To Be Young And Trans

[Shana A]

To Be Young And Trans
By Lara Loewenstein • on June 24, 2009

http://www.scoop44.com/2009/06/24/to-be-young-and-trans/

Smoking a cigarette outside of his local Starbucks on a Friday afternoon, Miles Cox looks like the typical 19-year-old with a rebellious streak. He is dressed in jeans, a leather jacket over a white shirt, dark sunglasses and Chuck Taylors, and is nonchalantly reclining in his chair as I walk up and introduce myself. His voice is a little high for a 19-year-old, and he thinks his eyes are a bit feminine. I disagree with the latter, but Miles is very conscious of these details. He is conscious of anything that gives away that he was physically born a girl.

"You have to change your body language a lot," he says. "I changed the way I walked, and I changed the way I dressed. I tried to do everything I could to fit in." Miles soon takes off his sunglasses and relaxes. It is obvious that he enjoys talking about the process that he was–and still is–going through.