For the ones who have a notion, a notion deep inside

37. she/her. from the boonies outside seattle. One of those melodramatic fools who left tumblr years ago, then came crawling back head in shame but fist raised high to fight the oligarchy slightly more nsfw and even more queer @yearning-transdyke

[love-ardour-anarchism]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: as a transfeminine trans person I have more in common with the experiences and lived reality of a transmasculine or nonbinary or agender person who is neither transmasc nor transfem than with a cis woman who never questions the normativity of gender in our society.

Some trans people might disagree but my lived experience has been so starkly marked by relating to the experiences of my trans siblings and standing in solidarity and support with them while receiving the same in kind.

A transmasculine person was the first to ever tell me I was allowed to be masculine as a transfem person, that butch was something I was allowed to be and even before and aside from that: I grew up being pushed into a role that did not fit me, I thought I'd die that way, I fought my way out of that alive and breathing, I know many who did not.

Fundamentally: all trans, nonbinary and gender-non-conforming people, every single person that shakes up the normativity of gender so eagerly enforced by our society is someone that I have more in common with than I could ever duely express.

[slothful-rabbit]

I laughed so fucking hard at this

[paint-lady]

[thesewordare]

THESE WORDS ARE ACCEPTED.

[cowboyjen68]

Happiness is being a butch lesbian. Today I turned 58. And life is grand.

[my-russia]

First computer animated cat ever - “Koshechka” (”A kitty”), 1968

[doomsday-dj]

There was recently a copyright infringement case in YA and I need everyone to know that the following sentence was in the legal decision:

“Hot, sexy, dangerous boys, central to virtually all young adult romance novels, cannot be copyrighted.”

[kuttithevangu]

“Regarding setting, the court held that both works taking place in Alaska high schools was not protectable because Alaska is a public place and setting a teen novel in a high school is a common genre convention.”

Freeman v. Deebs-Elkenaney | Loeb & Loeb LLP

Freeman v. Deebs-Elkenaney | Loeb & Loeb LLP

[kogiopsis]

I've read the entire decision (skimming over the purely legal precedent/definitions bit) and here are some of my favorite bits:

[our-queer-experience]

we DO grow old and happy. btw.

[imconfusedallthetimehelp]

And you find love and it stays with you.

[irisbleufic]

Older women are so, so beautiful, and older trans women are no exception. Celebrate the beauty of our elders! Celebrate trans beauty!

[our-queer-experience]

^^^

[stayingmachine]

I wanted to share some more of these, specifically trans women of color. The images I'm posting are from a project called To Survive On This Shore and it's an interview project. I am only posting a handful so it's so worth checking out!

This is Linda, 60

Alexis, 64

Helena, 63

Kendrah, 72 (!!)

Tasha, 65

It was deeply healing to me to discover this project. The site has selected photos and attached interviews and it's definitely worth your time. I didn't include any because the focus of this post imo is transfems but there are a lot of beautiful interviews with transmasc people too if you're interested! But that'll have to be another post 💖

[prisonparty]

To Survive On This Shore, including photos and interviews of trans folks of all identities in their golden years

[thestorieswesay]

@this-is-trans-joy

[this-is-trans-joy]

This is trans joy!!!

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[omtai]

they should invent a cigarette that gives you vitamins and hrt and shit

[infectiouspiss]

TESTOSTEROEN CIGARETTE BEING SMOKED BY A BUTCH DYKE OUTSIDE THE BAR SHE SHOTGUN THR SMOKE INTO MYMOUTH I GET SO HARD I PASS OUT SMASH MY HEAD AND DIE

[infectiouspiss]

sorry that was meant for the tags

[omtai]

it’s okay. You’ve painted a beautiful and true picture

[myspace]

Six flags commercial from 2004 you most likely forgot about.

[nonenosome2]

Nobody who has seen this has ever forgotten about it.

[ralfmaximus]

Fae experience

[livesbetweenpages]

All the men’s sports league dousing each other in champagne with goggles on in a tarped off room

PWHL Victoire dousing their coach with Molson tall cans directly on the ice no warning

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

I thought the waiting would be the hardest part.

The wait until things got better… could get better.

The wait until I was in a place where I could just breathe.

But I was wrong.

The hardest part is knowing that having the chance to get better… isn’t the same as being better.

That healing isn’t done once you’re no longer being actively stabbed

That if anything the adrenaline fades… and even though you’re “safe”… you’re still bleeding… and you can feel it now.

And so… you cry.

[lebagelgirl]

Alright, gonna add "making the taste of freedom taste like blood" to the list of sins your family is going to need to answer for...

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

Jdjsjjsjsjsjkwkwkskwkkskssks no they’re not that bad… it’s on me… im just… its okay

[aintnosin]

the way they made you feel is NOT "on you"

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

I am transgender and wish for the fall of the American government.

[shark-tranny]

reblog if you too are transgender and wish for the collapse of the united states

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

I think I might be slightly hotter than average

Maybe

That seems vain to think

[aintnosin]

not vain if it's true and peer-reviewed

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

Got a refferal for bottom sugergy from my endocrinologist, and a refferal to a new primary care provider who specializes in hormone management.

Fuck yeah, we’re moving forward.

[tabletopsystemrepostblog]

Woah fast! congratulation

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

Well it’s a referral to the people who coordinate everything with my provider, I’ll have to then get like a referral to an actual surgeon, and do a some tests beforehand. But it’s the first step.

[twiggybeing]

still congrats! I know the system is different in the states but I wish you luck with the paper work involved :)

[tgirl-tamag0tchi]

Yeah… it’ll be… a mess perhaps lol.

But I have friends to help me irl, and I’ll figure it out. It’s worth it.

I am tired of having genitals.

[aintnosin]

aaaaaahHHHHHHH i'm so happy for you!!!

[nickyandmikey]

when two musicians sing into the same microphone and lean in very close to each other… like omg are you guys gonna kiss now to relieve the homoerotic tension?😳

[nickyandmikey]

THIS IS NOT ABOUT ONE DIRECTION I DON’T KNOW WHO THIS “HARRY” PERSON IS GO WATCH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND CLARENCE CLEMONS KISS ON STAGE RIGHT NOW

[irrelevantlyvalid]

op is the only valid person i’ve ever met. everyone else needs to come to the light

[chokolattejedi]

Okay, but this is really important: Bruce Springsteen occupied this really weird place in music history. His songs were all from this pessimistic, nihilistic view of an America that had let him down:

Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.

Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.

It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.

Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.

So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.

Passages from American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman

[executeness]

I used to think that Bruce and Clarence kissing onstage was exuberance, showmanship, and telling racist homophobes to fuck off. Like, they picked up a certain kind of audience and went “Racist homophobes? Not in our house!” And started the kissing then but then I actually looked it up and

https://www.gq.com/story/this-fucked-me-up-bruce-springsteen-singing-about-clarence-clemons

It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen

It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage

It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own

Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”

I’m having some emotions about it!

“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”

Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!

We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!

God I’m not okay about it

[ramshacklefey]

Now I’m mad that this is not among any of the things I was ever told about this artist.

[jbbartram-illu]

I knew about this in general (& via all those fabulous photos), but this just adds even more beautiful context <3

[eregyrn-falls]

Just to add to the pile: this was the cover of Springsteen’s break-through album Born to Run, in 1975:

I mean, will you LOOK at this:

This was the pic chosen for the album cover from an extensive photoshoot, too. A few others:

There’s a lot more online if you search. They’re all pretty amazing. But the photographer is right, the one chosen for the album cover just pops.

[anyataylorjoys]

The Watermelon Woman (1996) dir. Cheryl Dunye

[seeveekat]

Hey this movie is really important in queer history! It was the first feature length film directed by a black lesbian! You can watch it here for free!

I really recommend you do because while it is a rom-com (and a drama), it also looks at how the stories of black queers are over looked in history.

[jenny-ratmeal]

Transition as Duty

I'm not even a micro-celebrity or anything but I get comments and messages from girls starring out their transitions saying that I'm inspirational or good representation or whatever, and it still just hits so hard.

I mean tbh, that's the main reason I started all this. I don't just mean like, blogging, either.

I spent so long denying myself. I couldn't see me being happy as something really worth fighting for. I figured it would just be easier to live a life that was expected of me even if I was never fulfilled. I mean, most of that time I had those feelings shoved so deep down that I couldn't consciously name them, I just felt like a hollow nothing.

But when I saw the rising tide of fascism coming for trans people, I felt solidarity, I felt personally attacked. I thought my chance might slip away. Leave it to an AuDHD gal to let FOMO make her transition, lol.

It was so hard to find the courage to do what I wanted. Maybe I never did, but I did feel a sense of duty. I knew transitioning would be the hardest thing I ever did. I thought to myself that if one other girl saw me being happy and was inspired to do the same that it would all be worth it.

So, it just means so much to see that I make even a small impact. One girl at work came out, a couple others I've helped start HRT even if they aren't ready to go public yet, and so many messages say nice things about me being some sort of inspiration.

It really does make my day to day so much easier.