In this Featured Voices theme, our guest authors share their Inspiration: the catalyst, the motivator, the fire behind a gender that doesn’t seem to exist in the world. For Alyx, inspiration came in the form of a gender role model, but only after a winding introspective journey of coming out. Winding My Way Back to Myself It’s funny — when I first saw this theme about gender role … Continue reading Featured Voices: Back to Myself
When M comes out at work accidentally, he’s forced to grapple with choosing a pronoun, troublesome co-workers, and the deeper question of gender identity. Continue reading Featured Voices: Accidentally Out
Thanks to the support of peers and professors, Beck has taken steps to be out at work as a non-binary graduate student in a plant biology lab. Continue reading Featured Voices: What I Really Prefer
I have been having a lot of trouble with ‘not trans* enough’ thoughts and I don’t know how to combat them. I’m an advocate for trans* people at my school and I firmly believe that non-binary people are just as trans* and deserving of respect and consideration as any other trans* people, but I’m having so much trouble convincing my critical voice. I’ve been wanting … Continue reading Reader Ramblings: Not-Binary, Not Trans Enough
Sticky post
A reader asks about experiencing dissonance after transitioning. “Somedays though, I don’t know what to do about being read as male more often than not. I mean, mostly that’s a good thing, I welcome it, I want it to happen. Sometimes, though, I want to scream I am not, I am neither gender, I don’t want a gender – but I remain quiet because I know the world can’t really conceptualize that.” Continue reading Post-Transition Dissonance
Hormones are gradual. That I would actually take hormones was a surprise in itself, since for the longest time I was absolutely convinced that I would never ever do that. But also, internalizing the fact that you don’t take a shot of testosterone and wake up with a full grown beard and hunky chest hair helped me put aside my irrational fears and focus on … Continue reading 5 Things I Wish I Knew Last Year
Goodbye 2012, and what a year it was. The things I accomplished in 2012 go way beyond anything I ever intended or imagined. (The only reason 2011 has a leg up is because I had top surgery at the beginning of that year, and that is still the biggest milestone in my life.) Let’s do a quick recap. Started, then stopped, then started, then stopped … Continue reading 2012
The Conundrum Even after proclaiming my preferred pronouns, few people had come on board. Or rather, I’d made little effort to change the status quo. People had no way of knowing that my pronouns weren’t what they used to be, unless I would explicitly tell them. And “explicitly telling others” is not my strong suit. For over a year I’ve been trying to find a … Continue reading Coming Out
Switching Switching jobs (or schools or towns) is probably the best opportunity one gets to make any sort of big change, especially something like name and pronouns. I’ll admit it was relatively easy, though not quite straightforward. A few people at my new job had already met me a year prior, and were introduced to me with my old name and old pronouns. On top … Continue reading Slip and Switch
Monday I started a new job. With a new name. And new pronouns. All I can say is: WOW. Old Job A little less than a year ago, I was faced with a similar situation. A shiny new job, thus the perfect chance to change pronouns. But that opening was quickly shut, either by myself or the circumstances, or both. Regardless, it wasn’t the right … Continue reading Monday
