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Transgendering Goes Female To Male Too

Sat, 2008-03-15 12:10 — figleaf

Following up on my post about transgendered women in Transamerica, I ought to mention there’s a great article about trans men in this week’s New York Times Magazine. When Girls Will Be Boys, by Alissa Quart, who is sympathetic and has a clue, really digs into the issues of identity, decision making, obstacles, and the details of transition for women who make the switch to men.

It’s funny, in conversation or even while writing this post I keep wanting to say “I don’t know why…” when addressing a perception that transvestism, transsexuality, and transgenderism is mostly about men who wish to become women. Except of course I’m pretty sure I do know: from Milton Berle to Monty Python’s the Lumberjack Song to Gottfried in Gravity’s Rainbow to 10,000 punch lines about gay men lisping and (inexplicably) carrying purses to Transamerica itself to… well… the list is long but basically pop history’s full of references real or imagined of male-to-female transitions, temporary and complete. But outside of a few plot devices in Shakespeare, Marlene Dietrich and maybe K.D. Lang, and various folk songs about women cross-dressing so they can find or be with their soldier/sailor lovers there’s just not that much there.

Which is probably sort of a blessing since often trying to buck the gender trend isn’t very well received, but also a bit of a shame because there’s not a lot of comprehension, sympathy, or support either.

(Via Courtney Martin)

Sun, 2008-03-16 02:33 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

I liked the article (and in a way, was pleased to discover that I’m not the only person who finds breast binding prohibitively uncomfortable). Have you seen this article about some of the issues associated with female-to-male transitions for people of color? It was circulating in the feminist blogosphere recently, and I found it helpful. One of the accusations that sometimes gets leveled at FtM transexuals is that they’re just doing it for the male privilege. But the way privilege works isn’t that cut-and-dried.

Also, on Saturday, I saw a production of I Am My Own Wife, the play about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, and now I’m keen to read her autobiography (or the English translation of it). She was a transgendered person (MtF) who lived through both the Nazi regime and the communist regime in East Berlin, and kept a museum of antique artifacts that she had saved from the war. Before I saw the play I didn’t even realize that she had existed.

Still have to get myself to Transamerica

Sun, 2008-03-16 04:21 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

The “why” may also be to do with the medical fact that MtF is a lot more common than FtM in terms of transsexualism – which might be explained by differences in the genetic information encoded by the XX or XY chromosomes, or it might reflect something to do with social depictions.

Although, for a strong archetype of FtM transgenderism, there is of course the tale of Joan of Arc (although the ending isn’t very positive in that particular story…). There’s also the traditional folk song of “The Female Drummer Boy”. Tales of female pirates who disguised themselves as men in the 18th Century also abound, and at least two are known to have existed in real life. Anne Bonney (I’m unsure of the spelling) was one of these, who, once captured, escaped execution by getting herself pregnant. History does not relate what happened to her after that. Then there’s the legend of the female Pope, which still has repercussions today in that a new Pope has his genitals checked by the cardinals before he is enthroned.

Sun, 2008-03-16 19:21 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

SnowdropExplodes, are transmen really that much less common than transwomen nowadays? I can’t remember the source, but recently I read somewhere that the numbers of transmasculine individuals seeking therapy and/or medical transition were at or approaching numbers roughly equal to those of transwomen. I don’t think this is because there are more of them than in previous generations, just that for whatever reasons they seemed to be less visible until now.

Mon, 2008-03-17 15:04 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

I have tracked down my source for the remark, it turns out that it is not as conclusive as I made it sound.

In a 2006 survey carried out by the British Home Office, 59% of respondents identified as MtF transsexual or transvestite; only 15% identified as FtM transsexual or transvestite.

The report stated that this was consistent with ratios from other European and North American nations, where a ratio of 1 FtM for every 3 to 4 MtF was consistently observed (the 1:3 ratio was the most recent source quoted in the report, being from 1998).

This source is not as medically precise as I had recalled it as being, though.

Tue, 2008-03-18 11:08 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

For the record I don’t know what the actual numbers are either. I think it makes something of a difference whether you’re measuring people with Gender Identity “Disorder” or those who don’t feel tied down. They’re pretty different but outsiders don’t always see the differences. Also, P, you’ve got a point — a lot of people do say that. Similar accusations are leveled against MtF transsexuality. It’s often associated with other forms of “slumming” by dominant’s like blackface minstrel shows and claims of “Indian” heritage. Sometimes? Maybe so. But the definition of “sometimes” just doesn’t include “always” as one of the meanings. :-)

figleaf

Tue, 2008-03-18 12:33 — 2017 (not verified) #permalink

On the fluidity/don’t feel tied down matter, the same survey came up with the following results:

Nearly 40% of those who responded were not living permanently in their acquired gender; of these, 54% said that they did not intend to do so in the future.

Roughly 3/4 of respondents identified themselves as ts/tv/cd, while roughly 1/4 identified as their acquired gender only. That ratio appears to have been consistent between MtF and FtM.

I think the “slumming it” assumption forms a lot of the basis for excluding transwomen from women-only spaces.

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