i don't owe you androgyny.
although the days of such presentation are behind me, my feelings about my gender have not changed:
i am non-binary.
but even that doesn't wholly capture my experience with gender.
it doesn't adequately describe the feeling of holding an inner child who so desperately just wanted a place to exist.
or the urgency of extending gently through the world when all that made up your world was telling you that your true self is filth.
it doesn't cover the lessons i learned in love while fighting the urge to self-exterminate.
and it certainly is limited in its analysis of my thoughts on the social construction of identity more generally.
just because you see me as a man does not negate the countless conversations we have had about what feels most authentic to me.
despite what your limited view of gendered expression is telling you,
i don't owe you androgyny.
About the Creator
kp
I am a non-binary, trans-masc writer. I work to dismantle internalized structures of oppression, such as the gender binary, class, and race. My writing is personal but anecdotally points to a larger political picture of systemic injustice.
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