IIIT Hyderabad hosted a talk show with Jessica Lynn
Hyderabad: IIIT Hyderabad hosted a talk show with Jessica Lynn, post operation, a transgender woman from California here in the city in KCIS Auditorium at its campus at Gachibowli on Tuesday, 12th September.
Lynn spoke about ” Journey of a Transgender woman”
The talk was scheduled keeping in view of IIIT-Hyderabad’s several mechanisms to monitor and improve gender relations in campus including gender sensitisation.
Nearly 300 students and faculty have participated in the talk.
A transgender activist Monalisa, Prife Abhijit Mithra and others have participated in the talk.
Lynn spoke about her journey as a transgender woman and shared her life-altering experiences before and after transition. Her lecture covered her transition, sex change, and assorted issues both legal and ethical involving gender identity, seen through her perspective as an intersectional advocate. She spoke about the trauma of losing parental rights of her youngest son and the legal battle that ensued and she lost.
Don’t say gender doesn’t matter to you, she told the gathering.
Being a transgender you need to be patient, Lynn told the gathering.
She gave a nine way formula to be an ally to the transgender community.
She has undertaken world tour two years back with a sole aim to create awareness about transgender community. She is addressing at 22universities in India. She spoke in Delhi yesterday and will be speaking at Bangalore tomorrow.
Speaking on the occasion Monalisa, a city based transgender activist said parents and society are not accepting transgenders. Transgenders have to meet their parents secretly. Parents are not owning transgenders. Transgenders have to beg or live as sex workers to survive. Hope this will change. Transgenders want to get educated, work like others. People need to accept transgenders with open arms she said
Lynn was also very open to student questions and curiosities.
She has been giving talks at several universities and colleges in an effort to educate and inform students on her own experiences as a parent living as a transgender woman. At the end of the talk Jessica told the students, “I hope you have learnt something from my life and will be more open to transgender and their life struggles, and learn to be more accepting of all genders”.
Over the course of several years now, Jessica Lynn has lectured at many venerable institutions, colleges and universities that range from Harvard University to Stanford University, orienting students and faculty to issues of gender inequality and the transgender community. Her life story will soon be made into a feature film, The Birth Defect – the Jessica Lynn story.
Dr Radhika Mamidi, Chair of Student Life Committee, IIIT-Hyderabad said, “Such talks help in thinking beyond the stereotypes. Jessica Lynn’s mission to meet students from all the continents needs an applause. Sharing her experience and putting their queries to rest builds confidence in the younger generation born into a not-so-inclusive society.”
In the words of Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli, a transgender activist in India, “Jessica’s talk gives students who may only have a mystic understanding of transgender people, through buzzwords and political jargon, a rare opportunity to learn from and speak with someone who has the ability to express the emotional, social and legal challenges faced by a transgender woman. This is a fantastic opportunity to dig into real subjects that are seldom discussed, with someone who is willing to share their complete story.”