What Being Trans Taught Me About Finding My Authentic Self
Thoughts on authenticity from a transfeminine perspective
Years ago, when everyone still wore flannels and Doc Martens, a good friend turned to me, and confided, point-blank: “I don’t know any transsexuals.” (This was before the word transgender existed, at least to me.)
I don’t remember how we came to the topic — perhaps one of those philosophical discussions that would grow wings when we still had time to watch them fly — but I choked on whatever I was drinking, probably a Clearly Canadian, Black Raspberry-flavored for sure.
And then, I didn’t tell him.
…that he was talking with a transgender person. He actually knew one well. On that day, he went on his way thinking he still hadn’t met a transgender person. He went on that way for a long time.
People weren’t that open and authentic about gender identity back then.
I know I wasn’t open and authentic.
Authentic and alive — Is it possible?
One of life’s great struggles lies in searching for authenticity. We seek authenticity in the jobs we choose and the jobs we flee, in the friends we make and those we keep, in the clothes we choose and the way we present…
