Providing a platform through music to raise awareness of transphobia within dating, comes Queensland musician Damien Johnson’s Your Woman music video, which was released ahead International Transgender Day Of Visibility (31 March).

The video features transgender actress Stevie Low, as a young, transgender woman preparing to go on a first date with a cisgender male. As she gets ready for the date, testimonies across the screen depict experiences local transgender people have had while dating cisgender individuals.

For Damien, the concept for the Your Woman project was born from the discovery of his own unconscious prejudices and bias.

“I was using a dating app one day and swiped-right on the image of a woman I found attractive,” said the Ipswich based singer-songwriter.

“We matched, but then when I read in her profile that she was transgender, I noticed a feeling of apprehension and hesitancy from within me, which wouldn’t have been there had the woman been cisgender.”

This experience led Damien to contact a number of his transgender friends to ask about their dating experiences.

“Through these conversations I became aware of the abuse and struggles that many of them had encountered when trying to form relationships with cis-gendered partners, particularly when those partners were straight males.”

“That was the catalyst for this project, because I strongly believe all humans need and deserve connection and love, and that cis-gendered people, particularly males, need to be challenged by members of their own community to move beyond their own preconceived ideas that may fuel transphobic attitudes.”

Directed by local Ipswich film maker, Jackson Stapylton, the music video accompanies Damien’s self-produced cover of Whitetown’s Your Woman, and was funded by The Queensland Government and Ipswich City Council’s Regional Arts Development Fund.

“I felt Your Woman was particularly fitting in relation to this issue as the hook line of the song is: ‘I could never be your woman’, and I believe that for many transgender women today, they are presently being met with attitudes that refuse to accept them as women – and this needs to change.”

The Your Woman video ends with Damien and Stevie meeting in a bar, laughing and hitting it off before leaving the venue, hand in hand.

Released ahead of International Transgender Day of Visibility today (31 March), Your Woman starts an important conversation we should all be open to having. Watch this meaningful music video below.

‘YOUR WOMAN’ – DAMIEN JOHNSON