Neurodivergence and Transness Part 2

2014-01-17T03:44:42Z

part 1

Personal experiences - within and fitting in

I have been slowly writing a series of posts on how being both Trans and Disabled/Neurodivergent interact with eachother. For me they are tangled together.

I am trans but a lot of trans-ness seems to get explained in terms of gender identity.

I don't really have this thing called "Gender Identity".

I have experiences. My body is shaped in certain ways, I have a large-ish bosom and curves. But I've also felt other things - sensations that make more sense coming from another form. I mis-judge distances between hips and objects, topping in bed (in the sense many gay men use it) feels as natural as breathing. I have dysphoria - although sometimes "dissonance" would be more accurate. Sometimes it burns like fire, but sometimes it is merely this doubled sensation. Which can be be neutral. Sometimes it even leads beautiful places. There is sweetness and thorns. But because of that I act in ways that some people consider "unacceptable" for my assigned gender. I also accept and love my body in many ways. I *am* my body in many ways.

I also go against how people of my assigned gender are supposed to act, people have told me that.

I don't really have this thing called "Gender Identity".

But I am not a person who can live in a vacuum without other people. Be surrounded by them, but unconnected and isolated. I want to talk about things with others. I am part of that sea. So I need words. With my experiences, in some circles I would be considered a Trans Man (with very low dysphoria). And so I am. In some circles someone with these experiences would be considered an Androgyne. Or Genderfluid. But these are not really my words. I am borrowing them so we can be on the same page. And the changes are not changes in me, just what I am called.

Though others may have had some say
in building up their book of rules,
I had mine given without want,
I couldn’t build one, had no tools.My book has not, my name upon it.
It feels unlike mine in hand.
If not that I relied upon it,
I’d let it fall like grains of sand.

-Donna Williams (from Not Just Anything)

In this culture, there are ceremonial roles for Women/girls and Men/boys. There are almost never ceremonial roles for in-between people. I care deeply about Ceremony and Ritual (in some ways) I can't not. So in ceremonial instances I have to choose - and I prefer to go with the male role it feels more comfortable . (This includes things like whether it is needed to keep your head covered, etc.)

But a lot of how I act does not necessarily have to do with sex/gender. I have certain things I'm good at and like to do. I love to cook, garden, knit, work with metal. My "role" has more to do with these things than what's between my legs or what I do with it. Some of what I am is labeled feminine, some masculine. What I wear is a lot about colors and what they invoke. I attempt to invoke many things and gender is only one of them in a long list. Branches and moss, fire and earth, rose petals and blood. I do occasionally wear things to look masculine, and some "feminine" things make me feel sick and frightened because of things that happened.

I am Trans. But the rest...

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Neurodivergence and Transness Part 2