CW: Coronavirus, Misgendering
Trans Joy is a blog series celebrating the positive side of trans experiences, in an attempt to bring some balance to contemporary trans discourses. This week I’m talking about masks.
I want to start this post by saying that lockdown is awful. Some people are trying to spin the lockdown (or most recently returning to offices) as a positive thing. I don’t want to romanticise the nightmare we’ve been living through. But there has been one unexpected positive that’s come out of this.
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t normally pass as anything other than a man (though passing is generally a weird concept as a non-binary person). But wearing a mask covers my beard; combined with my hairstyle and clothes that tips the balance the other way.
It feels weird having my femininity affirmed by strangers. Being addressed as “miss” or “love” or “darling” isn’t right. The tone and terminology is generally sexist, and putting that aside I’m not actually a woman either. Being referred to as one is still misgendering, just in a different way to normal.
But it still feels kinda nice? I still like not being referred to as a guy, even if it isn’t right. It still makes a nice change to not have to deny my masculinity every fucking time I talk to someone. It’s strange and a little conflicting, but weirdly it still brings me some joy.
I hope you all find some joy this week too ❤ If you want to contribute to this project then please get in touch 🙂 If you want to support the project you can order a zine here.