What in the living fuck am I? I’m not a human man or a human woman. But what is a nonhuman man and a nonhuman woman? How do non earth species perceive gender? How do gods perceive gender? How is it different for them? We even have species on earth who are the complete opposite of the stereotypes humans present for gender. Male birds are the ones who are pretty, while human men are ridiculed for being pretty. Female hyenas are strong and dominant, while human women are expected to be demure and seen as fragile. I have to think from my perspective. What is a man to me? What is a woman to me? How do I reflect the binary genders in myself? Because I do feel…some sort of connection to them. But any time I try to behave like a human man, I feel like it’s a costume. Any time I try to behave like a human woman, I feel like it’s a costume. Because I’m not normal. As a man I’m like a peacock. Flamboyant, colorful, creative…what society would call feminine, what society would look at and say “that looks too much like a woman to be a man” and as a woman, I want to be a lioness. Protective of my loved ones, unapologetically loud and honest, and confident, despite the fact that I’m someone that the world wants to silence. When I allow myself to be pushed into a box, I am effectively silenced. I’m not a human man, I am effectively, a human woman. Through and through I am a human woman. Because I am too soft to them to be a man. And I am not a man. I do not feel like a man, or a woman. Not a human one. I am not human, so how can I fit into what they want? I can’t. I’ve tried. It always makes me uncomfortable and miserable. I’m not “nothing” in terms of gender. I’m just not able to be comprehended by a human, just told that I’m wrong. My body is neutral now to human standards, as neutral as I can make it without more surgeries. Yet I still feel insecurity, because I know that my scars show them what I am. They give them an idea. Their idea is…wrong but it’s all they know to be right. My skin is my skin…but it’s not me. Just like a shirt or a pair of pants isn’t you. I have made myself as close to my internal essence as I can. As close to the most humanoid physical form that it presents itself in. Yet I’m still seen as something to them. I’m not a human woman and I’m not a human man. But I will always be seen. I am an alien. So alien that I’m not even from this universe. I am on a planet with a different culture that doesn’t match my internal experience. Most people assimilate to the new culture when they move. But the lioness doesn’t want to assimilate. She doesn’t want the peacock to assimilate either. But she knows that she has to carry this. That she has to carry the body. That he may not be seen. That he cannot be seen. She is kind for hiding him, so that they stop telling him to rip off his feathers. Because he will, because he has. He is not a hunter, he does not stand up for himself, and every time he was wronged, it was her who roared.