Becoming secure with being alone has relieved the frantic pressure to believe that every new person I meet might be the next person with whom I enter into a significant relationship, and instead it has provided me with the security and confidence to build a life on my own terms.
Clothing is still a way for me to communicate to the world how I feel and who I am, but now that I have learned to make most of it it myself — everything from bras to jeans — clothing also makes me feel empowered. I might be having a shitty day that makes me feel inferior and daft, but at least I look amazing in this handmade dress! Hilton Al’s White Girls might have been so far over my head that I barely made it through a hundred pages, but hey, I know how to make shoes! The zombie apocalypse may be looming ominously in our future, but guess what — I’ll be able to knit all of us chunky sweaters to keep us warm in the darkest of winters!
Jasika Nicole on how slow fashion changed her life.
I wanted to take her cat for a walk on a leash.
She wanted me to go get her cookies and instead of asking me directly to do it, she hinted at it. Then she got mad that I didn’t pick up on the hint.
We fought about if fruit is a carb until it got so heated I had to cry in the bathroom.
Someone has to wear it because flannel and skinny jeans and boots and a snapback are the way I can pay homage to those who came before me and couldn’t dress the way they wanted, and because one day, when I’m wearing that outfit with my undercut and tattoos, maybe a lonely queer kid will look at me and feel less isolated and more like a part of a constellation where the stars may be few and far between but they make something beautiful.
Molly Priddy via I’m Just A Small-Town Lesbian Wearing Flannel, Building Community
I don’t take birth control anymore since transitioning from bisexuality to lesbianism in my mid-20s, but I still go to Planned Parenthood for my exams because I trust them not to stigmatize my sexual history and to be sensitive to the needs of a queer patient. But mostly, I don’t know what I would’ve done without them as a teenager, and I’m petrified to live in a world where girls like me won’t have those options.