Why Trans Awareness Week Should Be Renamed “Trans People are Tired” Week

Let’s get one thing quite clear: Trans awareness week is…mostly something that exists to make cis people feel better about themselves.

Because if there’s one thing you need to know about trans folks, it’s that we’re very tired, all the time. But especially these days.

I’ve been inundating my Facebook feed with trans awareness week content because I’m followed by mainly cis people over there. Hasn’t seemed as pressing here on Twitter, given the demographics of you all

— Kira Cross (she/her) (@TheSourSavior) November 15, 2021

A lot of the time, being trans means feeling like you’re TOO perceived, so the idea of an entire week of visibility and awareness can make some of us break out in hives.

Trans Week of Nodding Politely While Being Performatively Affirmed

— Colby Gordon (@badinfinity2) November 14, 2021

Who the hell decided that what the trans community needed was another week of “awareness”? How about trans week of the right-wing media forgetting that we exist for a bit?

— Ari Drennen🌲 🏔 (@AriDrennen) November 14, 2021

After an exhausting few weeks, most of us are simply looking forward to not being perceived, bothered, or thought about. In fact, a lot of us would just like to be left alone!

trans week of blissful unawareness

— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) November 15, 2021

After Chelsea Manning clearly read the room via this exceptional tweet, we all got thinking: what if this was a week where trans folks just were able to *GASP*…log off??

It’s officially Trans Leave Us Alone Week, Venmo in bio:

Why is there a trans day of visibility and a trans awareness week why can’t we have trans day of leave us alone or trans week of give us money

— Halberd Goth Sarah (@fakegothsarah) November 15, 2021

I mean don’t get us wrong, but we’d also love to raise awareness, but it has to be on our *own* terms.

in celebration of trans week of visibility i have decided to rob a bank

— sopherical twist (@fppf_gf) November 15, 2021

Because otherwise, how is it any different from the labor we perform each and every day?

Perhaps @AshleighWildest put it best, explaining the true function of Trans Awareness Week:

#TransAwarenessWeek should genuinely be a week of cis people taking up the gauntlet – learning, opposing, campaigning, funding

Not just platitudes + affirmations to the out trans person in your life. ⚧

— Angry Black Changeling (@AshleighWildest) November 15, 2021

But we don’t live in a perfect world, and for that reason, chances are this week will be just as exhausting as every other.

Still, we can dream, meme, and keep doing our best to stay healthy and well, with a little help from our friends.

transgender week of running up that hill to make a deal with god

— leigh (@ion_trap_) November 14, 2021