Trans girl and woman discuss growing up decades apart
Josie (left) and Poppy discussed their experiences of growing up trans. (My Genderation)
A trans woman and girl have compared their experiences of growing up trans in different eras in a powerful video.
The documentary—created by Owl and Fox Fisher, who run the on-going film project My Genderation—shows 11-year-old trans girl Poppy chatting with 70-year-old Josie.
Josie explains to Poppy how she grew up in a “very different time” in rural Northumberland.
Watch the video below:
The 70-year-old says that, because there were so few people where she lived, the first time she met another girl was when she was aged five.
“It wasn’t like I could consider transitioning or thinking I was a girl,” says Josie. “This just wasn’t on the agenda. We had no internet, we had no television, we had no radio.”
Poppy, on the other hand, tells Josie that she had a very positive experience of coming out as trans.
“I was able to talk to my parents and my friends and my family about it, and be open about it,” the 11-year-old explains.
“But I guess when you were younger you didn’t have the opportunity to be open about it like I was.”
Josie goes on to discuss how, at the age of 60, she “woke up” and decided to get gender reassignment surgery.
She explains how her first surgery was a “disaster,” but that she later got this corrected in California.
“I know that you’re going to have a much fuller and more complete life,” the 70-year-old tells Poppy.
Josie also discusses the discrimination trans people face from trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs).
“We are real women, we are real girls,” she says. “But for some reason, some people think we’re not.”
Poppy, meanwhile, says she wishes she could have changed Josie’s bad experiences of growing up as a trans person.
“It breaks my heart, it really does, because I always wish everybody else could have the opportunity that I have,” Poppy says to Josie.
“And I just feel so terrible. And if there was any way I could go back in time, and make things right, I would. I would give anything for that.”
She continues: “If I hadn’t transitioned, I wouldn’t be happy in my own body. And I wouldn’t be confident. I’d just be depressed and I wouldn’t want to be around anyone or anything.”
In a touching moment at the end of the video, Josie tells Poppy: “You’re beautiful,” to which Poppy replies: “Not as beautiful as you.”
Fox Fisher (left) and Owl made the video as part of their My Genderation film project. (theFoxFisher/Twitter)
Speaking to PinkNews, Owl said that they and Fox made the video because they wanted to “show people the importance of supporting our younger generation and supporting trans people in general.”
They added: “Josie’s generation went through so much hardship because of stigma and ignorance.
“It doesn’t have to be like that—we as a society should know better by now and we have a wealth of stories showing that if we support our kids from a young age.”
The couple recently launched a new campaign, called #MyTransBody, which celebrates the bodies of trans and non-binary people on social media.
Speaking to PinkNews about their latest film, Fox said: “We are so privileged to have access to people within our community that trust us as film makers, and as trans people we are able to really capture intimate conversations that film makers who aren’t trans wouldn’t be able to get.
“There’s a level of understanding and trust we have, and we’re so happy to be such good friends with Poppy and her family, as well as getting to meet and film with Josie.”
