Trans femininity
Being a trans woman does not mean you owe the world femininity or to be femme presenting. To be a woman in the world has always been about exploring boundaries of societal understandings of womanhood, expectations about your presentations, and then how you personally position yourself within those. If you live in a society where to be trans is a potentially dangerous affair femininity is a safety net you use as a means of ensuring you are not physically attacked. Yet, this is a double bind because many trans women are then attacked for upholding patriarchal standards on beauty and clothing. To be outwardly trans feminine is a potential guilted cage, one that is reinforced by both the trans community and society at large.
As a self-described trans femme myself I love the vast array of options I have open to me. My usual routine is jeans, t-shirt, and hoodie, yet on days when the mood strikes I femme up just because I feel like it. Due to my training routine you are more likely to see me in leggings and sports tops with a goalie kit in tow, none of which changes my personal self-perception. How the world sees me at large is a different matter, one over which I have no control. For all of my personal efforts, society may read me as something I do not ascribe to. And this is not my concern, unless someone chooses to throw it in my face. How we perceive ourselves and how others react is beyond our control, as the…
