Compassion Over Comprehension
Do you know who you are outside of who you have been told you should be?
Acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and speaker, Alok Vaid-Menon, shares their story, and the stories of those who came before them, with an urgency that invites us to step into our power and the power of interdependence.
Are you ready to heal?
Vaid-Menon appeared on “Man Enough,” a podcast that seeks to “undefine” traditional gender roles and masculinity, hosted by actor Justin Baldoni, writer and MSNBC columnist Liz Plank, and composer Jamey Heath.
The gender binary — the idea that there are only two genders rather than a spectrum — and the traditional expectations associated with binary gender labels hurt everyone, not just transgender people.
The reason you don’t fight for trans and nonbinary people is because you’re not fighting for yourself. Rather than telling cisgender people how to help trans people, we can reframe the conversation to ask cisgender people if they’re ready to heal from the ways the gender binary has affected them.
As the creator of the growing movement to degender fashion, Vaid-Menon is helping others move beyond the binary into full expression. In a conversation filled with wisdom, historical insight, and radical mercy, Vaid-Menon challenges us to value compassion over comprehension, to try harder for each other in the name of love, and reminds us that learning is a sign of being alive.
