LogFAQs > #965775647

I grew up in Florida and spent a lot of my summers in Belize. I fucking love the beach. But going to the beach as a trans woman feels like a spy mission. I'm always looking for the moment where I'm not worrying about anything, and the beach is not usually it! I am literally most myself when I am in the ocean, so this is something I struggle with a lot.

Honestly? The assertion that trans girls with bulges belong at the beach makes me feel fear. Maybe that's because I've experienced so much transphobia everywhere I've ever lived or traveled. When I am out in the world people look at me, then immediately inspect my crotch, trying to "figure out" which genitals I have.
I tuck all the time in public, except for the beach, where I tend to wear shorts until I can sit down on my towel because at the beach, a tuck simply doesn't stay. When I want to swim, I move as quickly as possible from the towel to the water. It's a super stressful experience, and I don't go to the beach that much because of it.
To help trans girls feel more comfortable going to the beach, we have to stop using all the TERF-y language. Too many communities have judged penises as carrying some sort of inherent evil, in my opinion. It's important to remember that the vagina and the penis are the same organ, just influenced by different hormones!
The beach has never been a place for me to exist in authenticity and freedom. Especially within the reality of my Black Trans Womanhood, the weight of sexualization and fetishization all enveloped within the constant policing of woman and femininity has been enough to at times make me completely forego bearing swimwear. In this reality, lyin upon the gravel of a yt mans playground, I know its not attainable for me to achieve beauty and validation.
There is no room for breath to even utter the true nature of my identity how it manifests inseparably with my blackness, my gender, my sexuality and so on and so forth. Masculinity, Femininity, Man, Woman are but musings of yt acceptability and standardization, swallowed up and snuffed out by the vast universe that my gender expands into. Woman has become a term I accept for ease of navigation to make up for what language still lacks. As all praises and adorations pale in comparison to the limitless reality of God, it is so for the intersectional gender variance of Black people. Within this context, I have simply accepted that there is no true space in arenas of attractiveness like the beach, nor do I desire to play the game. And as a Trans Woman I readily accept this reality as fact and just dont give a fuck. Period.

The assertion trans girls with bulges belong at the beach brings up a lot for me, especially when thinking about the ways our perception of gender is influenced by race. Ive seen many Trans Women, yt and of color, dawn bulges at the beach, yet have yet to see Black Trans Women do so in equal measure. In theory, the idea feels very freeing and empowering to the body, yet still I fear how the world will work to constrict the bodies of Black Trans Women who refuse to conform.

Im very fortunate to have a lot of trans friends who I can hit up for trips to the beach. I feel so free at the beach because theyre with me, affirming me and gassing me up the entire time.
Of course trans girls with bulges belong at the beach! My body isnt something to be hated or to be celebrated; its mine and mine alone, and I belong where I choose to belong. I refuse to be looked at like a freak. I deserve to feel like Im just another beachgoer, regardless of how visible my junk may be through my swimsuit.

When I do tuck in public, its more for comfort than to blend in, but Im very fortunate to feel that way. The notion of being visibly trans or not has never been something Im interested in. But I know a lot of tucking decisions come down to the individual and everyone has to make the choice thats best for them.
Id encourage people in the broader queer community to make themselves available for beach trips. Invite your trans friends! Ask them to go to a smaller beach than the ones where all the cissies go, and always compliment your friends on how they look.
And if youre trans yourself, remember youre perfect and gorg the way that you are. You dont look funny or awkward or whatever, bulge or no bulge. No one is looking at you as harshly as you look at yourself. I learned that passing and all of that is just a big scam, yknow? You gotta feel hot for you.

All credit to Alex Jenny and Jordyn Bell. The article link itself contains pictures.

Just a reminder, that even after Pride is over, that trans girls with bulges do, in fact, belong at the beach, and you ought to be respectful if you encounter one.