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Okay listen up: an analogy of nonbinary gender using instruments! [THREAD] 1/11
Imagine your whole life you were taught the piano. Then one day you decided you wanted to learn to play the trumpet.
Whole new skillset, new opportunities, new facet of your Identity! Cool! 2/11
Whole new skillset, new opportunities, new facet of your Identity! Cool! 2/11
You work really hard to learn and get really good. But everyone still sees you as that piano player. You make a point to bring your trumpet to auditions, but only get offered piano parts. 3/11
What's more, when people hear you play the trumpet, instead of telling you how good you've gotten, they say: "But you were such a good piano player. Why switch it up?" Or "I wish you'd play piano like you used to!" 4/11
Now, you *still play piano*. You still ENJOY playing piano. You just also want to be known for playing the trumpet. But no one can seem to get it through their head that you can do both. NOW... 5/11
This is what it can feel like when a nonbinary person who might have masc and femme qualifies tries to branch out from their assigned gender. YOU CAN BE MORE THAN ONE THING. Also! 6/11
This is why some nonbinary people can feel crushed when you refer to them as their assigned gender (aka piano player) but not when you technically misgender them as another gender (aka trumpet player). 7/11
I will be miffed if people call me she/her, but not as miffed if people call me he/him, EVEN THOUGH ITS STILL MISGENDERING ME. Why? 8/11
Because I *know* I get perceived as a woman. But I have put lots of time and effort training myself to be able to present as other genders too! When someone says "he/him" or uses masc identifies, it's like someone saying: "Hey, you play the trumpet really well!" 9/11
That person is still technically wrong--because we live in a world where the idea of someone playing both the piano and trumpet is unfathomable for some reason--but they get points for noticing something other people don't. 10/11
Anyway, if you're interested in the emotions on the receiving end of misgendering some (not all!) nonbinary people, I hope this helped clarify! 11/11
