As someone who needed to see visibly trans women living beautiful lives to figure out her own identity, I'm proud to be a brick. I recognize the privilege whiteness gives me in making that a bit safer than it is for our Black and brown sisters, and hope that we can carve out more space and safety for them, but yeah. To quote the shirt I got from Audrey Zee Whitesides, "I don't want to look or be cis."
I really needed to read this today. I'm a bricky long-haired-butch early in my transition, and I've been really struggling with self esteem and pride, and it just felt really really good to read this today. Thanks, Margaret!
Fucking awesome and so well said!! How do you so consistently have such good words? Preach!!
Beauty is so interesting! I often find things beautiful when they’re formed so perfectly for their function, when they couldn’t be anything else (though there’s also beauty in things that don’t fit in at all still insisting that they will do as they please). Almost anything, examined closely and understood, is so so beautiful.
And when they light up because they were made to be there - like Sting or Glamdring (and probably you idk) - the ones they’re protecting can see the warning and take heart.
Thanks for being a strong wall around your community! You’re a badass!
Actual mason here (bricks and mortar, not secret handshakes). Bricklayers union got me! Enough to actually comment... anywhere! Love your work Margaret.
“I was always afraid of becoming a trans woman, ever since I was a kid.” Wow does that line hit! Ever since I was a kid, I was afraid of becoming a horrible middle-aged short haired dyke. But some time over the last decade, that started to shift. Now that I’ve become the monster I feared as a kid, I’m so happy to be here. I’m queer, not lesbian, but I live truthfully in my body in the same way. It’s a complete disregard for the male gaze and it’s so relaxing.
At least *one* of our childhood fears turned out to be no big deal, right?
In the venn diagram, all bricks are dolls. I’m a cis girl in her 60s. I met my first trans friend in the early 80s when I was 19. In those days, a trans woman who wanted surgery had to “live as a woman” and be under psychiatric care for a whole year before getting those surgeries. It was fucked up.
I thought I was a bad-ass punk, but I became a real bad-ass punk from knowing her. Growing up as a heteronormative female in the deep south in the 70s can leave one with some self confidence issues. My friend, Ailene, taught me a lot about self respect, and self confidence, and how to keep myself physically safe. She was beautiful, and fascinating to me. I think others would have called her a brick. Many of our mutual friends worried for her safety because she “wasn’t passing”.
Thank you for sharing this part of yourself with us. If no one has called you a doll, let me be the first. You are a fucking doll, and your friend was wrong, wrong, wrong. You’re totally hot as a girl, but I think you know this. And we are going to get Bricklayers Union shirts, right?
The bricklayers union joke is 🧑🍳💋
As someone who needed to see visibly trans women living beautiful lives to figure out her own identity, I'm proud to be a brick. I recognize the privilege whiteness gives me in making that a bit safer than it is for our Black and brown sisters, and hope that we can carve out more space and safety for them, but yeah. To quote the shirt I got from Audrey Zee Whitesides, "I don't want to look or be cis."
I really needed to read this today. I'm a bricky long-haired-butch early in my transition, and I've been really struggling with self esteem and pride, and it just felt really really good to read this today. Thanks, Margaret!
Fucking awesome and so well said!! How do you so consistently have such good words? Preach!!
Beauty is so interesting! I often find things beautiful when they’re formed so perfectly for their function, when they couldn’t be anything else (though there’s also beauty in things that don’t fit in at all still insisting that they will do as they please). Almost anything, examined closely and understood, is so so beautiful.
And when they light up because they were made to be there - like Sting or Glamdring (and probably you idk) - the ones they’re protecting can see the warning and take heart.
Thanks for being a strong wall around your community! You’re a badass!
Actual mason here (bricks and mortar, not secret handshakes). Bricklayers union got me! Enough to actually comment... anywhere! Love your work Margaret.
“I was always afraid of becoming a trans woman, ever since I was a kid.” Wow does that line hit! Ever since I was a kid, I was afraid of becoming a horrible middle-aged short haired dyke. But some time over the last decade, that started to shift. Now that I’ve become the monster I feared as a kid, I’m so happy to be here. I’m queer, not lesbian, but I live truthfully in my body in the same way. It’s a complete disregard for the male gaze and it’s so relaxing.
At least *one* of our childhood fears turned out to be no big deal, right?
In the venn diagram, all bricks are dolls. I’m a cis girl in her 60s. I met my first trans friend in the early 80s when I was 19. In those days, a trans woman who wanted surgery had to “live as a woman” and be under psychiatric care for a whole year before getting those surgeries. It was fucked up.
I thought I was a bad-ass punk, but I became a real bad-ass punk from knowing her. Growing up as a heteronormative female in the deep south in the 70s can leave one with some self confidence issues. My friend, Ailene, taught me a lot about self respect, and self confidence, and how to keep myself physically safe. She was beautiful, and fascinating to me. I think others would have called her a brick. Many of our mutual friends worried for her safety because she “wasn’t passing”.
Thank you for sharing this part of yourself with us. If no one has called you a doll, let me be the first. You are a fucking doll, and your friend was wrong, wrong, wrong. You’re totally hot as a girl, but I think you know this. And we are going to get Bricklayers Union shirts, right?
Isn't it Marsha P Johnson?
Yeah, I need an editor! corrected now.
I'll happily support the bricklayers union.
Your candor and humor are such a balm. Thanks Margaret❤️
Love this and you for sharing it
From whatever the trans masc equivalent of a "brick" is, thanks for this.
(Feather? Pillow? Kitten?)