My cultural awakening: Kate Bush helped me come out as a trans woman'

"The song was intended to be a rejection of the masculine influence that had unwittingly shaped the artist's previous work, and an ode to something taboo within the female experience. Based on Molly Bloom's soliloquy in James Joyce's Ulysses a stream of consciousness in which the character reflects on her experiences of nature, sex and love Bush wanted to celebrate the experience of life inside a woman's body, and the ways it gives her spiritual and sexual pleasure."

"I knew that, for someone like me, who was already being bullied, to openly love a song like this could make me an even more obvious target to those who saw femininity as a sign of weakness. More daunting than that, it might force me to confront my own repressed desires. By the time I was around 17, I had already spent most of my teenage years in a constant state of survival."

"I had a naturally high voice, which I tried and failed to deepen. You sound like a girl, was one of the daily taunts aimed at me by pupils at my school, even as I strained my vocal cords. My camp mannerisms and the way I walked were other noticeable crimes to the boys around me, who enjoyed mocking my sassy stride."

"Growing up in an environment such as this meant I never saw my femininity as something to embrace. That I was soft and girlish was a sign of a defective self. Still, it felt safer to be a feminine boy than a boy who wanted to become a woman."

The Sensual World was conceived as a rejection of masculine influence and an ode to taboo female bodily experience, drawing on Molly Bloom's soliloquy in Ulysses. The song celebrates life inside a woman's body and the spiritual and sexual pleasure derived from it. The narrator feared that openly loving the song would increase bullying and force confrontation with repressed desires. By 17, the narrator had spent adolescence in survival mode, closeted as a transgender woman while being perceived as effeminate. A naturally high voice, camp mannerisms and a sassy stride attracted daily taunts. Femininity became a mark of defectiveness, and being a feminine boy felt safer than aspiring to be a woman. School sixth-form arrangements introduced proximity to girls and local forests.

Read at www.theguardian.com