Or be rectangular prism
trigger warnings: i take accountability for the fact that i have not done tws in the past. i will from now on be conscious of putting "tw: [content that may be triggering]" before posts that i think need that. i will also put those into the tags for use w/ things like savior. please let me know a preferred system for you/tw's that i do not do that you need and/or want.
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Femme is about being a babe inside of your own brain.
It’s about feeling like you are taking care of you.
It’s about knowing that you have assembled a team of experts – friends, partners, chosen family, lovers, mentors – to go through your life with. People who will see you the way you see you, and who aren’t afraid to set you to rights when you need a talking to.
Femme is about trusting your own conceptions of beauty, power, pleasure, and generosity.
If “femininity” is defined according to (sexist!) social expectations and separated entirely from “masculinity,” then Femme is looking over its shoulder and laughing at all those rules.
"-On Being a Babe Inside Your Own Brain @ BOSSY FEMME.COM (via bossyfemme)
this is something to remember.
(via doublefancy)
woke up this morning and realized i wish i had more femme friends and less internalized sexism
(via besttumblr)
needed this pep talk today
(via superdreaming)
(via femme-megababe)
Pronouns and Corrections and Power
Got called ”sir” today at my job. after I turned to answer the individual seemed flustered and began muttering apologies/corrections.
I don’t mind being addressed with he/him/his; it happens all the time and i can understand how gender cues are confusing and constantly changing.
What is somewhat uncomfortable is what happens after someone believes they have used the wrong pronouns. Sometimes, like with the check-in clerk at the clinic, they just avoid further eye contact and pronoun usage and hand me my hot pink forms that say FEMALE across the top (problematic: why GYN forms and things pertaining to body parts should not be categorized as “Female/Male”—read Dean Spades article). Others repeatedly apologize, sometimes accompanied by the individual correcting themselves and repeatedly using “the right” pronouns (but did I correct you or tell you what pronouns I prefer? How do you know the one’s you’ve switched to are “correct”?)
I guess the problem I have with people freaking out so much about using the “wrong pronouns” is that it really shouldn’t be such a big deal. Why should I be so offended to be read as male if that is not how I identify. I don’t want to undermine anyone’s identity; it is way different and hurtful and wrong when someone’s identity is purposely ignored or delegitimized. But when someone makes a mistake with pronouns, or reads me as the “wrong gender,” they act as if they just committed the greatest offense to humankind.
By correcting themselves so fiercely, it seems to serve more to reinforce the gender-binary and allow them to feel better about making me feel bad (again their assumption about how I feel). The assumption that if I don’t identify as male and use male pronouns, then I must automatically identify as female and use female pronouns completely usurps my right to self define. And why do you assume that it’s only one or the other and not both or a mixture and some completely different other things you’ve never thought of? And all of this happens without my ability to say “yes,” “no” or if “I couldn’t care less.”
Just some thoughts!
Why you mad? Just tryn’a do me. (pictures make things funner!)
I don’t ever expect to please everyone in the transgender community with what I say, how I’m portrayed or how I look, but I do know that I respect everyone and my talks center around diverse identities, diverse expressions and the breaking down of the binary. I am more masculine identified but that is who I am. The best I can do is be true to myself as well as fight the fight for all.
The greatest thing we can do for each other is join together in the fight for inclusion instead of name calling or minimizing each and every one of our experiences. I’m here for you, are you for me?
it makes me so sad that a lot of times we find that the worst criticism and pain comes from within our communities, especially those that pride themselves on being inclusive and creating safe spaces. people become silenced by the very groups that are created for empowerment and support; an unspoken and less-noticed silencing that is not often mentioned. when we fail to recognize the power structures that emerge within groups, whether intentionally created or not, we are actively dis-empowering ourselves and those around us.
mad respect for making this video and talking about it. if we don’t force ourselves to talk about it no one else will.
