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Living NB/Trans in less progressive times or places


UncommonNonsense

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UncommonNonsense

Don't ask me how or why I got thinking on this. I don't understand where a good 3/4 of my mind's weird ramblings come from.

I was thinking about how difficult it must have been for someone who felt discomfort with the gender they were assigned at birth back in my mother's youth (1940s-60s) or my grandmother's (1910s-30s). Gender roles were so deeply circumscribed, and those who didn't (maybe couldn't) conform often ended up in asylums for the insane, prisons, murdered, or living on the fringes of society, ostracised by nearly everyone, especially in deeply religious communities.

That got me thinking about NB/Trans/LGBT+ people who live in areas that are still deeply, restrictively religious... especially religions that oppress women and LGBT+ people. While there is still a massive amount of change that needs to take place in Western countries that have a fairly positive relationship with their LGBT+ and NB citizens, we can't forget those who live in places where being gay or trans is illegal and the penalty is a violent, painful, often prolonged and public death. While it can still be scary to be non-cis and non-hetero for those of us in more progressive Western nations, it must be absolutely terrifying to be non-cis or non-hetero in places like Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Afghanistan, UAE, Somalia, and far too many others.

As someone who dresses in a masculine manner and has a negative relationship with the gender I was assigned at birth, there are quite a few places that I would not travel to at all. And if I would fear for my safety if I went there, I can only imagine how awful it is for NB/Trans/LGBT+ people who have to live there.

Yeah, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in Canada, the UK, Australia, and the US (maybe especially the US), but we still have it better than most in this often sad world. At least we can't be legally put to death for being as we are.

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AVEN #1 fan

Oh well, if i learned something all this years was "running" and "hiding" from people.

You forgot that not even the families of LGBTTQIA+ people accepts them.

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I always try to consider myself lucky; I live in the USA after all.

Mind you I do live in the Bible Belt and in a rather ghetto, rural community and I have been threatened, called names, and what-have-you, damn sure wouldn't go for a walk around the town but....no one has ever had the gall to say sh*t to my face so I consider things pretty good.

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I always try to consider myself lucky; I live in the USA after all.

Mind you I do live in the Bible Belt and in a rather ghetto, rural community and I have been threatened, called names, and what-have-you, damn sure wouldn't go for a walk around the town but....no one has ever had the gall to say sh*t to my face so I consider things pretty good.

Seconding this- even though I'm in a more progressive, semi-suburban area of the bible belt. To be honest though- I don't use the term asexual much in real life, just because of how many people either don't know the term or are set in their ways that they believe everyone has to be paired up.

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This topic reminded me of an article I read once.

I hope you at least find it interesting.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18467_the-6-biggest-badasses-who-lived-as-opposite-sex.html

Holy cow and OMG. Each and every one of those is now my new heros. That is badassery incarnate! :o

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I always try to consider myself lucky; I live in the USA after all.

Mind you I do live in the Bible Belt and in a rather ghetto, rural community and I have been threatened, called names, and what-have-you, damn sure wouldn't go for a walk around the town but....no one has ever had the gall to say sh*t to my face so I consider things pretty good.

I'm in the US too but my family is very religious so I don't generally discuss it with them. Only they care so much, most people don't.

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Groovy Teacakes

All the people in that article are properly the most badass of all badasses! I am impressed.

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