Dear Quinn: why do you describe your sex as 'male'?
I call myself male because I am not interested in upholding the false binary of ‘biological sex’ that is used to oppress and discriminate against trans people.
Does this count as a hate crime?
How are you supposed to react when someone calls you the t-slur on the tube platform?
Sometimes I forget that my chest isn't flat
I tore off the shirt. It didn’t matter how soft it felt against my skin or how masc it made me feel, I couldn’t get over the horrific reality of how I would look to other people. I was grossed out by my own body.
I didn't publish anything during Pride month
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." – Audre Lorde
One year on testosterone
I don't know if cis people understand how serious trans people are being when we say that gender-affirming healthcare saves lives. I might still be alive today if I hadn't been able to start testosterone, but I don't think I'd want to be.
The single letter that would erase my transness
If I die waiting for top surgery, forget burial – just drop my body on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
Building self-compassion as I become a trans adult
My future self reminds me that I already have all of his strength and grace and courage within me. I just need to breathe and remember how fucking badass I already am.
I'm not the only person in the room with pronouns
"I'm Quinn, my pronouns are he/him." I practice until it's second nature, until I can say it as though the idea that my transness might make people uncomfortable, angry, or even violent has never occurred to me.
My biggest achievement in 2022 was surviving
It's cliché to say 'it gets better' - and twelve months ago I wouldn't have believed that if you said it to me. But if the biggest thing you did in 2022 was just surviving, I see you. Me too.
Why do I write like I'm running out of time?
I worry that if I am not talking, tweeting, writing about what trans people are experiencing right now, there are cis people who won't know how bad it is.
