How are you supposed to be believed about the harm that you experience when people don’t even believe that you exist? The assumption is that being a masculine man or a feminine woman is normal and that being us is an accessory. Like if you remove our clothing, our makeup, and our pronouns, underneath the surface we are just men and women playing dress up. The scrutiny on our bodies distracts us from what’s really going on here: control. The emphasis on our appearance distracts us from the real focus: power.

— Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon, Ashley Lukashevsky