As is so often the case, Paul speaks more effectively of [my]/our experiences than any other voice i have heard so far:
‘It has been more than [one] year since I renounced the legal and political status of [man]. The period may seem brief when considered in the context of the deadening comfort of normative identity, but infinitely long when everything that has been learned since childhood must be unlearned. When new administrative and political boundaries, invisible yet effective, rise up before you and everyday life becomes an obstacle course. In the life of a trans adult, consequently, [one] year takes on the same importance it has for a newborn in the first months of life, as colours appear before their eyes, as forms take on mass, as hands grip for the first time, as the throat, until now capable only of guttural cries, and the lips, until now used only to suckle, articulate their first word. I bring up the pleasure of childhood learning because a similar pleasure exists in the appropriation of a new voice and a new name, in the exploration of the world beyond the cage of masculinity and femininity that is part of the process of transitioning. Though brief in chronological terms, this period becomes very long when you travel the world, when you find yourself in the media spotlight as the ‘trending topic’ trans; and when, in reality, you are alone when you are required to appear before a psychiatrist, a border guard, a doctor or a judge.’