I am old, out of shape, and have injuries which make going into a gym a nightmare. People who find a place to go where they are supported on their path are quite lucky. I think the fitness industry has lots of room to grow and expand by working with all different groups who don’t feel comfortable for a wide variety of reasons.
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I hope that LGBTQ people will gain hope and feel understood through programs like this. Everyone needs to feel comfortable in his/her/their own body and surroundings.
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If it makes people feel better body and soul, I’m all for it. Congrats to Asher and others working to develop the field of fitness training for people who don’t benefit from or need something different from mainstream exercise facilities.
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Is there any chance these folks could learn to appreciate their bodies through therapy, gender non-conformity etc. and avoid the long-term, permanent effects of binding and surgery? Or is that talk not acceptable in woke company? (and for the record I’m a progressive)
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@FH Perhaps it’s more complicated, not a one sized fits all? In this article, it seems we are we reading about folks who have no other option they can live with.
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@profesora I'm sure it's complicated and not a decision taken lightly. It's good that programs like this exist. At the same time, I've recently discovered the growing community of "detransitioners" - largely teenage/early 20s girls who became convinced (from the internet) they were trans and that physically transitioning was the best and only path forward. They eventually realized that, for them, transitioning was harming more than it was helping. Look up Pique Resilience Project on YouTube. I'd like to see the NYT include multiple perspectives on the trans phenomenon because the current narrative is overly simplistic.
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To understand why transgender individuals seek out surgeries, you must understand how impactful gender dysphoria is. Transgender people are much more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to have mental health issues than the general population. Existing as the wrong sex is a traumatic experience, and is hard to understand for those who don’t have to deal with it. Dysphoria needs appropriate treatment to remedy, and professionals have established standards of care that alleviate this suffering. Surgeries and hormones have been clinically shown to greatly reduce gender dysphoria and suffering for trans folks.
You can’t boil a transgender persons experience down to dressing a particular way/mentally identifying as such, it’s also a very real dissonance between your physical sex and your true sex. The ideal that trans people can continue living as their assigned sex and be comfortable simply shifting just their identity is flawed as it is rooted in the belief that transgender people are choosing to be so. Any political ideology can falsely classify the transgender experience as something that can be cured through conversion therapy and “accepting” one’s body. It’s the same approach as “praying the gay away”. You are born transgender and therefore cannot pretend it’s not there, every trans person tries this and is unsuccessful. The option is almost always between transitioning or death (no, accepting what god gave you and becoming happy with your sex is not an option).
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woman is not a costume
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>>Five years ago, Asher Freeman tried to find a personal trainer knowledgeable about the fitness needs of queer and transgender people.
Stop it. Stop using “queer” as some kind of catch-all. Gay men have no fitness “needs.” We know our way around a gym better than anyone. Implicating us in a phenomenon which they KNOW will seem absolutely ridiculous to the average American isn’t just disingenuous; it’s harmful. Queer, LGBT, LGBTQ: they’re word games propagated by a radical anti-science minority who wants to piggyback off of our—and ours alone—hard-won progress. They elevate themselves by dragging us down, and they have no stronger ally than an uncritical liberal media.
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Follow Ilya Parker, @decolonizing_fitness on instagram for the full story....
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When I initially came across this article featuring my comrade Asher Freeman I was glad to see his work & gym being highlighted. However, upon further reading I became disappointed with not even a mention of Decolonizing Fitness or other People of Color doing similar work. In fact after reaching out to Asher with my concerns he noted: that he specifically suggested Decolonizing Fitness be contacted as a well known resource and featured in this article. Yet, DF was purposefully left out along with several other People of Color contributors to the world of “inclusive fitness”. Haha go figure. This article doesn’t accurately reflect the brilliant work of black and queer trans pioneers in the fitness industry. As our work is often stolen, co-opted and whitewashed. Many of the folks mentioned in this piece have utilized either the platform, resources or language of myself and other People of Color.
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@Ilya Parker
The article says Asher is non-binary, and uses the pronouns they and them.
Is that wrong too? You use "he"...
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@AG
Asher actually reviewed this comment before I submitted it and didn’t vocalize any concerns. It’s also best practice to apologize and honor your mistake which I have done. Since that’s all you seem to want to focus on regarding what I shared...like that would ever diminish my presence.
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Finally, someone admits that transition procedures are physically harmful.
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@Grittenhouse: What's to admit? Anyone with two firing neurons in their craniums knows that major surgery, and many minor surgeries, are "physically harmful." That's not news in any way.
Plastic surgery, done strictly for reasons of wanting to change something about how one looks, is physically harmful (and visit anyone after having recently had a rhinoplasty or facelift to see that up close and personal), but we don't condemn that.
Although I, myself, cannot imagine going through the surgery/surgeries some transgender individuals do, they don't do it for frivolous reasons, and the psychological benefit far outweighs the physical discomfort (or actual harm, even if there are lingering effects). It's not your decision, nor mine, to make nor to criticize or judge.
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@Grittenhouse Any major surgery is potentially life threatening. Given that it seems that folks who transition do so to live.
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@Grittenhouse It is, like any medical procedure or medication. All come with their risks and all (excluding cosmetic treatments) are medically necessary to a patient's overall mental and physical well being. Like with any surgery or medication, transitional care is closely monitored by physicians. If the risks outweigh the benefits then treatment may be barred. For most individuals everything goes smoothly. I've been on testosterone for 5 years and had top surgery myself two summers ago. I've never had any unforeseen health problems due to this. In fact, I healed incredibly quickly after my surgery and am the happiest I've ever been. I will be stopping testosterone soon though as I've been on it for 5 years and don't wish to have a hysterectomy (after 5 years that's recommended if you wish to continue, because there's an increased risk of ovarian cysts). Transgender people and their medical providers know what they're doing.
God bless.
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This is huge.
I am helping to prepare a family member for top surgery, and I’m going to look for a local trainer now based on the advice here.
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@Cousy
I would not assist in a relative's self-destruction.
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@Cousy Best of luck! Thank you for supporting your family member. If you can't find a trainer, then perhaps ask the surgeon for exercise recommendations to help their recovery. I had top surgery a few years ago and am so blessed to have had access to it. It warms my heart to hear that others are going through the same thing with family support.
God bless. (And tell your family member congratulations! That's huge!)
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What a great approach to fitness! I think more people would hit the gym/studio if they felt comfortable there. North America is slowly killing itself through obesity and "diseases of inactivity," so the goal should be getting more people active. I'm no doctor, but I think being fit would no doubt help reduce body dysphoria and also help those who choose surgery, recover faster afterwards. Well done to those who are working to create a more inclusive fitness environment for everyone from different walks of life.
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There's no question non-binary people need pronouns other than he and she to identify themselves, but SURELY there must be a better solution than to take existing words which mean specific things and force them to mean something else.
They and them are plural, and they will continue to be plural when applied to multiple people. Using them as singular reduces the clarity of the sentence that contains them.
And language NEEDS to be clear.
The existing personal pronouns (he, she, him, her, his) should be supplemented with recycled pronouns like thou, thee, and thy, or with neologisms like vo, ve, and vy.
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The issue with this perspective is that we often use they in the singular in average conversation already. When speaking of someone in the hypothetical, they is a grammatically correct pronoun to use. For example, “Somebody left their coffee cup on the table” is an automatic part of our speech. We can all understand this means a singular person, and the singular they does not reduce the clarity of the sentence. Perhaps there are specific instances where you’d be confused when they is used, but there are also instances where someone uses he/she without specifying the person that leads to equal confusion. This is just a part of using pronouns to describe people.
It is less of a challenge to expand a part of language that is commonly used than to adopt unfamiliar words or speak like we’re Shakespeare.
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And thon.
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@Green Tea No, it is far simpler to allow they and them to be singular or plural. Thou and thee and thy should come back, but with their original meaning of intimate relationship. No more neologisms. It's bad enough as it is now. I am certain that cis was chosen by whomever poorly chose it for its offensive sound, as in sissy. There is something wrong with trying to force a re-definition of existing language because of a new self-oriented concern.
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This is a wonderful piece showcasing empathetic work to connect people to the support, guidance, and care they need. Well done, Freeman!
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Good for you! It is awesome that you are offering these services for all types of people. If it makes you feel good to offer support and guidance, just think of what that support and guidance gives to others. Well done and keep up the good work.
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