Introduction: I am a sexually queer, polyamorous, white, upper-middle class, able-bodied, American, female-to-male transgender student. Even as I type this long list of intersections that create my identity, I know that I’ve likely failed to include multiple aspects of who I am. I also know that I could include my subcultures, such as grunge or goth, or physical aspects, such as my piercings and tattoos or my decision to bleach my hair so regularly that my friends forget I’m not a natural blonde, because these are all important aspect to how I encounter the world or how I understand my own identity. All of these various identities come together in order to create a specific living experience for me, a living experience that is unique in the
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In the following pages, I will recall moments from three different periods in my life in order to better understand how my identities have influenced me and my experiences. In the interest of queer politics, I will be focusing to the intersections of my identity such as my gender identity and sexual orientation in order to produce a better understanding of how I came to terms with my identity throughout my life. In order to analyze these experiences, I will make use of a variety of academic journals that discuss the issues I have experienced compounded with my own understanding of these memories based in lived experience and a background of study as an English and Women’s Studies undergraduate. This personal analytical essay will not only produce a better understanding of my identity, but also demonstrate how individuals are affected by these identities in ways that is unique …show more content…
I have no clear memories of being upset or distressed by the female gender I was given, nor did I embrace it. I never imagined a future as a wife or mother, but this could also be a result of the fact that romance and sexual orientation were also something distant from me at that age. Levitt and Ippolito also discuss transgender childhood experiences in their article, “Being Transgender: The Experience of Transgender Identity Development (1727).” At one point in their article, they write that transgender interviewees that reflect on their childhood “reported long periods of hiding or ignoring their true feelings about gender and trying to adapt to the expected role of their birth sex for fear of being ridiculed (Levitt and Ippolito 1737).” This point remains valid in my view, as, in my childhood, I likely did ignore, or even hide, my feelings; however, Levitt and Ippolito continue to say, “Often, enacting this traditional gender role took a tremendous amount of effort (1737).” This is the point where my experiences diverge, as I didn’t have extreme difficulty in presenting a gender role which I did not particularly identify with. I simply acted in the way that was expected of
In the following pages, I will recall moments from three different periods in my life in order to better understand how my identities have influenced me and my experiences. In the interest of queer politics, I will be focusing to the intersections of my identity such as my gender identity and sexual orientation in order to produce a better understanding of how I came to terms with my identity throughout my life. In order to analyze these experiences, I will make use of a variety of academic journals that discuss the issues I have experienced compounded with my own understanding of these memories based in lived experience and a background of study as an English and Women’s Studies undergraduate. This personal analytical essay will not only produce a better understanding of my identity, but also demonstrate how individuals are affected by these identities in ways that is unique …show more content…
I have no clear memories of being upset or distressed by the female gender I was given, nor did I embrace it. I never imagined a future as a wife or mother, but this could also be a result of the fact that romance and sexual orientation were also something distant from me at that age. Levitt and Ippolito also discuss transgender childhood experiences in their article, “Being Transgender: The Experience of Transgender Identity Development (1727).” At one point in their article, they write that transgender interviewees that reflect on their childhood “reported long periods of hiding or ignoring their true feelings about gender and trying to adapt to the expected role of their birth sex for fear of being ridiculed (Levitt and Ippolito 1737).” This point remains valid in my view, as, in my childhood, I likely did ignore, or even hide, my feelings; however, Levitt and Ippolito continue to say, “Often, enacting this traditional gender role took a tremendous amount of effort (1737).” This is the point where my experiences diverge, as I didn’t have extreme difficulty in presenting a gender role which I did not particularly identify with. I simply acted in the way that was expected of