Cis people will never know what dysphoria feels like. Honestly, I think it’s fantastic that they won’t have to go through this struggle. To any cis person reading this, be grateful.
Be grateful you don’t have to wake up everyday and look in the mirror only to find a stranger standing there staring back at you with such hatred and malice in their eyes that could make you feel like the worst person on earth.
Be grateful that you’re able to dress confidently without feeling like your body is out of place everywhere you walk and that people don’t stare you down like you’re some sort of freak of nature.
Be grateful that you can wake up without feeling a pit of guilt in your stomach when you remember that your body is not who you are in your head, and you constantly feel the disconnection to the point that it makes you sicker than you’ve ever been sick before.
Be grateful that you don’t run the risk of becoming homeless because your parents believe you’re going to hell simply because you chose to begin your transition and you’re not who they thought you were.
Be grateful that you don’t want to rip your body apart and tear it down to nothing but pieces of flesh and bone that aren’t recognizable, and no longer human.
Be grateful that you don’t want to go on hormones to change your body simply so it can match you, the real you. And if you don’t, people will still say you’re not trans enough and ridicule you.
Be grateful that you don’t get hate-crimed by other people that are part of your own community because they want to tell you how to dress and behave and exist. They feel they have the right to do so just because they’re part of the same community as you. Be grateful that you’re not one of the unlucky souls that is forced into conversion therapy to undo something that can’t be changed or erased. You don’t have to sit through being tortured and traumatized like many people did, and still do. Be grateful that you don’t get bullied, murdered, kidnapped, assaulted, or told to do unspeakable things to yourself all because you’re transgender. You don’t have to wake up every morning in fear that these things will happen to you because you’re cis.
Be grateful that your friends don’t turn you away and call you every single slur in the book to tear you down to your worst state when you’re already feeling bad enough.
Be grateful, cis people. Be grateful you don’t have to struggle like we do. These are just a few scenarios but there are thousands of other experiences that us trans people have to go through every single day of our lives. You have your own issues. Body positivity, mental health, and other factors that play into your life can also play into the lives of trans people, but you will never EVER feel the same way that we do by simply existing.
