Yesterday, at my gynecologist appointment, I was discussing why I need a surgery recommendation letter from her. I said that with the current political climate, immigration raids being targeted at "sanctuary cities", it is not safe to have anatomy that does not match all of my official documents.
One of the raids that started the protests in California was at a Home Depot store where they rounded up Day Laborers - some of whom are U.S. citizens. What if I were at a Home Depot just shopping, and an agent decided that I looked "suspicious" and included me in their roundup? Sure, all of my state and federal IDs list me as female, but a strip search would make that difficult to prove that the documents are legitimate.
My doctor looked at me and said, "You don't look suspicious."
I asked why, "because I'm white?"
She said, "No, because you look feminine."
I wasn't wearing makeup, just jeans, a t-shirt, and earrings.
That just helped me remember that how we see ourselves is not the way others see us.
