growing up as a cis girl the patriarchy told me “you’re a girl because of the way you were born, there is nothing you can do about this, you have no say in your gender” and i hated being a girl because it wasn’t my choice it was a prison and the trans community told me “you’re a girl because you say so, your view of yourself is the most important thing, if you change your mind that would be ok” and it made me proud to be a girl and feel empowered in my gender and i wasn’t trapped anymore and then terfs come along and tell me “you’re a girl because of the way you were born, there is nothing you can do about this, you have no say in your gender (but like in a woke way)” and they somehow expect me to be on their side?
if you respond with some terf shit im blocking you lmao
I’m so happy someone wrote this because I feel the same was as a cis girl. I felt pressured to be feminine and went full nlog because I felt too ugly and fat to be “feminine” and I was in an academic setting where it’s a nono. Then the trans community was so proud of their femininity it made me feel gratitude for being born a woman. Trans youtubers empowered me to buy my first skirts and dresses and I no longer felt “stupid” for doing it. I took another colleague that felt “stupid” for being feminine dress-shopping once and we’ve been friends ever since and she now dresses up all the time and tries to feel cute and feminine and I’m so happy to see her like that. The trans community destigmatized being feminine for cis women more than any girlboss feminism I’ve seen and we owe it to trans women.
A trans woman was the one to make me realize I was a trans man. I’d always thought all girls hated being girls, that being born female was a terrible curse we all just had to endure. And then I met a trans women who was so, so fucking excited to be able to wear skirts and cute tops and makeup at last, after years of fighting for the right to get on HRT. I saw the pure joy she felt as she did a little twirl in a skirt and I realised being female isn’t bad. It’s not bad at all. I’m just not female. And I can experience that joy, too. And then I got my HRT and my voice dropped and I got hairy and I learned what it was to be happy with your gender. It took seeing a joyful trans woman twirling in a skirt for that to happen for me.
Thank you trans women.
I feel like this also might be relevant.
I’m trans but there is a special joy I experience when cis people experience what gender euphoria feels like, how fun it is to adjust your expession even if you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth. Cis people unlocking gender+ is so good because it shows how the trans experience can enrich lives and just… spread joy and happiness <3. Stuff like this makes me happy
And in a great mobius double reacharound in return cis people dressing/expressing themselves by not confirming to gender stereotypes also helps trans people who can’t pass or don’t want to including butch/masc trans lesbians and femme/girly trans men <3
[ID: A screenshot of a twitter thread by @/JoCat105 which reads: “the understanding of “trans people don’t need to ‘pass’ to be considered the gender they are” made me realize that wait a minute if trans people don’t need to pass, cis people don’t either right? and that has helped me explore myself so much without fear of not being a “real” man
i guess what I’m saying is kind of thank you for all the trans folks who encourage being who you are in spite of what society tells you. I know it’s not the same with cis people, but it’s at least helped me feel more comfortable in my own skin. yall are good role models” /End ID]
It makes me deeply sad when cis people put their resentment at their own gender onto trans people who experience euphoria for having the same gender. I love getting to see cis people doing the exact opposite of that. I think everyone benefits from examining their gender and finding what makes them euphoric, from realizing there are no rules and seeing that not as a destruction of their experiences but as an oppurtunity to construct a more healthy self conception. If being a woman doesnt require resenting being a woman, is that not permission to free yourself from the resentment, a freedom to love yourself and your gender with reckless abandon? I hope more cis people can learn this lesson. I know its one I have imparted to people in my life, and benefitted from when I received it.
I cannot begin to express how beneficial it has been to my comfort and happiness in my own gender to know and speak to and see and hear and be in the presence of trans people.
Nobody showed me how to love or enjoy my masculinity until trans men did. I didn’t even know that “enjoying” it was an option! *gestures at gender* You mean this fucking thing is more than just a set of imposed requirements I get to feel bad about failing to live up to? I didn’t realize until later how fucking lonely it had felt to be a man who had been assigned his gender without being taught how to think about it.
I owe a debt of gratitude to trans people, to trans writers, to trans artists and activists, because their experiences helped me finally see myself as a man for more than just the amino acid accidents in my cells.
Trans people and trans thought has helped liberate me from oppression in my own gender, I don’t know a world where I don’t have a moral duty to push for their liberation in kind.
