Emily St. James is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in Vox, The A.V. Club, and the New York Times. She is the co-creator of the podcast Arden and a writer on the TV series Yellowjackets.
I didn't mean to go full time. I just did. This is the opposite of almost everything else in my transition, which has been carefully, rigidly planned, sometimes down to the literal second. I knew which friends were going to find out when, and I picked the date
When people ask me, "When did you know you were a woman?" my answer tends to come in three parts, which are sort of a nesting doll. The easiest answer is "In March of 2018." That was when I was forced out of the mental closet
There's been some small degree of debate on trans Twitter (which, really, why would you go there?) about a topic that seems easy to answer, until you realize it's twisting you in knots: Before you came out and/or transitioned, who were you? This seems like
A couple of weeks ago, I had to lay down on my bathroom floor and cry for about 15 minutes. Never mind what got me there, or what happened after. Just live with me in that space for a second, the concrete floor hard and cold, and the towel I
Today, I called a doctor and made an appointment for a consultation on vocal feminization surgery. It's the first step I've taken toward whatever form my surgical transition will take, and it's a step I have a lot of trepidation about. What's
It felt a little like the bird was following me around the upper floor of my parents' home. I would walk past a window, and there it would be -- thonk -- flinging itself at the glass, for reasons unknown. Red has always been my favorite color, so when
Every so often, on main, I'll tweet something that sparks an energetic response from the many, many energetic white dudes who follow me. They are argumentative. They want to debate. I never, ever want to do this. I want to monologue in peace. Don't get me
When I was 4, I loved to play dress-up. My mom had a bunch of weird old clothes she had saved from her and my father's '60s and '70s wardrobes, and I would wrap myself in them and pretend I was somebody else. My mom had
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had a fight, a big one. It wasn't a marriage ending fight, and I knew it at the time. But it was a fight where I needed to do something to act out, to show how wronged I felt,
The Y chromosome looks insignificant when lined up next to the other chromosomes. It's a little nubbin of a thing, an afterthought that has nevertheless rewritten human history. In actuality, most of its work is done in the womb, shaping the sex organs of babies assigned male at
A couple of weeks ago, a friend was discussing with me an idea they had encountered from Hank Green, the novelist, vlogger, and all-around internet cool dude. The idea is that fame, as it were, has tiers. Five of them, to be specific. The lowest tier -- tier one --
Last year, the best book I read was Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville. This is likely not a statement that will surprise you, but I was surprised by how true it was. I expected the book to be great. I didn't quite expect it to be so great that