Trained in the Ways of Men

Shelly Prevost's film, Trained in the Ways of Men, premiered this past weekend at the San Jose film festival. Myself and two friends attended the Sunday showing, while a number of other friends went Saturday night. I was impressed with how many people were in attendance...with the total number for both shows over 1000. The really nice part is about 98% of those in attendance were not transgender.

Anyway, the film is a look at the aftermath of the Gwen Araujo murder. It covers the funeral and court cases from the eyes of Shelly Prevost. She also becomes very close with Gwen's mom, Sylvia Guerrero. Shelly is able to obtain interviews with both prosecuting and defense lawyers in the Gwen Araujo case, as well as discuss a similar topic with counterparts in another transgender murder case.

By far one of the most interesting aspects of the film is the personal interviews with people on the street. The classic question of 'Are you a man or a woman?' followed by 'How do you know?' left a lot of people stumped...including high powered defense lawyers. How do you know you are a man or a woman? Do you just know?

Some people were totally clueless with this. Shelly postulated to one man that if his chromosomes came back as female, would he continue to live as a man, or live as a woman. He said he'd live as a woman, and even went further to tell Shelly he'd probably date men...all while standing there with his girlfriend.

For transgender people that have accepted who they are, these questions are quite easy...we know who we are because we've pondered these questions before. We hope for something telling us we are or we aren't, but there is no clear cut answer. We feel one way, but we see another. For many of us, after realizing that we're not alone in the world, we finally seek the path that takes us where we need to be.

So, are you a man or a woman...and how do you know?