Ryan Bryce
I’m a second year BA (Hons) Creative Writing student, the President of
LGBTQ+ at Greenwich, a Societies Executive, a programme representative
for my course, Assistant Managing Editor for Projector Magazine
(Greenwich’s literary journal), a Student AccessAbility Ambassador, and
also work for the university in UK Student Recruitment.
For me, being LGBTQ+ is another facet of how I express myself - my
rejection of gender and all it entails allows me the creative freedom to
craft myself as I wish, and ultimately makes me feel more comfortable as
a person. In addition to that, I always feel like love knows no
boundaries - it is a free breathing entity that should be given to all.
If I had to label myself it’d be as pansexual, but I tend to try and
avoid classifying myself as something and instead say that I’m just not
something else. I’m not straight.
Looking relatively masculine and not indulging in many feminine
appearance aspects (I don’t wear make-up, for example) means that I am
consistently misgendered, which stings a little, but I think it’s
something I should expect. I’m lucky to have a family of incredible
friends who are supportive wherever possible, but it is sometimes
difficult to be the only agender person I know. Thankfully, the
university is supportive in struggles like these and I know I have a
support network should I need it.
With my way of considering gender to mainly be rejecting everything
else, I feel like there wouldn’t be much that the wider world could do to
enhance my own experience, aside from preaching gender neutrality
wherever possible (particularly within the fashion and modelling
industries). I always think that a good start is empathy. Talk to people.
Learn things about how people feel and how people express themselves
comfortably, and, ultimately, we might make it easier for everyone else
to do just that.