so we have a new student in my class of mostly older students. Her name's Doris, she picked it herself, so I refrained from requesting that she change it. Tonight she told me that she was a boy and that three of the girls in our class were her girlfriends. She stressed that she was only a boy for today, and her name was Tom.
Ok, I haven't really written a whole lot about being queer in Taiwan. People know that it goes on, but people just don't talk about it. So for a teenage kid, a 7th grader, to bring it up, honestly pretty openly and ostentatiously like that, really surprised me.
The other girls in the class, including her "girlfriends" seemed slightly uncomfortable but I think mostly not sure what to make of it. I decided to treat it like nothing unusual was happening. I called her Tom, which was the name that she requested that I call her. Until she informed me later that she was a girl again. Then I went back to Doris.
The only time I really stepped in was when she cornered another girl by the bathroom. One, the other girl's pretty immature, I don't think she really knew what was going on, and she didn't seem entirely comfortable with what was going on.
It's difficult for me to read really. Is she trying something out, making a play for attention, maybe not sure herself? It almost seemed too aggressive and open to be genuine, but I could be wrong. I'll have to wait and see what happens I guess. I asked my TA what she thought about it, and all she said was that she thought it was "weird." Again, it's a pretty taboo subject here, so no one's going to bring it up.
But I can't deny she's got guts.
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2 comments:
LC, have you seen this band? They're pretty wild, queer in their way. Punk is dead...long live punk! http://fishbr.blogspot.com/
p.s. from Cloroxa, and yes, the bassist and guitarist are former members of Ladybug...
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