Genderfluid Guide

School

I haven't gone to school since I came out (thanks covid), but I know it will present some challenges.

First, getting people to use your correct name and pronouns can be stressful. The best way to go about it is when your teachers call attendance on the first day, correct them to your preferred name. You can even tell them your preferred pronouns if you want. Or, you can let your teachers know before class or through an email.

Then there's binding. Most people are at school for about 7 hours. That can be a long time to wear a binder. Then keep in mind the time from when you get dressed to when you get home. That's even longer. Then you factor in after school activities. This can add up to be over 9 hours of wearing a binder. This isn't the safest, nor is it comfortable. If your classes are close enough together, try to sit in the bathroom with your binder off between classes, or even for a couple minutes before going to lunch. If you can't take five minutes, try taking it off when you use the bathroom just to give yourself a little break, even if its only 2 minutes. Throw a sports bra in your bag incase it becomes unbearable.

Bathrooms can stress people out a lot too. So, if you have to go during the day, use a gender neutral bathroom if there is one. Unfortunately, the gender neutral bathroom at my school is staff only. If that's not an option, I advise whichever gender you pass as, so you avoid weird looks and comments. As an AFAB genderfluid person, even on male days I feel more comfortable using the women's bathroom, because one im always scared I don't pass, and two, women's restrooms are generally cleaner and have more stalls.