Labels

You grow up, and you learn it fast. There are two kinds of people. One kind has a penis, the other kind has a vagina, although the words you learned back then were different. You learn the two kinds are different. You belong to one kind, your sister belongs to the other. Your kind is strong, brave and ambitious. The other kind is beautiful, sweet and caring. One kind only wears trousers, the other kind wears trousers, skirts or dresses. As if nature wanted it that way.

You continue to grow up. You hear stories. One kind would come from Mars, the other from Venus. Scientists are looking for explanations in biology, hormones, the brain… And the stories confirm what we all knew anyway.

You’re growing up. And you feel uncomfortable, because you think, feel, experience and act in a way that does not belong to your kind. You delve further into science, because science evolves. And now it turns out to debunk these many myths. Both species come from planet Earth. So-called innate differences are not innate after all. Your kind can also be beautiful, sweet and caring, and the other strong, brave and ambitious. And your kind can wear skirts and dresses too.

The two kinds turn out to be social constructions. Agreements that we make as people among each other. These agreements are not the same everywhere, and change over time. But they are also difficult to change, because it is not decent not to stick to the agreements.

And then labels are put on them. Every approach to not keeping to the agreements gets a label. You can choose which label suits you.

But I am not asking for a label. I don’t agree with the agreements, that’s it.

And if they still want to give a label, this is the meaning: I don’t agree with those agreements.

And if they insist on putting a word on it, it is trans*.

That label I want to wear with pride, for the moment.

Because I hope, that someday, we don’t even need that label anymore.