{"id":4639,"date":"2023-06-09T00:29:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T17:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/7-trans-folks-share-a-gender-affirming-clothing-item\/"},"modified":"2023-06-09T00:29:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T17:29:56","slug":"7-trans-folks-share-a-gender-affirming-clothing-item","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=4639","title":{"rendered":"7 Trans Folks Share a Gender-Affirming Clothing Item"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p> <span class=\"drop-cap__first text-dropcap \">I<\/span> am non-binary and transmasculine. This means my transition is toward a more masculine gender presentation. I take testosterone, but I\u2019m not a man. And when I came out in 2016, my first stop wasn&#8217;t a consultation with health-care providers. I went to the mall.<\/p>\n<p>Skinny jeans were still in their heyday for women\u2019s fashion, and bomber jackets were having a serious moment in men\u2019s fashion. I found an olive green bomber jacket that I loved. I loved the look, sure, but more than that, I loved how I felt while wearing the jacket. Before coming out, I often felt as though I was dressing in drag, pretending to be a woman. In this bomber jacket, though, I felt the exact opposite. I was presenting as myself, and that made it felt great. This was my first taste of gender euphoria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGender euphoria is when you feel &#8216;right&#8217; in your gender\u2014that your gender expression is aligned with your sense of self,\u201d says therapist <a href=\"https:\/\/alyseruriani.com\/pages\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/alyseruriani.com\/pages\/about\">Alyse Ruriani, LPC<\/a>, and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/leafgroup_ca5e0_wellgood?q=https%3A%2F%2Fshareasale.com%2Fr.cfm%3Fb%3D999%26u%3D2520112%26m%3D97137%26afftrack%3DSTMSLS-1074409%26urllink%3Dbookshop.org%252Fp%252Fbooks%252Fthe-big-feelings-survival-guide-a-creative-workbook-for-mental-health-74-dbt-and-art-therapy-exercises-alyse-ruriani%252F18427628%253F&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Fgender-affirming-clothing%2F&amp;event_type=click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/the-big-feelings-survival-guide-a-creative-workbook-for-mental-health-74-dbt-and-art-therapy-exercises-alyse-ruriani\/18427628?\"><em>The Big Feelings Survival Guide<\/em><\/a>. \u201c[It] can bring about feelings of joy, happiness, excitement, and ease, and is often seen as the opposite to gender dysphoria.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plannedparenthood.org\/learn\/gender-identity\/transgender\/transgender-identity-terms-and-labels\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.plannedparenthood.org\/learn\/gender-identity\/transgender\/transgender-identity-terms-and-labels\">Gender dysphoria<\/a> refers to the distressing disconnect a trans person may feel from their assigned sex at birth.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhen trans people dress in a way that affirms and expresses their gender, it can decrease gender dysphoria and increase euphoria, which can positively impact their mental health.\u201d \u2014Alyse Ruriani, LPC<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Transition looks different for every trans person. There\u2019s social transition and medical transition. Some trans people are binary and some are not. But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/transgender-clothing-closets\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/transgender-clothing-closets\/\">clothing is something we all have in common<\/a>. \u201cWhen trans people are able to dress in a way that affirms and expresses their gender, it can decrease <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-dysphoria-pandemic\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-dysphoria-pandemic\/\">feelings of gender dysphoria<\/a> and increase the experience of gender euphoria, which can positively impact their mental health,\u201d Ruriani says.<\/p>\n<p>Early in my transition, I started favoring the pieces of clothing that gave me those moments of gender euphoria. In many ways, it felt like building a closet from scratch. That bomber jacket didn\u2019t come with me when I moved to a warmer climate, but I have a lot of sentimentality tied up with the memory of it, along with other clothes I found early in my transition.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074459 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-5_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>These days, a short-sleeve button down is the most gender-affirming thing I can wear. I love buttoning it up to the top button, as if I were going to wear a tie. My short-sleeve favorite is a gift from my sister, and I wear it as often as I do laundry. It&#8217;s colorful and busy, which are two adjectives I didn\u2019t always associate with men\u2019s clothing, although I knew the described my personal style.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content \" style=\"\" data-module-init=\"related-content\" data-module-immediate=\"\" v-cloak=\"\">\n<div class=\"related-content__wrapper \" v-cloak=\"\" :class=\"{'is-loaded':isLoaded}\">\n<p> <span class=\"inline pr-6 text-seafoam-dark\">Related Stories<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <related-content class=\"related-content__links\" parent-article-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-affirming-clothing\/\" current-title=\"For Trans People, Gender Euphoria Can Come From a Single Garment of Clothing\" current-image=\"WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_feature-1-425x285.jpg\" v-on:parsely-posts-loaded=\"onPostsLoaded\" start-date=\"2022-12-08\" tag=\"div\" inline-template=\"\" url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-affirming-clothing\/\" secret=\"w5ztterVB03LGZJLfXS0hf3EvQBuFFIWew9hmVQxthU\" apikey=\"wellandgood.com\" limit=\"3\"> <\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"related-content__card mb-[10px] sm:mb-[20px]\" :class=\"{'related-content__card--full':posts.length === 1}\" v-for=\"(post, key) in posts\"> <a v-on:click.prevent=\"trackLinkGA($event, key)\" :href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-affirming-clothing\/post.url\" data-url-source=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content__link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"\"> <\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content__card--image bg-tan\" :style=\"{ backgroundImage: 'url(' + post.image_url + ')' }\"> <img decoding=\"async\" :src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/gender-affirming-clothing\/post.image_url\" :alt=\"post.title\" class=\" js-inline-lazy-load\" src=\"\"\/> <\/div>\n<p> <\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <\/related-content> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the seven years since I&#8217;ve come out, my wardrobe has changed to better reflect my gender; clothes have helped change my life.<\/p>\n<p>Often, trans folks navigate their wardrobes with compromises, searching for clothes that hide our curves\u2014or lack thereof, depending on the direction of the transition. Getting dressed can feel like a game of avoidance. On the other hand, when we find gender-affirming clothing items, we get to experience those shiny gender breakthroughs. And if a trans person can find enough clothing that feels gender affirming, it isn\u2019t avoidance at all; it\u2019s a celebration.<\/p>\n<p>I recently asked seven other trans people about their most gender-affirming pieces of clothing. Like me, many had memories and emotion tied up with their most affirming pieces of clothing. Here are the pieces of clothing that they want to celebrate for generating gender euphoria:<\/p>\n<h2>1. Stormie Daie (she\/her), Durham, North Carolina<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074487 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-7-1_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>When I asked Daie, a Black queer non-binary trans drag queen, about her favorite piece of clothing that generates gender euphoria, she responded immediately: \u201cHeels, duh.\u201d\u00a0In addition to performing in drag, she also works as a community-outreach coordinator.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe heel is the emblem of performance, like the shield is the emblem of protection,\u201d she says. Her favorite pair of heels are holographic thigh-highs, which are loud and\u2014most importantly\u2014<em>high. <\/em>An ideal heel height, she says, helps her channel the power and strength of She-Hulk.<\/p>\n<h2>2. Xiaomin Xue (he\/him), Austin, Texas<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074475 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-4-1_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Xue\u2019s favorite piece of clothing is a bit of a surprise to his former self. After years of avoiding jeans, the sous chef trans man says jeans have become not only a wardrobe staple, but a gender-affirming one. The fit of jeans used to make him dysphoric, but he\u2019s now in a different place with his gender transition. When he tried out jeans again recently on a whim, he felt glad that he did. \u201cIt&#8217;s just a really nice feeling to be able to fit into something that [once] made me really uncomfortable,\u201d says Xue.<\/p>\n<p>To find a certain type of garment to be gender affirming after a period in which it elicited dysphoria isn\u2019t only exciting but is also often a relief. Clothing is a necessity, so when an entire category of clothing makes someone dysphoric, it\u2019s restrictive. When a trans person finds a gender affirming piece of clothing, the result isn&#8217;t just a confidence boost, but a way to make daily life easier.<\/p>\n<h2>3. Linz Amer (they\/them), New England<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074453 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-8_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Amer, author of <a href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/leafgroup_ca5e0_wellgood?q=https%3A%2F%2Fshareasale.com%2Fr.cfm%3Fb%3D999%26u%3D2520112%26m%3D97137%26afftrack%3DSTMSLS-1074409%26urllink%3Dbookshop.org%252Fp%252Fbooks%252Frainbow-parenting-your-guide-to-raising-queer-kids-and-their-allies-lindz-amer%252F18721536%253Fgclid%253DCj0KCQjw7PCjBhDwARIsANo7CgliMHMuXbPFiF5ujEu_tJ-37P6TPhuxbc2NJwkGH8uHIPZqDDTM0RUaAlZsEALw_wcB&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Fgender-affirming-clothing%2F&amp;event_type=click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/rainbow-parenting-your-guide-to-raising-queer-kids-and-their-allies-lindz-amer\/18721536\"><em>Rainbow Parenting: Your Guide to Raising Queer Kids and Their Allies<\/em><\/a>, found their love for overalls during the pandemic and now owns seven pairs. \u201cI was dealing with a lot of body dysphoria pre-top surgery, and overalls were a really comfortable thing I was wearing around the house,\u201d they say. \u201cI started accumulating them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally, their favorite overalls were a pair of white Dickies, which they wore for their small City Hall wedding. Afterward, they paid a friend to tie-dye the overalls, transforming them from wedding white to rainbow. Now, the overalls are a colorful Pride accessory and a tool for gender-affirming expression.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Riley Black (she\/they\/it), Salt Lake City<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074465 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-3_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t feel quite like myself if I\u2019m not wearing a collar,\u201d says Black. \u201cI guess it\u2019s been that way since before I started hormones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Black, a trans woman, is a paleontologist and science writer, and her relationship with her collar is wrapped up in more than gender euphoria. She is a survivor of childhood and marital abuse, two kinds of abuse <a href=\"https:\/\/williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu\/press\/ncvs-trans-press-release\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu\/press\/ncvs-trans-press-release\/\">trans people are more likely to be subject to<\/a>. Her marriage ended with her ex-wife leaving to be with a cis woman, signaling to her that she was not seen as who she feels she is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo [my ex], I wasn\u2019t [a woman],\u201d Black says. \u201cAnd in that moment, as I started asking myself who I was and wanted to become. I felt the urge to have some kind of totem that would remind me that I belonged to myself.\u201d That\u2019s when Black found her first collar. Now she has a few collars\u2014some for special occasions, some for daily use. For her, they signal resilience. \u201cI can&#8217;t change what I went through, but the collar is a reminder that I chose myself and what I wanted for my life and my body.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>5. Bren F (mirror pronouns), Seattle<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074471 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-1_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Bren F uses any pronouns or mirror pronouns, which means whatever pronouns you\u2019d use for yourself. Bren works as a graphic designer and also runs <a href=\"https:\/\/bipanlibrary.com\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/bipanlibrary.com\/\">a queer research library<\/a>. Bren\u2019s gender is queer, which they say is all anybody needs to know.<\/p>\n<p>When I ask about the baseball cap they designated as a clothing item that they associate with gender euphoria, they cite the \u201ceuphoric memories it carries.\u201d They go on to explain the cap was a $3 thrift\u2013store find on the summer vacation during which they came out to a friend as bisexual.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a beautiful trip; I felt safe and accepted and understood for the first time in my life. This hat is in all the photos from that trip because I wore it every day.\u201d Bren figures the reason baseball caps carry so much importance to them is that caps are both androgynous and practical, two adjectives they\u2019d use to describe their own gender.<\/p>\n<h2>6. nat raum (they\/them), Baltimore, Maryland<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074469 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-2_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>An MFA student and graduate assistant raum describes themself as an agender femme who identifies as transmasculine. Their gender-affirming piece of clothing is a queer classic: a flannel.<\/p>\n<p>For raum, the euphoria from the flannel isn\u2019t about the garment itself, but the memories it conjures. \u201cI had recently gotten out of a bad relationship and was starting to explore my transness and question my gender more openly, so this was a really transformational time for me,\u201d they say. This particular flannel was an early-pandemic purchase, but years later, it has staying power. \u201cI have a lot of pieces in my closet that give me euphoria, but this is definitely the most euphoric, as well as the first,\u201d raum says.<\/p>\n<h2>7. Rochelle Kelly (she\/they), Philadelphia<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1074457 size-full js-inline-lazy-load\" alt=\"\" width=\"1170\" height=\"559\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/WG_Editorial_Clothing-Item-for-Gender-Euphoria_inset-6_falsexfalse_true_70.webp\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Kelly owes their most gender-affirming piece of clothing to their dad: one of his old work shirts. They tell me that they weren\u2019t exploring gender identity when they received the hand-me-down\u2014at least, not consciously. \u201cAt the time, I was very concerned about being a fat kid trying to get through school, so I was like, \u2018What can I wear that won\u2019t show too much or get too much attention?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, years later, Kelly\u2019s clothing choices aren\u2019t about hiding. \u201cI found a whole community of other Black non-binary femme people who are like, \u2018We\u2019re non-binary, but our relationship to womanhood is still valuable! And that\u2019s where I am,\u201d says Kelly. \u201c\u201cFor me, [gender euphoria is about] looking into a mirror and feeling like everything is completely aligned. The inside, the outside, it\u2019s there. You have no questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am non-binary and transmasculine. This means my transition is toward a more masculine gender presentation. I take testosterone, but I\u2019m not a man. And when I came out in 2016, my first stop wasn&#8217;t a consultation with health-care providers. I went to the mall. Skinny jeans were still in their heyday for women\u2019s fashion, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}