Trigger warning: this could be upsetting

Shortly after graduating school, I hung out with someone I met once before and was raped and have some trauma in my background. It was aquaintance rape I guess? I barely knew him. There’s other bad stuff that’s happened that’s also horrifying, some of it worse than that.

I am biologically male and effeminate, but don’t want to have a female body. I don’t really feel like anything and sort of don’t care what people call me. I am slightly asexual just from trauma and don’t really feel like I exist in a way. It wouldn’t surprise me if I’m not around in another decade.

I support trans people, but feel like putting he/him next to my name sort of implies a more clear identity than I have or implies I care about how people label me. I don’t. I sort of barely exist and don’t like to imply otherwise. People can call me anything, I don’t care. I don’t see myself as female or a they or it. I don’t see myself as anything.

I almost want to go like (he/him/*) but I am afraid this would be disrespectful.

I truthfully would like to be (he/him/🫥/💀) which would obviously be seen as demeaning. I feel like anything other than normal parantheticals opens the door to a distracting conversation that I don’t want professionally and often don’t want personally. And I feel like nothing after my name is dog-whistle for trans-people-are-invalid.

(I don’t care about pronouns but support trans people) also seems disrespectful and sort of like “i want attention” and I really don’t.

I wish I could support trans people without having to label myself or my body or even bring up these topics. Is there a way to do that? There probably isn’t.

  • Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    These two things are entirely mostly unrelated. People who do not want to be misgendered for whatever reason use them to avoid being misgendered as often as possible. To be inclusive some allies include theirs also, it shows some level of support and helps normalize displaying pronouns. You can still support others without putting your own pronouns promenantly out there for everyone to see.

    Take me for instance. I identify agenderly but use he/him pronouns mostly becuase that’s how I was born and look. I, much like you, don’t care about how I’m pronouned, and honestly I prefer however I’m presenting at the time. In life it doesn’t change much. But in games it can vary.

    My own opinion on pronouns being that they exist to ease conversation, and so long as they do that, I have no problem using anyone’s preferred selection. Up until someone decides their pronouns are so unique that it’s not really a pronoun anymore, it’s more like a second name. That’s when I get a bit petty and will generally avoid talking about whoever that is at all.

  • Mothra@mander.xyz
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    3 months ago

    There are many reasons why people may not disclose their pronouns and I wouldn’t presume that means taking a stance against trans or anyone.

    If today I saw emojis listed as someone’s pronouns, my first thought would be that they’re trolling or taking it as a joke though.

    Just be yourself, show your support in any way that makes you feel comfortable and if anyone asks why you don’t disclose yours you can just say pretty much what you’ve just said. I think it’s understandable enough.

  • streetfestival@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    You can be a trans ally regardless of how you identify gender-wise or how you feel about sharing your preferred pronouns to others.

    There’s more than one way to be trans. But the mainstream centres a certain trans experience/narrative above all others that includes the gender binary and presuming everyone has enough privilege, safety, and support that they can broadcast their pronouns widely without risk of discrimination, job loss, etc. A lot of trans people do not enjoy that level of freedom of expression - temporarily while in transition or migrating to safer place, or permanently. It’s not uncommon to meet trans people who are critical of ‘pronoun culture’, which can refer to institutions doing the bare minimum to present a picture of inclusivity while failing to acknowledge current barriers.

    I identify differently in different contexts, because disclosing my preferred pronouns is my right and I’m not going to do it to the detriment of my safety. Other people and institutions have to earn that trust first. So I generally don’t broadcast pronouns, and they aren’t that important to me. But when I see other people using them, I appreciate the roadmap for how they’d like me to interact with them.

    I get a bit of a sense you might not yet have found an identity that really resonates with you. For me, feeling disconnected from my core sense of gender and feeling dissatisfied with life are highly associated.

  • otp@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    I’m an ally, but I don’t put my pronouns in any profile. I let people figure it out for themselves. Pronouns are only useful for talking about me anyways. If they get it wrong, it’s not really a big deal, and if it might cause confusion, I’ll correct them.

    To the content of your post though, I sincerely hope that you are able to access some therapy.

  • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    Hey, I just want to say that I have a similarly tragic backstory, and I see you. It’s never easy, but it does get easier.

    If you really don’t care about pronouns but want to signal that you realize they’re important to people, why not try he/they on for size? People will probably default to “he” which you’re accustomed to, but if someone uses “they” would you really notice?

    • notanaltaccount@lemmy.worldOP
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      3 months ago

      I think “they” is probably a specific gender identity and using that would be like coming out as not male, but i do feel male. I dont think it would be accurate.

      • BougieBirdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        3 months ago

        Well the good news is that “they” is no gender identity I’ve ever heard of. It’s the third-person pronoun to be used when gender either doesn’t matter or is unknown. For example, “I got an email from a new client, I wonder what they want?”

        Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that pronouns themselves aren’t genders. You should list whichever pronouns you’re comfortable being used for yourself, and the presence or absence of them from your profile says nothing about your personal beliefs.