Performative Profile

I’m confused are we

Fighting for the right

To be respected for our gender identities–

Or are we fighting against our

Own bodies to control and change

Malleate ourselves into

An exterior that matches

What some insist are their

Interior, and yet

I feel almost exactly the same

No matter what kind of hormones run in my veins.

Hmmmm I am confused

Why is it that my exterior is

My gender identity again?

I thought it was the way I felt,

Who I am, not

The shape of my hips, the size

Of my tits, the length of my dick.

Why do I have to go on a journey

Of “self-acceptance”

In the name of some superficial nonsense?

Is that what manhood is?

I thought it was something else, my bad

Anyway, sometimes I feel like

I’m the only trans person

Who doesn’t want to bully anyone

Into looking a certain way

Who doesn’t want to have a photo gallery

Who doesn’t want to have a youtube

Where sitting there

As a body on camera

Is most of what you do

I don’t think that is representation

I don’t see my own body as

Representative of your body

That’s called projecting

And I really wish

Ya’ll would stop accusing me of projecting

My insecurities

When the truth is

You all are nonstop

365 year round

Posting videos, vlogs, pics and selfies

About how looking a certain way

Gives you euphoria

And how easy it is

For someone to trigger you

With a mismatched pronoun–

Guess what folks,

People misgender cis folks all the time

Getting called the wrong thing

Usually just means whoever is talking to you

Is working overtime, and

If they’re not, if they’re some

Rich fuck snob, they’re just being

A transphobe with a

Performative profile