Trans Signs 101 | Trans Awareness Week

[@judasmichael47]

A someone in the trans community who is learning ASL, I really appreciate this video, thank you.

[@MiamiBeachDrew]

THANK YOU!! I studied sign language in college, and luckily I remember a lot. Now my husband and I are adopting a nine year old deaf "boy" with notable feminine energy. We want to create a home environment where this beautiful child can feel safe and supported to be the strongest, most confident, and loved version of whomever that person is going to be. This video will help. 🤟🏽

[@ohjesslyn]

I really appreciate these queer sign-type videos. I'm hearing and learning ASL online. I watch your videos for receptive practice and to learn about the Deaf community. :) I love the added benefit of learning signs that apply to my life that aren't included in the classes I'm taking. Thanks!

[@MiloThatch420]

Boys get the eyes. Girls get the lips. But us Enbys, we get the nose and the ears! Thank you so much for this video.

[@penseeenarborescence1889]

I like the second sign you suggest for gender neutral as a sign for AGENDER, because I usually say I feel like I'm removed from the need/ desire/ purpose for having a gender and it looks to me like backing out of the gender spectrum to me... and I like the first sign for gender neutral because it looks like gender + all / any of the spectrum.

[@WeAreAllStardust79]

This video was very informative and I really appreciated the thoughtfulness and sensitivity that went into this discussion. Thank you.

[@isaiahtheraccoon8928]

Ah! I love your suggestions for gender dysphoria and euphoria! I'm definitely going to use those!

[@CallMeYourSaint]

Love this video. Also that beard is glorious

[@minabasejderha5972]

I appreciate this very much, as a trans girl. I have mixed feelings regarding the controversy itself. For example, I don't really care whether she is cisgender *in itself*. I'm much more interested in who she knows who is trans (and her politics). After all, I would rather people listen to my cis girlfriend than Blair White (extreme examples, I know, but they get the point across). My gut feeling is negative toward her, as she reminds me of how some people have a sort of well-meaning condescention. Regardless, I think your point regarding the verticality of her articulation and the horizontality of yours is an excellent way of dismantling her perspective. I am new to your channel. (Just subscribing.) I don't know if you respond to queries, I would be curious if you knew signs related to autism and why I tend to see conflicting information on autism signs. I am learning ASL because I am autistic and not always verbal (my girlfriend is the same, though she deals with her intermittent mutism more often than I). We wanted to have alternate means of communicating when one or both of us is having a meltdown or something similar. Or just for when we want to minimize talking. So having a proper sign for autism would be helpful for us. Again, this is just in case you are fine with topic suggestions. You don't owe me anything. Do whatever topics you like. It was just a passing thought.

[@minabasejderha5972]

I did some more digging and found something interesting: According to someone on reddit, the symbol that looks like "self- involved" or "self-absorbed" was decided on by an organization of *parents* of autistic children: "I believe the "self-involved" sign came from a retreat for families with deaf and autistic participants (either the parents are deaf with an autistic child, families with deaf and autistic children, or some other combination)." So, I can't verify this origin yet, but I find this a believable suggestion. It would explain the fact that I see two symbols for autism fairly regularly, one that suggests "self-absorption" and another which suggests "inwardness." And it seems to reflect a divide within the autistic community. Basically, there are lots of controversies within the autistic community between autistic adults and parents of autistic kids. I can go into the history of it if you like, but the root is that parent-led organizations and autistic-led organizations mostly work at cross purposes, and this frequent leads the parents to use language that adult autistics find pathologizing. For example, parent led organizations are primarily concerned with searching for "cures", preventative measures (some going so far as to be anti-vaccine), and in utero detection methods (all three of which seem a tad eugenicsy to me). To them, autism is some weird external force that steals their "real" children from them, leaving them with a horrible burden. (In fairness to these parents, this is in response to a trend in the medical profession that pathologized the parents as a toxic influence whose lack of adequate emotional responsiveness traumatized their children into being autistic. It's where the term "refrigerator mom" comes from.) This obsession with "cures" leads them to see autism as intrinsically separable from an autistic child, thus parent-led organizations like Autism Speaks use "person first" language: "person with autism." By contrast, autistic-led organizations prefer "identity-first" language: "autistic person." They see autism as intrisic to an autistic person's identity and experience, something that can't be meaningfully changed while remaining the same person. They are far more interested in therapeutic and compensatory projects that support existing autistic people and their families, as well as advocating for greater workplace rights and accommodations. So when I see that parents of autistic children are characterizing them as "self-involved" or "self-absorbed," this strikes me as the same pathologizing attitude in a new form. It sounds a bit like they are blaming their child being mute on the child simply being too self-involved to talk. Heck, if an autistic child is only intermittently able to orally speak, it often referred to as "selective mutism," as though they select when to talk. To be clear, not all parents of autistic children hold a pathologizing or eugenicist attitude toward their child. I'd bet most don't. But they are tired, and they hear about an organization which portrays them as brave and nobly self-sacrificing warriors (in contrast to their self-involved child), and they support the organization. And then they pick up the linguistic habits of that social space. Anyway, like I said, I have seen other signs for autism that seem to indicate "inwardness" rather than being "self-absorbed." I'm bad at describing signs, so pardon me: your dominant hand is in a kind of '5' shape, palm up, and slightly forward. Your other hand is in a 'C' shape, forming a cup against your sternum. You curl your dominant hand inward into the cup, pulling the fingers together similar to the 'and' shape. For reference, the dominant hand is sort of a vertically mirrorred motion to the symbol for being transgender, of, by chance, you know that one. At any rate, I just feel it is important to be clear that not everyone within the broader autistic community can speak for autistic adults.

[@RoganShannon13]

Hello! I appreciate you commenting and asking these questions. I'll be responding in two parts - the person signing trans, and the sign for autism/autistic. Yes, I don't really have a problem with her being cis. It became a problem because she made no mention of talking with trans people about this, there was no prior discussion--that we know of--to her posting this video about her opinions. From what I recall, she was approaching it from a purely linguistics standpoint, and hadn't bothered to check she had all of the information and if it was accurate, like I explained in the video about the verticality and horizontality. Well-meaning condescension is an apt phrase in this situation, I think. Thank you for your detailed comment on the differing views, linguistic uses, and such in the autistic community. I do follow/know quite a few autistic people, so I am aware of the problematic parent-led organizations, like Autism Speaks, and the language usage. As for the signs related to autism, I'm not exactly qualified to be talking about this. So take what I say with the knowledge that I'm not 100% sure this is accurate, and I will be asking around to verify. I know the "self-absorbed" sign (I believe you mean the one signed like focus, but turned inward to yourself as the hands are moving?) is definitely not a generally accepted sign. I vaguely remember seeing a video a long while ago of a person explaining that the correct sign for autism is the one you described at the end of "inwardness." I can't recall if this person was autistic themself or just had ties with the autistic community, but they did say that this was a discussed and agreed upon sign by people in the autistic community (if I remember right). They also described the reasoning behind the sign, but I won't try and explain that because I feel like I wouldn't be able to articulate it correctly without seeing the video again. And I don't want to be putting words into their hands! Let me ask around and see if I can have a better, more concrete answer for you.

[@idkwhattoputhere5578]

Is there a video on things related to being trans, like binders, packing, tucking, etc. ? Thank you for these videos also!

[@RoganShannon13]

I don't have any on my channel, because that's not part of my experience. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any ASL resources for this yet but you might want to check out Deaf Queer Resource Center (on most socials).

[@cheeseking06]

thank you so much! i'm hearing but trans and im rlly excited abt learning these new signs :D

[@Jasper_Tree]

I loved this video. I would love more videos on this subject about other countries signs. I’m an Australian trans non-binary person myself so it was cool to see your trans signs. In Australia it is very similar, most trans words are finger spelled because there isn’t a big trans community yet in the Deaf community. We have our own AUSLAN sign for “trans” but I and many other trans people feel uncomfortable with it so it is becoming common for those in the community to use the ASL sign.

[@RoganShannon13]

If you didn't know, I lived in Australia for two months! I did learn Auslan, I can't remember what the sign for trans there was. I know there are quite a few signs for trans in other countries that are... Not the best. So that's part of why I'm unsure about doing a video on signs in other countries because there's quite a lot I disagree with :P But I'll probably do it anyway and add a disclaimer of sorts.

[@Arlo420lol]

THANK YOU 🤟🏽

[@emjots]

maybe these videos aren't aimed at beginner-intermediate signers like me, but i just know it would help me a lot to follow along if you slowed down a lot more when demonstrating signs; i typically watch your videos on .25 speed and still have to rewind several times to make sure i'm repeating the sign correctly, because you tend to go at fluent speed even when teaching a sign. again, maybe i'm just not the target audience but i thought i'd put it out there. love you + your videos!

[@Cat-mv6il]

Awesome

[@heatherruth2792]

do you offer workshops for interpreters. Let's make more of this mainstream. and I could get CEU"s for learning something really useful. I love your videos.

[@andreanatsuminadeau5608]

Would like to know the LSQ equivalents; there are many similarities between LSQ and ASL...but many difference too so I would'nt want to been caught saying something immapropriate when signing in Quebec french. *also like the sign for gender euphoria

[@ingvildborgen]

Hi. Love your videos. Could you please do a video on "gender incongruence"? I can't find a sign that works for "incongruence" (as it relates to the trans experience) anywhere. Thanks! ❤️

[@elirahamim2668]

Hey! I’m a transmasc college student learning ASL rn and I just found this video - I really enjoyed it! My prof is gay so he taught us the signs for gay, lesbian, and trans which I thought was cool. He taught us gender neutral as the sign you used for “sex” + neutral (I guess t that means that he uses the sign for sex as the same sign for gender) I was wondering if anything from this video has changed over the past several years. Has there been a better sign for gender aside from the g-handshake version of sex? Thanks!

[@hopwas2007]

You could also almost call it as ASL Ponderings. I miss your ASL Ponderings.. it has been ages since you have done the video.

[@RoganShannon13]

You're right, it could be an ASL Ponderings :) I didn't realize that I haven't done one since September! I'll need to fix that soon.

[@TheDrJimShow]

Hi Rogan. Thank you for creating such informative and necessary content! You are a great model of what we can strive for! While this is merely a suggestion to consider... for Trans Feminine and Trans Masculine-- if you repeat the sign feminine or masculine in a reduced form, it may work. My mother used the signs I described for feminine and masculine all her life. Again, thank you for the education you provide for our community!

[@RoganShannon13]

Thank you for watching! What do you mean, a reduced form?

[@TheDrJimShow]

Hi Rogan-- A reduced form is a smaller or shorter form of a word or part of a word. In this case, it looks much like quickly doing the sign for male, only letting your hand go halfway down before going back up to the start of the sign, (reduplication) and then finishing the sign normally. Another way to say this is to do the sign twice, more quickly than if you were doing it once and the process usually takes care of itself.

[@TheDrJimShow]

Hi Rogan. A reduced form is a sign that is produced smaller or faster or both. In this case, taking the sign for male or the sign for female and doing it twice, but the first time your hand doesn't go all the way down, it only goes halfway before going back up (reduplication) to the start of the sign and then do it again. This produces the first half of the new sign in a reduced form. Another way to say this is just to do it twice quickly and the process usually takes care of itself. If this isn't clear, I can send you a video of it. Feel free to email me at thedoctorjimshow@gmail to give me a location to send the video. Thanks.

[@dsalazarm]

The gender on cheek sign for gender is the one i was taught (by a hoh transwoman) but she explained it as being neutral: since it was on the side of the face like gender neutral cousin & bc it fit well with the analogous sign for “sex” since theyre related concepts. Not trying to argue, haha. Just interesting to see what diff perspectives can be.

[@RoganShannon13]

If it's tapping the middle of the cheek, that could kinda work. But what I did in this video is touching the forehead and the chin, where you sign any m/f signs, which isn't neutral at all. And sex is usually signed the same way, touching forehead and chin.

[@dsalazarm]

Rogan Shannon yeah no, it was that same sign. She just explained it as if it was being neutral, that was her symbolic take on it which was diff to yours is what i mean. At least in how she explained it.

[@penseeenarborescence1889]

@@RoganShannon13 Except, I have seen a sign for parents that is on the side of the chin/cheek like this because it is more neutral to sign in this way than having a chin and then a forehead sign... but I understand two taps on the face = 2 = binary... also isn't that sign the the g on the hand suggestion the sign for GRADE? It could be a "homophone" if it's accepted though, sure.

[@RoganShannon13]

Very interesting!

[@michellewhitaker9571]

Hi, do you have a sign for "detransitioning"? Thanks!

[@toruoikawa4288]

Are there signs for Demi girl or Demi boy

[@RoganShannon13]

As far as I know, not yet!

[@houstonhm]

Hey Rogan! I started an asl club at my school because I realized that there are a lot more deaf and hard of hearing kids this year. I myself am hearing but I've have learned a lot of asl over the years. I'm not worried about working with the kids. I'm worried about the parents. Should I introduce myself in asl so they know I'm legit or just shake hands and speak? Thanks for your vids they help a lot ❤️

[@RoganShannon13]

It's really up to you, but it would be great if you introduced yourself in ASL, just to set expectations that ASL will be the primary language used. Then repeat it speaking, if the parents don't understand what you say.

[@qwertypieee]

maybe signing "not gender" could be an option for non binary because you said putting gender on the cheek makes it very binary? i have no say in it as i'm not non binary and i'm not educated in asl i'm just starting to learn. i just thought of it when you were mentioning it. i'm sorry if that's a stupid idea.

[@RoganShannon13]

That's not a bad suggestion! Thought I'd like to try to have a sign that doesn't include the binary in any way at all, even if it adds the modifier of "not" just to avoid any negative associations.

[@cheeeseisawsome12345]

The issue with that is non-binary is a spectrum itself. It can mean you’re both genders, neither genders, neutral or even gender fluid.

[@AlexS-rm2eo]

Honestly, as a nonbinary person.. we very much have a gender (unless you're including agender folks under the umbrella, because nonbinary is both a specific and umbrella term in a lot of cases and some agender folks would say they don't have a gender at all). Either way, it's more of an "outside of the binary" in the way I think of it rather than "not gendered".

[@nailshank9366]

I can’t hear anything

[@MiloThatch420]

This comment just made me spit my drink LOL

[@kattengat2]

Transgender awareness week? Who actually assigns this stuff? National donut day, national hot dog day…. Guess you guys needed a whole week. Seems kind of stingy.

[@RoganShannon13]

Donuts and hot dogs are nowhere equivalent to the trans experience. Those are silly days, but Trans Awareness Week is very important because so many people still don't understand trans people, and we still have our rights taken away from us in many places, in the US and globally. Just one day out of 365 days is nowhere near enough, and in my opinion, a week isn't enough either.