Genderqueer Appropriation

 What isn’t appropriation:

• Being a femme-presenting person with a female-designated body
• Being a butch-presenting person with a male-designated body
• Pretending to be cisgender (aka being in the closet) around certain people or in certain situations for personal safety

What is appropriation:

• Adapting a genderqueer identity out of some sense that it will increase your social status
• Refusing to stick up for the rights of genderqueer people in situations where it would not be unsafe to do so

I’m not the gender police, so I won’t run around issuing appropriation tickets. But I do ask everyone to please be respectful of the fact that sometimes cis privilege can cause us to overlook the ways we are capable of hurting others.