NAAFA Community Voices Blog
Sharing thoughts and ideas from fat community.
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On Being Fat and Trans
Though it comes with difficulties, being fat and trans is not a life sentence of misery. In a lot of ways, being trans has helped me to accept my fatness, and being fat has helped me to accept my transness. I feel lucky to have the perspective I do have, and to have access to the community that I do. I love to talk to other fat, queer people; there is a shared understanding and connection that I have found to be almost instantaneous and universal. I am learning to love and accept my body for its fat, queer, trans self, and to allow my fatness to be something I use to enhance my preferred gender performance.
Pride and Pronouns Part II: Gender privilege and gender respect in NAAFA Community
The first time I heard the term “cisgender” was at a diversity training for educators in the early 2000s. A well-known speaker used the word in a way that assumed everyone in the room knew what it meant. We should have, but the obvious discomfort in the room showed that many of us didn't. I raised my hand. “You used a word I don't know there,” I said. “What does it mean?”
I don’t remember the exact words the speaker used, but he basically explained that someone cisgender is a person whose gender “matches” their sex. I knew the concept, just not the word. A lot of people are raised with the idea that the words ”gender” and “sex” mean the same thing. I learned it that way, and I have no doubt many of you did, too, whether you are cisgender, transgender and/or nonbinary. But, those words don’t actually mean the same thing. Sex relates to bodies and physiology; gender relates to identity and expression.
Pride and Pronouns Part 1: Introduction to pronouns and gender identity
Pride is an important part of June, and pronouns are an important part of pride. And -- spoiler alert -- using the correct pronouns for people is important all year. Many transgender people and allies in the NAAFA community have experience with this, and we’d love it if you could like, comment on and share this post. For those of you who are newer, here are some pointers.