I was walking through the cosmetics department at The Bay this morning and, sure enough, there was a young transwoman working there. I am going to say maybe 30 years old tops and although not entirely passable clearly extremely comfortable and confident in her own skin.
It is becoming commonplace now at Sephora and other large cosmetic retailers to see trans people working there. Good for them.Just as I wear less of the stuff too:).
I want to draw attention to two very triggering concepts in this post.
ReplyDeleteFirst, "transwoman" is incredibly othering. The compounding of the adjective "trans" with the noun "woman" is often used to deny our womanhood and deem us to be something other than woman. I am a woman and I am tall(ish), slender, redheaded, and trans.
Second, "passable" is simply the policing of women's appearance. A Black cis woman was recently murdered because a man thought she was trans as, in his eyes, she didn't look sufficiently feminine enough. We need to stop with the notion of "passable" because this is exactly what misogynistic "transvestigators" do and it harms all women.
Noted and when I use "passable" I do so with the best of intent and acknowledging that this is not an aim for many nor should it be. Perhaps it's that part of me which grew up thinking I had to desperately blend in at all cost to escape detection which definitely was an issue when I was her age. I'm just glad she can be who she is freely
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