"Feminism is more than just knowing and celebrating the value of women and feminine people, it’s also about being accountable. It’s about speaking back to and challenging misogyny in our culture. It’s examining how I contribute to sexism as a man because being transgender does not preclude me from this. At the dawn of my transition I was focused on my physical body and coming to a place where my gender identity wouldn’t be challenged or negotiated. Now, 9 years in, I’m intent on refining my manhood. I am becoming a man by my own design and that has meant unlearning and re-learning everything I thought I knew about masculinity and its relationship to the world. Coming into the understanding that masculinity is not the opposite of femininity but its counterpart gives me a starting point to build authentic solidarity and shift the way we think about the role of women and femme identified folks. We’re only better together and manhood cannot be defined by how “un-feminine” it is but should be invested in creating healthy consanguinity."