On Clothes: You'll Call Me Ma'am Because I Said So

 I like wearing dresses. An A-line dress lol looks cute on me. It gives me that smile that comes from the soul, and people can tell the difference in me. It is an emotional satisfaction that can be seen physically. 

I am very lucky to have the relative safety to express myself through my dress. Not all of my trans sisters have that freedom.

Clothing is important to self-expression and personal happiness. The problem is we are having this conversation within a frame given to us by the cis world. 

Clothes mark gender. Dresses are for girls. Suits and ties are for boys. Clothing then becomes a passport into being perceived as who you say you are. It shouldn't. That framing is from a binary cis perspective.

The cis-normative premise is:

“We’ll gender you correctly if you dress the way we expect.”

My premise is:

“You’ll gender me correctly because I told you who I am.”