Toric culture is going through the nblm tag because youāre pretty sure your ideal relationship is with a man. And almost all of it also being tagged as gay or mlm. And youāre not gay. You donāt think youāre gay.
And you know you have no right to tell other torics/nblms that they canāt also be mlm or call themselves gay. But it feels like thatās all there is? Thereās nothing else. Itās a bit dysphoria-inducing? I donāt know. I donāt know how connected to manhood (or womanhood) I really am at all.
Iām honestly debating calling myself toric and enbyhet? Just to hammer home the ānot gayā part. But then I feel Iām endorsing āthe only two options are gay or straightā. And endorsing the ānonbinaries are straights trying to feel special and oppressedā.
It really does not help that my first and last kind-of-sort-of ārelationshipā with a guy ended with him threatening to beat me some time after I came out as nonbinary. Yeah. That. It was fucked. So every so often I remember that and think āyour exact label doesnāt matter, youāll probably never seek out a relationship after thatā.
Itās the night before Pride month, I should not be stressing over labels or anything like that. I should be enjoying it. As a nonbinary person.
Iām sorry, anon, I think most enben understand that feeling and it really isnāt fair that our own community makes us feel so nonexistent. People are so eager to shout stuff like āabolish genderā but then turn around and grip unto the sexuality binary like it doesnāt do just as much harm as the gender binary. Even in queer spaces everyone whoās in a relationship is expected to take on a masculine or feminine role and most of the time people donāt even notice. Sometimes you force that upon yourself and itās a constant struggle. Labels like diamoric, enbian or toric are supposed to uplift nonbinary people and be a safe way to describe relationships/attraction without falling into roles that donāt fit you but it can be so hard to stick to that when everyone seems to either ignore them on purpose or conflate them with binary terms that completely defeat their purpose.
People can be so cruel to enben and our language and in turn we can be so harsh on ourselves. Ultimately you should build your identity around the labels (or lack thereof) that make you safe and comfortable. It doesnāt matter what stereotype youāre āperpetratingā we donāt exist to be the perfect representation of nonbinary as a concept. You are most nonbinary the way you are even if it can be hard to remember sometimes. Your identity and comfort matter.
I wish you a great Pride month, anon, and I hope this helped even a little. Please take care of yourself, my thoughts are with you.