Tuesday, July 5, 2011

T is for Tumblr

Ever since I can remember, since my earliest days of exploring gender identity, I've looked to the internet. I find the internet to be an amazing resource for many trans / gender nonconforming people, as it can show you the resources you need, the vocabulary that's hard to understand, and the fact that so many people out there have the courage to do something that you've longed to do.

Now that I've taken huge leaps and strides in my identity, I find something very disheartening in the trans community I've found on Tumblr. Since Tumblr is apparently the new livejournal for those 18 and under, I was expecting to see similar communities and similar experiences. It's true, on many accounts. There's the same photos, the same encouragement, the same positive reinforcement.

But there's something else, something I love less. Time and time again I see posts by young trans guys writing about how they hate their bodies, how they want to cut themselves because of their breasts, how they starve themselves because they hate their bodies, how they want to kill themselves every time they get their periods. It seems to be so firmly couched in hatred, and so many of the issues that plague teen girls are just being transformed onto a trans identity.

I also can't help but find this fundamentally misogynistic. To hate something so fundamentally female just screams woman hating. I know the dysphoria that comes with being trans, and I know everyone's experience is different, but this is a TREND. I am seeing this EVERYWHERE. There is just so much rage and hate against the female body! It makes me so upset to think of this theoretically progressive movement so rooted in the misogyny that plagues everyone. It's everywhere.

Anyway. I got my appointment at Fenway health today. I should be starting T in (hopefully) under a month. Yeeeeee.

for the record, my tumblr is tuckfinn.tumblr.com. I got nothin' to hide biddies.

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