Physical comfort is a term used to describe how someone is comfortable looking. One might be comfortable wearing a specific type of clothing, a specific haircut or even having specific genitals. Society often categorises these with concepts such as masculinity, femininity, or androgyny. It’s important to know that all of these concepts are social constructs that might vary depending on one’s society and culture.
Types of Physical Comfort
There are two types of physical comfort that someone can experience:
Physical-Aesthetic Comfort
This is how someone is comfortable when dressing, cutting their hair, wearing certain accessories, and other aesthetic features. One might feel dysphoria if their look doesn’t fit them.
Physical-Sexual Comfort
This is how someone is comfortable with their genitals and other sexual features like body hair, wider hips or shoulders, or their chest. One might feel comfortable with the sex they were born with, others might suffer dysphoria and try to change their body via surgeries and treatments.
Physical Comfort vs Gender Expression
One can decide to express their gender through clothes, haircuts or even their body and organs. This is called gender expression. Although, the physical comfort of a lot of people doesn’t match their gender and they prefer to look one way while they feel another way. For example, not all the trans men want a feminine look or a female body and some cisgenders are more comfortable wearing the opposite gender’s clothes.
Physical Comfort vs Preferences
The main difference between physical comfort and a preference is that a preference is a choice, while someone can’t choose how they are more comfortable. One might choose to wear specific clothes because they prefer it that way or they are acting, but others might feel dysphoria if they don’t look the way they are comfortable with.