in love with being trans because it’s not going to be something that gets easier 10 years down the line. If someone knows that you are trans and you are in love with the fact that you are trans and you love your life and your community, it takes the power away from other people to destabilise you
On the single-sex space debate…
M: Not all cis women look the same. There was a point in time when Black women weren’t even considered real women, and Black women had to use different facilities from white women. This line of thinking could impact masculine-presenting lesbians, muscular women, or Black women, or whoever the majority decides isn’t woman enough.
There’s a denial that femininity and masculinity exist in us at the same time, and trying to stamp that out, but in stamping that out, you not only become violent and toxic towards women, you torture yourself as well. And so it not only makes these men at war with themselves, but it also makes them at war with the world and with women, which just makes all of our lives dangerous.
On sisterhood…
M: I can’t imagine my life without other trans women in it. It’s been so crucial to my self-growth and personal development. If you don’t have people that you can bounce it off, especially in this industry, it can make you feel like you’re going mad. It’s also really reassuring because a lot of those experiences that we think are unique to us, they’re actually shared, and we are all feeling them, but oftentimes we don’t share them out of shame or out of isolation.
So, having sisters in your life allows you to feel seen, sane, understood, and I think optimistic because if it’s an experience that we’re all having, then it’s a shared experience rather than something that’s shoving you into silence or solitude.
