What is gender? How do we relate to it? How do we talk about it? Does it mean the same thing for everyone? FINE examines these questions by interviewing Midwesterners from across the gender spectrum. Check out the online preview of this fascinating comic project. They are actively looking for more interviewees, particularly queer and trans* people of color from the Midwest USA.
I identify as… female to those who need a category, which is convenient sometimes – I need clothes that fit and doctors and gym instructors to know how my body works or is shaped – but I hate to be confined to the boundaries often associated with gender and sex.
As far as third-person pronouns go, … I wish they weren’t gendered. I’ve gotten used to living with “she,” but it would be awesome to be acknowledged as “he” once in a while. I like the concept of using those neutral pronouns, but honestly they just sound weird to me.
I’m attracted to… men who look good dressed up like a girl; women like Amelie Mauresmo.
When people talk about me, I want them to… be interested in who I am and not shy away just because I am different. Also, not to hold static assumptions.
I want people to understand… I am not a bad person!! I like being honest about who I am and what I like, and I wish other people would appreciate that.
About Risa
I love playing sports and going to the gym. I also like writing songs and wish I had the inspiration to write a hundred of them. I am bilingual and bicultural, sometimes socially awkward and occasionally feel romantically impaired, but want to change the world and make it a better place someday.
I think I need to realise that people aren’t as open-minded as me sometimes. Like, I’m an asexual who is romantically attracted to masculinity but masculine girls are still on the cards. They still fall under masculinity, right?
I feel lost between male and neutral and femme. The body I have is beautiful, but I don’t want it.
I need to perform gender, but no one understands what I’m saying. I need to make art about it. I need to show person after person until someone catches a glimpse. And then I’ll cook them their favorite dinner and we’ll cuddle till dawn. I want to be art. I want to make this horrible body, beautiful with curves enough to make a continent in the shape of my body, into something wonderful. I want to show the maleness of my breasts and the femaleness of my muscles.
“Breakfast on Pluto” is a wonderful tale, following the adventures of Patrick “Kitten” Braden (Cillian Murphy! <3) from close-minded small town, via a run-in with the IRA, to London in search of Kitten’s lost mother. Fabulous! With darker parts dotted throughout, but really heart-warming in the end. :)
The film is based on the book with the same title (but I only saw the film; haven’t yet read the book).
There’s also a pretty cool official site (flash only, unfortunately).
I am a FAAB agender (neutrois, specifically), and I was wondering if you all could give me some support/ideas.
I really want to become stronger and have a bigger and more muscular body, but I don’t want to go on T, because I’m worried that all the rest of the changes compounded will take me too far in the other direction toward being male, which is where I don’t want to go
With the female body that I was born with, is it possible for me to become much stronger without taking supplements or things like body builders do?
…more like Scott from Teen Wolf (minus the shirt and flat chest).
“I live a Gender Fluid lifestyle meaning I do not consider myself a boy or a girl, but a cohesive mixture of both. I express this through my personal style and other creative forms. This is a perfect example of an outfit I would wear to an amusement park or a pic-nik by the river. <3”
As far as third-person pronouns go, … I’ve never been particular.
I’m attracted to… anyone.
When people talk about me, I want them to… look past my appearance. I’ve identified as “androgynous” for close to half of my life, and during that time, I’ve had others devalue my work and efforts under the guise of “being from an ugly girl.”
I want people to understand… that regardless of how I identify, I’m still a person – not an object to be mocked, not a thing to be fixed, not a physical embodiment of social ineptitude.
About Ivan
29-year-old fashion and music writer, although I’ve been hesitant to “brand” myself on social media. I’ve also been working on a novel with an androgynous protagonist, although that’s probably one of those things that won’t ever see the light of day.
“Franswa Sharl” is a short film about a boy who is successfully playing with his dad’s expectations and not shy about performing as a girl. Based on a true story.
Sometimes I can see the beauty in my androgynous, gender non-conforming body. Other times, not so much. There are times when I take pride in the utility of my body- its sinuous strength, dexterity, ability to recovery quickly from injury. Then there are the times when all I see is a weak lump of flesh in an amorphous blob.
I know I’m not alone in feeling like this, so I was hoping others had suggestions on how to love, or at least accept, my queer body. And maybe how to take enough pride in it that others can see that it’s pretty cool, too.
Hey Genderforkers! I’m a femme transsexual man who has been making music for years. I write gender-fierce anthems, songs about being a survivor, ballads about navigating transphobia, queer teen love songs, and pop duets with myself.
Coming out as trans and starting HRT forced me to put my art on the backburner for a while. But I’m diving back into my art now and very excited to share it!