Being a Trans Resident Advisor - part 2

We're on day 3 of RA training here. Because I know everyone else on the RA team pretty well (my school is teeny - we only have 12 RAs) and we are all generally pretty good people there was no awkwardness with starting this year. I guess the only thing I should really work on is really correcting people about pronouns; it is starting to get more awkward for me when people use the "wrong" ones. But even on that front most everyone is pretty good about it.

Today the dean of student life took me aside to ask how I was doing, and we talked about what I was going to say to my residents - whether or not I wanted to tell them I was trans, and how I'd like that to go down. She basically wanted to make sure that we were on the same page with everything. It was a good conversation, and definitely reminded me that I go to a school that I really love.

I'm never quite sure when to say things to people. I feel like if I actually interject whenever anybody makes a comment or says something that could be offensive (not just about gender/gender identity/gender expression, but about anything) then people will find me more annoying than they already do. But there's a lot of things that make me go "wait, no, that's not ok." I'm definitely more social justice minded than a lot of other folks my age. That's not good or bad, but it is different and does give me a way different perspective on a lot of things that people say.

Lastly in this disjointed blog post - I have all females in my house. That's not by concious intent - all houses on our campus are coed. It's just how housing worked out (please keep in mind that my house has 7 people in total - I'm only in charge of 6 residents). But I feel like that might get awkward somehow, though I'm not sure what my actual worries are.

I'm sure this will all abate once I actually meet my residents.

I will be running this series of blog posts until it comes to a natural end, or until I'm no longer an RA - whichever comes first. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in comments. Additionally, if you have any ideas for future blog posts I'd also love to hear those.

2 comments

AndyLC wrote 2 years 23 weeks ago

Yeah, I'm basically at that

Yeah, I'm basically at that point. My residents arrive today (supposedly - I don't know where the hell they are but they aren't in the house). One arrived last night. I introduced myself by saying, "Hi, I'm Andrew. I'm the RA for this house. Nice to meet you." And then when some other students came by this morning she introduced us by saying "This is Andrew. She's the RA here."

Ash Wickell wrote 2 years 23 weeks ago

Pronoun Interjections

I definitely identify with you on this point--I'm a graduate teaching assistant, not an RA; I think it amounts to a similar situation, though. There's the gender stuff... and then there's the GTA stuff. I don't want to short-change the latter; and my students have to *really* focus on what they're doing. We work with dangerous chemicals and processes, and I can just see myself flashing back to the day some undergrad burned hir eyes out with nitric acid, because I picked the wrong moment to correct hir pronoun usage... ok, I'm maybe a little bit paranoid.

It is anxiety-inducing, for sure, and always a challenge. Best of luck to you, though; I look forward to reading more of your posts :)

Add your comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Syndicate content Syndicate content
icon_win10000.jpg

Bookmark and Share

Campus Pride Blog

The Campus Pride Blog: Campus Q&A provides a forum to ask questions and get answers. Now you can hear perspectives, issues, news and events from LGBT & Ally student leaders at colleges and universities across the United States.

CP_blog_web_ad.jpg
FIND_icon.jpg
Lead With Pride: Join Campus Pride!
CP_twitter.jpg
Campus Pride on Facebook
Campus Pride on MySpace
CP_shoutB_0.jpg

Campus Q&A is moderated by LGBT and ally student leaders from across the United States.

Blogger Login