--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: That night I looked Stephanie [Burt] up…" description: "\"“That night I looked Stephanie [Burt] up online and started reading more about her work...I kept encountering a striking factoid...: she’s often cited ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg" --- # That night I looked Stephanie \[Burt\] up online and started… ![“That night I looked Stephanie [Burt] up online and started reading more about her work...I kept encountering a striking factoid...: she’s often cited as the most influential poetry critic of her generation. And she’s openly trans. This is not the world I was taught I would grow into when I was a…” quote by Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg) > ““That night I looked Stephanie \[Burt\] up online and started reading more about her work...I kept encountering a striking factoid...: she’s often cited as the most influential poetry critic of her generation. And she’s openly trans. This is not the world I was taught I would grow into when I was a young trans child -- the one where transgender people are heard, are brilliant, are influential, are even the best. At anything. Being trans, I’d learned subliminally, was supposed to keep you from being that -- even if you loved your trans self, and even if some other trans people and a few allies did too, the world at large would keep your potential tamped down." - from "Surface Difficulty: An Adventure in Reading Trans Poetry," Original Plumbing Magazine 2014”” [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeing trans role models thriving challenges internalized limits and inspires empowerment for trans individuals. **In simple terms:** Seeing trans people succeed can break internal barriers. Key Takeaway Seek out and amplify trans voices. Themes identity representation empowerment visibility resilience Mood hopeful defiant inspired Type personal social When to use this quote - college campus - online communities - literary circles - activist meetings Key Concepts intersectionality social validation role modeling Questions to Reflect On - How can allies support trans empowerment? - What barriers remain for trans success? A Different Perspective May still face systemic discrimination despite visibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Gender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gender/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Reading Trans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reading-trans-3322154/) [Trans Learned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trans-learned-3322153/) [Trans People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trans-people/) [Trans Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trans-poetry-3322152/) [Trans Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trans-self-3322155/) [Transgender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transgender/) [Writing life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-life/) ## Related quotes > [“Books were irreplaceable to me as a teenage trans person trying to figure out my identity. I bought or borrowed every one I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/books-were-irreplaceable-to-me-as-a-teenage-trans-person-trying-to/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [The fight for justice for the transgender community is largely invisible to our fellow citizens, despite the rampant systematic discrimination of trans people -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-manning/the-fight-for-justice-for-the-transgender-community-is-largely/) [Chelsea Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-manning/) > [“When the majority of jokes made at the expense of trans people center on "men wearing dresses" or "men who want their penises cut…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-serano/when-the-majority-of-jokes-made-at-the-expense-of-trans-people-center/) [Julia Serano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-serano/) > [“Instead of The Closet, I’d like to propose a more humane metaphor. What if we talk about queer/trans people “coming out of our shells”?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-tobia/instead-of-the-closet-i-d-like-to-propose-a-more-humane-metaphor-what/) [Jacob Tobia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-tobia/) > [Progress can't happen just from trans people being out in the open. Society also has to truly accept transgender individuals. If society is capable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jazz-jennings/progress-can-t-happen-just-from-trans-people-being-out-in-the-open/) [Jazz Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jazz-jennings/) > [“Some critics of trans people have told us that we shouldn’t feel this pain of being denied the legitimacy of our own selves; gender…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-n-lester/some-critics-of-trans-people-have-told-us-that-we-shouldn-t-feel-this/) [C. N. Lester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-n-lester/) > [Many in the trans community are fed up with L.G.B.T. organizations that continue to erase trans identity or just give lip service to trans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laverne-cox/many-in-the-trans-community-are-fed-up-with-l-g-b-t-organizations/) [Laverne Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laverne-cox/) > [We had so many milestones in America. We were on our way to universal healthcare. We had gay marriage. We were talking about gender…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-ditto/we-had-so-many-milestones-in-america-we-were-on-our-way-to-universal/) [Beth Ditto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-ditto/) > [I have seen a lifetime of transgender people and it was hard enough being gay in the '50s and early '60s. One couldn't imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patti-smith/i-have-seen-a-lifetime-of-transgender-people-and-it-was-hard-enough/) [Patti Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patti-smith/) > [I want to create a place where trans people and our allies could come together to share experiences, information and ideas. Being transgender or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-bono/i-want-to-create-a-place-where-trans-people-and-our-allies-could-come/) [Chaz Bono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaz-bono/) > [ “\["Manning Up"'s\] essays definitely nuance the idea of transitioning into a “shared manhood” (much like feminists of color have complicated the idea of “shared… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/manning-up-s-essays-definitely-nuance-the-idea-of-transitioning-into/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“We’re at this really unique time, I think, in trans representation in popular culture where homelessness, depression, mental health issues, instability-in-general are still so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/we-re-at-this-really-unique-time-i-think-in-trans-representation-in/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“When trying to comprehend what is happening to, and through, oneself, why not question the narratives one has been handed to make sense with?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/when-trying-to-comprehend-what-is-happening-to-and-through-oneself/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“The term “FTM-Butch Border War” just sounds like an alien land of yore. How is it that the gravitational pull of my beard and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/the-term-ftm-butch-border-war-just-sounds-like-an-alien-land-of-yore/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [Certainly, not all trans people like my writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/torrey-peters/certainly-not-all-trans-people-like-my-writing/) [Torrey Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/torrey-peters/) ## More by Mitch Kellaway > [“The term “FTM-Butch Border War” just sounds like an alien land of yore. How is it that the gravitational pull of my beard and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/the-term-ftm-butch-border-war-just-sounds-like-an-alien-land-of-yore/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“Books were irreplaceable to me as a teenage trans person trying to figure out my identity. I bought or borrowed every one I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/books-were-irreplaceable-to-me-as-a-teenage-trans-person-trying-to/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“We’re at this really unique time, I think, in trans representation in popular culture where homelessness, depression, mental health issues, instability-in-general are still so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/we-re-at-this-really-unique-time-i-think-in-trans-representation-in/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [ “\["Manning Up"'s\] essays definitely nuance the idea of transitioning into a “shared manhood” (much like feminists of color have complicated the idea of “shared… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/manning-up-s-essays-definitely-nuance-the-idea-of-transitioning-into/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“When trying to comprehend what is happening to, and through, oneself, why not question the narratives one has been handed to make sense with?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/when-trying-to-comprehend-what-is-happening-to-and-through-oneself/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) > [“How does ANY male-identified person know he is a man? And does my answer really diverge greatly from how many men, trans or cisgender,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/how-does-any-male-identified-person-know-he-is-a-man-and-does-my/) [Mitch Kellaway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) [Explore all 7 Mitch Kellaway quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/) ## More Gender quotes > [“Because I am a transvestite, people often assume that this gives me a special insight into the opposite gender. But this is rubbish: how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grayson-perry/because-i-am-a-transvestite-people-often-assume-that-this-gives-me-a/) [Grayson Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grayson-perry/) > [I hate prejudice on any level. I don't care if it's somebody being discriminated against because of the color of their skin or their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlamagne-tha-god/i-hate-prejudice-on-any-level-i-don-t-care-if-it-s-somebody-being/) [Charlamagne tha God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlamagne-tha-god/) > [Right now, for many Americans, class is being foregrounded like never before because of the economic situation. It doesn't mean that race doesn't matter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/right-now-for-many-americans-class-is-being-foregrounded-like-never/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [O! how short a time does it take to put an end to a woman's liberty!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fanny-burney/o-how-short-a-time-does-it-take-to-put-an-end-to-a-woman-s-liberty/) [Fanny Burney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fanny-burney/) > [The way I look at it is, cancer research is absolutely nonpartisan. Cancer is very democratic in the sense that it attacks people regardless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-h-koch/the-way-i-look-at-it-is-cancer-research-is-absolutely-nonpartisan/) [David H. Koch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-h-koch/) > [We need policymakers to keep an eye on gender and write policies that are explicitly designed to include underserved populations like girls in computer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reshma-saujani/we-need-policymakers-to-keep-an-eye-on-gender-and-write-policies-that/) [Reshma Saujani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reshma-saujani/) > [UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/un-peacekeeping-operations-are-now-increasingly-complex-and-multi/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [As far as the adjectives that I lead with, I think a writer and a comedienne are first. I have never qualified my experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-rothwell/as-far-as-the-adjectives-that-i-lead-with-i-think-a-writer-and-a/) [Natasha Rothwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-rothwell/) > [Yeah, maybe that's the way to solve the gender inequality that's naturally in relationships: to have a lot more power in the woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/celine-song/yeah-maybe-that-s-the-way-to-solve-the-gender-inequality-that-s/) [Celine Song](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/celine-song/) > [It's almost comical how un-liberal liberal Hollywood is when it comes to fighting gender and racial bias.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lexi-alexander/it-s-almost-comical-how-un-liberal-liberal-hollywood-is-when-it-comes/) [Lexi Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lexi-alexander/) > [We've been socialised and told that there is a way to describe people, and that way is by their gender or their sex.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asia-kate-dillon/we-ve-been-socialised-and-told-that-there-is-a-way-to-describe-people/) [Asia Kate Dillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asia-kate-dillon/) > [“If men could see us as we really are, they would be a little amazed; but the cleverest, the acutest men are often under…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/if-men-could-see-us-as-we-really-are-they-would-be-a-little-amazed/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [It's very important to me that people accept me as a transgendered female. But it's ridiculous to a lot of people and I understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-arquette/it-s-very-important-to-me-that-people-accept-me-as-a-transgendered/) [Alexis Arquette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-arquette/) > ["Natural" is a very dangerous word to use about sexuality ... Our society's notions of normality are completely fake and meta-trendy, since they rely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susie-bright/natural-is-a-very-dangerous-word-to-use-about-sexuality-our-society-s/) [Susie Bright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susie-bright/) > [The great paradox of the civil rights revolution is that instead of enforcing and expanding equality before the law, the revolution created differential rights…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/the-great-paradox-of-the-civil-rights-revolution-is-that-instead-of/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) [Browse all 2,591 Gender quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gender/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“That night I looked Stephanie [Burt] up online and started reading more about her work...I kept encountering a striking factoid...: she’s often cited as the most influential poetry critic of her generation. And she’s openly trans. This is not the world I was taught I would grow into when I was a young trans child -- the one where transgender people are heard, are brilliant, are influential, are even the best. At anything. Being trans, I’d learned subliminally, was supposed to keep you from being that -- even if you loved your trans self, and even if some other trans people and a few allies did too, the world at large would keep your potential tamped down.\" - from \"Surface Difficulty: An Adventure in Reading Trans Poetry,\" Original Plumbing Magazine 2014”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mitch Kellaway" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-online-and-started-reading-more/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Gender" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-online-and-started-reading-more/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/mitch-kellaway-52397_poetry_that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-on_1972814.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That night I looked Stephanie [Burt] up online and started reading more about her work...I kept encountering…” — Mitch Kellaway", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mitch Kellaway", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-kellaway/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“That night I looked Stephanie [Burt]...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-online-and-started-reading-more/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-kellaway/that-night-i-looked-stephanie-burt-up-online-and-started-reading-more/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```