I am a Black, mixed-race, fat, queer, non-binary person. Most saliently, I am femme. I have come to understand radical femmeness, femme magic, femme community, femme love, and femme power through my relationships with other womxn and femmes of color. While femme communities evoke safeness and security for me, they also often exist on the basis of trauma. Femininity leaves us … [Read more...]
5 Ways Mexican Queerness Is a Radical Act Against Colonialism and Machismo
I am a queer non-binary person. The labels I use to describe this queerness are always changing and hardly ever stay static, but I am undoubtedly queer. I also come from a Mexican household. Both of my parents were born in the state of Jalisco and migrated to the United States when they were a young newlywed couple. I exist in the intersection of these identities as a queer … [Read more...]
Why I’m “Out” as a Person with Mental Illness
Far and away, the most frequently asked question I receive as a writer with bipolar and anxiety is, “How did you get to a place where you could be this open about your struggles?” It’s usually followed with a question like, “Aren’t you scared?” I used to be terrified. Like many folks with a mental illness, one of the first things we’re told is to keep it to ourselves. At … [Read more...]
Why Trans Womanhood Is Not for Cis Women to Define
When I first heard that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie had said something unsavory about trans women back in 2017, I avoided the news. I didn't click on it. I tried not think about it. I had read Americanah, watched an interview or two, saw her talk "The Danger of a Single Story." I fondly followed her work and her outspoken position on feminism. As someone whose politics revolve … [Read more...]
Coming Out as Non-Binary in Class
I've been identifying as non-binary for three years. Until recently, being misgendered in my college classes was something I simply lived with. Being a non-binary person in class can be a difficult experience. In the beginning, I was much too shy and anxious to announce my identity to anywhere from thirty to three hundred strangers. I had no idea of my classmates’ knowledge of … [Read more...]
Transicionar como persona no binaria
[Descripción de imagen: dos fotos, una al lado de la otra, de le autore de cintura para abajo. Elle está de pie. Es una persona joven, delgada y blanca. En la foto de la izquierda está vistiendo camisa de cuadros con rayas azules, moradas y grises, un reloj verde, vaqueros negros, y zapatos con formas azules, moradas y grises. En la foto de la derecha lleva un vestido rosa con … [Read more...]
Carving Out My Own Masculinity as a Disabled Trans Man
When I was in the Job Corps and had to choose a trade to learn, I chose the one that most of the male students and the masculine-identified AFAB (assigned female at birth) ones did: construction. It was, to the sensibilities of a bunch of working-class 16-to-24-year-olds, the only trade offered that was macho enough. And I sucked at it. I was clumsy. Motor coordination and … [Read more...]
My Queer Sex-Positive Life: Unlearning the Gendered Sexual Shame That Kept Me Disempowered
This article was originally published by Jamila Reddy under its original title "Sex-Positivity Means Unlearning Shame" and is republished with permission. When I was five years old, my parents gave my sister and me a book called Where Did I Come From. Published in 1973, the book featured illustrations and explanations of how babies are made. On the front and back covers … [Read more...]
Smiling Under Capitalism: 14 Ways LGBTQ+ Workers Face Discrimination in the Service Industry
Lately I’ve been puzzled by the number of people who seem to think it’s possible to have a conversation about gender equality and transgender liberation without discussing economic injustice and racialized experiences. One reason this thought is so common is because of mainstream media. While media engaging with certain transgender bodies and experiences has become more … [Read more...]
5 Ways Cis People Can Help Make Life Safer for Trans Folks
Every day, I have to make the decision about whether or not to come out as transgender. There's a good reason why so much of my friend group is composed of trans people. I don't have to explain myself to them, I don't have to worry whether they are seeing me as I truly am, and I don't have to worry about any unintended microaggressions they might say relating to my gender. … [Read more...]
4 Things Cis Folk Are Clueless About Trans Folk
I appreciate all the cis people in my life who have worked hard to learn about trans issues and become better allies to me and people like me. Despite their sincerity and hard work, there are a few habits that are so deeply engrained into our culture that I notice cis people have trouble remembering to step out of them. So I put together a list of a few things I notice my cis … [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...]
How Your Everyday Language Reinforces Homophobia & Transphobia – Part 2
*The first part of this necessary conversation by Ramona Rio can be found here. Politically and personally, there is a continued conversation about the nuances between cis gender identities and trans identities. Specifically, conversations about words and language used to deconstruct patriarchy and recenter womanhood have simultaneously been conversations about dismantling … [Read more...]
8 Ways Non-Binary People Rock!
Those of us who have genders that leap ecstatically out of the gender binary are stellar beings that disrupt, re-define, and challenge traditional conceptions of gender identity and expression, and there are just about as many ways to express and live a non-binary gender identity as there are stars in the sky. Let's explore some of the ways that non-binary people push … [Read more...]
