Three completely unrelated facts:
I am autistic.
I am queer.
I was consistently misgendered as a child.
Growing up, these three facts were treated as one pathological whole. Girls are soft and warm. They communicate with others. They show affection easily. If only they could make me more feminine, the rest would fall into place. Meltdowns were viewed as acts of aggression; violent masculine behavior. Surely if they could not curtail the masculine behavior it would irreparably damage my development…(read more)