Joelle | Joey | Noel

A powerful reflection on identity and gender, Noel shares their journey of navigating society’s gender binary and what it means to truly know oneself.

(English translation)

Legally, my name is Joelle A. Noguera. My family knows me as Joey. A majority of my friends know me as Joelle, but here in Ateneo, you’ll know me as Noel. I have a lot of names, but I really only have one identity. It seems to be the mystery that everybody wants to figure out about me.

When I meet new people, usually the first question they ask is, “Are you a boy or a girl?” Often, they ask that even before asking for my name because people decide they know everything they need to know about me based on whether I’m a girl or a boy.

But who am I? That’s a complicated question. When I was born, even though I was biologically female, my birth certificate says male. Even the doctor was confused about what I am.

Growing up, I didn’t know how to answer the question, “Who am I?” There was a time when I didn’t identify with anything feminine — the thought of it would make me cringe. But then, there are times when I want to feel…