I feel the sudden urge to write about people assuming my gender and my reactions to it, so...
I'm agender, right? (Hecking autocorrect just corrected that to "a gender" which I most definitely am not. Grrr. Anyways.) I was also assigned female at birth, because I have body parts that are considered "female" in the eyes of doctors.
Because of the fact that I'm perceived as a girl, I hate hate hate being called a girl. I don't like people using feminine labels on me, such as "woman" "ma'am" "lady" "queen" "gal" etc.
I feel good about myself when people think I'm a boy, or when they are confused about my gender, because it means that I don't look like a girl.
I do not feel good about myself when people think I'm a boy and proceed to group me with boys. (When I say "group" I mean address a bunch of boys and me as "gentleman" or "boys" or something along those lines, not physically putting me in a group of boys, which I don't like but don't care as much about, because I can correct them.)
I would really, really like it if people were always confused about my gender and would ask me instead of just taking a guess and hoping to be right (because chances are, they won't be right). But that's not the case, because society hasn't progressed that much, unfortunately.
One of the recurring issues I've seen mentioned by transmasculine sex workers, whilst putting together "Working Guys: A Transmasculine Sex Worker Anthology", is the fear that getting top surgery will result in a huge loss of income and clients.
This fear isn't an irrational one. Straight men are the largest demographic among clients, so being able to work under the guise of being a cis woman can have a big impact on how much money you can make. Top surgery is often the line where that's no longer possible.
If reading about these experiences is something that interests you, the crowdfunding for Working Guys: A Transmasculine Anthology goes live on the 1st of May!
Read about the project there: https://workingguys.carrd.co
Sign up to be notified here (it really helps with the algorithm and you'll get an e-mail the moment it goes live): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mxjackparker/working-guys-a-transmasculine-sex-worker-anthology
There is so little out there that describes the experiences of trans guys and transmasculine non-binary people doing sex work, which made me feel really alone when I started... which is why this project is really important to me.
Yesterday, I was helping my friends sell art in the park, when a couple of girls came up to us and asked (immediately regretting it) “is this the transfem picnic?……..” to which we got to respond “no this is the transmasc yard sale.” We then proceeded to have 15-20+ beautiful women swarm our stand of 4 creatures. Life is beautiful.
Is it just me or does this line hit different when you remember that David Tennant actually has a non-binary kid who uses they/them pronouns, and has worn this non-binary rainbow pin to a bunch of interviews in support of them—?
---
[Update] David Tennant continues his trend of being a trans ally respectful & supportive of non-binary people & gender neutral pronouns in the Doctor Who Special: The Star Beast (2023)
why have us queer people as a community normalized terms like "boygirl" or "girlboy" or other things like that but not like. the actual experience of being multigender. i swear some people will be like "ahaha its so cool and swag to be a #girlboy #boygirl" then turn around and be like "MEN DNI THIS POST IS ABOUT WOMEN" "MEN CANT BE LESBIANS (because no man is ever a woman too)" etc etc like come on guys
Tumblr has been a home to queer people for years. It was the last place we felt safe online. If you attack trans women, you attack all of us, and if the tumblr polls are to be trusted, about 90% of your clientele will leave and never return. Pick your fucking battles Matt. Justice for predestrogen.
"School districts that don’t respect transgender and nonbinary students’ pronouns or force them to use restrooms that don’t align with their gender identity could be committing federal civil rights violations beginning this fall.
Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the issuance of a final rule under Title IX to protect people in public schools from sex-based discrimination and harassment. The announcement marks a significant update in federal efforts to combat sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions. During a call with reporters, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona emphasized the administration’s dedication to ensuring that Title IX effectively serves all students by providing safe, welcoming, and rights-respecting educational environments."
I could make a 3k-word manifesto on how the word “non-man” is enbyphobic horseshit, and I don’t think it could possibly be as succinct and easy-to-understand as this image. Take notes