Requiring that I erase my past, to present a consistent and current identity to the world is a violence.

I have not always been a woman. My being a woman is complicated. My old name was still my name. My time as young man taught me a lot about being a man in our culture. My time as a woman has taught me a lot about it too, and vice versa.

@aredridel I want to talk to you about this so much but also am simultaneously scared you'll convince me of something or we'll just sit there with differing views and just agree that we have different approaches and that's OK.

I find exactly nothing wrong with people who have complicated histories especially because I have one myself but I work hard to present a simplified view to the world because normative treatment is important to me.