Emerging into any industry as a young, working-class, transgender boy in 2023 is effortsome, and I understand these esoteric troubles from a fundamental level.
This is who I am.
My name is Henry; he/they.
I am a queer boy born in Croydon, currently seventeen, young and sweet, and studying English, Film Studies, and Sociology at A-Level. I aim to pursue English with Film at university in 2024, progressing into an optimistically prodigal career in writing of any and all forms. The interweaving of my female upbringing, my pivot into masculinity, and the experiences between them have vastly bolstered my ethics and provided emotional backing for my values; my values being of equity among all, intersectional understanding, and the pursuit of kindness. I am also partial to a bit of drawing.
I aspire to honour this moral code especially through my writing, as I aim to share my own story of gender and class hardships, as well as broadcasting the stories of other people.
Other people are very important to me.
I am constantly surrounded by a wildly diverse plethora of cultures and characters, and I firmly believe that the world needs to know about it. All of it.
This is why, with be it poetry or journalism or simply artistic expression, I am fully geared toward making our society a more aware and understanding place.
I first heard about the GGM summer academy from my Film Studies teacher, and was urged by family and friends to apply. Once I had done some research into the charity's work, I was absolutely ecstatic to join. I'm excited to see what the course has in store for me and my interests, as well as deepening my understanding and passion for the investigation and exposure of gendered representation in the media.
I currently work as a face painter in a theme park, using any and all time between endless glitter tattoos and hair wraps to jot down new ideas and to draw characters and people on the backs of receipts; most of my fiction-based writing surrounds characters I have created and their intricate and colourful backstories, majorly for video games such as Skyrim or Fallout; whilst I'd love to say that I paint children's faces so I can save for university, we both know that I'm just counting my coins so that I can buy Fantastic Mr. Fox-themed memorabilia and impossibly more orange-coloured clothes and objects and teddies and pens and…
I like video games a lot. I think that looking into the representation in video games especially is very important; this is as well as films targeted toward children as, whilst they are currently just tiny sponges of ideology, they will eventually age into the adults that make our laws and help our people.
We already have an incredibly diverse range of people and ideas, now it's just time for the world to listen to them.
Author: Henry (he/they)
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