Bruce Jenner: Brave
On Friday evening, Bruce Jenner rocked the world with his exclusive, tell-all interview with Diane Sawyer. The 65-year-old former Olympian put the rumors to rest and confirmed that he is indeed transitioning into a woman. Jenner bravely let Sawyer, a woman he has never met before, into his home and spilled his deepest darkest secrets.
He hopes to change the world and I, along with many others, hopes he does too. Jenner told Sawyer that she may address him as a “him” for this interview but in the future when he is fully transitioned, he will be a she. Jenner said he’s felt this way since he was a little boy, who used to sneak into his mothers closet and try on her dresses and wrap her scarves around his head. He channeled this strange uncertainty into sports. Why not make yourself the most macho man in the world to hide your dying wish to be a woman? Imagine growing up during a time when the internet wasn’t invented yet, thinking how you felt wasn’t normal and not having a place to tell you what you were? The Internet provides a community for people to speak to others that are dealing with similiar issues and we take that for granted.
Jenner hopes to become a mouthpiece for the LGBT world that most people don’t know anything about.
There is such an ignorance surrounding this topic that Jenner single-handedly began to squash by doing this interview. Along with being famous for the Olympics and the Kardashian reality television series, Jenner is a motivational speaker. When he and Kris Jenner met, she rebranded him and set him on a wonderful career path. He’s very good at what he does, and to have someone with those skills leading the charge on being transgender is a step in the right direction for the transgender community.
He eloquently explained the difference between sex and gender, a topic many people do not understand. According to Medical News Today, “Sex refers to what you biologically are, what parts you have, and gender is masculine or feminine.” Meaning- a human’s personal identification of one’s own gender based on internal awareness. There are so many people in the world that chop the science of it all at the knees but its 100 percent factual. What Jenner and many other people in the world are going through is real.
You might ask the question: is Jenner gay? No. He never wanted to be with a male, he has always desired women, so if you would like to get technical, after he transitions he’ll be a lesbian.
But who really cares? He’s a man who has always believed he is a woman. His brain is more feminine and
he was unable to deal with these feelings any longer. In the interview, he said he’s thought about just ending his life, which at the time he thought would be such a simpler end to it all. However, he changed his tune and said, “If I die, which, I could be diagnosed next week with cancer—and boom you’re gone. I would be so mad at myself that I didn’t explore that side of me. You know? And I don’t want that to happen.”
The entire interview was beautiful and such an eye opening experience for me. It made me, and I’m sure the world, see that Jenner is going to be a voice for the transgender community. On every social media platform, Jenner has been getting such positive feedback and it’s truly amazing watching people band together and support him. Lady GaGa, Demi Lovato, his children and his ex-wives are all coming out to support him during this extremely awkward and strange time.
Jenner said sex reassignment surgery isn’t on his radar anytime soon, but he will take that plunge eventually. He is seen as a true hero and wants to make this topic less taboo. No matter how you feel about people who are transgender, you can’t knock his drive. He spoke about his other persona as “her” and it was so moving to see how his eyes lit up and his whole demeanor changed. You could clearly see this is something he’s been thinking about for a long time. He showed Sawyer the dress he will wear when the two of them go out to dinner and he is fully “her,” and it was so adorable I couldn’t help but smile.
For me, the interview was inspiring. To watch someone who lives their life in the public eye, step out and have the courage to face everyone and talk about his personal journey was amazing. This was Jenner’s final interview as the man that we know him as. The next time you see him talking to someone he will be “her.”
Part one of the Jenner/Sawyer interview
