You Do Not Have To Perform Femininity To Somebody Else's Standards - Tumblr Posts
to the transfems & trans women who feel obligated to perform femininity for everyone else and do things you might not personally enjoy, such as changing your wardrobe to be hyper femme, wearing makeup, tucking, or whatever else you feel you "have" to do in order to be seen as a femme and/or woman: you are a femme and/or woman no matter what you wear, how you present, or how much hair you have on your face and/or body. cis and intersex women defy the conventional ideas of what a woman "really" is every day. you're allowed to do this too. just because you're trans doesn't mean you have to abandon every shred of your own personal taste and identity to suit someone else's idea of what femininity and/or womanhood is.
if cis butch women are women, you are too. if cis women can choose to wear "masculine" clothing, you can too. if cis women can choose to not wear makeup, you can too. if cis women can be genderqueer and gender non conforming, you can too. if cis women choose to not shave, you can too, and yes, this includes your face. intersex women all across the globe grow beards and refuse to shave them. you have this right, too, if you don't want to shave/get laser hair removal/electrolysis , or if you like your facial hair, if it doesn't make you feel dysphoric to have it, if you identify as butch, or for any other reason under the sun.
i met a trans woman today whose name was Michael. she didn't want to change her name. she likes the name Michael. and she's allowed to. this doesn't make her any less of a woman: this makes her cool as fuck. you're allowed to do these things, too. if you like how you already dress or present, if you like your name the way it is, if you like your pronouns, if you like any part of yourself that doesn't align with conventional femininity and/or womanhood: you're allowed to keep those parts of yourself. you don't have to re-write your entire personality for someone else's approval. you're allowed to be yourself.
don't let anyone else tell you what your transition, femininity, or womanhood should look like. they don't know who you really are, and they don't know how varied, diverse, and complex women can be. you are a femme and/or a woman no matter what someone else says.
your body, your choice. always.