V-Day (and a digression from my usual)

I've been following my friend's blog series about V-Day. V-Day is a movement to end violence against women. Violence against women causes more death and disability than cancer or traffic accidents. This is appalling.

As a transman I don't visibly fit in the woman category any longer. However, I do still retain my vagina and I am not ashamed of that fact. Male fits me better, but I still cherish much about myself from before my transition. I was (mostly) socialized as female. I learned (mostly while traveling) what it is like to be considered a second-class citizen. I didn't like it. This did not influence my transition, it was just something I noticed.

That said, I do not especially cherish my new male social status. When I walk around at night, women walk faster away from me. They don't meet my eyes. They rarely speak to me. Men on the other hand joke crassly and hint at things I'd rather not be part of. It's a strange thing, this gender dichotomy.

So what I want to say is that there is nothing wrong with being female. There is just something wrong with me being female. And my boyfriend. That's just odd. Moreover, because there is nothing wrong with it, we should all do our best to make this voilence stop.

I got my passport back. That was quite timely. I shall dearly miss the stamps in the old one. Kenya. Mexico. Qatar. England. They couldn't even give it back to me because the name is different. Oh well, I'll work on getting great stamps in the new one. It'll last me 10 years.