All posts filed under: transgender

Selective Outrage Won’t Get Us Free

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Originally posted on Black Millennials:
Jamar Clark was killed execution-style while handcuffed in Minneapolis. Black activists most notably affiliated with the local Black Lives Matter chapter and the local NAACP shut down highways and occupied the 4th police precinct. National media is starting to pick up on the local unrest, especially after white supremacist terrorists shot five Black Lives Matter protestors. In Chicago, video released shows LaQuan McDonald being shot some sixteen times by a white police officer. His murderer has been charged, and thousands are mobilizing. Traditional media is focusing on the clashes between protesters and police, while social media is aflame. The gruesome video (which I admittedly haven’t watched) lives on the pages of many. Heated debate about the discomfiting consumption of Black death and pain is — once again — underway. Not one to homogenize Black murder and resulting unrest, I can’t help but draw striking parallels to Ferguson and Baltimore. From the expansive number of mass mobilizations and frontline energies, to the tweets of solidarity, frenetic live-streaming, and the viciously heavy-handed responses…

Welcome to School Mr. Ma’am

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Originally posted on corybanticcory:
Today is my first day of school. It’s dark outside and a dense layer of fog blankets the sleepy city. I wake up hours before I need to leave my apartment. Like other girls, I take a shower, spend way to long picking out my outfit, change about a dozen times, do my makeup, and check everything twice. I make breakfast, brush my teeth, and make funny faces at myself in the mirror while I give myself yet another once over. I grab my backpack and nervously head outside to catch my Uber. Today is going to be utterly perfect. I arrive at school thirty minutes early. My school ID is outdated so I head into the basement of the towering eight floor building to get a new one. I find my way to the security office and take a new picture. The director of security who also doubles as the school photographer asks me how I like it. I don’t. Thankfully, another guy walks in and helps me upload a…

None of The Above | Book Review

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Originally posted on Devouring Fictions:
None of The Above by I.W. Gregorio Publication: April 7, 2015 by Blazer + Bray Summary: A groundbreaking story about a teenage girl who discovers she was born intersex… and what happens when her secret is revealed to the entire school. Incredibly compelling and sensitively told, None of the Above is a thought-provoking novel that explores what it means to be a boy, a girl, or something in between. What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant? When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She’s a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she’s madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she’s decided that she’s ready to take things to the next level with him. But Kristin’s first time isn’t the perfect moment she’s planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has…

What it Means to Be a Woman

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Originally posted on corybanticcory:
I used to think I had a pretty good grip on how people work. I used to think I understood what it meant to be a woman. If there’s one thing transitioning has taught me, it’s that I have a lot to learn. This week has been eye opening. I thought I was going to be so excited about my shopping trip or the fact that people are finally starting to think I’m “passable”. I’ve realized that none of that matters. In some of my previous blogs, I was really obsessed with being accepted, “passing”, and I dwelled on some of the more negative aspects of my transition. I’ve learned a few really big things lately. Firstly… It shouldn’t be about “passing”. It isn’t a test. It doesn’t matter whether or not other people think I’m “real”. The fact of the matter is that I am a “real” woman as I am now. Everything that changes from here on out is a part of me. Secondly… There is no end to…

My Thoughts on Caitlyn Jenner 

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Originally posted on modernteenfashion:
Honestly my thoughts about the whole Caitlyn Jenner situation is that people are making a bigger deal out of it than necessary. It was her decision to change genders because she knew that it’s what would make her happy and feel confident, so people shouldn’t judge that decision. I personally think that people should just leave her alone to live her life as a beautiful, strong woman and stop making it such a huge deal. It was just a choice she made in her life so that she could be who she wanted to be and I think that we should just respect it without overthinking it too much. I mean, so what if she changed genders and became a woman? Has it really hurt our society? No, not at all. If anything, it should be a symbol of acceptance so that we can all accept people for who they are, even if they do things that are a little out of the ordinary. I love being a girl, it’s who…