Since getting DLA I am able to afford underwear! Huzzah!

Three binders arrived through the post today, and I am just in such a… I don’t even know what this is.

• I HATE breasts, what are they doing there, GET THEM OFF ME.
• I HATE wearing binders, because they SQUEEZE me all the time, and my breasts are so big right now that my chest still looks breasty.
• Binders are just all hideous, I HATE them.
• What the hell.

On the plus side, Boobtracker.app is going surprisingly well. I am learning a lot.

For example, at my last gender clinic appointment I told the doctor that I was considering just a breast reduction, in case I felt a bit like I wanted breasts for something. But in Boobtracker.app there are only circles in the “no boobs” column, meaning that since I started it (mid-April) I haven’t wanted any boob at all. Upon consideration, I realised that I have been leaning toward breast reduction for fear that I would regret having a complete double mastectomy; I don’t actually want any boob at all but I am afraid that I will change my mind. Even though (and I know this now) I have never wanted any boob. At all.

I want them GONE what the HELL.

Nonbinary/genderqueer folk, do you feel like anonymously contributing to some stats about gender identity and expression?

I’m running a bit of an informal data-gathering thing to see how people express their nonbinary gender. I’ll publish the statistical results in July 2013 in the form of graphs and charts.

You will not be asked for your name, sex/gender assigned at birth, or email address. For information on the safety of your information and anonymity, click here: http://lottelodge.tumblr.com/post/50751981387

The questions are about how you describe your gender, and your preferred titles and pronouns, and that’s it. Lots of multiple choice, so it’s very quick and easy.

lottelodge:

It says: “I’m running a bit of an informal data-gathering thing to see how people express their nonbinary gender. I’ll publish the results in July 2013 if I get more than 100 respondents.”

It’s pretty short!

(via mxactivist)

It says: “I’m running a bit of an informal data-gathering thing to see how people express their nonbinary gender. I’ll publish the results in July 2013 if I get more than 100 respondents.”

forgottendance:

hidden-agender:

[what are the french gender neutral pronouns you invented? i’m french and dissatisfied with the lack of neutral pronouns in my native language

 gruzmifiance

I didn’t so much invent as adapt already-existing ones, for the most part. I have “on” for subject, “soi” for object and “leur” for indirect object; yes I know for that last one you use “lui” for both “il” and “elle” but the fact that “lui” still means “him” bugs me so I thought I’d borrow the one neutral term in the they/them/their family in French. 

Beyond that you have to invent. I have “li” as a substitute for “le/la” for direct objects that go with verbs instead of prepositions (“soi” would go with prepositions like “Je viens avec soi” = “I’m coming with them,” while “li” would be with verbs “Je li vois” = “I see them”) As for adjectives and past tenses of être-auxiliaried verbs, my initial model had me using “-ai” as a substitute for “é(e)” but it was rightly pointed out to me that it made a lot of verbs look too much like passé simple. So in most cases I use “-t” endings, as in “Je suis allet/partit/devenut” for “I went/left/became.” Any adjective with a similar form can be neutralized that way as well. Some other adjectives are ones I drop the endings for; for example “intelligent(e)” becomes “intelligen” (which looks like medieval French to me, heh) while “amoureux/se” becomes “amoureu.” For me the key is preserving the sound of the word whenever possible but changing the spelling, and that is one advantage of having a language with so many silent letters. Plus I just like the T in general. Vive le T—T pour transgenre, T pour traduction, T pour tout!

(I’m going to add this as a supplementary link to my sidebar as a modification of my original system, and if anyone wants this to be rebloggable just say so! Especially since my original post with the older forms is all in French and that may not be as user-friendly to those who aren’t fluent.)]

in my research of  trans* vocabulary that I did for my French oral final, I also found the pronouns “xille”, “iel” and “yel”. The systems were nowhere near this precise though, I wish I had known this 2 weeks ago…oh well, I think I still impressed them, specialised vocabulary and all that. 

Thank you!

(via revcleo)

dogtism:

shoutout to trans people with too much anxiety to correct people when they get your pronouns wrong so they just keep it inside.

I struggle a lot in correcting people who get my pronouns wrong repeatedly. I have one legendary friend who corrects people every time. EVERY TIME.

He used to say “she” every time he referred to me to avoid other people getting confused and derailed in conversation; I confronted him on it, and he said it was more important for him to be understood. I decided to be patient.

A few weeks later he switched suddenly and without explanation to my preferred singular “they”. He’s not slipped on it since, not even once, not even a stutter or a hesitation.

I don’t know why, and neither does he, but there we are.

(via mx-magpie)

A link trail took me to Whitegate Farm Shop’s website (Stafford, UK) to get a screenshot of their glorious Mx acceptance. :)

~~~~~~~~

Oh dear, that sucks mightily. :(

In my experience, Co-op Bank are overwhelmingly crap. Their system is really really outdated, not just in title provisions but their account numbers sometimes don’t work with standing orders and transfers and stuff. It’s just… ugh. The Co-operative membership system is as far as I can tell a separate thing entirely to the Co-op Bank, even though they’re part of the same organisation.

When I poked Nationwide repeatedly they did a similar thing with me; they basically refused (or were unable) to tell me what the procedure was for getting a title added, for the longest time. In the end, with the help of Nat, they were able to remove my title altogether from my cards and cheque books and (I think) my account.

The trouble is that some banks (HSBC and Barclays) issue things with Mx on, and some (Nationwide) remove the title, but all we can do to get the stragglers to join them is to wave evidence that they are in fact stragglers and ask that they change. If they don’t, we can contact an ombudsman or leave or both. We are in a period of cultural transition, and we are making progress, but we can’t do it all at once.

Nat tells me that the best law to cite is the Data Protection Act; companies and organisations are legally obliged to hold correct information, and as such must provide suitable titles for their own records. If you have a letter from a gender identity clinic saying you’re nonbinary that would probably help.

My flow chart is letter of enquiry > research other nonbinary folk having this issue > letter of formal complaint > letter to ombudsman > leave. Unless I don’t like the organisation, and then I just leave and explain to them very clearly why I am leaving and who I am switching to and why. If we do these things every time, with each company, it does make a difference.

Aaaaaand the genderly-awesome award for today goes to The Co-operative!

I currently own one binder, and it is this super-comfy lesloveboat thing:

What is a good, comfy, not-hot, not-too-claustrophobic binder?

ETA: Here are the answers I got.