In a recent blog post, Yasmin Afendi, a freelance writer from Bangladesh writes about her experience of working with cis/trans gender issues in the profession. She is thirty-three years old and was born in Nigeria. She has identified as a cis (non Transgender) woman all her life but now calls herself a woman whose body is a woman’s body because that is what she was assigned at birth. She had a struggle throughout her life trying to understand who she was despite being told over again from a young age that she was a girl. Because she struggled with identity theft as a child she was assaulted repeatedly as a child by members of the trans community.
In her article, Afendi identifies her cis/trans gendered identity as arising from her experience of living as a marginalised woman in the society of her birth. Through her early twenties she was repeatedly propositioned by members of the trans community for sex. She always returned them with the answer that she was single and therefore did not wish to pursue any relationship at that time. This continued until one day she attended an event where she met a man who invited her to go on a date.
From this point in her life she pursued her chosen career as a writer with the support of family and friends. Throughout her early years working in the writing profession she continued to identify as a woman but with the support of cis/transgendered colleagues and later on with the support of cis/ Transgender colleagues she realised that she was a woman. She then began working as a staff writer for a publishing company as well as pursuing a career as a writer and performer in various local theatres. Throughout this period as a woman she continued to struggle with identity issues relating to being a woman in a patriarchal society. The support of her cis/trans partners and the support of her family were key factors in helping her to achieve a sense of freedom and an empowering sense of agency as she began to navigate her own personal journey.