hey beehaw team :) this is partly advice seeking and partly just wanting to share my experience and hopefully hear how others feel about he topic. i’m not sure if this is the right community for this either, but hopefully it is!

i’m a cis woman who’s always been a fair bit interested in both femininity and androgyny for my hair and clothing, but lately i’ve been feeling more of a pull than usual to present in a more masculine/butch leaning way. to the point where i’m even considering trying out binding, which i’ve never really thought about before.

i’m a bit conflicted though about all of this, because i do know i have some internalized misogyny regarding femininity being inferior to masculinity. i’m having difficulty telling if i’d like to present more masc because i think femininity is stupid/not cool, or if it’s something i actually want.

does anyone have any advice/thoughts to share about this? i don’t really have anyone irl i can talk to about this, so any input would be really appreciated <3

to be clear, i am not questioning my gender here. i like and use she/her pronouns and am not interested in any others.

  •  jennifilm   ( @jennifilm@beehaw.org ) English
    4•1 year ago

    Absolutely - we have to get so much better at letting people talk about gender, presentation, style, and how they feel about it without making assumptions or getting pushy about it. I can totally understand where it comes from - there are so many moments in my life where I feel like I totally should’ve realised about my gender earlier, and I think that eagerness comes from similar experiences and wanting to help, but people need room to have their own experiences. We could absolutely use far more discussion with/from/about cis people with styles and presentations outside the standards and norms - there’s so much room for everyone to feel free exploring and playing more.

    I totally hear you, and that sounds real complex! I don’t have any easy answers here unfortunately, other than recommending what it sounds like you’re already doing - having an open mind and feeling comfortable with having a play. I think doing some intentional reflection about masculinity and femininity, how you feel about them both, what you associate with them, and how you feel most comfortable presenting might be a useful and interesting exercise here! Because you’re wanting to look cooler, it might be interesting to do some style research on both feminine and masculine styles you think look cool - remembering that both of those are just social constructs we’ve created and that there are heaps of ways to be feminine and heaps of ways to be masculine.

    Happy to help in any way I can!