Ask Matt Monday: To Smile or Not To Smile
May 9, 2011 by Matt Kailey
http://tranifesto.com/2011/05/09/ask-matt-monday-to-smile-or-not-to-smile/A reader writes: "I'm in the very early stages of female-to-male transition and wonder if smiling should be among the mannerisms I'm trying to change. I know that many men smile. For me smiling didn't come naturally, however, and because of certain circumstances, I associate it with femininity and internalized transphobia.
"When I was a teenager my transphobic mother was disturbed by my masculine appearance, and kept telling me to 'smile more.' My father asked, 'Couldn't you have smiled?' when he saw a photo of me. Strangers complimented me when I happened to smile. When I taught a class, a mentoring professor urged me to smile to my students. As a result of all this I did finally acquire the habit of smiling, but it was always linked to a sense that I was unacceptable as my serious self.
