Estamos comenzando el año dándote las herramientas para discutir asuntos que afectan a la sociedad. La serie 101 TBINAA es un curso intensivo de género, sexualidad, raza y mucho más. Solo busca 101 y mira todo lo que hemos estado indagando desde entonces. Dentro de “The Body Is Not An Apology” hay una gran cantidad de trabajo alrededor de los tópicos de género, sexismo y … [Read more...]
Gender Has Got Me F*cked Up: Navigating the Pressure to Alter My Boi Body
writer's note: i write in lower case, it's my small rebellion. i’m mad. i’m mad that gender rules that dictate what is “appropriate dress” for female and male bodies have me thinking about surgically altering my body. i love my body. i love how it’s feminine and masculine at the same time. i love the curve of my belly and the muscle line when i flex my triceps. i love … [Read more...]
#MeToo: A Letter to The Women Who Exclude Trans & Non-binary People from “Safe Spaces”
A letter to those who exclude nonbinary trans folk from your safe spaces: I started living my truth as transgender and nonbinary almost a year ago. I’ve been out as queer for many years. And I’ve been in this feminine body my entire life. It’s been a complicated journey, especially for someone who grew up in the South wearing GRITS merch. Having gone through the whole … [Read more...]
How Conservatives are Using Cis Women’s Bodies to Destroy Trans Women’s Lives
Content warning: references to sexual assault; graphic transphobic violence With very few exceptions, almost every woman and non-binary person closest to me has been a survivor of sexual violence, often committed by people in their own families. The perpetrators of these crimes have overwhelmingly been cisgender men, correlating with national data demonstrating … [Read more...]
10 Reasons Cis Men Must Unabashedly Support Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Folks
Trans and gender non-conforming folks have not been at the forefront of rights and access discussions in the United States as much as they are today. Much of these discussions and this attention has been good, with more and more people coming out as trans or gender non-conforming and more and more people supporting them and pushing for laws to protect them. Unfortunately, many … [Read more...]
3 Ways We Can Challenge Gender Norms in Heterosexual Marriages
Not to brag, but my wife’s birthday was earlier this month and I got her an incredible gift. A month or two earlier, she had passively mentioned that she really liked the thought of getting a record player, and had separately said that she was tired of our listening to music on our phones while chilling out in our apartment. My solution was acquiring a sweet audio … [Read more...]
Brett Kavanaugh and #MeToo: What Happened to You Matters
Content warning: discussion of sexual violence and rape culture When I was eight years old, a neighborhood boy who was about 16 was over at my house watching the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet with me on the VCR in my living room. Apparently my dad let us watch it, something my mom would later excoriate him for, coming from a place of bitter knowledge that women, … [Read more...]
On Loving A “Feminine” Body As A Transmasculine Androgyne
By: Mihran Nersesyan I always felt awkward in my body growing up. Most of us do, but for me - a transmasculine androgyne - it was, I think, more than average. I constantly felt like my body couldn't decide if it wanted to be "male" or "female", as I understood them to be then. My posture, my gait, the way my fat collected on me, my body hair, even my voice. They were all here … [Read more...]
Becoming a Woman On My Own Terms
I am not sure when my ideas about womanhood wrote themselves on my being. Likely it began when I was young, born in the sermons of the Pentecostal church my family attended: “Make up is not a sin,” one pastor told us, “But you want to paint the barn not decorate it.” In those moments, I learned that women were not only objects to these men but objects meant to look pretty but … [Read more...]
Trans People, Trauma, and Dissociative Identities
Many, if not most, of the trans people I’ve known have been coping with at least one form of trauma. We take a lot of abuse from society, often at an early age. I am transgender. I do not currently identify as the sex I was assigned at birth (female). I have also taken physical steps to alter my body and live my life perceived by others as male. However, my gender identity … [Read more...]
Anti-Trans “Feminists” Converted My Friend: Here’s Why We Can’t Stay Silent
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed one average day recently, when all of a sudden I was confronted with a post condemning the recent passage of a bill protecting the rights of transgender youth. The same bill all my other friends, primarily queer and trans, were celebrating. The post was by someone I went to graduate school with… for gender studies. I … [Read more...]
On Dudes, Menstruation, and Getting Over It
My sister once told me a story of a substitute teacher she had, a sweet woman with kind eyes and an adorable bob. She arrived at school wearing a black dress dappled with bright, white flower designs. This teacher walked up and down the aisles as my sister’s classmates worked on math problems. She leaned over my sister’s desk to answer a question, and the boy behind her audibly … [Read more...]
Why I Don’t Wear Makeup
At an early age, I learned to associate cosmetics with performance — pretending, dancing, or acting. As an aspiring ballerina at Miss Janet’s Dance Studio, I wore makeup for the annual recital. My mother, who never wore makeup, would spread shadow on my eyelids and apply lipstick to my lips and cheeks. I saw cosmetics as being another part of my costume. The makeup was for my … [Read more...]
At a Party or a Bar: Cis Men’s Role in Interrupting Interpersonal Violence
When you’re a cis man with any significant degree of familiarity and confidence with the women in your life, there’s a dance that you often become a part of in social situations. When I go to parties or bars with friends who are women, at least ones who know me and trust me, there are regularly the moments in which I can be called upon to act on behalf of my … [Read more...]
