For Trans Day of Visibility 2025, Shout are sharing an anonymous piece of short writing that explores a trans person’s perspective on swimwear. At the bottom of the piece readers are signposted to trans support services available from Birmingham LGBT.
I spend hours trawling the ocean floor (a search engine) for the catch of the day (a swimming costume that does not give me anxiety). The endless tabs (my browser started archiving unused tabs, the weight of fuzzy old half-thoughts cast off with them), the myriads of websites I signed up to the newsletter for 10% off my first order just in case (why is the unsubscribe button always so small on those emails?), and the inevitable indecision. I ask my close confidants, my friends, anyone who will proffer an opinion- which one is better? Which one should I choose? Which one will cover the most of me, whilst revealing the parts of me that long to go back to the primordial soup?
Full cheek or full bush; which is in right now? High leg? Razor back? Full support? Trunks? Shorts? Smugglers? What am I smuggling? No one asks because it is a suburban swimming pool, and the lifeguards look bored. I just want to swim. My landlocked Brummie sensibilities are in pain. Judith Butler says the closest thing they have to a religion is swimming. I say swimming is the closest thing I have to an exercise routine.
Finding swimwear is a universal struggle which transcends (trans)gender.
Dear reader, I write this as a call to action. It is Trans Day of Visibility 2025 and we need to find shared frontiers, shared struggles, target our movements, and seek liberation. I could write about how trans rights are the right to make decisions about your own body, how they are intrinsically intertwined with reproductive rights, how trans rights are the same contesting and negotiation that feminism is grounded in, how they are integral to anti-colonialism, and the overlap with disability justice. Trans rights are human rights, to pilfer a pithier phrase that can fit on a placard. The right to a liveable life for trans people, a liveable life for everyone.
However, this year I want to draw our attention to an evil I feel has gone unaddressed by any charity, advocacy group, collective, or shared movement. An evil that has gone on for far too long. Why is swimwear like that?!
Birmingham LGBT Support Services: We know the importance of tailored services. If you want to reach out or need any support Birmingham LGBT offer trans specific support services, including wellbeing support, counselling, and sexual health testing.
