My gut and heart did somersaults reading this. My trans daughter has experienced repeated assaults this year in London -- in public -- no one coming to help. She's 6 foot and very visibly doesn't 'pass' and isn't aiming to -- she wants to be simply be herself like any human, not scrunched into any kind of box for someone else's prejudices. And for that she is in constant danger. It keeps me awake at night -- my 'child' is 38 and I still don't know what to tell her - and she's wise and not a child anyway. Sometimes the urge to say -- dress down, fit in, ditch the t-shirts and hats with slogans, the badges rises becasue I'm afraid for her -- but F*** -- why should she slink around in hiding? Why should she comply with notions that want her invisible? How much dysphoria can one body be expected to carry fon behalf of a messed up society that is fine with ecocide, genocide, lack of care for the elderly and ... (the endless list), but not fine with people simply being their glorious selves in every shade of humanity?
You are right -- dysphoria is put on you, projected by a messed up society that we all need to wake up to this.
Thank you for such an honest post.