Body/Identity/Valid/Invalid
Again with the distinctions.
Here’s the thing in literally
Any field you’re in—
Distinctions are the whole deal.
It’s the big and little things that keeps
The roof from falling in
Distinctions, man.
As I transition and as I understand
My own body and my own image I wonder
Why it is
That the same community that gave us
Neopronouns, bisexuality AND pansexuality,
Non-binary identities, transgender people,
Lesbians, gays, and kinky people—
Why is it that the same community
Hell bent on making distinctions about
Absolutely fucking everything
Doesn’t feel comfortable or
Within their rights to make the
Very plain and obvious distinction between
A trans body
And a non-binary identity.
I suppose it’s all because
Who knows what that person will do—
They might go on hormones they might not
They might have surgery they might not…
Policing this boundary benefits no one
Much the same as all the other distinctions
However if you are so bold as to say
“I used to be non-binary and now I’m trans”
People blow their fucking lids.
Transitional identity?
Rude and limited. Loads of people
Go back and forth all directions all ways.
I guess
Personally
I used to be a woman
Then I transitioned
Now I live as a man.
It’s in three parts and I wouldn’t be able
To combine them they are so totally separate
In every fucking way why is it that
Trans—
As a category
Encompasses all of these identities…?
Personally I think it’s to keep
The angry teenagers on the internet happy.
After college, after gender studies
The world is your classroom and
Rebecca sugar and ND Stevenson do not
Hangout with you at work.
I mean, I’m sure they hang out
With loads of people, but it would be kinda
Unique in that way. You’d be lucky and shit I mean
There are loads of people in the world
Some of them are good
But straight up
Transitioning medically is a different experience
Than not transitioning medically.
Having top surgery made changes in my life
That nothing else did
Binding, hormones, talk therapy—
None of it seemed to matter as much as
Having a low voice and a flat chest.
I’m trans, but I’m not sure if I’ll be
Transitioning for my whole life
I think I was trans and now I’m just
A man just the same as anybody else
I just have womens issues from the whole
Born as one thing. Anyway
Non-binary people are valid
Does that make you feel better?
Yeah, me neither.
Ain’t nobody get to feel valid
It’s something you choose for yourself
That no one can take away
If you feel your identity is being
Constantly invalidated you might perhaps be
Waging war with the voices in your head.
Does this make you sad? Why would it
What a blessing it would be to hear
That transitioning is 2-4 really hard years
And then none of it happens again.
Unless, of course, you’re rushing
Finding solutions in places where problems grow
Insisting that your non-binary identity
Is being more or less disrespected than
Anyone else’s. All of us are just
Flesh bags hopping from one place to the next
It doesn’t fucking matter if anyone understands you
If you don’t understand yourself, which is
Hands down the hardest part of being trans—
You have to know
More than everyone else does
And you have to live with the decisions you make.
Ain’t nobody valid or invalid and
The idea of that is fucking sick.