Susan Striker

Recently I had the honor of listening to Susan striker speak. Susan had a very mellow and chill attitude, but her knowledge was wise beyond her years. She began by reading the first few chapter in her new book that will be published in 2018. She spoke about the "sickness to citizenship" basically the history of the transgender community. she mentioned a lot of different examples including Beyonce's performance at the Superbowl, Micheal Brown's case from Ferguson, Big Freedia claim to fame, Bradley Mannings transformation to Chelsea Manning, Wesley Morris "we obsess over our identity", and Laverne Cox on time magazine's cover. Striker gave a brief synopsis about all of their stories and what each person did for the community. Then she went in to describe the 19th century social apparatus making it unwanted and unwelcoming to be apart of the transgender community. She described every bit of history from the patients in mental hospitals, to the silent protests that became violent. Striker compared the feminist movement and community to the LGBTQ community. She also claimed that if it weren't for the feminist movement the LGBTQ community would not have been so successful. Striker ended by answering questions and speaking on peoples opinions.
While I thought she was a wealth of knowledge, she did not allow much time for questions. She also spoke in the worlds most monotone voice that almost made it unbearable to stay focused. While I understand that this was a serious matter she did not care about the audiences attention. Despite all this I would listen to her speak again. The knowledge I gained in an hour is the knowledge it takes people years to learn. I appreciate everything she taught me.