#laura kate dale

[gatheringbones]

[“I told my mother I thought I might be trans in a lengthy and overly apologetic email, which she didn’t quite know how to respond to. From her perspective, my transition had popped up out of nowhere, with no prior warning signs. She was convinced I had been brainwashed into transitioning, and agreed to meet my counsellor for a joint meeting with me, primarily to meet the person she felt had brainwashed her child into transitioning.

My mother describes her first meeting with me presenting as Laura as very difficult for her, due in no small part to her inability to see me as anything but her very traditionally masculine son in a dress. For a while she knew but did not talk to my father, which she found very difficult. She told me years later that she went through a period of mourning, feeling like her child had died, and that she was left with a stranger she did not know. It put a lot of strain on her, and on our relationship as parent and child.

Why the assumption I was brainwashed? Because of autism infantilisation.

Before we talk more about my journey coming out as transgender, we have to rewind a little bit to something else that went on at around the same point in my life: my diagnosis of Asperger’s. By the time my mother attended that appointment and met me as Laura for the first time, I had already been diagnosed with Asperger’s, which was part of the reason she was so worried about me. She was not aware of any statistical link between autism and gender dysphoria, and in her eyes I was a vulnerable young person with an autism spectrum condition who was being manipulated into transition because I was easily swayed, or lacking in ability to assess my feelings on the matter properly for myself. This is depressingly common: an adult’s assumption that having an autism spectrum condition means you’re incapable of proper self-understanding, or that you’re susceptible to being manipulated into believing things about yourself that you did not previously. You’re not trusted as being of sound mind to make choices about your own life, out of fear you’ve been manipulated.

Speaking to my mother years later, now she has somewhat settled down and got used to me going by Laura and female pronouns, she told me that her biggest fear, and the primary reason she agreed to attend that first joint session together, was that, as a youth with Asperger’s, my therapist was influencing me into believing that I was trans. She feared it was some kind of brainwashing that my gullible mind could not resist the allure of, rather than believing my own account of what I was experiencing.

I also faced this same issue with doctors when trying to access medical support through the NHS. I would have general practitioners, mental health doctors and gender specialists alike raise an eyebrow when I acknowledged my Asperger’s diagnosis, and then proceed to take plenty of extra time asking me lengthy questions about how my autism symptoms manifested, to ensure I was of sound enough mind to make permanent choices about my body. Apart from the obvious infantilisation of people with conditions like Asperger’s on display there, I always just explained it as being like the decision to get a tattoo. I am an adult, over the age of 18, who has been deemed sober and mentally sound, and as such I have every right to permanently inject colours into my skin that may never go away. Why should I not be trusted to take slow-acting meds that are somewhat easier to reverse? Still, the fact I had to fight to be believed that I was mentally sound enough to make that choice says a lot about misunderstandings about autism spectrum conditions, but highlights that to assert that transition is unique in the permanent nature of its change to the body is completely inaccurate.”]

laura kate dale, from uncomfortable labels: my life as a gay autistic trans woman

#laura kate dale #lesbian literature #trans literature #currently reading #gender stuff

[foxandcatlibrary]

20th Book I Read in 2024

Title: Gender Euphoria

Authors: Laura Kate Dale & Various Others

Notes: Bought this almost a year ago and I'm so so so happy I finally read it, loved this book through and through! Almost cried during parts of it. A very good mix of writings about transfem, transmasc, nonbinary and intersex experiences.

#Gender Euphoria #Laura Kate Dale #nonfiction #trans #transgender #book #books #bookblr #reasding #2024 #engelska #english

[transbookoftheday]

♾️🌈 Trans Books To Read For Neurodivergent Pride Day 🌈♾️

("The Spirit Bares Its Teeth" isn't out yet, but you can preorder it or request an ARC on NetGalley.)

#lakelore #anna-marie mclemore #tell me how it ends #quinton li #lark & kasim start a revolution #kacen callender #the many half lived lives of sam sylvester #maya macgregor #dear mothman #robin gow #their troublesome crush #xan west #even if we break #marieke nijkamp #the unbalancing #r.b. lemberg #uncomfortable labels #laura kate dale #the spirit bares its teeth #andrew joseph white #nonbinary #transmasc #genderfluid #transfem #neurodivergent pride day #neurodivergent books #trans book of the day #trans books #queer books #booklr

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Uncomfortable Labels by Laura Kate Dale

goodreads

In this candid, first-of-its-kind memoir, Laura Kate Dale recounts what life is like growing up as a gay trans woman on the autism spectrum. From struggling with sensory processing, managing socially demanding situations and learning social cues and feminine presentation, through to coming out as trans during an autistic meltdown, Laura draws on her personal experiences from life prior to transition and diagnosis, and moving on to the years of self-discovery, to give a unique insight into the nuances of sexuality, gender and autism, and how they intersect. Charting the ups and downs of being autistic and on the LGBT spectrum with searing honesty and humour, this is an empowering, life-affirming read for anyone who's felt they don't fit in.

Mod opinion: I haven't read this book yet, but it sounds really interesting!

#uncomfortable labels #laura kate dale #polls #trans books #trans lit #trans literature #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #lgbt books #own voices #trans woman #memoir #nonfiction #to read

[triplefool]

Has this been done yet?

#international women's day #just had to be done #I'm sure it has #I haven't seen it #I need to see it #also it was so tough to choose eight women #I picked the ones I'm currently obsessed with #laura kate dale #simona halep #julie andrews #temmie ovwasa #mikaela loach #sandra oh #mitski #virginia woolf #jk rowling #trans women are women #trans

[bardnuts]

I'm published

I wrote an essay about 6 months back for this anthology, e. Laura Kate Dale, about loneliness, solitude, and discovering self-expression. Containing liberal use of the word "fuck" and a lot of jokes about top surgery.

It's in a real book now, with ISBNs and everything, and you can buy it --

Stories of Autistic Joy by Laura Kate Dale | Hachette UK

#my writing #laura kate dale #autistic joy anthology #writers on tumblr

[jimquisition]

Save the date, on June 9th 2023 the first annual Access-Ability Summer Showcase will be aired live, showcasing recently released and upcoming video games made by disabled game developers, and featuring accessibility settings designed to help ensure more people are able to play.

#laurakbuzz #laura kate dale #accessability #access-ability summer showcase

[godzilla-reads]

In my day-to-day life I see so many news stories and articles that make me believe that being gender queer is all about pain and discomfort.

I was elated to see a book about Gender Euphoria, which by definition means “a powerful feeling of happiness experienced as a result of moving away from one’s birth-assigned gender”.

To all my genderqueer friends, what is a moment that’s given you gender euphoria?

I’ll start.

A customer at my work was confused as to my gender (calling me a boy, then a girl) and eventually just settled on calling me a person instead.

What’s your story?

#godzilla reads #gender euphoria #laura kate dale #queer books #lgbtq books #gender queer #bookworm #booklr #reading #bookish #book blog #booklover

[desdasiwrites]

– Gender Euphoria, edited by Laura Kate Dale

#book quote of the day #gender euphoria #laura kate dale #nonfiction #anthologies #short stories #gender identity #transgender #trans man #healing #trans rights #essays #buy why was 11 of the 29 stories by the editor herself? #book quotes

[qbdatabase]

Nisha’s monster follows her everywhere. It used to be small, but recently her monster has begun to grow. And as her monster gets bigger and bigger, Nisha feels more and more unlike herself.

When people refer to Nisha as a boy, or when she tries to hide her true gender identity, Nisha’s dysphoria monster grows larger and larger. Until, one day, Nisha meets Jack – a trans man – who shows Nisha how she can shrink her dysphoria monster back down to size.

This touching story is the perfect book for discussing gender dysphoria with children, explaining what it is and how they and their families can deal with it. It also includes an accompanying guide for parents with further information about gender dysphoria, terminology, and first-hand examples of the author’s own experiences.

#Me and My Dysphoria Monster #Laura Kate Dale #picture book #children's books #kidlit #transgender #trans rep #daily book #fiction #lgbt fiction #lgbtqia #bookblr

[gatheringbones]

[“The gender euphoria that I got from not having a period was like a wave of relief and comfort that helped me finally feel at peace in my body. Despite the fact that people of all genders can have a period, the highly gendered nature of the way society views the experience and the stereotypical association with womanhood made me feel incredibly othered and invalidated as a non-binary person. Being able to distance myself from this experience as an intersex person, though, while still allowing me to love the other parts of being assigned female at birth helped me appreciate my body and its existence outside of the biological binary.

Another aspect of my intersex puberty that delighted me was the thick body hair that earned me the nickname ‘Chewbacca’ from my family. While they definitely intended for it to shame and bother me, the moment I realised that I had more body hair than my brother I was ecstatic. I constantly had other trans people tell me that they were jealous of my body hair and how well it helped me pass when I presented as a guy. My body hair also enabled me to subvert the expectation that anyone could assume my gender based on my appearance – and the act of wearing a dress with my unshaved legs filled me with a sense of non-binary pride. Similarly, I had facial hair that was dense and clustered around my chin, jawline and upper lip. Sometimes I would shave, and shaving my face sparked a memory of my dad shaving his face early in the morning and smelling like aftershave for the rest of the day. I never considered that I would be able to shave my face too, and it became a gendered ritual that I never got tired of. Other times, I decided to make my facial hair even darker and more noticeable with mascara so that I could show off the way that my body naturally adorned me with hair. Rather than feeling pressured to shave or hide my body and facial hair, I figured that if my body decided that I should have it, who was I to argue?”]

mari wrobi, from life at the trans-intersex intersection, from gender euphoria: stories of joy from trans non-binary and intersex writers, edited by Laura Kate Dale, 2021

#mari wrobi #laura kate dale #trans literature #gender stuff

[kitsuneheartreviews]

Picture book: "Me and My Dysphoria Monster" by Laura Kate Dale (2022-08-18)

Nisha is a girl, but people often get that wrong. And every time someone calls her a "boy," the monster that follows her around grows. At first it's little, no bigger than a baseball, but as the book progresses, it gets bigger and bigger, until it could swallow her up…until her dad introduces her to Jack.

Jack is an adult trans man, and I LOVE the inclusion of a trans adult mentor. Connecting with trans elders is a great was for kids to see that respect and happiness is possible. Jack explains what the monster actually is: a dysphoria monster. And it can get stronger when Nisha isn't respected or when she doesn't live a gender-confirming life, but it can be shrunk to almost a pet with societal acceptance and self-expression. Jack's monster is actually kind of cute, and he shows it some affection, as if he's taken in it's existence as just part of his backstory, and not part of who he is today. It's a bit of foreshadowing to Nisha's own conquering of her dysphoria monster.

The artwork is charming and dynamic. The primary focus of the artwork is, of course, the people, and they are given a lot of movement and emotion. Nisha's face is easily readable in every image, and we get to see her transformation through the book, going deeper into nerves and depression, and then coming back out in a big way. All the people around Nisha also display their emotions quite strongly, and it's nice to see the other children's' eagerness to accept Nisha.

Most pages don't have much background, except some details to help flesh out the scene. Grocery checkout counters, bookshelves, a school whiteboard. In fact, it's on pages with the most background that we see the strongest emotions. However, they aren't always negative! While Nisha is surrounded by her dysphoria monster in one full-background image, she's surrounded by stars and sparkles in a more positive moment.

The book ends with 4 pages for adults/more advanced readers, explaining some of the terminology of the book, as well as giving resources for trans kids.

#book #book review #picture book #review #arc #dysphoria #transgender #queer #trans #laura kate dale

[transbookoftheday]

Me and My Dysphoria Monster by Laura Kate Dale and Hui Qing Ang

Nisha's monster follows her everywhere. It used to be small, but recently her monster has begun to grow. And as her monster gets bigger and bigger, Nisha feels more and more unlike herself.

When people refer to her as a boy, or when she tries to hide her true gender identity, Nisha's dysphoria monster grows larger and larger. Until, one day, Nisha meets Jack - a trans man - who shows Nisha how she can shrink her dysphoria monster back down to size.

This touching story is the perfect book for discussing gender dysphoria with children, explaining what it is and how they and their families can deal with it. It also includes an accompanying guide for parents with further information about gender dysphoria, terminology, and first-hand examples of the author's own experiences.

#me and my dysphoria monster #laura kate dale #hui qing ang #transfem #trans book of the day #trans books #queer books #bookblr #booklr

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Me & My Dysphoria Monster by Laura Kate Dale and Hui Qing Ang

goodreads

Nisha's monster follows her everywhere. It used to be small, but recently her monster has begun to grow. And as her monster gets bigger and bigger, Nisha feels more and more unlike herself. When people refer to her as a boy, or when she tries to hide her true gender identity, Nisha's dysphoria monster grows larger and larger. Until, one day, Nisha meets Jack - a trans man - who shows Nisha how she can shrink her dysphoria monster back down to size. This touching story is the perfect book for discussing gender dysphoria with children, explaining what it is and how they and their families can deal with it. It also includes an accompanying guide for parents with further information about gender dysphoria, terminology, and first-hand examples of the author's own experiences.

Mod opinion: I haven't heard of this book before, but it sounds sweet and interesting!

#me and my dysphoria monster #laura kate dale #hui qing ang #polls #trans books #trans lit #trans literature #lgbt books #lgbt lit #lgbt literature #trans woman #own voices #trans man #picture books #childrens literature

[semper-legens]

71. Gender Euphoria, edited by Laura Kate Dale

Owned: Yes Page count: 286 My summary: Personal essays from transgender people describing their experiences with gender euphoria and their trans identities. My rating: 5/5

I picked this one up at a radical bookshop we visited in London recently, and honestly, I’m in it for how cool the cover is. Nah, but the content of this book is really interesting too. A lot of the trans experience is focused on dysphoria, on the things people don’t like about their bodies and voices and how they are viewed by society. Nobody really focuses on the positive experiences unique to transness, of the euphoria that comes when you’re in just the right outfit or you feel like you for the first time. These essays seek to rectify that, and focus on trans euphoria.

And they’re joyful! But not wholly. It’s important to me to be realistic when talking about trans stuff - acting like getting on hormones or getting surgery or whatever is going to solve all of a person’s body image issues doesn’t help them down the line. The contributors to this collection all have real experiences being trans in this world, and some of those experiences aren’t good. But some of them are, and that’s what the focus is on. Finding themselves, finding solidarity, finding their people and their place in the world - that’s what the essayists are focused on, and it’s all some really good reads.

One thing that particularly struck me was one of Laura Kate Dale’s essays, talking about her vaginoplasty. Before the operation, she took a picture of her penis, just to document what she looked like with it, a part of herself that was in a very real way going to be missing. But after? She couldn’t remember a time where her body was different. Not literally, of course, but her body afterwards just felt right, like she was supposed to be all along. And I experienced the same thing, after my top surgery! I thought it’d feel weird, at least at first, I thought I’d be upset about or even miss my breasts. But, nope. I don’t remember what it was to inhabit a body with them. That’s not to say I remember nothing of the first 24 years of my life (well, more like the ages between 10 and 24), but my body just feels like my body now, and it’s an incredible feeling.

Next up, back to both comics and an old property...a hunter must hunt.

#Gender Euphoria #Laura Kate Dale #book blogging #book blog #book blogger #5

[triplefool]

Did anyone do this yet???

#international women's day #nonbinary #trans #laura kate dale #simona halep #julie andrews #temmie ovwasa #mikaela loach #sandra oh #mitski #virginia woolf #first year as an enby I had to do this lol #good night