I’m coming at this as someone who has recently realized I am somewhere between a gender and gender fluid and would generally self describe as “occasionally transmasculine, even more occasionally trans trianary”. I’ve never really paid attention to either set of behaviours except anthropologically, and can generally pick which ones I want to imitate but it’s an improv thing for most. Except that the ones that aren’t improv do very much flip when my gender does, and I do notice the same set of differences— which always baffled me a bit. Thus far I’ve only ever been a cis female in public after age six or so (last time I was over by accident), since I only realized the whole either one thing a few weeks ago and am still getting together an outfit of non dysphoria for being Elliot. But in some ways even when I wasn’t consciously flipping switch and presentation, I do realize that I’ve never really been interacted with as very strongly either one. I’ve also always been very firmly of whichever gender I am— I’ve never felt at all nonbianary in the tradional sense. But my chosen gender markers are the same with either one I’ve done— I go from ankle length skirts and tailored female style items and poofy blouses and swoopy shawls and robes to waistcoat and proper trousers over a proper pressed shirt, or swoops robe with different styling, or structured swooshy coats and short trousers with long stockings, or knee length tunics and the same, or possibly a kilt. In both cases it’s weight and swoosh and structure and textures and colours, but my taste in prints and figures and scale of pattern and all the little details completely changes.
I agree that the thrusting of cissexism culture onto trans people is the real gender socialization, and being thought of as cis as a trans person (trans guy here) is one of the most dissonant socializations to endure. This article is making me recategorize what I assumed being “socialized female” as being socially interacted with as a masking autistic person and just being introverted and shy as a young adult.
How is it you wrote an entire essay with the thesis that gendered socialisation is fake, yet the actual content says the exact opposite?
I’m coming at this as someone who has recently realized I am somewhere between a gender and gender fluid and would generally self describe as “occasionally transmasculine, even more occasionally trans trianary”. I’ve never really paid attention to either set of behaviours except anthropologically, and can generally pick which ones I want to imitate but it’s an improv thing for most. Except that the ones that aren’t improv do very much flip when my gender does, and I do notice the same set of differences— which always baffled me a bit. Thus far I’ve only ever been a cis female in public after age six or so (last time I was over by accident), since I only realized the whole either one thing a few weeks ago and am still getting together an outfit of non dysphoria for being Elliot. But in some ways even when I wasn’t consciously flipping switch and presentation, I do realize that I’ve never really been interacted with as very strongly either one. I’ve also always been very firmly of whichever gender I am— I’ve never felt at all nonbianary in the tradional sense. But my chosen gender markers are the same with either one I’ve done— I go from ankle length skirts and tailored female style items and poofy blouses and swoopy shawls and robes to waistcoat and proper trousers over a proper pressed shirt, or swoops robe with different styling, or structured swooshy coats and short trousers with long stockings, or knee length tunics and the same, or possibly a kilt. In both cases it’s weight and swoosh and structure and textures and colours, but my taste in prints and figures and scale of pattern and all the little details completely changes.
I agree that the thrusting of cissexism culture onto trans people is the real gender socialization, and being thought of as cis as a trans person (trans guy here) is one of the most dissonant socializations to endure. This article is making me recategorize what I assumed being “socialized female” as being socially interacted with as a masking autistic person and just being introverted and shy as a young adult.