11:04am July 3, 2014

Shout out to all the trans kids and teens…

…who are coming onto tumblr and finding all these fights about whether you count as trans if you don’t have intense body dysphoria as your main trans trait.

…who are afraid to say that their body dysphoria isn’t actually that bad.

…some of whom are afraid to say they barely have body dysphoria at all (if any).

…but who are all trans, or genderless, or some combination.

…some of whom are now exaggerating their body dysphoria.

…some of whom are now being driven closer to severe depression or suicide by ruminating on their body dysphoria, when they might be far less likely to do so if body dysphoria weren’t what everyone was focusing on as The Entrance Requirement To The Trans Community.

…some of whom are being driven to fake body dysphoria, or fake more of it than they have, and then feel horribly guilty and wonder if they’re just pretending to be trans.

And I’m leaving this about kids and teens because, if I were a kid or teen coming into this community, I would be far more self-conscious and horrified and determined to do being trans the ‘right’ way, than I am now.  And I don’t think people think of the impact on trans kids, of their bickering and name-calling and infighting over who gets to be trans or not.  And it’s the kids that lose out the most, they lose out on having a community at a time when they need one. 

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