I'm a woman and I was born a girl. i used to think I was gender fluid. Not because I had true gender dysphoria. I wanted to be masculine. I thought if I was masculine than I would be celebrated, I would belong. People push down women who are feminine and like stereotypically girly things. You can celebrate masculine woman without pushing down feminine women. And that's important for people to know. Because I was not a man, I was confused.
I feel like this is such a thing in our society today though, masculinity is praised and elevated; the more masculine you can be, the better. And because women are treated like shit, some women aspire to being masculine as an escape, a way of freeing themselves from a society that shuns them. They think, sometimes consciously sometimes unconsciously, “if I’m masculine, they’ll like me. If I’m masculine, I’ll belong.”
But they very rapidly discover that is not how it works; being Butch does not free you from being A Woman™️ in the eyes of society.
So women say “OK, then I’m not a woman. I’m gender fluid. I’m trans. I’m non-binary. Etc.” still trying to escape the shame and hatred for just being born female. Some of them even start to perpetuate the hatred that was placed on them “I’ll NEVER wear dresses! Dresses suck!”
Sometimes the escape even works. Sometimes they DO feel better.
But then another woman comes along. Another woman who wants to belong. Another woman who wants to be considered equal.
And the shame is perpetuated. The shame is reinforced. She now has to go through the same journey of self-hatred and self-ignorance as the previous woman, because no one is paving the way for these women to just BE.
The cycle isn’t going to stop until women can turn around and say “Shut the fuck up.”
“Maybe I like wearing dresses. Maybe I HATE wearing dresses. Maybe I like having short hair. Maybe you wouldn’t catch me in 100° heat with short hair. Maybe I like doing woodwork. Maybe I don’t want to chip my nails on woodwork. Maybe a combination of any and all of these things. Maybe CONTRADICTING things. None of these things are shameful, no part of me, as a woman just existing, is shameful. I am as complex, and praiseworthy, as a man, in both good and bad.”
“And if another one of your fuckers tries to tell me that wearing a dress to a demolition derby makes me non-binary I’m breaking your nose.”
