Trans joy

Linkage

By Katy Swain, 22 July, 2025

It's a potent memory: being a child and wobbling about on your first bicycle, focusing so hard on coordinating all the actions required to keep it upright — and failing — until you stop fixating on each individual movement and suddenly "Oh my god! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

And then you become self-conscious again and promptly topple over. But that momentary success renders what had seemed a futile pursuit potentially fruitful.

I raise this as a metaphor because when you're a child who is trans and/or neurodivergent, and has no way of knowing that these are perfectly commonplace ways of being, you will find yourself confronted — typically within a year or two of school — with the apparent reality that there is a fixed and very limited number of legitimate kinds of human being, and that you aren't one of them.

By Katy Swain, 26 May, 2025

The brilliant, beautiful, indefatigable, and legendary (and I am in no way implying she's old) Cait Glasson recently floated an idea that I think touches on something very important:

Here's your prep work: think of something in your weekend that gave you gender euphoria. Anything. Whatever made you glad you are who you are, whatever gender or genders or lack of gender you are.

Now, initially, I'm thinking of calling this #TransGEM , for Trans Gender Euphoria Mondays. […] Can be something tiny. […] Could be something huge. Whatever. Just spread your joy, once a week.

We aren't defined by our suffering. Let us define ourselves by our joy. Let them know us for that, if nothing else. Let us all see what a huge range of experiences can bring this kind of joy to a huge range of people.