Men's Deodorant and Ties
Since owning and voicing my queer identity, I have wanted to embody it in all of its forms. A deeply satisfying one of which is my presentation. I want to turn my hetero-normative upbringing on its head, and if I create any disturbance in other people’s views of normal, then all the better. I am developing my voice, my outlook toward my identity, and self expression is big part of that. I love fashion, and at one point clung to the femininity of dresses and bows as my only, but now I want to challenge that association, and explore the “masculine”. I’d actually like to discard entirely the idea that dresses are feminine and mountain forest scents are masculine. I love the smell of forests, sometimes more than cherry blossoms, and if I limit myself to the category best suited for my gender then I am denying myself some small, but significant delights. So now I wear bows in my hair with ties and high-waisted work pants. Collared shirts with blazers and floral pencil skirts. I want to try to name these things only as beautiful, the only category I want to care about, relinquishing any need for associations and their implications. Finding the balance between acknowledging my desire to battle the stereotypes and letting the expression just be clothes I like to wear. Is that too naive? I’m ok with that even if it is.