this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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I’m trying to be very careful with my words here, because I don’t believe the author of the guide was. He talked about his personal experience, what he learned from it, and he was kind enough to organize and share everything. That’s all good. He also reinforces and disseminates harmful body issues. And that’s the part that bothered me from the guide’s tittle.
I’m a nonbinary man. I say that to inform my perspective in regards to the subject, where I’m coming from and my limitations. At this point in my life, I don’t have to pass, I have never had to worry about passing or having my identity invalidated by the way I look. I believe that passing is just something we do to be able to exist in society and that our goal should be expressing our identity the best way we can without being chained by societal expectations.
I didn’t want to be negative. I wanted to put a warning for those that would read the guide, but the more I read, the more I can’t recommend people dealing with any body related issues to read. I’ll leave it at that or it’ll become an attack with me quoting everything I find problematic or harmful.
As a FTM, I don't find there to be any specific endorsement of body views in the article. Rather, he is being transparent with who he has in mind, which is extremely helpful to someone like myself. It lets me know how to approach the text for my own use.
I think immediately dismissing the author as harmful merely because he's exacting in his disclaimers is a disappointing take. If it isn't applicable to you, that's fine. Going so far as to lob accusations over body image is pretty rough - more so when you're not the target audience. Finding good sources speaking to the FTM experience is so rare and it saddens me to see anyone want to tear it down right out of the gate.
I almost didn't post the comment. There's always the thought of causing harm by initiating a conversation out of place or being harsh to someone with no malice. I never dismiss someone's else words. I think about what they said, how I'm interpreting it, what I see and can not see.
As I said before, I don't want to break down the text and destroy the goodwill just to see if I'm right. If my impression is wrong, I'll just accept it and move on. It's definitely not my place to decide.