Anyone interrogating their gender eventually has to answer the question for themselves: is any dissonance—or yearning euphoria—I feel a response to identity, or role? But whatever the answer, know that you owe no camp your fealty; repression is a praxis borne only of scarcity. 1/
It is acceptable, even awesome, to want your gender to inhabit a place that is political: but there are infinite ways to do so, and all of them are more effective when they come from a place of authenticity, where your full creativity can be unleashed. 2/
Let the people for whom their camp feels most like home fight their battles; they too will be more effective for it. And also, it is yet another falsehood that transness requires the total severing of ties. You can decide the nuance of your affiliation. 3/
There was a time, after deciding I was trans, but before deciding to transition, when I considered staying a man, as a sort of double agent. Effective? Maybe—had I survived. Yet I've done far more powerful work on gender given my current context than I ever imagined back then. 4/
So, leave the womanhood to the women; leave the manhood to the men. Be a drifter, a vagabond, an expat, a returning prodigal son or daughter. Go where the wind takes you, and trust you'll wind up where you need to be. Nobody worth calling a comrade should expect anything less.
