Exploring Sober Privilege

Latina. Femme. Pansexual. 20-something. Trans-alc.

[transsoberidentity-blog]

So This is Sober Privilege, let’s take some time to define some terms. A lot of cis shit lords have difficulty understanding the position of privilege they come from, and this little exercise will be an attempt at educating them.

First, keep in mind that cis is latin and defined as, “on the near...

[taranaakaurr]

[tralc]

Howard B. Moss, M.D., NIAAA Associate Director for Clinical and Translational Research, says, “We find that young adults comprise the largest group of alcoholics in this country, and nearly 20 percent of alcoholics are highly functional and well-educated with good incomes.

There are others like me out there, and we're clearly capable of meshing with society. It's time to stop pretending that we're some diseased class. link

[cravefoodie]

[tralc]

what I'd like to be having right about now

[tralc]

WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST HUMAN MEMORY?

Waking up every morning and my mother giving me a warm glass of milk :)

[tralc]

My Coming Out

My name is Jennifer and I am trans-alcoholic. I graduated from my university last May with a bachelor's degree in communications, and I started pursuing what I originally thought was an adult life. What I found was prejudice against people like me. College was where I found my identity. I used to feel uncomfortable around people. I felt like I didn't belong. I felt like people couldn't understand me, because I didn't know how to let them understand me. Then my roommate at the time dragged me along to a party, and I got my first drink of jungle juice. I felt alive. I finally felt like I could express myself. I said whatever was on my mind, and I went out and did the things that I always wanted to do. I was finally who I wanted to be. I was free to be me. I had gotten into studying communications because I wanted to know more about effective communication with people. Being able to drink helped me learn a lot about how to reach people, and how to show people my real self. And people encouraged me to be myself, too.

Now that I've graduated, that encouragement is gone. What is left is prejudice and oppression. My bosses and coworkers look at me in that judgmental way when I tell them my plans after work. My parents tell me that I need to change myself. My friends started conforming to other people's expectations once they left college. And I tried for a little while, too. I cut down on how much I drank. I tried to do all the things that people expected someone on a new career path to do. But my anxiety returned. I started finding it harder to express myself to people. I felt like I was losing myself. I was drowning. It wasn't until recently that I realized that I was being told to deny an important part of who I am, in order to meet other people's expectations. I don't drink as much as I used to, and I'm not as much of myself as I used to be. I am trans-alcoholic. And now it's time to speak out and challenge the bigotry against people like me. I hope that this inspires others to come out about their identity. We have had to pretend that we're something we're not for too long.

[tralc]