“Hey– I Don’t Actually Pledge for Cults”/Performing a Narrative
“If you can’t afford to purchase a binder”
— some of them are $20. Not saying you
Can afford that, but I am saying that
I have a hard time believing that
Hundreds and thousands of trans men
Seeking resources are truly unable to cop $20.
“If you can’t safely attain a binder”
–??
Is your mailman a transphobe? Oh– you’re talking about
The people inside your abode.
The people–
That are gonna see you wear it
… right?
What could you be talking about…?
Are you talking about
“If you can’t safely wear a binder
Without someone attacking you for your identity
Or belittling your experience or your identity–“
Then…
What?
Mailing them a binder in secret for free
Will help avoid all of this?
Wear it in secret, ship it in secret…
Be trans in secret.
Almost an impossibility.
You know what I did
As a pre-op
Closeted trans man? Wore masculine clothing
With regular sports bras–
Regular sports bras
Are fucking amazing.
Whenever I mention
“Just use a sports bra”
It’s like I’m somehow
Being a transphobe… for… for what…?
For not being capitalist?
For not insisting that
A sports bra and a binder are dramatically different?
One of these things hurts and the other
Can if you do it wrong.
If you can’t wear a binder safely
At home–
Don’t fucking ship one there!
Have it shipped to a friend’s house
Wear it there. Keep it there.
Don’t fucking bring that shit home.
Just be butch, or whatever you want–
Minus binding,
Like most of us had to be
Until better days come–
As for insisting
That trans men aren’t really trans
Unless they’re binding and pinching and mashing their flesh–
It’s almost like
Some sort of cult
You have to sign up with
In blood, and if you dare say
“Hey– I actually don’t pledge
For cults”
People kick your “faker” ass out.
You know what I think is fake?
Performing a narrative, and calling out
Anyone and everyone
Who does it differently than you.
Why is it that
We welcome progress in every way, except for
How we manage dysphoria, how our community
Talks about itself, and how we guide
And console the questioning youth
With “resources” intended to “help”
Personally I never found any help, that I didn’t
Come up with myself.