28 June 2021
Hello everyone, welcome to Three Girl Family’s newsletter. I am Chitra, one of the three moms from Three Girl Family. For those of you who have not heard of us before, you can read more about us here. Around 4.5 months ago, almost on a complete whim, we had started an Instagram page (and a few days later, a Twitter account) to talk about our life as a non-normative family in India. We are very touched by all the love we have received on that page in these few months, and we want to continue sharing little tidbits of our lives with everyone.
At the same time, I have often felt that there’s so much more to write about than what’s possible in our Instagram posts and stories, so I began toying with the idea of starting a newsletter. And through a pleasant coincidence, I was interviewed last week for Womaning in India by Mahima, talking to whom provided me the final push for this newsletter. So here we are, on the anniversary of the Stonewall riots, about to start a new journey.
I have had a blog before, which I took down during my gender transition, along with a lot of other details about my pre-transition self. In the last few years, I have written or been interviewed sporadically and for different platforms, usually under a pseudonym (such as here, here, here and here), and always worrying about privacy. Finally, I am ready to leave those privacy concerns behind, and here to write under my own name and on a platform dedicated to this purpose.
From a potential reader’s perspective, I have come to realise that there are so many people out there who want to be better allies to queer and trans people, who wonder about some issues but fear they are too controversial to talk about, are somewhere on the spectrum themselves and have lots of questions, or are just curious to know more about queer and trans lives. A lot of answers are already out there online, but searching for them can often be daunting. I hope that sharing my perspective through this newsletter helps in some of these ways.
What will this newsletter be about?
In the coming days and weeks, we shall talk about all those things that you were curious about but probably didn’t know whom to ask, or were too hesitant to ask. We shall talk about trans women in sports and the notion of fairness, about transphobia and ‘cancel culture’ and political correctness, about imposter syndrome and dysphoria and gender privilege, about trans people in public spaces, especially trans women in women’s bathrooms, changing rooms, domestic violence shelters, prisons etc, about trans children and the seemingly rising cases of gender dysphoria, about detransitioning, about what ‘gender identity’ really means and even what ‘gender’ and ‘biological sex’ really mean, just to give a few examples. We shall also talk here or on Instagram about our daily lives and any other things which we find interesting or relevant.
Tomorrow will be our very first topic – trans women in women’s sports and the notion of fairness. It is a question which seems to be on many minds right now, because of the new laws in many US states on this issue, and because of the news last week that Laurel Hubbard has become the first openly trans athlete to qualify for the Olympics. Do subscribe to our newsletter so that you don't miss it. 😊
Who is this newsletter for?
I believe that most people are fundamentally nice and empathetic, and that we should assume good faith unless there’s very clear evidence to the contrary. With that assumption, everyone is welcome here, as long as they are willing to engage in good faith with a trans-affirming space. However, comments from trolls and sealions may get blocked if they have the potential to cause harm.
Why should you subscribe?
If you found anything above interesting, then I hope you will keep coming back to this space and engaging with us. Subscribing to this newsletter will give you access to all our stories, emailed to your inbox.
How can you engage with us?
If you have a story or idea or question or comment that you would like to share with us, you can simply write to us by replying to any newsletter, and we will reach out to you.
See you tomorrow for our very first story, and hopefully for all the stories after that.
And please don’t forget to tell your friends!
