“You look amazing.” ::D

“You take my breath away.” ;;)

Those are my favorites.

First of all, it seems to me that “beautiful” and “handsome” are only gendered if you put those two words right next to each other. If we look at the words in isolation then we see something quite different: “beautiful” can be used to describe virtually anything (people, movies, words, days) but “handsome” kinda only makes sense when describing people. So in that sense the terms aren’t strictly gendered.

Also consider the etymology of “beautiful.” Contained within is “beau,” which in French is the masculine form of “belle.” So in one way, “beautiful” actually describes man-ness! (But it can describe anything, recall.) By the same token, “handsome” also used to be fairly gender-neutral, take a look at how Shakespeare used to use that word.

So I don’t take offense at being called either term, and I don’t really think it’s worth fretting over how seemingly gendered they are. Of course, I admit that I think about and interpret “beautiful” and “handsome” in a different way than most. In the end, I believe non-genderqueer folk would be more offended than genderqueer folk if one used “beautiful” or “handsome” incorrectly.

In some situations, in some spaces, with some people, would de-gendering work? Sure, i don’t know, i’m not in any of those spaces or with those people, so i can’t say they don’t exist. But overall, the de-gendering process strives for an ideal while ignoring reality; as far as strategies go, there have been better ones.

That said, as a genderqueer feminist on T for a year and a half, it certainly can impact your activism. When people take you seriously as a man, your male privilege becomes much more of a thing; i feel (not wrongly, i think) that i need to be more careful about how i take up space and interact with people, because people allow “boys” to take up more space in a messed-up way. Conversely, you can take the increased male privilege you get from hormones and use it to smash patriarchy, which is always fun. On the whole, people in general relate to you differently, so you approach the fight from a different place. I think it’s definitely possible to manage the effects of T on fighting the fight, though, so long as you’re conscious of them.

radical adjectives for radical beauty
radical/rebel

Yeah. AFAB trans people, remember that is not our word to reclaim.

“That jacket really works on you.”

“You look particularly fantastic today.”

“You dress really well.”

One of the greatest injustices is that we are taught and told to demean ourselves is so many ways…. so yes indeed i will be gentle with myself!!! that is how we begin to shows how fierce we can really be.

Chale pues it be rocking if our paths do cross

With love and purpose and the purpose of love,
-

Don’t think that anything you desire for yourself will prevent you from engaging in the struggle–part of struggle is accepting what we want and moving toward gaining it, if that’s our path. Only you know if hormones are right for you, but don’t avoid them because you think they will change your ability to fight.

to each queer their own queer path!
long live the queerrrevolution
radical/rebel

I would never pass as a male yet I view my feminity as a choice.