Thom uses frameworks she’s learned through doing therapy work, as well as those of leftist critique, to highlight problematic dynamics within her own communities of queer and socially conscious people.Ī recurrent theme is the way justice is applied within and among these groups. In this respect, Thom is at the top of her game with I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl’s Notes from the End of the World, a collection of essays that draw on her personal experience with social-justice culture. Settled into our positions as the antithesis to a popular culture that uncritically reinforces systems of marginalization, we tend to forget that we are also able to enact harm and oppression. Leftist social-justice communities are usually on the margins of society, populated by queers, disabled people, people of colour, sex workers, and trans people. Part of what makes Thom stand out among other writers and thinkers is the way she turns the lens of critique back toward her own communities.
Keeping in mind that all of this has been accomplished before her 30th birthday, it’s easy to see why she’s held in such high esteem by the activist left. She’s also worked as a therapist and social worker.
A quick-witted, sharp-tongued, staggeringly prolific trans woman of colour, Thom is known primarily for her insightful and critical writing – including a fairy-tale novel, a book of poetry, a children’s book, and dozens of articles and think pieces. Kai Cheng Thom is a force within social-justice communities.
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