Answer the question though, do you really think I have the option to be afraid of varying opinions on this? Do you really think I’m capable of living in a world where transmisogyny and transphobia is not a daily occurrence I witness?

Do you not realise that, unlike you, the first thing I learned about myself was that I was a joke?

Cis people get to be “normal”. They don’t have to go through this entire education process to learn to accept themselves. They don’t have to feel alone in being cis in this society. The first lesson they learn about themselves isn’t a mockery of who they are and how undesirable, unattractive, and gross they are for being cis.

I have grown up in exactly the same society you grew up in, only I had to learn about myself in a way you did not have.

That journey in and of itself means I understand more about trans issues than you do. Because it was inherent to my survival to learn. Learning about trans issues for cis people is a side project, a political issue, a film they can make and walk away from.

It isn’t their everyday life.

So, yeah, maybe I am a little bit frustrated and angry when someone who has zero idea of what it is like to be trans in this society comes to me and tries to tell me how awesome this film is going to be for me when they have no idea what it’s like to be me.

Because inherently that’s a discussion which belittles my experience and understanding of who I am. And when you start a discussion by belittling me and my experience, you’re not going to get politeness from me.