Body Image

Almost everyone struggles with body image in this culture, we who are transgender more than most. Almost by definition the bodies we are born with do not match our body image, which is tied to our gender identity. We will do much to try and align our body image to our actual bodies, everything from clothes & makeup through hormones to plastic surgery. I have done little in the way of transition for various reasons so my body image nags at my mind almost constantly. It occasionally drives me to thoughts of do it yourself body modification. So you can imagine how strongly I reacted to this post, Renegade Evolution: Naked Force, Unite! Part II. I have always admired Renegade Evolutions’ honesty but the shear bravery of this post took my breath away. The post was part of a response to this dreck from Feminist Anonymist. The ‘you can’t be a feminist because you don’t dress or look the way I want’ idiocy is the sort of body image bashing that feminists so rightly accuse men of. It is every bit as vile as a ‘You aren’t a real woman if you don’t look like a Victoria Secret model’ attitude.

I really thought the whole idea of feminism was liberate women from having to meet anybody’s expectation of how they should look. To encourage critical thinking about issues like body image and to decide for yourself how you wanted to dress and present. So despite her name I don’t think Feminist Anonymist. Is very much of a feminist at all.