There's This Theory That Haz Is Trans/nonbinary And I Am So Fucking Glad That I'm Not The Only One Who

TW : SEXUAL HARASSMENT/R*PE

Can people PLEASEEEE stop saying shit like "it's not sexual harassment if you like it" // "it's not harassment if you're turned on" // "your mouth might be saying no, but your body says yes"?!

It does not sound cool, it does not sound sexy and it is absolutely NOT okay for anyone to say this. For one, you need to ask BEFORE you touch - affirmative consent : yes means yes, not no means no. Two, most people's bodies are wired to like physical/sexual touch, and by 'like', I mean respond to it - that does not mean it's consensual. This is also one of the reasons why people don't consider it r*pe if the survivor has orgasmed, and that's just messed up.

We reallyyy need to learn to stop using phrases and language which perpetuate r*pe culture 🤢

I hold so much bitterness towards adults and I'm sure it's unhealthy, but yeah. Like, I hate the way they treat their kids, I hate the way they're so hypocritical, I hate the way they think they can say anything and not be held accountable for the hurt they've caused just because they're parents or family members, I hate the way they consider it selfish for their children to tell them how certain things they did left an impact on them, I hate how adults seem to want to teach their kids how to live in the world and treat other people, but they themselves treat their kids like trash, without kindness or compassion, I hate how adults purposely say things which are aimed at making their kids feel bad, I hate how adults think that they can justify taking advantage of the kid's vulnerability for whatever reason (for the "greater good" or "for your own good" or whatever), I hate how adults are so mean and rude to their children, I hate how they use terrible language and say horrible, horrible things just because they're sad or upset and then go on about as if they said nothing bad, I hate how adults expect their kids to talk to them and be free with them, but at the same time, judge them or mock them or brush them away when they do; I hate how adults seem to think they own their children, how they seem to think they can silence them; I hate how adults say "this is my house", taking away the sense, the feeling of "home" from the child - because if it is their house only, because they built it, what is it to their child? What is their child to that house? Isn't it supposed to be a home, and not a house that belongs to just one person? ; anyway, I hate how adults are not reliable or trustworthy and nearly never nice, I hate how adults tell their kids they want to die because their kid is too much, I hate how adults think parents/family members get a free pass for everything and anything they say or do.

For a while now, I had been procrastinating thinking about how I felt about certain things; how uncomfortable I feel when people refer to periods as something that is a "cis woman" thing, how uncomfortable I feel when my friends send me posts or made comments which were directed at or about solely cis women, how disturbed I feel when people call me a "woman" or a "lady", the feeling of discomfort and disgust in my throat and tummy when people say things such as, "perks of being a (cis) woman", how I always felt that sick feeling when people gendered things, as if it were only for "cis females".

At first, I thought it was because of how cisnormative it was, how gendered - but then I realised that I've been feeling these feelings since I was small, since I was a child. I had absolutely no idea about the lgbtq+ community back then, I had no idea what "gender roles and norms" were, I wasn't even aware of what feminism meant- so it surely wasn't because of that. Then I forced myself to believe that I was in the process of getting over my internalised misogyny. After a lot of introspection, I realised it wasn't that either. With the help of a few of my friends, I could finally admit that it was because I wasn't a "cis female", it was because I was a demigirl (/an agender girl) - to myself and to them.

Figuring out my gender identity wasn't easy, it wasn't the same as figuring out my sexual orientation. There were days when I would beat myself up - calling myself a fake person, a wannabe. I didn't think that my feelings were valid because I didn't actually mind my body - I didn't have dysphoria; little did I know, back then, that body dysphoria wasn't the only type of dysphoria that existed, and moreover, I didn't have to experience dysphoria to be nonbinary.

I invalidated my own feelings, I refused to acknowledge them, I was afraid of talking to others about it because I didn't want them to confirm my doubts, my insecurities - so I shoved my feelings into a box and hid them away.

But now, after a lot of introspection and a lot of external validation, I finally feel secure with my gender. I am an agender girl, which means, though I do not mind the label 'girl', I do not identify with the meaning people have assigned to it; I do not identify myself as any gender, I am genderless. My pronouns are still she/her. I comparatively feel more "girl" than "agender" - when it comes to the label - but that doesn't make my identity any less valid, that doesn't make *me* any less valid.

My identity is not an oxymoron, my identity is not a buzzword which I find interesting, my identity is who I am, and who I am is not up to you to judge, who I am is up to me to own and accept.

\\

If someone asked me to explain my gender to them - eventhough I know I don't owe anyone any explanations - it would be somewhat like this :

Imagine you were born in a world with no labels, no categories. You don't know what gender is, you don't know what it means to be a girl or a boy or neither or either or both. Imagine you were a person with XX chromosomes, a uterus, a vagina and boobs and that was it. You don't know you have a gender, you don't know your parts and your chromosomes have a sex - you just know you have certain characteristics and that's it. Suddenly, a person from another world classifies you as a girl and you're okay with that, it's a simple classification, doesn't hurt anyone - but then they assign that label an identity, you. You are identified as that label, and on top of that more gendered labels are identified with you. But that's not you, you don't feel that way. You don't feel like boobs are a "female" thing, boobs are just boobs, when it's forcefully called "female parts", you feel sick, you feel like shuddering and curling into yourself. When people say that boobs are an advantage of being a girl, your entire body shakes with disgust, when they add meaning to the label "girl", you feel shaken up, you feel revolted.

But weirdly enough, until they assigned a meaning to the label "girl", it was just an empty word, and you were okay with that.

That is how being an agender girl feels like.

//

a nightly routine? oh, wait! I have one those! It's called, 'having a mental breakdown until I finally pass out'.

If you don't support me at my-

-being loudly queer

-feminist rants

-passionate lectures about my interests

-therapy talk and mental breakdowns

you don't deserve me at my-

-certificates

-positive recognition from authority figures

-published articles

-accomplishments/wins

I won't show you the good parts if you're not accepting or supportive of my "bad parts"; i don't want anyone's 'congrats' if it doesn't also come with 'i hear you'; i don't want to be seen when there's a light shining on me if you turn your cheek when there's a dark stormy cloud above my head; before asking me- 'why didn't you tell us, this is such a good thing', remember the time when you said- 'don't speak about yourself too much, it's not appropriate'; don't chastise my silence if you've ever ignored my voice. fin.

The in-between part of depression is the worst. Where you can feel the anti-depressants working, you can feel yourself getting better - but then can you claim to have depression anymore? What if someone accuses you of faking it? What if someone expects too much, but you're not there yet, but they don't get it because they see you're better? What if your body want to sleep all the time but your mind is learning to wake itself up? What then?

White Man's Burden

Ethnocentrism :

The poem rests on the themes of ethnocentrism and racism. The very reason white people find it okay or even acceptable to conquer and change other cultures is because they believe theirs is the superior culture-- they are the better, more progressive, educated, civilised nation. This cultural superiority complex comes from the unnecessary comparison of the latter to the former on the basis on Eurocentric standards of comparison.

Coloniasm, Imperialism and White Saviour Complex :

Kipling portrays the white man as a philanthropic, selfless rescuer whose duty is to educate and civilise non-white people in order to make their lives better, make them more progressive and save them from their primitive lifestyle. It seems as if white men have internalised the facade they intended to show the world, and themselves believe to be saviors of "savages" and "uncivilized" people.

Patriarchal Masculinity :

Not once does Kipling mention women in his poem. It is considered a man's duty to conquer and save others, responsibilities boys are supposed to fulfill to "become a man" or reach manlihood. But it is important to note that his poem wouldn't automatically become more progressive or better in any way even if he did include women- the fact remains that though the poem is patriarchal, the major issue is white saviour complex and ethnocentrism.

I genuinely don't feel any emotion, I'm great at facial expressions, I'm great at sounding like I feel things, and I realised that I have no empathy, absolutely nada. All the "empathy" I used to think was empathy was in fact only sympathy (not pity though!!!!!!)

My family constantly tells me how I never call them when I'm at my other side of the family's house and vice versa and that it seems as if I don't care about anyone because I don't keep in touch with them. And I feel terrible for the fact that I cannot feel that feeling of wanting to stay connected. My friends tell me they miss me and that they want to see me, but even though I say I miss you too, I don't, I honestly don't.

I only feel empty inside. Not numb, just empty. Only surface level emotions, nothing that's "deep".

I don't feel like I've numbed myself to those emotions. Numb feels like a balloon filled with air, the pressure is there against the balloon but it's just air, empty feels like a non-blowed balloon, with literally nothing inside

Another emotion I feel like feeling like a monster/terrible person/other very messed up things etcetc - but that's only when I'm having an episode. And I feel guilty only when someone tells me how uncaring I am and when I lie to people about it

But the thing is, this isn't a recent occurrence. It's been this way with my family since forever, they've always told me this. I made up excuses for myself and I made myself believe things, I didn't want to admit to myself that I genuinely couldn't feel. It was after I started learning about the difference between empathy/sympathy/compassion that I admitted to myself that I wasn't an empath and then gradually all this other stuff.

8 t hink I need helpProfessional jelp

And not just my this therapist vaala help

Because sometimes I scare myself a

Nd I know I tell you still

Stuff

But trust me

What's going in my brain is so much worse than the stuff I tell you

The reason why I tell you so much in the first place is cause there so much more and if I didn't tell you the bare minimum I'd go out of my mind

And I need hekp

Please

sometimes I can tell when an episode is going to hit me y'know? my chest sinks and my head feels like all the air's been drained out of it, like till now it's been filled with water and feeling as such, but then when an episode is about to hit me or when I feel it coming, that water just flows out. and my throat feels cloggy and my tummy/chest area feels weird. Nowadays I can distract myself before it hits because I've numbed myself down so much and I've suppressed myself to much that I can swish it away or press it down so that I can prevent one, but then I just go back to feeling lonely or empty or whatever. and yeah, that's bad too