NYT phallo article disclosed info about trans bucket leading to a huge influx of white nationalist traffic resulting in the creator(s) of trans bucket deciding to take the site down until further notice.
I’ll post about it more tomorrow
I’m literally still so upset with this. But here’s what happened:
For context, the New York Times recently published an article about a trans man named Ben’s phalloplasty journey with ALT phallo under Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langer & Zhao. The article was written by a non-binary theythem author that is presumably not seeking phallo.
Here is what the article did well: Gave in-depth descriptions of phalloplasty, scrotoplasty, urethroplasty, and glansplasty; discussed the history of phalloplasty starting with Lawrence Dillon Francis (the first trans man to get phallo); mentioned the customizable nature of phalloplasty
Now here’s what the article did WRONG:
in a time of rising transphobic violence and especially transphobic legislature restricting access to transgender biomedical care, the article went out of its way to describe phalloplasty as a half-baked dangerous procedure with “high complication rates” (what do complications mean exactly) that is essentially only worthwhile if you would rather die that not get this surgery.
The language around post op penises was often callous and disrespectful.
The article named specific inter community resources (Transbucket, phallo Facebook groups) as well as naming surgeons outside of Ben’s specific practitioner. TRANSBUCKET had to be taken down as a result of a huge influx of white nationalist web traffic with no restoration date in site.
The article even quoted RBL saying basically “well phalloplasty uniquely kinda sucks and in other contexts we wouldn’t accept such complication rates but it’s for transgenders so whatever”. Which, what the fuck kind of attitude is that for a popular surgeon??? Fuck all the ppl who have had phallo with you I guess.
Made the correct assertion that the small patient sample Pool makes it difficult to come to consensus on overall all best practices. BUT did go into any description whatsoever about the extensive research being done by surgeons around the world to improve safety. (Assuming there even is a One True Best Practice). Basically didnt discuss at all how various surgeons /researchers are actively trying (and succeeding) in optimizing their methods
Glossed over the fact that phallo has like a 96/97% satisfaction
Gave a really graphic description of urethroplasty for shock value (“slicing open the underside of the penis”) without mentioning that this technique is unique to Dr RBL’s ALT urethroplasty only.
& the biggest thing: DID NOT EVEN DISCUSS THE INSANE BARRIERS TO ACCESS!!!!! Getting phallo is an unfortunately expensive, time consuming, and heavily involved surgery from prepping for surgery to recovering from surgery and beyond. Somehow this was actively ignored instead choosing to briefly mention “more demand = more new inexperienced surgeons” (who are trained by the very experienced surgeons btw)
HOW the FUCK are you, as a non-binary journalist & trans contributor/subject going to back handedly dunk on phallo the entire article IN THIS CURRENT CLIMATE and also COMPLETELY IGNORE HOW DIFFICULT PHALLO ACCESS CAN BE. Trans ppl across the US are having their rights restricted for medical transition, RvW is eroding people right to privacy & bodily autonomy yet the focus was “uhhhh phalloplasty kinda shitty but I guess if you’d rather die it’s worth it”.
Are you fucking kidding???? The same climate that the UK bottom surgery crisis left phalloplasty patients without care for nearly 2 years & effectively pushed back the over 5 year waitlist for the single (1) phallo team for the entire region?
The same time many states are actively putting forward legislature that makes biomedical transition increasing illegal for minors and potentially even ADULTS????
What the fuck is wrong with the both of you????? How as a non-binary/trans journalist could you even for a second think this was ok?????? I literally hope they rot in hell.
So here we are. As many of you already know, I’m about to embark on a year-long phalloplasty/recovery journey which includes 3 surgeries and 3 round trips from Vancouver to Austin, Texas. This is without a doubt, going to be one of the most difficult things I will ever go through, not only physically and mentally but financially as well. I would be lying if I said I’m not overwhelmed and completely terrified… but I’m also excited and more than any of that, I am hopeful about a future where my body can feel like home to me. If you would like to support me in this journey, please donate if you can or share my fundraiser page. All my love. ❤
Here’s my (bad) diagram of what my body looks like.
I’m post-op from ALT phalloplasty with scrotoplasty and glansplasty without vaginectomy or urethral lengthening.
Things that the drawing doesn’t really show very well:
If you’re standing directly in front of me, you can’t see the scrotum behind my penis shaft unless I lift up my penis or move it to the side.
If you’re standing directly in front of me and I’m holding my penis up or to the side, you’d only see my scrotum, you can’t see my clitoris/vagina while looking at me from the front.
You can only see the original bits if you look up between my legs when I’m standing, or if I spread my legs while I’m laying down.
The labia majora are gone, they were turned into the scrotum.
The labia minora were used to cover the area where the majora used to be so it looks like they’re gone because they were flattened out and don’t stick out. It’s hard to explain this one.
I don’t know where my urethra is but it is in the same place as where it was when I was pre-op so I have to sit to pee, I’ve just never bothered looking for it. I might try using an STP at some point. So no, I can’t pee through the penis or ejaculate through it.
It took several months, but I have some level of sensation in about 90% of my penis now. It feels like a bigger less-sensitive clitoris to me.
After I get the pump erectile implant in June, I’ll be able to have an erection with my penis which will make it easier to top and penetrate my partner during sex, and my vagina still works like it used to, so I can also bottom and be vaginally penetrated if I want to.
I colored the donor site and the split thickness skin graft site in as one red square because I have hypertrophic scarring that makes it hard to find the line between the two since they were touching even before the scar growth so I just drew it as one block, but technically there are two different things happening on the same thigh.
I’ve gotten a few questions about how I can have a penis and a vagina, so hopefully this drawing helps answer that question by showing the gist of the set-up.
