Apologies for my late post on this. This chapter is a little short, and I didn't have a lot to say that I hadn't already said in previous weeks. There are a couple of things I wanna say:

• This again deals with challenging the gender binary and reminds me of a time when maybe understood the importance of neopronouns subconsciously, but didn't think much about how important they are in day to day life, or that something like neo-pronouns could even be a possibility. Obviously now I understand gender a bit more (both in general and when it comes to me) and so I very much appreciate environments where people are allowed to experiment with how they want to be referenced.
• This challenging of the gender binary has been important to me lately since I've been having more and more fears regarding my transition. You see, I'm somewhat tall-ish (183cm) and have broad shoulders, and I worry I'll be "too manly" to ever pass, but reading this kind of reinforces in me that I shouldn't judge myself by the standards of gender binary, even as I try to escape it. As in, I don't have to be a "perfect woman" and I shouldn't focus on that as a realistic goal. Instead, I should get better at self-acceptance and work on improving "me" as much as I can instead of trying to become someone else.

Don't really have many comments, but the book gets more compelling the more I read. I really like the framing of language here. Our actions, dressing, linguistic conventions aren't simply neutral, and communicate various assumptions and notions within. That's why it's important to examine the language we use. Cisnormative language isn't enough to express ourselves, which is why things like neopronouns are needed.

I tried to link all this theory with Marxism in general, because I thought it would be useful, but it doesn't really feel like it fits. Not even into dialectics. Language might be a sort of blind spot for Marxism, despite being really important to how human societies develop.

WEEK 4 THREAD IS UP!!

As before, let me know if I missed anyone!

It was nice to read a bit on neopronouns here, all in all a great chapter. I do want to say that many people do use "it" as a pronoun, though, so "it" is just another option, though historically it has of course been wielded as Les describes.

The portraits were great, I especially loved the idea that we are all transitioning all the time in different ways. The suffocation of false binaries when the world is abundant with myriad shades between any two poles is a product of liberalism in many ways.

All in all, great but short chapter!

I feel like the words in this chapter carry a lot more pain and regret with them than the previous ones, but also hope.

I know damn well how isolating being trans can be, how lonely you can feel if everyone else is different from you. The first time I've had a proper conversation with another trans person irl wasn't even 2 years ago. I don't want to even imagine how the people at this workshop must've felt, with some of them being alone for decades and finally being able to meet likeminded people.

When I joined Hexbear and tracha now, I finally got to feel like a normal human being and not someone who has to hide part of herself to not offend others or weird them out. It feels so liberating.

I think those words sum it up perfectly:

Today we have found each other. And from now on, we never again feel as alone as we've felt our entire lives. This is a very important moment for all of us. It's been a long, arduous journey. But we found each other.

You are home now.

i have two friends: alcohol and marijuana. happy Sunday, chapochat.