Interview with K. Davis Senseman

K. Davis Senseman is 41. He identifies as genderqueer and gender non-conforming and uses all pronouns. She was assigned female at birth and is an only child. He grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and went to Catholic school. Senseman’s mother was emotionally abusive and her father worked all the time. As a result, Senseman spent a lot of time at his grandmother’s place who lived next door. Her father was sick and afraid of leaving Senseman without the masculine skills to survive, so he taught her a lot about how to fix and build things growing up. Senseman was a tomboy growing up in the 1980s, playing sports and hanging out with boys. When he went to college at Bucknell he realized there was something different about his gender. From a young age, he felt the way he looked wasn’t right, and it wasn’t until college when he cut his hair short that he felt he was coming into himself. His parents stayed together until his father died. Senseman graduated law school in 2003 and landed a job at a progressive firm. The firm, however, wasn’t comfortable making Senseman a partner because there was something different about her, namely her queer identity. He left the firm and now works elsewhere in a more affirming environment. He now has an 8-year-old son and is married to a cis queer woman. She hasn’t had any surgeries to date, but she binds her chest daily. He thinks about top surgery sometimes. Senseman also talks about black women, trans women of color, whitewashing in the LGBTQ movement, being on the board of PFund, and marginalization in this interview.

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Item Information:

Identifier: m326m200c
Collection: Audio and Video Clips and Transcripts
Institution: Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, University of Minnesota
Creator(s): Senseman, K. Davis
Contributor(s): Jenkins, Andrea
Publisher: University of Minnesota Minneapolis Libraries
Date Created: Jan. 10, 2017
Genre: Oral Histories
Transcriptions
Subject(s): Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)
Places: Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > City of Pittsburgh > Pittsburgh
Topic(s): Abuse
Appearance
Assigned gender
Clothing
Families
Gender diversity
Gender dysphoria
Gender identity
Genderfluid identity
Masculinities
Politics
Pronoun
Racism
Transgender people
Women, Black
Working class
Resource Type: Moving image
Text
Language: English
Related URL: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/
Rights: Copyright undetermined
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