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An article about a rarely mentioned group, transmen.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/30/trans-top-sur...
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Comments
Demystification
In earlier days, to highlight misconceptions, being transgendered was described as having "The only mental illness curable by surgery". The Guardian does seem to be doing a good job of demystifying the whole question
Rhona McCloud
Less reported on for another reason
Transmen fly under the radar - a lot. Post-puberty trans-women need a lot more help and there is also the whole stigma of losing male privilege
Socially speaking they pass very well in any non-sexual situation so they need to deal far less with the whole society hating them thing in general.
Besides who does not want to become a man? /s
That said there is a problem with a lack of a working penis unless far more heroic measures are taken. Lack of a sex life does not necessarily equate to a non-fulfilling life but having a hard time passing can lead to somebody ending your life.
Thanks for sharing this arcticle with us.
It's very well written and beside describing an for this site here a rather unusual case, it's very much like I hope many other transitions. Fred's story reminds me very much of mine, which seems to be different then the usual rushed transition in one or two years I saw in Germany.
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>> There is not one single truth out there. <<
Excellent Article
I liked this comment. [Quotes from previous comments are in italics]
if you're born with a vagina and not a penis you are a female at birth
That's ideology. And it's at odds with science. Gender identity depends on a whole host of biological and cultural factors, the least relevant of which is what parts you have between your legs.
It's sounds like psycho-babble
Learn some biology. Get to know some trans people. Not everyone fits into a tidy gender binary.
I don't understand how you can be "assigned female" at birth
Look at your birth certificate. If it has an entry for "sex", you were assigned a gender at birth. By someone with imperfect knowledge and no better ability to predict the future than anyone else. And of course, you weren't consulted on the matter. How could you be while you're a baby?
Same applies if your parents raised you as a boy or a girl (almost all parents do). It usually isn't because they're trying to be cruel, it's just what they're culturally conditioned to do. Again, someone else is making a choice for you based on what they think is best for you. Sometimes they get it wrong.
Do you let yourself be defined by what you have between your legs? If so, I feel sorry for you.
That comment
Yes, I liked that one too. I have scattered a few in there myself...
The usual 'social construct' comments are there, as well as an astonishing number of people who seem unable to grasp the simple fact of sex assignment at birth. It's done by the medical practitioner after a quick look between your legs.
Another inspiring one
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/...
More from the Guardian
an interview with Dan Savage who gives advice to gay people. I would take issue with his criticism of people living in stealth after transitioning as doing nothing for the cause. I've done my bit as a previous trustee of the Gender Trust and organiser of their helpline which I ran for 4 years. I also hope my writing here helps some people in various ways.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/02/dan-savage-gay-...
Angharad
Moderation by circumstance
As the only public TG at the time in the city I lived I did my bit but I drew the line at television when a boyfriend who happened to be a presenter wanted to interview me so I guess I "let the side down". However that meant that when I moved I went "stealth" by default as it is not the sort of thing you casually mention.
Maybe it would help someone if in my present world it were known that they originally put male on my birth certificate but the price for me would be to always be thought of first in those terms. The proportion of the population that transition is just too small for an "open" individual to fit in without being labelled by a stereotype or held up as a role model
Question: a non-sexual friend is both a public figure and a lesbian spokeswoman. She doesn't know of my past so what difference would it make if I dropped it into conversation?
Rhona McCloud
That depends
Today, I saw an ad in the Grauniad for a book called "Straight Expectations", which is apparently about the continuing bigotry in respect of gay people. Unfortunately, I then noticed it was written by Julie Bindel, who is a transphobic bigot of the worst kind. Apparently, the only reason 'men' have surgery is so they can enter women-only spaces so as to masturbate. Er... what with, exactly?
Bindel is also famous for declaring that she 'became a lesbian for political reasons'. Ignoring all the rubbish about gay cures and lifestyle choices, she clearly gives utterance from an unusual anatomical region. My point with this is a simple one: it depends entirely on what species of lesbian your friend is.
Some geological aeons ago, when I had come out to some friends, one of them (the original inspiration for my character Ginny) caught me doing something stupid and had a rant to a friend. Every pronoun was feminine, and though I doubt she was aware of it she nearly brought me to tears in my gratitude. You all know why on this site. Anyway, we were discussing Bindel, and she brought up the 'political reasons' drivel. Her response was "I am not a lesbian as some political ******* choice!"
Summary: if your friend is a true friend, then she will accept you. If your friend is of the Bindel/Raymond/Greer/ad nauseam trend, then she will not. I would modestly suggest that if she is a true friend, but of that latter group, she will demonstrate an ability to learn.
I'm with Angharad on this.
I don't doubt this friend would accept my past without a second thought but we have a second mutual acquaintance who is of the strident lesbian variety. Would the first friend be able to resist pointing out that the woman the second chased for some time (before dismissing her as maybe not lesbian and "too girly") had been born with a dangly bit!
In this area you can't be "a little bit out"
Rhona McCloud
Why bother?
Just because others are open about themselves doesn't mean you have to be, unless perhaps you're going to bed them - where some form of candidness might be appropriate. I only tell when absolutely necessary, which ain't often. The biggest problem I have now is in knowing who knows and who doesn't, my transition was rather public and was featured in a local newspaper and some years later in the News of the World, it also apparently featured on the local news. And some have greatness thrust upon them!
Angharad
Transition
My own attracted and attracts rather a lot of gossip. Human nature, I suppose. I have a transwoman acquaintance who holds a radically different view to my own, which is a simple one: all I want to be, all I have ever wanted, is to be normal, unremarkable and perceived as female. She is of the 'out and proud' persuasion. Now, I will argue viciously online, and that is my right, but with flesh and blood situations I just want to be another woman in the room.
Normal and unremarkable, please.
I note the Beeb have put a news article up on the subject of Bindel's book. The references to trans people are....minimal.