Imagine being born in a body that doesn’t feel right.

Sam Eade knew from a young age that the colours pink and purple repelled him, and would throw tantrums when dressed in feminine clothes. He attended an all-girls school for 13 years, despite his rising gender dysmorphia and the feelings that he didn’t fit the body he was born in. 

When puberty hit, Sam’s life - and identity - went into chaos as he grappled with the quotidian challenge of trying to live with himself in a female form, and battle the ongoing reality of his real self emerging.

In 2016 he came out, identifying as male, after learning what transgender was on YouTube.

"Transgender" is an umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity or expression does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. (Alternatively, “cisgender” relates to people whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.)

As this episode of Human Cogs will reveal in raw and relatable ways, life is not an easy journey for those identifying as transgender.

The emotional and turbulent human experience is misunderstood, not often talked about, and for those living this reality, the LGBTQI+ spectrum shift is a complex identity scape for transgender people, and the people around them who need to adjust, accept and accommodate a significant relational step change with the person they love.   

This is a story of transition, despair, hope and self-reclamation from a truly extraordinary 18-year-old man, who can teach us all what it really means to live in your born skin - and be who you really are.

Guest: Sam Eade

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website.

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