Stop telling trans men to love their chests
I cheekily talk about binding and binding safety, and often that grows into a larger discussion. But I’ve never sat down and written a full piece on it. Part of me wonders why, the other part knows why. It’s because it would require me to tell you some deeply personal stories, it would require me to tell you about my relationship with my body, and it forces me to confront some demons I’d rather keep buried. It’s easier to simply put on a binder each morning and go about my day, ignore the visible bump on my chest and tell myself that cis men have those too, tell myself when I’m home and generally not binding that it’s fine, normal, and probably just how any other man would act in the comfort of his own home. It’s easy to judge a 22 year old trans guy for wrapping masking tape around his chest, it’s easier to make jokes, than it is to understand truly why he is doing that, and why I used to do that too. Does he hate being a woman? Doesn’t he know that being a woman is great? Why do...
