Hello! I am Mylo and because I did not take the
opportunity to introduce myself in my first blog I would like to do so now. UT
demographics-wise, I am a third year social work major. I am also a comic book,
Japanese fashion, gaming, and happy hardcore enthusiast. So, in short, a super
kawaii nerd! ^_^
As
a result of my interests, I have noticed that people tend to react to me in a
somewhat awkward manner. I had no way of expressing this reaction until I read
the following article that Shane (our instructor and mentor) posted on Facebook
about a week ago:
Finally, those awkward reactions had a name: microaggressions.
Unfortunately, I find that I experience microaggression on a fairly routine
basis, however, I experience them most heavily whenever I am engaged in one of
my favorite hobbies, Lolita fashion. Lolita fashion (which has absolutely nothing
to do with the book of the same name) is a popular form of Japanese street
fashion. You can learn more about Lolita fashion through the following link:
As an active member of my local Lolita community, I
go out in public, in Lolita, to participate in meet-ups about twice a month. I
personally love the Lolita fashion because it affords me an opportunity to “perform”
hyper-feminine in a fun and interesting way. To me it is my own kind of “drag,”
in which I get to express my gender in a way, and to a degree which I normally
don’t while connecting with people that I might have never met otherwise.
Me with some super kawaii accessories
However, in my “normal”
life, people find it difficult to understand why the Mylo who sees herself as
gender non-conforming would ever want to leave her house in frills (a term
Lolitas commonly use to describe their outfits); because after all I’m LGBTQ
identified, so I “must” want to appear more masculine. In my “Lolita” life
everyone seems to automatically assume that I am straight and that I see myself
as being female 24/7. So, as you can imagine this places me in a bit of an
awkward place, which only further complicates my already fluid identity. Microaggressions seem to be hurled at me from both sides while
all the while, I’m just trying to do me. I can attest to the fact that
microaggressions do hurt; for instance, I am not out to my Lolita community
because many of the members do so strongly endorse heteronormative behaviors.
As a result, I believe that we need to be more conscientious of
microaggrassions and how we may be unintentionally hurting those around us. I
know that after having read this article, I have caught myself engaging in
microaggressive thoughts and I made a conscious effort to evaluate and
eliminate those thoughts. I believe that everyone should be able to express themselves
in whatever way is true to them, be it through frills, haircuts, make-up,
piercings, tattoos, anything! Through eliminating microaggressions, I believe
that we open up freedom of expression like never before.
Me being a dork at yesterdays meet-up at Illuminate ATX
Our community raised an incredible $1,400 for SafePlace
Do you,
<3 Mylo
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