By Adunni

This is a chapter from TransLash Zine Vol. 6: Anti-Trans Hate Machine (April 2023).

TONE IT DOWN

Just the exact way you say it to remind us of outdoing the box, 

An imposing call to order,

reminding us that we might just be doing too much.

After all, we paid dues with our heads buried under the waters 

And dreams dying in thoughts.

Yet, we are advised to TONE IT DOWN!

Denying ourselves of existing at their comfort,

While we are made aliens in our birthplace, homes and even to ourselves.

They say, the more the normality, the better the acceptance.

We have been taught to

HATE who we are, 

BE AFRAID of what we’ve become

and BEAT DOWN at anything that takes our form.

They say you do not have to be out and loud

but you, you… While you stay flourishing in the regretful corner of your heart,

your freedom is to impose restricting opinions on our expression of self.

For what we love, who we are, brings us together and so that same…

the same is the joy to exist differently and free.

How so sweet to consider our safety

but it’s not in our position to apologize

when they are not close to comfort with our lives.

POET BIO

Adunni is a trans writer who reflects her sociocultural and political experiences through writing.

Her writing is inspired by her reality, being a woman of trans experience openly living out loud and advocating for trans rights in Lagos, Nigeria.

This piece reflects on the experiences of Trans people being advised and forced to conform, forced to silence, while actively questioning our body autonomy and our existence as trans femmes persons -–a trigger to gaslight us into questioning our existence in society and within the LGBTQ+ community at large.

Support her work: https://linktr.ee/AdunniTiwatope

ABOUT TRANSLASH ZINE

TransLash Zine Vol. 6, released on April 24, 2023, is a companion to our #AntiTransHateMachine campaign & the launch of Season 2 of our podcast series, The Anti-Trans Hate Machine: A Plot Against Equality. 

Day by day, the attacks on trans kids grow louder, and more anti-trans bills keep moving through state legislatures. In this season of the #AntiTransHateMachine, we illuminate how the right wing has fueled these bills by generating a breathtaking and wide-ranging disinformation campaign. Listen to #AntiTransHateMachine S2 on Spotify Podcasts and purchase the print edition of Vol. 6 right here. 

Since 2019, TransLash Zine has been an independent publication by TransLash Media that supports our mission of telling trans stories to save trans lives. We feature uncensored art, writing, and photography by TGNC people––and we pay contributors. Our first six issues were developed and produced in collaboration with POC Zine Project, and POCZP founder Daniela “Dani” Capistrano continues to support our content and partnerships strategy as editor-in-chief and creative director of TransLash Zine. Learn more: www.translash.org/zine

Did you find this resource helpful? Consider supporting TransLash today with a tax-deductible donation.