The Gender-Affirming Power of Scent: Queer Stories of Fragrance

Trans and nonbinary people are sick of having to explain to you who they are. They’ve spent their lives doing it—defending their identities from schoolyard bullies and the American government, all within the first fractions of their lifetimes. On the inauguration day of Donald Trump’s second term as president of the United States, the White House issued an executive order to “end the federal funding of gender ideology,” deeming the fluidity of gender norms an “inchoate social concept”—jeopardizing the livelihoods, families, and identities built upon the notion that gender is not a physical being but a word that pins heterosexual normatives onto unsubscribing individuals.

People have taken to the streets and congressional floors to battle these subjugative orders, but often the strongest acts of defiance are the simplest—trans and nonbinary individuals living their lives authentically, wearing the makeup and clothes that represent their innermost identities. One of the most affirming ways that people can express themselves without saying a word is with fragrance.