Pageboy: A Memoir

by Elliot Page

There are an infinite number of ways to be queer and trans, and my story speaks to only one.

Shame had been drilled into my bones since I was my tiniest self, and I struggled to rid my body of that old toxic and erosive marrow.

“When did you know?” she asked as we stood outside, leaning against a wall. She loomed over me. For a brief moment, I wondered what she meant. This is something I’m asked frequently and not something I wish for during a casual night out. I’d experienced this inquiry as a queer woman, but as a trans guy it’s perpetual. Code for—I don’t believe you.

Why do we lose that ability? To create a whole world? A bunk bed was a kingdom, I was a boy.