December 2022: Monthly Social

[virgosplaining]

12/02/2022 - 12/04/2022

Good day! One of the things I wanted to start around here is a monthly get-together to get to know each other and chat about what we please. I'm going to try to make this every first Friday of each month. In the future I might devise more specific themes, but for this round I'd love to do an almost friending-meme sort of post. For everyone who doesn't want to post a separate post for an introduction, please come here!

Otherwise, free for all! Got trans artists & art to recommend? Want to share your own? Want to talk transition? Got fun anecdotes to share? Go on to your heart's content!

Comments

Chiming in

[ng_moonmoth]

Genderqueer, nonbinary, Silicon Valley (California) resident. Had difficulty as a kid with why there were "boy things" and "girl things", and why it mattered as much as it seemed to. Still do.

My reaction to parental and cultural indoctrination while growing up was to bury all that deeply enough beneath a layer of cishet normativity that even I didn't realize it was there. Some years back, when the words showed up, the gender identity did, too. And finally made sense of things I'd been doing for self-care in those years.

Went from there to going Out In Public as myself in specific gender-friendly environments, to more and more situations, to a lot of the time in daily life and pretty much all the time in several communities I'm part of.

By way of helping people in those communities who I have known for a while understand where I'm going, I often wear my genderqueer and they/them buttons, no matter my outfit. And the button pictured in this post's icon by way of illuminating what spurred my social transition.

In here, I'm fine going by "Moonmoth" for now. I am (successfully) experimenting with an out name that speaks to me, but I'm holding out to see whether one that sings to me shows up. I have some sticky notes with more information, including where the handle comes from, at the top of my journal.

Re: Chiming in

[virgosplaining]

That's an incredible journey! I hope things continue to go well on your path with deciding on a name. ♥

Had difficulty as a kid with why there were "boy things" and "girl things", and why it mattered as much as it seemed to. Still do.

My reaction to parental and cultural indoctrination while growing up was to bury all that deeply enough beneath a layer of cishet normativity that even I didn't realize it was there. Some years back, when the words showed up, the gender identity did, too.

I super relate to this in particular.

Re: Chiming in

[ng_moonmoth]

>> That's an incredible journey! <<

Really? It seems like it's got a lot in common with what I've heard from many other people about their own paths to awareness of their gender identity.

>> I hope things continue to go well on your path with deciding on a name. ♥ <<

Thanks for the good wishes. My life experience so far is that I'm better off being open and ready to spot when something like that comes to me, rather than trying to go out and hunt it down. I suspect that some time between now and "out all the time", I'll get the answer and know it's right.

>> I super relate to ["boy"/"girl" things, and a veneer of cishetnormativity] in particular. <<

That also seems to be a common experience. I continue to deal as I can, with help, with the anger, pain, and sorrow I am now feeling from having gone on that path.