​Trans Representation in Organizations

By Faye Seidler

fayeseidler@gmail.com

Anyone who grew up in Fargo and has spent time out of the state knows that sooner or later someone will ask them if it’s just like living in the movie “Fargo.” The response to that question would take a whole article on its own, but most people living in the area have experienced this situation.

Our responses to it vary from anger, to earnest discussion, to satirical acknowledgment by saying “Oh yah, you betcha!” Sometimes it can even get heated and a Fargoan will be more adamant about rejecting similarities, saying how most people don’t talk that way, and that the film wasn’t set in Fargo and it wasn’t shot in Fargo. They’ll say, “Sure, some parts are true of the city, but no...that isn’t me.”

To understand this experience is to understand the power of representation, and from there it is just a small jump to understand the struggles the trans movement faces. First, imagine that Fargo’s law enforcement policies were created using “Fargo” as the sole source for understanding what sort of crime occurs in the region. Or imagine that every time Fargo is mentioned in the news, the reporter connects the city with the movie “Fargo” to aid in understanding. Or imagine that it was common practice to seek out the Coen Brothers as expert opinions on the area, rather than attempting to interview anyone who actually lives in Fargo. It’s easy to see the absurdity of these scenarios, but they are more or less the state of things for trans people right now.

Consider: the majority of the population has never met a trans person. According to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), 84% of Americans learn about trans people through what they see in the media.

It is exceedingly unlikely to find an openly trans individual who holds an upper level position or can directly shape company policy. However, with the growing awareness that trans people exist, many companies are in the position of needing to set policy for the first time regarding trans clients and staff, in order to head off future issues. In a situation like this one, or for a company that put a policy in place years ago, did a transgender person’s eyes ever look over the final policy to see if it was problematic? To see if it went too far or didn’t go far enough? The answer to these questions in our state is typically no.

Lacking a trans perspective, media representations are left to fill in the knowledge gap for companies and organizations. However it is only very recently that transgender roles in movies and television have started going to trans individuals. Hollywood has a long and unfortunate history of having roles for trans women played by cisgender men.

Given that the writers and directors are also most frequently cisgender men, the narratives given to trans characters are usually tone deaf as well. A prime example is the upcoming film “(Re) Assignment,” about a cisgender male assassin who is given sex reassignment surgery against his will and then sets out to get revenge for it. This is sensationalistic and exploitative. More generally in fiction, trans characters are cast in the roles of victims (40% of the time) or villains (21% of the time).

News reporting on trans individuals often falls into a similar trap of being shaped by cisgender reporters who produce their stories to conform to existing stereotypes and worldviews about trans people. Also prevalent is the near total erasure of trans men and their perspectives. Without trans voices and input it is nearly impossible to have meaningful representation on any level.

The consequence for this lack of representation can be far reaching in terms of lawsuits, turnover, and decreased hiring pools for companies and municipalities. The results can be equally devastating to transgender individuals, who may find themselves with no accessible bathroom, health care coverage, or protocol for smoothly transitioning at work. Luckily, when you address the solution to one, you solve the problem for the other.

Taking all of that into consideration, the solution of this problem doesn’t have to be as far reaching as hiring trans management. While that would be great, it can be enough to simply listen to and involve the trans community when designing policy and protocol. There is a phrase popularized by the disability movement in the 90’s that personifies this ideal: “Nothing about us without us!”

The beauty of this phrase and the direction associated is that it says, “Let’s work together.” It says that working and connecting with the trans community is the key to making meaningful progress. Just like it isn’t enough to watch “Fargo” to understand what Fargo is like, it isn’t enough to make decisions about trans people, at any level, without trans people at the table.

[Editor’s note: Faye Seidler is the Project Coordinator of the North Dakota Safe Zone Project]