“Our genders are in negotiation with other people. I'm like, 'I want to...” — Torrey Peters Quote

Our genders are in negotiation with other people. I'm like, 'I want to be seen this way, and so I'm going to take on these symbols and this way of behaving so that, hopefully, you'll see what I'm doing is felicitous and you'll engage with what I'm trying to put out there.' That negotiation isn't happening just for trans people.

I love my friends. I think they're wonderful people, but I'm still constantly baffled by the choices that they make. I'm sure they're baffled by the choices I make. That's why I love people. Because I'm like, 'Why did you do that? What are you thinking?'

The premise of any discussion I have is not to debate my humanity. I refuse to engage on that level. It makes for a disappointing conversation, and it makes for bad art.

A lot of the big American social novels are just these domestic novels, like Jonathan Franzen or whoever, They have these domestic themes which are usually around a bunch of assumptions about what it means to American: nuclear families, middle class-ness, and all of these things that are sort of unexamined assumptions built into these books.

On the one hand Twitter gives you the opportunity to engage with people, which is great, but on the other there are people who feel they can say whatever they want, put poison out there, really, without fear of any repercussions.

I just think there are certain men who feel like engaging in a story told from a female point of view is somehow a feminizing experience. And that itself is something that they're almost supposed to not want to engage.

The most important lesson I've learned is how rich and rewarding life is when one can engage in meaningful work, whether on the job or outside of work.

It is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way because they either want something from me, or they see me as something that I simply am not.