{"id":22120,"date":"2014-10-29T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=22120"},"modified":"2014-10-29T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T17:49:13","slug":"beyond-the-binary-haleys-ongoing-gender-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/10\/29\/beyond-the-binary-haleys-ongoing-gender-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Binary- Haley\u2019s Ongoing Gender Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"People always say life is complicated, yet often they don\u2019t say the same for gender and sexuality. Too often it is \u201cmale\u201d or \u201cfemale,\u201d and \u201cgay\u201d or \u201cstraight,\u201d but what about those who don\u2019t fit in those boxes?\u00a0 More to the point, how do these folks feel mental health wise when they are consistently forced to pick one of the two boxes?\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
One type of sexuality that is often ignored is asexuality or rather people with little or no sexual attraction and\/or desire. This is asexuality awareness week, so Woodsworth Inclusive and Rainbow Trinity decided to host the first ace event in U of T history!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
So healthy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
But we had a fruit tray!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nAlthough I can\u2019t speak for the many gender expressions, gender identities, and sexualities that do not fall under the gender and sexuality binaries, I can speak to my ongoing gender journey. Perhaps it will be useful to folks who are feeling the same way but are not ready to talk to other people about it (which by the way, is totally okay).\r\n\r\nOver the past year, I realized that I was not comfortable expressing myself in a completely feminine way. I never really wore make-up and rarely did I do my hair (ponytail life-style), but during the summer, I took the next step: I chopped off my hair.\r\n\r\nSoon, I confined to my good friend about my gender expression and identity. I said to them, \u201cI don\u2019t really see myself as a man or <\/em>a woman.\u201d My friend, who is non-binary themself, \u00a0hugged me and said they will support me no matter what. Thus I began my gender journey.\r\n\r\nI started buying clothes in the men\u2019s section (which by the way, is quite nerve-wracking), and I began to really open up to my close friends about my gender expression. Still, I have kept this journey quite private as I am worried how my peers and family would react.\r\n\r\nThen, I went to the on-campus Centre for Women and Trans People<\/a>.\u00a0It is a drop-in centre that hosts all kinds of activities and events. More importantly, it is a place that is safe and free of judgment.\u00a0 Although I was nervous to go, I immediately was greeted with open arms and some tea! It was probably one of the best decisions I have made. I realized that being honest with myself doesn\u2019t mean I have to open up to people about it immediately. In other words, to do what is right is to do what I am comfortable with.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
So snazzy- and look they even have a kitchen!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
Tea that one of the lovely folks from centre made me- afterwards we talked about gender expression and the fluidity of gender in time and space. It was really nice and helped with my self-healing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Some<\/a>
Some rad posters.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"Me<\/a>
While I like wearing a sports bra, masculine-tailored pants, and baggy shirts, I also like floral prints and lots of colours- both of which are considered \u201cfeminine.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\u201cSo Haley, do you identify as a transman?\u201d\r\n\r\nNo, dear reader. Although I do not see myself as a transman, I really don\u2019t know what<\/em> or how<\/em> to characterize my gender expression.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the day, those labels don\u2019t matter to me. Where I am right now on my gender journey, which often people would mischaracterize as just being in \u201ctransition,\u201d is where I want to be at this moment. And that, my dear readers, is all that matters.\r\n\r\nHere is the phone number for the Centre for Women and Trans People<\/a>:\u00a0(416) 978-8201.<\/span>\r\n\r\nLots of love,\r\n\r\nHaley","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\n
\nPeople always say life is complicated, yet often they don\u2019t say the same for gender and sexuality. Too often it is \u201cmale\u201d or \u201cfemale,\u201d and \u201cgay\u201d or \u201cstraight,\u201d but what about those who don\u2019t fit in those boxes?\u00a0 More to…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Beyond the Binary- Haley\u2019s Ongoing Gender Journey”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Beyond the Binary- Haley\u2019s Ongoing Gender Journey”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7204,1,82,67],"tags":[12806,12805,12804,197,1437,12802,9307,12367,12803,6517,6515,441],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22135,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22120\/revisions\/22135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}