#trans men

uncanny-tranny:

I’ve seen this attitude from non-trans men that, “why would you choose be a man?” in this almost degrading tone, but honestly… even if me being a trans man were a choice, I’d still choose this every single time. I would choose this happiness. I would still choose to fight as I’ve done for years to be seen. I would still choose to transition. If this were a choice (it isn’t, but if it were), I am very content with it.

I love being a man. I love my trans body. I love my male body. I love my male identity. I love my fellow trans men. I love my community. I love the compassion trans men have, I love our drive, I love our dedication, I love our resilience.

a few things to keep in mind as you talk about the current situation with roe v wade:

1. women are not the only people who can get pregnant, and therefore are not the only people who get abortions or the only people affected by restrictions to abortion access — sincerely, a man with a uterus
2. the recent legislation against trans people transitioning, particularly as it relates to trans men and transmasc people, has been justified by the politicians supporting it using the argument that transitioning jeopardizes our reproductive potential, which they see as more important than our actual lives. if you support the legislation against us or have been silent about it, you cannot claim to be fighting for reproductive rights. you don’t get to only care about it when it affects you — if you let them get away with that rhetoric against trans people, you give them the power to use it against you. if you can’t stand in solidarity with us, you will end up standing against yourself

please don’t forget us in these conversations, and don’t be silent about the attacks on our bodily autonomy

all of this is connected — criminalizing transition, overturning roe v wade, it’s all working toward the same goal. if you care about one part of it, you have to care about all of it, or any efforts against it willfail

if you don’t care enough about us to fight our oppression for our sake, do it because you cannot fight against your own oppression without fighting ours too

venice-1987:

Its undeniable that trans men face unique discrimination that trans women don’t face right? We have to worry about abortion and reproductive healthcare access, for example. 

You agree with that right?

So why are you getting more angry at what we choose to call that discrimination more than the discrimination itself. Why is the response “you’re talking over trans women” instead of “wow. As a trans woman I didn’t know that. I am glad that you are able to talk about your experiences, lets fight this together.”

The cries of one marginalized group don’t drown out the cries of another. that’s not how it works. 

enjolraean:

TERFs be like

“We’re not trans-exclusionary! We include trans men in our feminism, they’re our ““sisters”” too!”

*proceed to fight against language that includes trans men in necessary reproductive healthcare and rights*

*refuse to listen to the lived experience of trans men and the unique struggles they face in comparison to cis people of either (binary) sex*

*victim-blame transmasc survivors of s//xual assault bc they went into men’s spaces and apparently that justifies fucking r//pe*

*just outright insult transmasc bodies with no provocation, for fun I guess?*

just got this reply to my post about the whole “testosterone is poison” thing and i want to clarify something because i’m sure a lot of other people will make the same assumption that this person did:

[Alt text: reply from @screwyouandrew which says: “It’s ALWAYS either a transphobe trying to convince you not to transition or a detransitioner who wants to project their feelings on to everyone else. Sometimes it’s a mix of both. I have never seen anyone outside of those groups say that bogus]

like…it’s absolutely not always those people, i can assure you

is it often them? yeah!

but that post was actually inspired by a tweet from a trans person who posted a picture of a shirt that said “survivor of testosterone poisoning” and said “this would be perfect for trans women”

this rhetoric is much more common within the trans community than you think, and that’s what makes it so frightening — it’s not just the people who we already know hate us and don’t want us to transition, it’s also members of our own community

no hate to the person who sent that reply, it’s totally possible that some people just aren’t in the right circles to come across the trans people who say this stuff, but the trans people saying it absolutely do exist

i wish it was just garden variety transphobes, that would be much easier to stomach even if it would still suck, but unfortunately that’s just not the case

lateral transandrophobia is very real, and this kind of harmful rhetoric exists within the trans community as well as outside of it

idk who needs to hear this but testosterone is not poison, it did not poison you, you just didn’t like the effects it had on you

as it is, testosterone is highly controlled (to the detriment of countless trans men/mascs trying to access hrt) because the fearmongering about its effects is so prevalent

it’s literally illegal for us to have it without a doctor’s permission, and even its controlled status is used to get in the way of us being able to access it (delaying when we can refill prescriptions, etc)

how do so many people see that think it’s like…all fun and games and totally harmless to talk about it like a literal poison?

even if none of that were true, it would be shitty — i wish every day that i could get top surgery and undo what estrogen did to my chest but you don’t see me calling it poison just because i don’t like it’s effects! and why don’t i? because i know my experiences aren’t universal and me not liking it doesn’t make it poison, so i’m not going to shit on it and make the people who like/need it feel bad!

but ESPECIALLY when fearmongering about testosterone has led to legal restrictions that have fucked so many of us over AND there have been so many attacks on transitioning access recently, how do people not see that talking about it that way is bad?

access to testosterone is incredibly precarious for many many people right now because its status as a controlled substance makes it a particularly easy target for people who want to stop us from transitioning — there’s never a right time for comments like that, but even if there was, *right now is not it*

not to mention, the most recent example of this rhetoric that i’ve seen (the one that inspired this) is especially disturbing because it’s literally a trans person looking at a shirt made by a transphobe calling testosterone poison and saying “oh that’s perfect for me!”

like…how can you look at something made by a transphobe (which was made with the sole purpose of being transphobic), think “i love this! perfect for me!”, and not realize that there’s something Very Wrong With That?

i have so little patience left for this bullshit at this point. i want to be understanding because i know dysphoria sucks and testosterone’s effects are super painful for some people, but i just don’t have it in me

testosterone is not poison, it’s a very natural hormone which most (if not all) people have in their bodies in some capacity, and for some of us the effects of it are genuinely so healing and just…generally wonderful

i’ve been on t for almost two months now and i’m fucking THRILLED! i love what it’s done so far! my therapist of almost 7 years said she’s never seen me smile as much as i do now! my voice has only just started dropping and i’ve already gone from hating the sound of it to almost crying from happiness when i hear it sometimes because it sounds so much more right!

does that sound like the effects of a poison to you? no! of course it doesn’t! because it’s not a poison, it’s a fundamentally neutral hormone that some people will love, some will hate, and some will be totally indifferent to. there’s nothing inherently bad about it, no matter how much you personally disliked it

if you care about trans men and transmascs like…literally at all, you should be advocating for testosterone to be descheduled, not adding to the demonization of it that allowed them to restrict it in the first place

why shit on something that’s been so incredibly life-changing (and life-saving) to do many members of your community, which so many of us have had to fight to get, when you could do literally anything else?

deeply deeply exhausted with the way everyone seems to think it’s perfectly okay to relentlessly make fun of how trans men and transmasc people look

i see it everywhere, from cis people and other trans people (including other trans men and transmascs — thanks internalized transphobia). no one has any qualms about just…throwing as many “jokes” and criticisms at us as they possibly can. if it boils down to calling transmasculinity ugly, it’s fair game to them and i’m sick of it

no one wants to hear about how bad you think our facial hair is. no one wants to hear your comments about our acne or hairlines. no one wants to hear about how upset you would be if you had our scars. no one wants to hear about how gross you think bottom growth is. nobody asked for your opinions on our bodies so please stop sharing them!

and of course, it’s all part of this larger idea that transmasculinity is something to be mocked and rejected. the comments about our voices, our names, our clothes, our hair, everything — nothing about us is free from being ridiculed in one way or another

but the criticisms of our bodies in particular have been on my mind lately as i’ve started seeing changes from t, and it’s absolutely exhausting seeing all these things that i really like (or at least feel neutral about) and knowing that the rest of the world, including members of my own community, will see them as my body being ruined

leave our bodies alone. we’re literally just sitting here existing, that’s not an invitation for you to make every joke you can think of and pick apart every inch of us

the “jokes” aren’t funny, y’all just have a fucking pathetic sense of humor

fakeboism:

Mfs are like “I totally see trans men as men” and then perform cringe culture against anything associated with transmascs with the same vigorous vitriol they’d do to boy bands or YA

glassaxolotl:

renniequeer:

No: “Dysphoria isn’t what makes you trans, gender EUPHORIA is what makes you trans!”

Yes: “The only requirement to be trans is that you do not 100% identify with the gender you were assigned at birth. Arbitrary standards of transness only serve to hurt trans people and give cis people more ammunition against us. Stop hyping up these arbitrary standards and milestones.”

I’ve reblogged stuff like that before, but this is right.

aj-thespian:

aj-thespian:

elfiot:

twshitlord:

Pro-tip to young trans guys:

If a stranger misgenders you, please please please do not ever utter the phrase, “I’m a man.” It sounds very unnatural and immediately sounds overly defensive.

My advice? Just look at the person like they’re an idiot and, in the deepest voice possible, say, “Uh. Alright, then.”

Just act as though they made a huge and obvious mistake, and don’t get flustered. If you’re comfortable with it, handle the situation with humor and say something like, “Man, I know I’ve got a babyface, but I didn’t think it was thatbad.”

and if someone doesn’t believe u, say you have a hormonal imbalance + are on meds for it. it’s quick, believable, and most ppl are too uncomfortable discussing health problems with strangers to question it.

THIS POST, hang on somewhere is the notes is a sentence that changed my whole fucking life! I don’t have time to dig for it right now but

Can’t find it, going to just going to explain it. I’ve been out for like 4 and a half years. I saw this post when I was Freshly Out, and this post has been so deep in my fucking rat brain for actual years.

You have to react like you’re not expecting to be misgendered. It’s hard and it’s weird, because I know, you walk out into the world very aware and afraid of how the cis people are going to perceive you. But deadass there is a “Wow, that stranger has made a bold call there” mentality that, yeah it’s a fake it till you make it type of deal. But once I internalized that, I genuinely don’t even hear people misgendering me most of the time.

I’m nonbinary, most of the time my gender presentation priorities are Have Fun and Look Queer.

The first time I noticed that being misgendered slides off my brain like a wet duck I was in a 7/11 and a cashier tried to direct me to the cardboard drink sleeves while I was like 3rd or 4th in line (yeah it was kinda weird, I was holding a large hot coffee in my bare hand and I guess it freaked the dude out, but like my hands are actually really heat resistant I was fine, anyway) He said several variations on “Mam, would you like a cardboard sleeve for your coffee, they’re right there” and I legitimately did not process that he could possibly be talking to me until he tried something like “the one in the red hat” and then I tuned back in and declined the heat protectant sleeve. (I do not know why this human man was so insistent that I needed a heat protection cardboard sleeve, and I’m gathering that me totally zoned the fuck out to his multiple attempts to get my attention holding something that he apparently thought was made out of fucking lava probably had the exact Genderless Eldritch Horror effect that we all know and love)

I accidentally also did this to one of my professors a couple weeks ago, I was given an instruction with she/her pronouns in it, purely by accident, this professor genuinely does right by his trans students as best he can, but I legitimately did not even process that it was for me until he repeated it with they/them.

This compared with a couple years ago a different professor slipped up and used me in an example to the class with she/her pronouns and I literally barely held myself together until the end of the class, made it 4 steps out the door and started silently crying.

It feels fucking powerful in a “that should have hurt, and I didn’t even notice, cis people have no power over me” way. I have a little piece of the security that cis people have in the way that they interact with the world. And that is absolutely precious.

It takes untraining years of social conditioning, and pretending that you can’t fathom that someone would use those words on you, that no one has ever said that to you before and the words are so foreign that they mean nothing to you.

And yeah I started out begging my body not to flinch when a stranger calls out “mam”, and practicing a moment of confusion and unaffected disbelief when cashiers would ask if I found everything I was looking for “young lady” and deliberately ignoring the incorrect gendered terms. And you know op’s “Just look at the person like they’re an idiot, break out the deep voice and say “Um, alright then”” it will feel fake at first.

Butfuckat some point it stops being an act, and that feels fucking bulletproof.

Bottom surgery costs more than their Lamborghini but when they flex it it’s ‘cool’ and they have ‘millions of subscribers’ but when you do it, it’s ‘public indecency’ and you have ‘a restraining order’ smh

TRIGGER WARNING: Gender dysphoria. 

Hey, guys. So, as most of you know, my little/wife is a trans woman. She’s wanted Sex Reassignment Surgery since the day she discovered what being trans was. It would make her life so much easier. It would take care of most of her dysphoria, dysmorphia, self-esteem issues… It would make her so, so happy. I want to see her happy in her own skin.

But due to our financial issues, we’re nowhere near being able to afford it ourselves. We’re lucky is we scrape by $100 a month for going out to eat. That’s why, with her blessing, I started a GoFundMe for her to hopefully reach this goal.

Guys, she’s so sweet, and I can’t think of anyone who deserves to be happy as much as she does. She’s such a good person, and it pains me to see her stuck like this. To see her in such distress. 

Here’s the link to the GoFundMe for her surgery. 

https://www.gofundme.com/gender-affirming-surgery-for-lexi

On top of it, if we end up with money after the expenses of her surgery, we plan on donating it to TransActive, so that we can spread awareness and affirmation for trans youth, so that they’re comfortable and informed enough to come out as soon as possible. Lex has no bigger regret than the fact that she didn’t transition earlier. We want to give more people that option.

Any little bit helps, guys! Thank!

For trans men, the chance to participate in sport and exercise can be critical for mental well-being. Men’s Health asked six of them to share their stories.

The Surfer: Taylor Winters, 38

Winters, originally from Transylvania, is used to answering questions on his origins (‘People ask, “Does Transylvania actually exist?” ’ he laughs). After undergoing breast removal– or ‘top surgery’ – in 2019, he discovered a love of surfing, thanks to his reworked physique.

The Weightlifter: Leo Chrzanowski, 29

Growing up in the US and inspired by westerns, Chrzanowski’s first sporting passion was rodeo. After transitioning seven years ago, he feels free to pursue his twin loves of horse riding and weightlifting. His efforts have clearly paid off.

The Boxer: Danny Baker, 34

Currently in training for the World Gay Boxing Championships, Essex-born Baker has always dreamed of boxing against other men on the professional stage.

The Rugby Player: Verity Smith, 40

‘Before rugby, there was nothing. I didn’t know where to fit in,’ Smith has said. Luckily, it turned out he’s pretty good at rugby, having played in both union and league before an accident left him partially paralysed in 2018 – the same year he became the first trans person to win the national ‘Prop Star’ Award.Now playing wheelchair rugby, Smith is focused on promoting inclusion with the charity Mermaids.

The Bodybuilder: Shay Price, 23

From a young age, Price idolised bodybuilders. Now, having spent half of his life as an openly transgender man, Price has overcome genetic setbacks to match his iron-pumping heroes. The next step? Competing on the world stage.

The Martial Artist: Jordan Jackson, 30

As a PT and three-time taekwondo gold medallist, Jackson is on a mission to ‘radically reduce the suicide statistics within the trans community through fitness and a positive mindset’.

Mauricio Ochieng, 30, Kisumu state, Kenya

Mauricio travels seven hours on a bus to Nairobi to collect his testosterone injections. It’s a journey he’s been making for over a year. It’s worth it.

“With the injections my body has started changing, I look less ‘feminine’, my voice is deeper and I’m growing a beard,” he says. “I was finally on the way to becoming myself. I am a man. I was never a woman.”

Growing up in rural Kenya, about 350km from the capital Nairobi, Mauricio knew he was different. He has more than 150 cousins and couldn’t relate to any of them.

“I was the black sheep of the family.”

He knew that he was not a girl, despite his body. His parents believed he was a lesbian. That was bad enough, they said, but it was something they understood. When he told them that he was a man in a woman’s body, they made him leave the family home.

Mauricio was 16 and homeless. He was sexually assaulted multiple times. Just over a year later, he fell pregnant from one of the rapes. People called him a “chkora”, a slur for a street beggar.

He went to his mother’s house and said: “Please don’t make me give birth in the street like a dog.”

She let him come home.

Mauricio’s daughter was born in 2007. He worked at the local market, buying and selling shoes.

In 2018 he decided to begin his transition. Testosterone injections cost around 1,200 shilling per dose (about £9) - which is a day’s work.

The 14-hour round trip each month to collect his medication felt like a huge achievement. Mauricio was saving up for Top Surgery: to have his breasts removed.

Then coronavirus reached Kenya, and soon lockdown restrictions followed.

Mauricio does not have his next supply of testosterone.

“I’m having sleepless nights, depression,” he says. “What will happen if I cannot have access to my medication? What will all this pain have been for?

"I am a trans man in a transphobic country. If I don’t get my medication what will happen to my body - it is already changing. Will I look abnormal? Who is going to fight for us to be heard in this chaos?”