Ever wonder what it feels like living in the wrong body your whole life? Jean shares a candid story on the journey to her freedom as a trans woman, challenging the rules of society and why she's so driven to fight for visibility for the trans community. We discuss the different layers of the matrix that exists in the society - how a seemingly accepted identity is still based on certain standards imposed on us, and dive into the fluidity of gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression. Jean was forced to live in the gender matrix her whole life and eventually defied the pressure to shine in her full color. Her story is definitely one that inspires us to question the narratives prescribed to us so we can be our own author and write our story.
Jean is the APAC lead of the Trans@Google Global Steering Committee, the founder of Trans.Lucent - a community support group for Indonesian trans-folks, and a moderator of 2 international trans communities. She's a full-time Growth Manager at Google for mobile app publishers in Southeast Asia and a part-time mermaid, gamer, and cosplayer.
What we discussed:
3:06 How Jean is advocating for trans rights at Google
6:59 Importance of representationImportance of representations Trans people always portrayed in negative light
12:34 Coming out to her mom and the privilege of developing independence
22:19 Love trumps what people think of us
28:23 Living in fear before the transition
37:02 The courage to fight for freedom
41:47 Gender identity, sexual orientation and gender expression
44:36 Compassion over comprehension
50:17 Happiness and life after transition
53:48 the small thing that means the world
1:00:00 F*ck society and takeaways
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Connect with Jean: https://www.instagram.com/jean.illyria/
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Breaking The Rules of Society in Gender and Sexual Identity - Jean Ilyria