I'm GC for the most part, although on the moderate side. My life experiences with gender have mostly been based in trauma. I grew up as a highly GNC girl in a small, conservative town where there were no representations of people like me anywhere. I had a carefree early childhood, but a depressed and isolated adolescence. Gender was traumatic for me because I could not conceive of myself growing up to resemble society's idea of a woman, and for a while, I planned not to remain one for long.

I survived and made it to college, where I went online and started searching for a label that might fit me. I was convinced I was too masculine to be a "regular" woman and therefore I must be something else. I flirted with terms like "genderqueer" and "transmasculine" before discovering GC thought and abandoning the idea that my masculinity somehow made me less real or valid as a female person. GC ideas were the first thing that had given me real peace.

I still struggle with male identification, internalized misogyny, and hatred of other women, especially so-called "normal" women and women who aid and abet the patriarchy. I'm sure it will be a lifelong struggle. But being around radical feminists and GNC women who refuse to disavow their womanhood helps.