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Trans inclusive beauty standards
As a trans woman navigating beauty standards and expressions of self have always been complicated and policed. My mother dressed how she wanted, wears no make-up and has an approach to fashion which is to ignore it completely. As a role model she is great, and it is one of the things I admire about her. Her life lesson gave me the grounding to find my own self-expression, which at present is simply comfortable and functional. As the above image shows, I have alopecia, and due to sensitive skin and no eyelashes and eyebrows I rarely wear make-up these days. All of which means that my personal expression is cozy, which is cool with me.
However, this is not good enough for those who have targeted me over my looks. Gender critics accuse trans women of being stereotypes and aping womanhood, and every time I post an image of myself it have become weaponised. Presently I get called Uncle Fester and Nosferatu for having no hair, a great hulking man who ought to be ashamed of himself. For a movement dedicated to deconstructing gender expression it sure looks like rank misogyny. I am existing as myself in the world, so to be targeted for my looks is both draining and dehumanising.
No woman should be targeted for her looks. Period. Every woman is entitled to express herself as she wishes. There is no delineation between cis and trans here, all women have this freedom. I…
