Beyond the Gender Binary

by Alok Vaid-Menon

I do not have the luxury of being. I am only seen as doing. As if my gender is something that is being done to them and not something that belongs to me.

There’s magic in being seen by people who understand—it gives you permission to keep going. Self-expression sometimes requires other people. Becoming ourselves is a collective journey.

Gender is not what people look like to other people; it is what we know ourselves to be.