By Sandra Smith

At an event held by the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies and the Frederick Douglass Center on Wednesday, Joy Ladin navigated the concept of handling difficult conversations related to identity and gender. 

Ladin, author of ten poetry books and a memoir, focuses on the intersection of literature, Judaism and transgender identity in her writing. At her presentation, she touched on the idea of a mismatch in conversations about gender. 

“A lot of what makes what we think of as difficult conversations difficult is the mismatch between our desire to be understood and our desire, or capacity, to understand others,” Ladin said. 

In situations related to gender, Ladin realized that many people have made up their minds about gender — specifically views on non-binary individuals. Most people she speaks to are not likely to understand her personal views, especially since she is a transgender woman. She said this is because many people feel that if they begin to understand another viewpoint, they feel as if they are betraying themselves. 

“Beyond Pluralism” is a new initiative of the religious studies program. Ladin’s presentation is the first of many, according to Maxine Grossman, director and associate professor at the Center for Jewish Studies. 

The idea for the initiative derives from scholars at Harvard who define pluralism as “an ethic for living together in a diverse society: not mere tolerance or relativism, but the real encounter of commitments.” 

The goal of the new initiative is to engage with difficult conversations, Grossman said.

“Ladin has met with and visited people whose conservative political and religious views find her — a Jewish transgender woman — to be not only problematic but basically impossible,” Grossman said. “Ladin’s work provides a model for the kind of scary existential conversations we all need to start having if we’re going to make it through the challenges the future holds.” 

Ladin described how people fear being isolated based on their differences or controversial opinions. 

“We’re all different in ways that are difficult to understand,” Ladin said. “It’s like if you have burnout from a job. That’s a trans experience, you can no longer identify with the way people identify you.” 

She also said that trans experiences do not always have to relate to gender because people build relationships on their own identities that give everyone a shared experience. 

GerShun Avilez, associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Arts and Humanities, felt the emphasis Ladin made on how our capacity to understand individuals is a difficult topic for many to grasp. 

Avilez realized that once people understood this idea, difficult conversations would be much easier to take part in. 

“We can live in this world by trying to do conflict management and reduce anxiety,” Ladin said. “You simply learn to live in a world where there are a lot of people who believe different things about things that matter a lot to you.”

Featured Image: The Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies in Taliaferro Hall on May 1, 2024. Photo by Theodore Rose.