Recently, I came across a piece that Julia Serano published on the topic of “male socialization” and how that is wielded as a weapon against women like me. The piece is from November of 2023.
She addresses the concept of “socialization” more generically in her article initially. She then moves on to the specifics of male socialization as a nonsensical concept. I particularly like this quote.
For trans female/feminine people, “male socialization” was our conversion therapy. It wasn’t what we wanted, but it was thrusted [sic] upon us anyway. For some of us, it didn’t stick at all. Some of us pretended to go along with it out of fear (read: we were in the closet) until we were finally in a place that we could safely escape it.
That really resonates with me. I spent almost 50 years in that closet. As a child, and then later as an adult, I was never in a safe enough environment to “escape the closet.” I was so deeply in that closet, and it was so dark, that I managed to block all memories of being someone else. I remembered some of the abuse, but not the reason I suffered it.
Then I met Barbara. And I finally understood what it felt like to be safe. I loaded that door with C4, and blew it to Kingdom Come. Even after she passed, I never went back into that closet. I picked my new name over sixteen years ago now. And I still love that name. It’s who I am. It’s who I always was.
It’s an excellent, well written piece. I encourage you to take the time to read it.
The journey continues.
An Aging Trans Woman 
Thank you, Janet-that’s a really informational piece!
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