‘I LOVE BEING ME’
Christine Blosdale, 57, from Port Stephens, NSW, prefers to identify as an individual rather than a gender
“I was raised in Los Angeles as a girl but I always related more to playing ‘cowboys and Indians’ and pretending to shave like my dad. As I got older, I realised I was attracted to women and I couldn’t identify myself as a woman by society’s standards.
“I dress in a masculine way and wear sports tops instead of bras – they’re much more comfortable and they flatten my chest. But if you ask my wife, she’ll tell you I also have a softer, feminine side.
“I had some friends question if I should become transgender and make the step to become a man but I thought, ‘Why do I need to pick one or the other? I like both aspects of myself.’
“That’s when I really came into a lot of self-empowerment and decided I could embrace both sides of who I am.
“Sometimes people in a shop or cafe will say, ‘How can I help you, sir?’ or ‘Hey mate!’ but that doesn’t bother me. When they hear that I don’t have a deep voice, they say, ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry!’ I usually smile and say, ‘It’s quite alright,’ or, ‘I’d make a really handsome man, right?’ And they usually say, ‘Yeah you would!’ Having fun with it and not taking it too seriously is important to me. I understand that there are [transgender] people who feel they’re in the wrong body, but I think there are also some of us who feel that we don’t need to go one way or the other – we can just be ourselves.
“If you want to be an ally to someone who is non-binary, it’s important to look at the person’s heart and appreciate who they are. So much judgement and shame runs in families, but we should focus on that person as opposed to how they look.”