Safe Places to Explore and Experiment

Gemma sitting in front of a track sewing machine, next to a clothing rack with a few items of clothing, in interview format.

Gemma: If someone was finding difficulty exploring their style and trying to figure out how they could express themselves through clothing but were too nervous to get out, and finding a hard time with that, I would tell them, like, find the places in which you feel like you could comfortably experiment. You might not know what things you’ll find appealing, what things suit you. Even things that you like, once you wear them you might find, “oh, that doesn’t fit, I just like how it looks.” And that takes experimentation.

There’s generally safe areas to have experimentation, whether that starts, like, in your own bedroom in front of a mirror or whether that extends to safe community hubs, like in Ottawa at the Ottawa Trans Library, they have board game nights like every Thursday, that was oftentimes when I tried to dress up a little bit more because, like, it was accepted for people to come in- even dressed up a little bit more, not just casual even though it was a very casual night, just because it was a safe place to- and continues to be a safe place- to explore that. And so I would encourage people to find and reach out to safe spaces to explore and experiment, and then once the confidence is gained in those areas, that can extend out further into general life and that confidence gained there can be carried forward.