Sam

“The misconception of equating ease of life with “passing” must be dismantled in our culture. The work begins by each of us recognizing that cis people are not more valuable or legitimate and that trans people who blend as cis are not more valuable or legitimate. We must recognize, discuss, and dismantle this hierarchy that polices bodies and values certain ones over others. We must recognize that we all have different experiences of oppression and privilege, and I recognize that my ability to blend as cis is one conditional privilege that does not negate the fact that I experience the world as a trans woman (with my own fears, insecurities, and body-image issues) no matter how attractive people may think I am.”
― Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

“If a trans woman who knows herself and operates in the world as a woman is seen, perceived, treated, and viewed as a woman, isn't she just being herself? She isn't passing; she is merely being.”
― Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

“In the United States, influenza death rates were so high that the average life span fell by twelve years, from fifty-one in 1917 to thirty-nine in 1918. If you were a “doughboy”—slang for an American soldier—you had a better chance of dying in bed from flu or flu-related complications than from enemy action.”
― Albert Marrin, Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918