This is just an amazing article that talks so well about varied trans experiences. Even when my own journey was different in many ways, The Story still has a major impact on me. I *theoretically* had the right words from the time when I read a stray article about trans people existing when I was 5.

Binary gender assigned at birth based on visible sex characteristics is "gender ideology." It just happens to be the institutionally dominant one. Calling everything else "gender ideology" is like when people say games have gotten "too political" because they feature politics that aren't theirs.

Lyrics to I Don't Know How To Love Him feel like my old closeted self talking about the girl inside...

Yet if she said she loved me
I'd be lost, I'd be frightened
I couldn't cope, just couldn't cope
I'd turn my head, I'd back away
I wouldn't want to know
She scares me so
I want her so
I love her so

I’ve noticed I get misgendered much more often and much more automatically when I’m with just my wife or exactly one female friend.

Heteronormativity is so ridiculous. And sometimes scary.

Reading this comic is why I have boobs now.

Maybe you should read it too. 🤭

One thing that even well-meaning cis friends sometimes don't get is the difference between "normal" struggles with clothes/looks and actual dysphoria

I know that "You don't know what to wear today? See, you are a normal girl!" is meant as a light-hearted affirmation.

This morning was a peak "5 months on HRT in my mid 30s" moment.

Two hours of explosive joy, just because a shop assistant called me Ma'am.
Followed by short breakdown and tears because I saw myself in the mirror and my hair wasn't fem enough.

All that while trying to work.

I'm a QA automation engineer who's mediocre at her job and that's okay.

I'm a Storyteller who crafts worlds and stories that my players always want to return to.

Also, I'm a trans woman.

When my egg cracked and I was coming to terms with being trans, a huge help came from other trans folks' writings about their own experiences.
That’s why I’ve been wanting to start writing — so that my experiences can maybe help someone else down the line, like others’ helped me before.

It's been almost 11 months since my egg cracked. Which means that a year ago, I was still in a closet that was quickly becoming VERY uncomfortable.

Here's a letter to that girl in a closet: open.substack.com/pub/saragerh...

Things I learned today: Writing is easy. Overcoming anxiety and post something here is hard. Figuring out a name for my Substack is a nightmare.