being non-binary
While non-binary gender identity is talked about more and more, this doesn’t necessarily translate into a safer world nor a more understanding society for us
My neurodivergences affect the ways that I use pronouns, even the way in which I name myself the words that my OCD, Tourette’s and dyspraxia make leave my mouth affect my relationship with my gender and my body
I have cerebral palsy, I earned a full set of Blue Peter badges, I was big on MySpace back in the day, I got hit by a car at 40mph and didn’t die – I don’t need anything else to be strange, or interesting, or notable
The message I receive from culture is that my transness, my masculinity, and perhaps most of all my ambiguity, exclude me from ‘hotness’
There is a dangerous undertone of ‘newness’ to conversations around gender and non-binary identities - in the process erasing the complex, nuanced and rich histories of Black and brown people
How many years is the ‘right’ number of years to be ‘sure’ that my 30- or 40- or 50-year-old self won’t wish they had their boobs back? How many years do people like me waste waiting for an answer to that question?
Concepts like ‘womanhood’ or ‘masculinity’ are not stable, and are not the same for everyone