Cinderella Compared To Transition

This might be an odd start to a post, but please hear me out here. I have never been a fan of retellings, although when I was young, all I read were fairytales and ladybirds. I still remember very clearly where I was when I read Cinderella for the first time, even if I was only four or five. Until currently, I didn’t know the why behind that connection. Now that I really thought there is an answer.

In a way, the character of Cinderella’s life would mirror my own, for lack of a better metaphor. For the longest time, Cinderella was forced into the shadows by her stepmother and stepsisters. Or at least that’s how the story reads. For trans people, it is the same, yet different, because we do mask ourselves into the shadows of the closet. However, we do so to obey the gender ‘rules’ that society made up.

This is why I compare Cinderella going to the ball to a person coming out, for lack of better terms. It’s an act of courage and bravery; for many, it means breaking all the ‘rules’ they grew up in. Sadly, like what happens in Cinderella when midnight hits, she needed to return home. The freedom that you allowed yourself can be haunted by the judgement of others, even if it is out of fear and the unknown. So yea, it takes time and patience for people to process and heal for those relationships to go back to normality.

Alex