Alok Vaid-Menon Biography & Quotes

“where do all of the sad girls go? in this world that requires us to write poems about the people who have their hands wrapped around our necks for the very people who have their hands wrapped around our necks to recognize that they indeed have their hands wrapped around our necks?”

Women Gender Girls

Book:Femme in Public

Source: Femme in Public

“to the two men who yelled: “that’s a man in a dress! hey everyone that’s a man in a dress!” while pointing at me on sixth avenue: i wanted to turn around and point back, shout: “hey everyone that’s an insecure man, that’s an insecure man! that’s an insecure man!”

Men Gender Gender Roles

Author:Alok Vaid-Menon

“True acceptance doesn't look like having to change who you are in order to be embraced. Conditional acceptance is not freedom - we shouldn't have to erase our differences in order to be respected.”

Acceptance Respect Tolerance Queerness

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“Conformity requires us to minimize our differences for the greater good. We fear that if we don't conform, we will be abandoned, but there is no loneliness like having people only see you after you've erased yourself.”

Pride Gender Lgbt Conformity Queer Difference Non Conformity Queerness Gender Non Conforming Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“How are you supposed to be believed about the harm that you experience when people don't even believe that you exist? The assumption is that being a masculine man or a feminine woman is normal, and that being "us" is an accessory. Like if you remove our clothing, our makeup, and our pronouns, underneath the surface we are just men and women playing dress-up.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“The scrutiny on our bodies distracts us from what's really going on here: control. The emphasis on our appearance distracts us from the real focus: power.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“The truth is, that we are in a state of emergency. In the past few years, we have seen an onslaught of legislation... targeting gender non-conforming people... Our communities are under attack. Regardless of whether these pieces of legislation pass, the fact that they're even being considered suggests just how disposable we are considered to be.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“There are some questions that have no answers. How do you express pain when you can't even locate the wound? It's like when you let a balloon loose into the sky. You don't know where it goes, but you know it went somewhere far away.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“It's a surreal experience to have your personhood be reduced to a prop.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“The days that I feel most beautiful are the days that I am most afraid.”

Transgender Non Binary

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“At a fundamental level, we are still having to argue for the very ability to exist. The truth is, I still cannot go outside without being afraid for my safety. There are few spaces where I do not experience harassment for the way I look.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary Gender Non Conformity

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“It's like being handed over a scantron sheet and demanded to paint a self-portrait on it. It's possible, of course, but why even bother when a canvas is within our reach? Is it really a choice, when you don't get to select the options you are given to begin with?”

Pride Gender Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“A lot more airtime is given to other people's use of us, rather than our own experiences. Our existence is made into a matter of opinion, as if our genders are debatable and not just who we are. In other words, there's been a lot of talk about us, but very little engagement with us.”

Transgender Gender Equality Lgbtqia Non Binary

Book:Beyond the Gender Binary

Source: Beyond the Gender Binary

“Using gender-neutral language isn't about being politically correct, it's just about being correct.”

Language Gender Queerness Gender Neutrality

Author:Alok Vaid-Menon

Alok Vaid-Menon Biography

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