School can be a stressful environment for trans and/or non-cis students. Whether you will be such a student, their classmate, their teacher, or a member of the faculty who will interact with them, you should be aware that these students are often placed in very difficult situations. One of these…

Masculine terms are not inherently gender neutral. — I get it. You’re from California and everyone is a dude to you. You live in the Midwest and default to “you guys” without thinking. I understand to you these terms are gender neutral in your life but they are not to me. I cannot make you feel the same…

Printable forms for trans/non-cis people who want to simplify introductory discussions. — All pages come with a teal border option or a plaintext option. To download check out the Dropbox file here. Previews are shown below, as well as examples of a filled out form. Forms are captioned at the end. ‪Please keep in mind that some trans women and trans men…

Gender Neutral and Nonbinary-Exclusive Language; A Small Guide — [I WROTE THIS WHEN I WAS 19 OR 20 OR SOMETHING AND I DONT REALLY AGREE WITH EVERYTHING I WROTE HERE ANYMORE, MY UNDERSTANDING OF THINGS HAS BECOME A LOT MORE COMPLEX. I DO NOT PERSONALLY THINK LANGUAGE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BATTLE WRT THIS STUFF ANYMORE, NOR DO I…

Apologies, Misgendering, and Pronoun Practice — Dear Vin, So one of my girlfriend’s good friends is a trans femme, and I’ve only met them twice. [They use both she and they pronouns for herself]. The first time we met, I accidentally misgendered them before hearing their pronouns, though I should’ve known better, and I didn’t make…

A conscientious writer reached out to me about a character she’s drafting and whether she needs to make some changes. — Dear Vin, I’m currently writing an outline for a webcomic. The story is set to be a medieval fantasy but it’s one that focuses on feminism, diversity, and what it means to be a woman. One of the secondary characters is a trans girl (who is also mute), and I…

Paste these everywhere you can. Print them out and hang them up. — In light of the Trump Administration making it clear they intend to roll back any protections some trans people had as well as define trans people out of existence, here are some posters to hang around your city. They are simple, legible, and printer friendly. They get the point across…

A supportive and confused spouse reaches out to me about dysphoria. — Dear Vin, Thank you for being willing to educate. I know it is not your job and can be exhausting. I’ve done a ton of research on this and can’t seem to find an answer. My spouse is super dysphoric about their genitalia. They feel gross about having the genitalia…

Part One — The beauty of language is that it is always evolving. Not even in terms of decades. The meaning of a word or a sentence can change in a second. As we age and communication moves past us, it is easy to miss out on some of these changes. We don’t…