“It is tempting to then personify transition as something that “gives” to an individual. In this case, “transitioning gave me a greater sense of self,” or, “transitioning gave me more comfort in my body.” Though this may seem overly pedantic, I believe it is an important distinction to make: transition is a tool- it does not “give” anything any more than a hammer builds a house. An individual’s increase in comfort, confidence, or life satisfaction is one that they develop themselves through transition, not the other way around.”

“Another complicating factor in the sexualization of trans-ness is the connection between androgyny and youth. Those attributes that we associate with sexless androgyny (namely, a lack of post-pubescent secondary sex characteristics) are very much the same as with youthfulness- little to no body hair, a flat chest, etc. Therefore the androgynous individual, lacking in characteristics that delineate their biological sex, also obscures their age. Sexless becomes also pre-sex.”