What I find fascinating is that, when presented with missing information, given a lack of evidence, or even evidence to the contrary, people desperately cling to their initial assumptions. And nothing is more unshakeable than the gender assumption. Rarely have people corrected themselves (at least in front of me) from making what they deemd was an “erroneous” gender assumption. And when they do, it is … Continue reading Illusions
If you’re smart, you’ll notice that the title of the post says 4.5 months, even though it has been 5 months since I started T. Shortly after the last update – which marked my 3 month milestone – I stopped T for 2 weeks. Freak Out I was on vacation at the beach, where there was no point in putting on cream. Which also means … Continue reading Testosterone: 4.5 Months
A Story “Does your school have a band you can play in?” asked my unsuspecting drum teacher. I’ve been taking drum lessons for nearly a year now (though I’ve been drumming for much longer). “I don’t go to school.” My specialty is to give cryptic yet truthful answers. It drives most people nuts. “Are you going to be on school break soon?” he asked another … Continue reading Assumptions
First Exactly three years, I started my first real job. Right at the very same time I started binding. The problem was that this job was in New York, and I lived in Philadelphia, which is a two hour commute on the bus. Each way. Binding is a real pain when you’re sitting on the bus for 2 hours, but I would do it because … Continue reading Transitioning At Work
This is the continuation to Testosterone, part 1 (cause this is part 2, and it comes after 1). The Ideal If I could have it my way, I would definitely love to masculinize my body, but only slightly. As a gender-neutral / neutrois person, I feel averse to most effects, but also wish that some of the things that give me away as “female” would … Continue reading Testosterone, part 2
The Curiosity For the past few weeks I’ve been doing a bit of research regarding testosterone. I don’t know what prompted this seemingly sudden interest in T, but perhaps this lingering curiosity is a telltale sign of something else. The Basics Here’s a testosterone primer for those in the not-know. (Note: There are a lot more resources that explain this much more in depth, which … Continue reading Testosterone, part 1
She Recently I have the elusive opportunity to “start over” with an entirely new group of people. I’ve already been introduced by my not-so-temporary shortened name, which doesn’t seem to fool anyone – they always ask if it’s short for “feminine name” and then comment on how it’s a strange way of shortening it. I’ve also been introduced as, or assumed to be, “she.” But … Continue reading Not Trans Enough
Context Passing as a boy is highly dependent on context. Adult restaurant – not a boy. Coffe shop alone with my laptop – not a boy. Macy’s boy’s department – boy, until I pull out my credit card and am asked for ID. Regular clothing store – half and half, until the sales clerk realizes why those jeans he offered just don’t fit me quite … Continue reading The Numbers Game
Tennis In first grade we had PE class. PE stands for physical education, an attempt to incluclate young minds with the values of exercise while, in some cases, inadvertently promoting alienation, devaluation, and gender segregation. (Let’s not get into that tangent just yet.) Alas my first grade class was one of the fortunate ones where the latter did not happen, but most likely neither did … Continue reading A Passing Story
Sometimes pass as a boy, other times as girl, and even, to my delight, as an ambiguously gendered person, which is the closest one can get to agender passing. As an introductory prelude, let it remain unspecified as to which one I prefer to pass as, or how I feel about passing in general. I’d just like to point out some mathematical correlations I’ve induced. … Continue reading The Math of Passing
genderqueer.me 