Maia Kobabe > Quotes

“Some people are born in the mountains, while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow. Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“Sometimes I feel like my brain is a machine built by someone who lost the instruction manual.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“I remember when I first realized I never had to have children. It was like walking out of a narrow alley into a wide open field. I never have to get married. I never have to date anyone. I don’t even have to care about sex. These realizations were like gifts that I gave myself.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“Everyone around me - but especially girls - seemed to have access to information I lacked.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“As I pondered a pronoun change, I began to think of gender less as a scale and more as a landscape. Some people are born in the mountains, while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow. Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“The clearest metaphor I had for my own gender identity in college was the image of a scale. A huge weight had been placed on one side, without my permission. I was constantly trying to weigh down the other side. But the end goal wasn't masculinity - the goal was
b a l a n c e.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“I invented and named a lost male twin who had always felt like he should be a girl. If I could just find him we would finally both feel like whole complete people.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“[Why don't you identify as a trans man instead of nonbinary?] Because really, I want people to be confused about my gender at all times. I don't want a beard, and I don't want my voice to change. I don't want MORE gendered traits, I want LESS.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“A note to my parents: Though I have struggled with being your daughter, I am so, so glad that I am your child.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“I don't want to be a girl. I don't want to be a boy either. I just want to be myself.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.”
― Maia Kobabe

“My deepest emotional relationships have always been with women. Did that mean I was a lesbian? But my sexual fantasies involved two male partners. Was I a gay boy tapped in a girl's body? The knowledge of a third option slept like a seed under the soil.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“If I could just spend all my time drawing made up medieval buildings that would be great.”
― Maia Kobabe

“I wish I didn't fear that my identity is too political for a classroom.”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir

“Affirming your gender can be joyful and safe! If your current binding method isn't doing it for you, experiment with other methods. There is a better one out there for you.”
― Maia Kobabe, Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding

“I don't”
― Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir