I think I should start posting here more often.
Census meme, stolen from irisbleufic
2001- I am seven. I have recently played the lead in the Christmas play. I want to be an actress. I'm a sweet skinny girl with a blonde bob, who charges around with the boys. I don't remember 9/11 at all. My brother has just started Reception. This is the year when I begin to realise that I'm not quite like the rest of the children. I don't understand how high my marks are. I begin to devour books and mythology, delight in schoolwork, and don't quite realise how few friends I have.
2011 - I'm seventeen. I'm well into my first year of 6th form. I've become far more world aware - it wasn't that long ago that I'd recoil at the word feminist, or not bat an eyelash and blatant cultural appropriation. It's not something I can turn off, so I'm sadder, but infinitely wiser. I have realised many of the precise ways in which I'm different - there are no other genderqueers, no-one who would even recognise the word pansexual. I have never been kissed, never held anyone's hand in a non-platonic context, but I am very well acquainted with every inch of my sexuality and gender identity. The few people I count as friends sit on the other side of a computer screen- the closest thing I have irl is my Sociology teacher. Several years ago, I discovered fandom. It is the best part of my life, even if I interact within it very little. Last summer I came out to my family. My mother does not condemn me, but doesn't understand. She buys me men's clothes; I don't bring up gender-neutral pronouns. I try not to have panic attacks when I hear gay as a pejorative. I love art. I want to get as far away from my hometown as I can. I find a potential university course, joint Illustration and Sociology, and shrink at the cost brought up by the Tories. Today, I receive full marks in my first AS Sociology exam. Those magical words, 'A*' and 'scholarship' twinkle in my ears.
2001- I am seven. I have recently played the lead in the Christmas play. I want to be an actress. I'm a sweet skinny girl with a blonde bob, who charges around with the boys. I don't remember 9/11 at all. My brother has just started Reception. This is the year when I begin to realise that I'm not quite like the rest of the children. I don't understand how high my marks are. I begin to devour books and mythology, delight in schoolwork, and don't quite realise how few friends I have.
2011 - I'm seventeen. I'm well into my first year of 6th form. I've become far more world aware - it wasn't that long ago that I'd recoil at the word feminist, or not bat an eyelash and blatant cultural appropriation. It's not something I can turn off, so I'm sadder, but infinitely wiser. I have realised many of the precise ways in which I'm different - there are no other genderqueers, no-one who would even recognise the word pansexual. I have never been kissed, never held anyone's hand in a non-platonic context, but I am very well acquainted with every inch of my sexuality and gender identity. The few people I count as friends sit on the other side of a computer screen- the closest thing I have irl is my Sociology teacher. Several years ago, I discovered fandom. It is the best part of my life, even if I interact within it very little. Last summer I came out to my family. My mother does not condemn me, but doesn't understand. She buys me men's clothes; I don't bring up gender-neutral pronouns. I try not to have panic attacks when I hear gay as a pejorative. I love art. I want to get as far away from my hometown as I can. I find a potential university course, joint Illustration and Sociology, and shrink at the cost brought up by the Tories. Today, I receive full marks in my first AS Sociology exam. Those magical words, 'A*' and 'scholarship' twinkle in my ears.