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I’m Transgender & a Journalist. Here Are Two Terms Better Than ‘Transitioning’
As Simba said, “What’s a motto?” And as Timon replied, “Nothing. What’s the motto with you?“ The meerkat is joking here, but still, words matter.
I’m a transgender woman and journalist. Transgender folks aren’t changing who they are inside — we’re merely getting more aligned with our gender. Thus, it’s only so much about a “transition”/“transitioning.” It’s more about actualization/actualizing and realization/realizing, in my experience.
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The top of the pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is self-actualization. “Transitioning” is just actualizing much further. (Medical treatment as part of the process also goes into physiological needs, too — my body has done things like call for breasts and tell me to get rid of the dick. (Examples of the latter can be found here and here.) More broadly, I also, hundreds of times, have felt separate from my body. “Physiological needs” is the base of the pyramid, reflecting the most basic needs a human has.)
Realizing in this case is basically, if not entirely, another way to express actualizing in the way of which I write here.
In other words, I don’t mean something that has come to mind. By realizing, I mean coming as close as possible to who you are.
And you might say that as Simba (Matthew Broderick) did when he took his place in the Circle of Life, when a transgender individual actualizes, or realizes (or “transitions”), they are doing the same. (Except when it comes to the latter, it’s real. No roaring at the tip of Pride Rock involved.)
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