I've been thinking a lot about my gender identity lately. I'll be honest here. Until I became more involved with trans issues, I had never questioned who I am on such a profound level. Some would call that cis privilege, which in fact it is but as I'd never had an occasion 1/
to examine that, I was unaware that cis privilege was even a thing. In my case, getting to know trans/NB people forced me out of my "cis box" so to speak. It gave me another perspective from which to examine my own identity & really think about what it means to be cisgender. 2/
I was accidentally born a female. I was then assigned female by the person at the hospital who took a quick look at my genitals and just like that... F on the birth certificate. Now in my case, they were spot on. The thing is, as a baby, how would I know? It took years of 3/
actually living, maturing and life experience for me to KNOW that they assigned me the right sex at birth. I wasn't born a woman. I grew into that identity as years went by. Think about that? You're born, assigned a sex and then you grow up. Now what if, at some point along 4/
way, you realise that they got it wrong? I'm not saying we're born in the wrong body here. My point is, what happens when you've been living one way and you realise that it doesn't feel right to you? That something is very wrong and you start to question your assigned sex. 5/
What if I'm not actually a girl? I'd feel more like myself if I were a boy. I really know that I don't feel right as a girl. After a while, I'm sure I'm not a girl. I'm not a woman. I identify so much more with male than female. This is just me trying to put myself in trans 6/
folks shoes of course. I can never fully understand their struggles with identity. I'm not trans but I can try to understand what they go through because I've tried to pinpoint that moment when I was SURE that I'm cisgender. Ask yourself when did you know they got it 7/
right? Most of cis folks go through life never questioning our cis identity. I was one of those cisgender folks, but if you really think about it... I mean really take a little time a think about it, we were all assigned a sex at birth but it took us all years to grow 8/
into that identity. It could have gone either way for any for us. We BECOME women. We BECOME men. We grow into ourselves over time. Our identity isn't what we're born with, it's what we grow into. I'm a cisgender woman. They got it right for me but I didn't know they were 9/
right until I was old enough to start identifying as GIRL and later, WOMAN. As I mentioned at the start of this thread, being cisgender for many people means never thinking about this. I wish they would take a moment and realise that none of us are born knowing who we are. 10/
I'd like to thank my trans & NB siblings for opening my eyes to cis privilege and helping me to examine what being cisgender actually means. I'd like to thank you all for helping me understand what being trans/NB means to you and for your willingness to help me 11/
try to better understand your lived experiences. The most important thing I've learned is that cis does NOT mean superior (even though there are some cis folks out there under the impression that they are superior due to an accident of birth). I'm a cis woman. I'm no better 12/
than a trans woman. I'm no better than any trans/NB person, I'm just a little luckier because I just happen to have been accidentally born a female and when I grew up, I identified as a woman. Oh & luckier in only ONE way... I didn't have to suffer later on in life to become 13/
who I really am. I've never had to fight to be a woman. I've never had to prove I exist. I've never had to go through the hell that u all go through just to be ME. That right there folks is cis privilege.
Finally:
Trans women are women. Trans men are men and NB's are valid.
Finally:
Trans women are women. Trans men are men and NB's are valid.
