Inspired by this dorky exchange I had, thank u BountifulEggnog.

I want to know what your gender means to you, how you define it, what it means for you to “be” that gender and how you define it. Don’t fuss about ‘correct definitions’ or anything, this is about your experience, I want to know what it means to you. How you relate to that gender, perceive it.

Genders have a social construction aspect and is very subjective, so I think people’s subjective, personal views of their own are both important and interesting. Inquiring mind wants to know! interviewer

I'll share some of mine I guess.

I was a trans woman until the contradictions sharpened to a razor’s edge after reading Gender Outlaw and The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto. My brain got cracked in half. I have always hated the effects testosterone would have on my body, so estrogen was a given, but while I do identify with certain things that are commonly associated with being a woman… if nothing is inherently gendered, what even is a gender? niko-concern I had a whole little episode about it in the megathread once.

As I went on from there, I realised that while I like certain things about “being a woman”, equally I found I’d been sort of stifled by trying to fit into the social role. The women I have always related to most are the cis autistic women who basically yeet presentation in favour of dressing for sensory comfort. Almost kinda non binary, in a way… The more I interrogated binary gender in relation to myself, the more I dug up stuff like this. Also I didn’t really like that “woman” is associated with cis people a lot, I really like the trans part of my identity, feel a lot of love for it. I’ve felt freer and mentally clearer and truer to myself as a Non Binary Transfem, it’s cool and funny. What does it mean to me? It represents my goofy sometimes-androgynous presentation, my lack of cissie gender, how being neurodiverse influences my view, being a funny noody goblin. Share yours =)

  • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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    4 months ago

    “Cis-lite”? but uh

    i’ve always been curious about what gender feels like to other people, so i’ve asked a lot of people, cis and trans, and what i find curious is that they all tell me different things. there is no one unifying thing that all women or all men will tell you makes them a woman or a man. and i think that is a good thing. gender is very personal, and we all resolve the trauma of gender being imposed on us very differently, and reclaim it in whatever way feels best.

    Yeah this is the spark that started this thread honestly, which is very cool thank you. There are many non-gender or post-gender people though also!

    • belligerentkitten [they/them, it/its]@hexbear.netM
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      4 months ago

      cis lite as in, my friend is techhnically a cis woman but doesnt really feel like one but cant be bothered to change anything. she is cool with the term.

      post gender is a nice term for me, maybe. i think about gender less and less these days. i am privileged to live in a community of queer n trans people, and i dont go into the real world terribly often.

      i am kinda trans only by default. i take hormones etc, but im not trying to change anything. i am intersex and i prefer my appearance to be androgynous or neutral. so i just kinda try to balance the hormones to achieve that. i do feel quite different to a lot of trans people. but there are also people who feel a lot like i do, like the person who responded to my comment and plenty of others.

      anyway none of this is a complaint, just sorta rambling vaguely

      • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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        4 months ago

        Cis lite, gender apathetic… Huh, fair enough.

        Yeah I like it too, cool term.

        i take hormones etc, but im not trying to change anything. i am intersex and i prefer my appearance to be androgynous or neutral.

        Ah I see!! I’ve only ever conceptualised taking hormones as being a huge fundamental change, but this makes sense, just hadn’t thought about it. I’m also not surprised there are many others like you, my wife is intersex and expresses some similar stuff.

        Good rambling thank you nia-peace

        • belligerentkitten [they/them, it/its]@hexbear.netM
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          4 months ago

          oh its rlly cool ur wife is intersex. i get excited to hear about intersex ppl. we seem to be more common than people think though.

          i just wanted to add, that i could receive hormones from the state healthcare system and i have in the past. but it has treated me terribly when i have interacted with it both as a trans and intersex person. i self medicate, as an act of control over my body.

          • ashinadash [she/her]@hexbear.netOP
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            4 months ago

            There are dozens! The under-diagnosed aspect is absolutely no joke.

            Oh huh, sorry your experience was bad but sadly it’s not surprising or uncommon. I will never not be an advocate for selfmed, fuck the state.

            • belligerentkitten [they/them, it/its]@hexbear.netM
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              4 months ago

              absolutely. my partner is having a time with hormones and it doesnt seem to be explainable without her being intersex.

              i really want to write something, create something, about self med for these kinda of reasons. a lot of it is focused on self med because of gatekeeping and waiting lists, which is obviously a massive problem. but the other reasons people self med deserve attention.

                • belligerentkitten [they/them, it/its]@hexbear.netM
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                  3 months ago

                  thank you i helped someone run a survey on self med and a few people talked about stuff like this and it made me realise it was important to talk about and shift the perception away from simply, people are doing it because healthcare bad, but we would all medicalise ourselves given the opportunity.