A Shock to nobody but myself
I can remember at least as far as undergrad that I’d have flashes of being jealous over how women friends of mine looked, and the clothes they’d wear, and basically thinking “Why can’t I do that/ look like that?”
Fast forward to the present and weeks ago I kept bemoaning to my mom how much more drab men’s clothing/shoes trends in the lower price range, so you have to go high end (or thrifting) to find much fun stuff or like flowers not on tacky Hawaiian/bowling shirts. And also kvetching about my feet being too big to fit women’s boots because they’re so colorful and pretty...
Then once I was firmly established as nonbinary (finally, my mind has been waiting for that my whole life, it seems), I felt increased confidence to buy stuff from women’s sections or the small store near my home, Rainbow, and just feeling super charged up by that freedom of blurring the arbitrary lines of gender.
I am privileged in that I feel relatively little dysphoria about being AMAB, both socially and physically. That being said, I am definitely trans and much of the time I lean towards the femme end of the spectra: performative- body language, gestures, speaking in the higher registers of my voice, and the way that I dress, but that’s the beauty in looking beyond society’s messed up and limited views of gender and gender roles!
I probably won’t ever choose HRT as a path for myself, because most of my anatomy fits my self image perfectly well, but I love being an Enby and playing outside the rules drawn up in the popular conscience (at least as long as quarantine and such holds, because I’d rather not be assaulted by some bigot who gets enraged seeing a dude in a skirt)... However, being trans is awesome, never tragic, and I feel more than ever like I am finally living...
Have a lovely night wherever you are, stay safe and warm,
-Zach (aka Ziggy, Iggy, Ignatius, Mika, etc...)