It hit me like a ton of bricks while I was reading Gabrielle's account about coming out to her parents and reminding them to use female pronouns when she was in female form.
Family members who are closest to me (my wife, daughter and sister) already use female pronouns when they refer to me even when I am in boy mode. This has been going on for years and I always assumed that they had misspoken.
But then came the ton of bricks and I realized that they did not mispeak. This is not an occasional or rare slip of the tongue; they refer to me using female pronouns almost all the time.
My family considers me to be one of the girls and refers to me as such even when I am disguised as a boy!
John Carroll Lynch femulating on television’s The Drew Carey Show in 1997.
Wearing Madeleine.
That is so neat! Something I feel almost all of us aspire to!
ReplyDeleteDealing with the pronoun issue can be confusing for all folks with gender issues. As we get out and about and miwith the civilian population I think that it is very important that the civilians that we meet reach a level of comfort when dealing with us. Many times they will be confused as to how to deal with us and I think that it is important that we make them feel comfortable in relating to us. If they need help with pronouns a simple prompt is often enough. We can tell if someone is intentionally mis-applying a pronoun as a form of insult.
ReplyDeletePat
I agree with Pat, everyone SHOULD be comfortable with me. I'm non-threatening and pose no hidden "hurtful" issue toward them. Having said that however, my experience has been that some people go out of their way to make a point to insult me and I can tell when that happens. Despite my apperance, I'm not as dense as the insulters choose to believe.
ReplyDeleteGood post!