https://padlet.com/ajshenefelt/63e0rgee4838 Aj Shenefelt - ART 3560 en-us 2018-11-14 14:11:43 UTC 2024-05-29 13:26:21 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Clouds.png ajshenefelt https://padlet.com/ajshenefelt/63e0rgee4838/wish/304287851
Like many other non-binary people out there, I have a pretty complicated history with the way I look, and an even more complex relationship with how I choose to express myself outwardly. Clothing and other inanimate objects that we utilize for beauty and fashion purposes are exactly that - objects - and therefore do not have an inherent gender identity. However, the society that we live in has spent hundreds of years constructing narrow, binary categories of who can and can't wear what based on the sex that they are assigned at birth, which is absolute nonsense. As someone who was raised to dress one way, and started experiencing harassment and violence as early as 7 years old simply for the way my hair and clothes looked, I have certainly learned what is "safe" for me to wear in public spaces - even if it is not the way I want to look. If I dressed the way I wanted to, especially in public school, I became a target. If I dressed the way that society expected me to, then I became further depressed and experienced harassment anyways because femininity is viewed as something to be objectified, hated, scrutinized, and sexualized. 

As I've become older, more proud of who I am, and increasingly driven by personal growth, the way that I look has changed into a person that I never thought I could be. I still face the everyday situation of deciding to either wear something that I feel is really "me", or something that I know will keep me off of other people's radar - and the answer generally lies in the context / environment of where I'm going that day. Because I find clothes based on styles that I like, and not from specific gender categories in stores, I have a lot more freedom to choose looks that compliment who I am, and make outfits that would otherwise not exist because of the way that they have been labeled ]]> 2018-11-14 14:15:28 UTC https://padlet.com/ajshenefelt/63e0rgee4838/wish/304287851 ajshenefelt https://padlet.com/ajshenefelt/63e0rgee4838/wish/304288063 2018-11-14 14:15:48 UTC https://padlet.com/ajshenefelt/63e0rgee4838/wish/304288063