identifying as transgender in Zimbabwe: a conversation with Jordan chanetsa

Jordan Chanetsa is a trans-rights activist, content creator, and host based in Harare, Zimbabwe. She focuses her work on equality, diversity, and inclusivity. Jordan considers herself a colourful individual, who is not afraid to speak her mind and to fight for what she believes in. Mxogyny’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief sits down with Jordan to talk about life as a trans-woman in Zimbabwe and how she navigates her identity in society.

1. Hi Jordan! Thank you for sitting down with me and to start, tell me about yourself and the journey to where you are as the Jordan of today?  

I am Jordan 24, from Harare, Zimbabwe. I am an LGBTQIA+ activist. I also work in media as a media practitioner, content creator, host, and do consultancy work in the field of equality diversity and inclusivity.  

And what brought me here? I have always been a colourful individual and I grew up in a very conservative family. My parents were both pastors. I grew up in the church, very caged, and in that church environment bubble and I was always accused of being feminine when I was young. A lot of my childhood was me trying to erase that femininity in order to fit in, and to be seen as ‘normal’ and to have a community. In trying to find community, I also lost myself and spent years being miserable in the company of other people. It came to the point of asking do I choose the company, or do I choose myself instead? Even when I was trying my best, I would still feel humiliated and would still be laughed at because an association with me to people was like ‘blackening’ their names, you know? So, I just started enjoying my solitude and, in that solitude, I found myself. I came to the point of saying I cannot continue to sacrifice myself. 

[image description: Jordan gazes into the camera, body diagonal with a pride flag draped across her shoulders]

2. As someone who grew up in the church, what inspired you to stand up to say I am a trans woman even if you do not owe anyone your story? 

Naturally, I have always been a very rebellious person. I have always enjoyed the idea of standing out and speaking out and speaking my truth. Through fighting for my own rights, it pushed me to fight for other people’s rights because without other people’s rights, I cannot have my rights. So, it started with me wanting my own rights and seeing that I could advocate for other people. 

3. Do you find it difficult to be a ‘face’ because not a lot of people in Zimbabwe have the opportunity to be who they are authentically? So, do you find it difficult being yourself so openly?

It’s not difficult to be myself at all. What I find difficult is finding space. Space to be my authentic self and be heard. The difficult part is people not letting me into doors or not wanting to hear what I have to say because of who I am. Once they know I am trans woman, or from the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s like a non-starter for them, especially in Africa and Zimbabwe in general.  

I don’t think the hate gets to me because that has been happening since I was a child. The painful thing is not being allowed—not being given access to things because people believe they have the right to gatekeep and to accept mediocrity because they don’t want to choose me. It’s the feeling of not being worthy no matter how qualified you are. I think that’s what makes it hard—being pushed to the side when I know I have so much to say. 

[image description: Jordan gazes into the camera, with only her face visible, the rest of her upper body draped in a pride flag]

4. You have created your own space in response to this, with platforms such as HerHourZim and NakedTruth Show. How do you think those platforms have helped to amplify your voice or the queer community’s voice in Zimbabwe? 

These are all spaces that I have been hired into. And whilst I appreciate them and can use them to advocate for people like me, people want me to speak for the whole community which makes it difficult because I cannot speak for everyone who identifies as queer.  

Additionally, because a lot of queer places in Zimbabwe are dominated by Health Care--they want to test us, likening it to the AIDS outbreak in the 80s and believing that it’s the LGBTQIA+ community spreading disease. So, people are still caught on the idea that the queer community is the AIDS community, meaning health care want to test us, inoculate us, further alienating us. 

But I do work for a space called HQ Collective (Harare Queers Collective) and we create safe space for people in the community to come together to celebrate, talk, drink together and just have a fun time. It’s where I’ve felt most free because it’s a space to create spaces for the varying dimensions of the LGBTQIA+ community.  

5. Social media tends to make you quite vulnerable, and I notice you’re quite active on platforms such as Twitter. Do you find that social media has amplified your voice or put a target on your back? 

Social media is the most accessible medium for any person actually. Before we even talk about LGBTQ+ persons, it’s a medium for everyone. It belongs to no-one, so I think it allowed me to find myself. I am a ‘97 child, and we came into this world when computers were just becoming a thing and by the time I was 10, I was already on platforms like Facebook. So, I think my voice was found on the internet in a way I couldn’t express it in the outside world because out here, someone has to let you speak. On the internet, it’s also easier to find your community, type in a few words and you find people who are likeminded. So, it helped amplify, and develop my voice in that way. 

Sure, having that clout or those retweets can put a target on your back in a negative way, but it gets people to see you. As much as there are bad people seeing you, there are also good people seeing you as well. Just swim through the vitriol, and through the internet we see the queer icons who are popular today. Without social media, mainstream media would have never given them a chance. So basically, the internet is my homegirl. 

[image description: a black and white image of Jordan gazing into the camera, holding a pride flag above her head, the only part of the image that is colourised]

6. What is dating like for you as a trans-woman in Zimbabwe? 

It has been difficult for me in the past and currently, I am lucky enough to be in a healthy relationship with a man. Before this, I was in series of toxic relationships where men wanted me to fulfil their pornographic fantasies because a lot of trans women are fetishized. People often treat you in the way society presents you to the world and unfortunately this is often through being painted as rapists, paedophiles et cetera, further adding to the stigma.  

In the relationships I’ve had, it’s often with someone wanting to use me for the experience rather than to claim me or to put it out there that they feel the feelings they feel. They rarely want their names to be associated with me because of the possibility of losing an income or losing their community. People aren’t willing to sacrifice their comforts for my sake.  

This has also resulted in me experiencing a series of abusive relationships and not being able to go to the police station because in Zimbabwe, they won’t deal with the situation of me being abused but rather about me being trans. So, it has been a lot of secrecy, dating other people’s boyfriends—being with someone else’s man—because he is using his relationship with cis-gender women as a front.  

7. This has sounded quite harrowing at times and the lived experience evidently comes with its challenges. What keeps you hopeful and makes you want to continue the fight? 

My favourite way to answer this question is the kids that come into my DMs and tell me ‘oh, you’re such an inspiration’ and they feel represented when they can see a face like their own in a country like ours. I think that’s the problem—a lot of people see representation but it’s always in the US or in the UK, or first world countries where it’s more accessible. Here, there is such a deep lack of representation that when they see someone like myself being so out, being so proud, being so like “I don’t care what anyone has to say about me, I’m not scared.” That’s what does it for me. Knowing that there’s someone who is giving a face because when I was growing up, I wish I had someone to look up to like that.  To be like ‘okay! That’s me!”  

That’s why I do this, when I needed that—I didn’t have it and it’s so valuable to a child, especially when you feel misunderstood, or you don’t know who you are.  

The second thing, having access the media industry and having access to good opportunities. I manged to be honoured as one of the 16 gender champions by the Dutch embassy and for me that was crazy because it made me feel valid to receive opportunities from such a huge platform. Knowing that there are people who want to see me grow, who validate my experience. So yeah, that’s what keeps me going, the allies, people who show me love and want me to win.  

[image description: Jordan gazes into the camera, with a pride flag around her shoulders]

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Jordan Chanetsa is 24-year-old Zimbabwean, LGBTQIA+ rights activist. Her work is mostly based online due to the danger of being an activist in the public space. In 2019, she was honoured by the Dutch embassy as one of the 16 gender champions during their 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. She is also a host, model, writer, media personality and co-executive producer of HerHourZW Podcast. You can find her on Instagram and at HQCollective.

Photography credits: Takunda Augustine Chipara: TheAfricanSelfieStick