Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Trans 101 series. Today, we are going to be talking about
passing and what that even means. So, passing is basically you pass as the gender that you identify with. Now,
this concept can be seen as problematic alright, and the reason why is on so many different levels.
One, "passing" makes it seem like you are lying. "Oh, I'm passing as male" as if you're not actually male.
This is really problematic because as trans people we identify- me, I personally identify as male, which means I am male.
And having someone say "oh you pass as male" makes it seem like I wasn't male the whole time.
and even though I appeared more female, I never identified as that.
So yes, in the beginning of transition
I was like "Yes I pass, I pass as male, this is awesome!" and that's really great
but when other people, who are not trans, say "Oh, you pass so well"
That can be a little problematic,. And it's the same thing with "Oh I would have never known, you pass
so well!". You would have never known what? Like, is there a way that I should be looking because I'm trans?
That makes you kind of think that "oh you don't look trans", so you must pass.
As if there's one way to look trans, which there isn't.
It is also problematic because some people equate being trans with passing, so you are only trans if you pass.
This isn't a thing either alright, and the reason why is because some people don't have access to transition,
can't afford transition, are not able to transition medically, or don't want to medically transition.
So all of these people in this aspect
usually will not pass or will not appear as male—in my aspect.
I'm talking about mostly female-to-male trans people, like me, I'm not talking about trans women.
But it goes the same thing with trans women as well,
I'm just giving you example of me, because this is my life. I'm not a trans woman, I am a trans man.
So by equating passing with being trans,
you're kind of negating all of these people's identities as trans people
because they don't "look" like the gender that they identify with.
And this can also be problematic because people who are trans who don't pass may feel like they
aren't trans. And they feel like the community won't accept them because they don't appear a certain way
in order to be seen as trans within the trans community.
So the concept of passing is extremely problematic which I think is very ironic
because I did my honors thesis on the importance of passing.
But I did it on the importance of passing when you talk about safety alright, because passing and
being seen as the person that you identify with is very important in safety siuations.
So, an example would be going to the bathroom. If you don't appear as male and you go into the men's bathroom,
even though you identify as male, the people in that bathroom will not know that you identify as male,
if you don't "look" male. And whatever society deems "looking male" means, right?
So you are putting yourself in a very dangerous atmosphere, dangerous space, so in that aspect
passing is extremely important.
But it is also problematic for all the reasons that I stated before.
Some people don't see trans people as trans unless they pass,
or some people say that "oh your transition started only when you started to pass".
No, my transition started when I realized I was trans when I was like 15 years old.
You know what I'm saying?
But I only started to "pass" and look as male when I was about 20.
The last thing that I want to mention in regards to passing is,
—it's kind of weird, alright.
So, we live in society,
and this society that we live in only sees what they see, right?
If you look like a woman,
people are going to say you're a woman. If you look like a man, people are going to say you're a man. So,
this is problematic obviously, because gender is all over the place—which is fantastic.
So I know as a trans person it's problematic for me to say this, and honestly I feel really bad saying it but,
even when I was transitioning, and I did it didn't "look" male, people would gender me female
and yeah, I would get mad and be like "ugh got misgendered"
but, I understand because we live in this society that sees one thing, and that means that they're gonna equate it to another.
So I'm not saying like "don't get mad" and you know, "don't call people out" or anything like that like obviously,
if you're being misgendered, if you want to tell people "hey, use these pronouns", absolutely.
But when you go to a grocery store and somebody misgenders you because they see you as female,
like it sucks, and it really sucks, but if you don't "look male"
Honestly, there's nothing that we can-
like it's a preventative thing. There's nothing that we can do to prevent that from happening.
We can tell people after it happens so that it prevents it for next time,
But I guess preventing it from ever happening in the first place with a stranger, is not possible at this current moment in time.
So kind of "deal with it", but not really deal with it because we're allowed to be angry, but also
we need to- I think once we realize "oh, yeah, this is what we live in" like it sucks but you know,
take a deep breath and figure out solutions and how to change that.
Anyways, thank you so much for joining me. I will make videos in the future about passing.
I will not make any how-to-pass videos though.
And the reason for that is that I don't like those, because there is not one thing that will work for everyone.
Some people are like "oh get a short haircut". A short haircut doesn't mean you're going to look male.
Honestly, that doesn't happen for everyone.
Other people say that you shave your face and you'll grow the lil peach fuzz
then you can use the mascara on your face so it looks like a beard.
If somebody is very close to you, they're going to see that you have put mascara on your face.
And if you're comfortable with that, that's cool, but it doesn't work for everyone.
It's the same thing for clothing, not everyone has the same body shape.
Yes, I would say that there are tips on how to cover up your chest when you're binding
where you wear more checkered shirts and more stripes and stuff like that in patterns
so you kind of mask the area of the bump,
but,
though that's fine, it doesn't work for everyone
and also still implies that you need to you need to pass in order to be trans.
But I will make a video in the future talking about like,
how to hide your chest and how to hide your hips and stuff like that
cause that is like useful information that a lot of people can use.
Anyways, thank you for joining me, I will see you later. Have a great day, byyye :)