a xenoform

A Wip of a big ass oil painting I impulsively started a month ago but haven’t had time to work on 😔

I know what it’s like to be assumed to be a man, and to be abused because I am not. I know what it’s like to be separated from my female friends as a young child because my status as a ‘boy’ meant that I needed to be placed with the other boys, the ones who degraded me and hurt me. I know what it’s like to be beaten and burned. I know what it’s like to have teachers make an example of me because I cannot conform. I know what it’s like to be made afraid of being around other people, because people means abuse.

Trans women tend to have lifelong experiences of being cajoled, bullied, brutalized, and beaten due to our perceived inadequacies and 'failure' to embody manhood. We are violated because we do not fall in line, and then, when we do finally articulate our identities and consciously refuse the manhood a cisexist society tried to impose on us and punished us for not adequately performing, we are told that we were always men, always sat atop the gendered hierarchy, and have no idea what it's like to experience gendered violence.

this is an EXCELLENT example of the way word choice and tone can be used to create bias and transform the truth to suit the writer’s purposes.

Here’s my re-write: 

I chose a photo taken in the aftermath. Which would you say more accurately reflects the context? here are some other changes:

“denied impropriety” like he’s some maiden aunt clutching at pearls. No, what he actually did was:

oh, and he wasn’t

he was, in fact

after lying through his teeth. now here’s my favorite bit:

what does that MEAN? what the hell does that MEAN??? oh boo hoo hooey the Prime Minister’s self-confidence was damaged, how dreadful for the poor dear. the poor sweet man…

fuck that. in fact, Profumo’s actions

of the government, and rightly so.

oh, and I looked it up: the young woman in question was a model, not a “would-be” model. But ultimately her profession has no relevance here–what is relevant is that a middle-aged man in a position of power slept with a 19-year-old. I wonder what motive the original author could have had, to choose to emphasize her career over the fact she was still a teenager…

Words can be used to bend anything. Pay attention to tone. Pay attention to authorial intent. Question everything. But especially question the language used to describe historical and current events. Everyone has an agenda–look for it.