I’ve never been a fan of labeling anyone’s individuality. Everyone does it and most of the time without knowing they’re doing it. Cis humans love strapping on labels for the queer community.
“The minute you or anybody else knows what you are you are not it, you are what you or anybody else knows you are and as everything in living is made up of finding out what you are it is extraordinarily difficult really not to know what you are and yet to be that thing.” – Gertrude Stein
I’ve always loved Gertrude Stein’s outlook on life and what it meant to be a lesbian in society back in the day. I grew up a super girly girl, cheerleader, had my bouts with a tomboy stage and now as an adult I’m somewhere in between. I’d be labeled more of a “femme” lesbian if we need go there.
My wife on the other hand knew exactly her style from the moment she started dressing herself as a child. Gracie has always had this amazing sense of self awareness and style. One of the things I fell madly in love with. She knows what she wants from a look and that style has always been referred to as “butch.”
I’ve never resonated with masculine style. However, the past few years men’s sneakers have caught my attention. I love the styles and more masculine colors of the sneakers that major companies deem to be for only men. Don’t get me wrong I love glitter, unicorns and rainbows, but don’t want pink and purple being the only colors worthy of my feet.
Coming from a southern background I was taught you never leave the house without your makeup on and you always present yourself as a lady. It’s taken me a while to get out of that mentality and allow myself to choose my own style. Problem with my love of sneakers is that I wear such a small shoe size and it really narrows the range of choices I have. Luckily, a lot of sneaker companies have started making unisex shoes. The downfall is they sell out online as soon as they’re released because there’s only a handful of smaller sizes available.
Since becoming a sneaker collector of the more masculine sneaker color pallets I personally understand a small part of the issues my wife has had with finding something that she can wear directly off the rack. I now sneak in and out of the men’s department to catch a glimpse at their athletic shoe area. Almost always I leave the men’s department empty footed.
