Sexism works. They comment on our appearances as a strategy to distract from and discredit our ideas. There is a delight in demeaning us, putting us back in our place on the shelf. We are not allowed to have ideas, because we just exist only as bodies. Our worth is incumbent on whether men desire us or can use us. It’s not even “his word against ours,” because we are denied access to the word. We are not allowed to speak, just be spoken to. Not allowed to think, just be thought. Not allowed to look, just be looked at.
Sexism means they think they know us better than we know ourselves. Means: I have spent a decade researching the topics I write on, I have lectured and performed at hundreds of universities all over the world, but they will always listen to cis &/ gender conforming people because of what I look like. Even supporters of transfeminine people so often fixate on our image, completely disregarding our intellect.
I am so much more than my body. I wrote #BeyondTheGenderBinary because I wanted my ideas to exist in the world outside of me. But promoting this work has felt so painful because I am reminded that people don’t want to regard my writing — they just care about my body. Use it as a character foil, a poster child, a museum object, a freak show, interchangeably here to inspire or insult (depending on who’s watching).
There is a direct correlation between how much we speak out and how much abuse we receive to shut us up. There have been so many times I have just wanted to give up. but I refuse to back down. I am part of something greater than myself. My community is under attack. Unlike me, so many of us have no support systems to endure this daily aggression.
