Staten Island, where I was born and raised...
Every once in a while, something progressive takes place on Staten Island.
But then that makes the conservative bigots get angry (read the comments under the article).
July 2010
57 posts
genderqueer: gender ≠ stable →
genderqueer.tumblr.com
…
dude i’ve gotten to the point where i’m taking t without a script and there are still days where i wake up and i ask myself if i’m really trans, what does that mean, what’s up with being a man, that’s really weird, oh god can i just go back to sleep forever, etc.
DDDDD:
Good thread.
OP featured a transwoman in the Safer Sex issue - so I think it's safe to say you'd be okay in terms of identity. Just because it's a transmale magazine doesn't mean all its readers are transmale, or expect to see only that. I wouldn't worry about people thinking you don't look "man enough" either. Anyone who thinks that way doesn't need to be reading OP, or any other queer zine.
Maybe you guys could get creative and take pictures that lack your face? If you can draw, you could doodle your own face then hold it up (think: classic Ducky photo). Or something like that. Idk.
I think Amos tends to make people pretty comfortable, he's a pretty cool guy. Plus it's not like you'd have to strut around naked. I suppose it would have to do with whatever the issue is about. Safer Sex issue was about sex - so it had some n00ds (which Shaan throughly enjoyed), but if you were to do whatever they have up next...y'know.
Do it!
I may get the chance to as well. Amos messaged me awhile back asking where I lived, because he wanted to shoot me. Now that I'm going to Seattle I'll be near San Fran, and they're there a lot, so who knows.
Do ittttttttttt!
(But only if you feel comfortable!)
Thank you for this message, Shaan :) I hope you get the opportunity to be featured in OP.
Decision Time
Well, I wrote Original Plumbing back and told them I’d like to be photographed. Thank you all for your notes of encouragement (Roomie, feel free to e-mail me). I wish Tumblr allowed me to personally respond to replies that people have left on my posts, but either that’s not possible or I just haven’t figured it out.
Original Plumbing: To model or not to model?
So, back in October, Original Plumbing was looking for people who wanted to be photographed for the magazine. I filled out the little “about me”-type survey and sent a photograph of myself, but didn’t get a response…until yesterday.
They’re having a photoshoot next month in Brooklyn and asked me if I wanted to participate. I’m kind of conflicted, though.
Firstly, I’m not “out” to anyone except for my friends. I highly, highly doubt that my family or co-workers would come across my picture in Original Plumbing magazine, but there’s always that slim chance.
Secondly, I’m not sure whether Original Plumbing is an appropriate space for my identity. I wrote in my “about me” survey that I was a “masculine-presenting genderqueer thing”, but I’m wondering if some readers will think, “What the hell is this non-male identifying person doing in a trans-male magazine!?” and get all angery and stuff. The fact that the OP people wrote back to me tells me that they’re okay with a non-binary-identified person being in their magazine, but I do worry about the readers.
Thirdly, despite some of my exhibitionist tendencies, I’m kind of a shy person. Having 143 Tumblr followers see my pictures and read about my gender identity online is different that than thousands of people owning a copy of a magazine with my picture in it, whether I’m naked or not, haha. Additionally, my anatomy (face and body structure) causes me to be read as female 98%, which makes me feel badly about my appearance. Do I really want to think about all of the people who would see my picture and think about how I don’t even pass as male, or ambiguous, even?
There is part of me that does want to partake in this opportunity. I guess I’m going to think about for a couple of days.
“Boy” is an awesome word because it’s a word for a male that isn’t “man.” I’ve been uncomfortable with applying the word “man” to myself ever since I was 16, although that has softened in recent years, especially in compounds such as “gay man” or “femme man.” It’s so nice to have a word for male that doesn’t have those aggressive connotations (“be a man,” “a real man”) that make that word such a blunt instrument. I would say that in most contexts in which my assigned gender is relevant I use the word “boy.” I expect I’ll find one of these days that I can no longer get away with it, but who cares?”
—
femme guy (via genderqueer)
Yes.
...And now for the maternal gender-policing bullshit
I’m trying to convince my mom to come out to California with MC and I to see her sister, nephew, niece, and cousin, but she’s been so stressed out about my brother that she doesn’t know if she wants to travel.
Now, though, she saying that she won’t come if I wear any of those “compression shirts”.
Is anyone else’s mom this fucking nuts about gender? I’m fucking 25-years old.
So. Frustrating.
SFrisco!
MC and I just booked our flights to San Fransisco! We’re gonna be there from August 22nd to 26th, and then heading to Paso Robles to visit some family members.
For those of you who are familiar with the area, please recommend some trans-friendly bars/clubs/parties/places for us to hit up :)
We haven’t planned any part of our trip yet, so…what do you recommend we do in San Francisco?
I think that sometimes people forget that you can be genderqueer without having a more andro appearance. I just wanted to remind people of that.
ellib:skoutt:clitorisaurusrex:genderqueer:
Submitted by charolastramanifesto
ALSO, I think that having long hair shouldn’t take away from your masculinity as well!
Word.
For your ukelele - try somewhere over the rainbow. Youtube has a REALLY good rendition of it in a Scrubs episode. My man of honor played it at the end of my wedding :-)
Thanks for the suggestion - I’m gonna give that a try.
(For those of you who sent in requests: I’m currently working on learning the vocal melodies of “Single Ladies” on ukulele. The song itself doesn’t have many chords or instrumentation - just lots of rhythm to get you moving…)
Livejournal Community: "FTM in Bed" →
community.livejournal.com
Questions, advice and commentary on all things relating to sex for transmasculine folks.
I need some inspiration to play this thing...
Anyone have any songs they want me to try to play on my ukulele?
TRANSPRIDE: Hormones and Supplements; →
transpride.net
Experiments and concerns among the trans community
Many of those in the Trans community, or who fall under the “Trans umbrella” are on, have considered, or at least know about hormone replacement therapy. Not everyone takes hormones, just like not every transperson has any sort of altering…
Congratulations on finding something that works for you! :)
You may have heard of some of these resources for people pursuing a natural transition, but in case you haven’t:
Tristan Skye, founder of TransQueer Nation, has been undergoing a natural transition for a couple of years now. His blog posts and videos on his profile provide tons of information for those who are interested in transitioning via supplements, diet, and exercise. He and his wife have founded “Natural Transition - An FtM Alternative”.
There is also a Livejournal community, Herbal T, which focuses on natural transition. Unfortunately, it’s not very active and doesn’t have that many members, but browsing through some of the older posts might be useful.
In the main FTM Livejournal community, there is a tag for “t-supplements” that has some information.
If finances are your predominant reason for not transitioning via HRT, you might want to check out the “finding local support” tag on the FTM Livejournal community. There might be some information on a clinic in your area that is sliding scale and can accommodate your needs for a discounted price*.
As an aside, if you *are* under a doctor’s supervision and transitioning via testosterone cream or gel, you might want to look into Androforte 5% Testosterone Cream. It’s manufactured by an Australian company and comes out to a little over $100 USD per tube, which typically would last a month and a half if you’re taking 5g of the cream per day, I believe. It’s cheaper than Androgel and Testim.
*I live in the NYC area and was helped tremendously by Callen-Lorde’s sliding scale services. While I was at working at Target and making shit money and uninsured, they gave me an 85% discount on their services. A doctor’s appointment that would normally cost over $200 was reduced to $30 for me.
I really liked your post "Pre-T and 'Pretty'". It's comforting to find other trans guys who have similar feelings about T.
Thank you - I’m glad to hear it resonated with you. I find comfort in hearing about fellow no-ho, lo-ho, or indefinite-amount-of-hormonal- transition guys as well.
Genderfork
I submitted a profile to Genderfork in early December. It was posted on the site a few days ago: http://genderfork.com/2010/profile-leo/
It was kind of weird for me to see that profile resurface nearly seven months after it’s submission; it was almost triggering, in a way. December was a really difficult month for me.
Thank you for the nice review.
I have shortened the strap part that holds the packer a bit so it holds it more snugly and I now sew a secure button hole stitch around the shaft opening with an inside backing. I cannot tell from your photo if this is th
You’re very welcome. I’m sorry that your comment got cut off - that seems to be happening too frequently on my Formspring :/
FTM Garage Sale →
community.livejournal.com
A Livejournal community where people sell binders, clothing, books, prosthetics, etc..
My girlfriend works for the company UncommonGoods. They recently had some of the employees participate in a “gift lab”, in which the employee uses one of UncommonGoods products and then writes a review about it. She chose the Make Your Own Ukulele Kit. We both worked on assembling it, and then she did some custom painting and I learned how to play a few chords. The results of the project are now located on UncommonGoods Gift Lab blog.
Excerpt from a recent interview with Lucas Silveira of The Cliks
Q: You’ve chosen not to take T (testosterone) because of the effects it can have on your singing voice. Was this a difficult decision for you? Do you think you’ll ever change your mind?
A: Well, that decision very recently changed, so yes, I did change my mind. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do T, but I was fed so much fear about what it would do to me vocally that I felt I had no other choice. I have now been on T for 6 months after discovering that the so-called fact around trans guys not being able to sing in fact a myth. I was lucky enough to have found an online community of trans men who documented their voice changes and proved to me without a doubt that I would still be able to sing. I communicated with many of them and was lucky enough to have them know who I was and want to help me.
There are key factors to doing it, like training and singing your heart out on a daily basis. All advice I took. Also, with the help of my Doctor and other amazing people at the Sherbourne Health Centre, I learned that old methods of handing out Testosterone have changed dramatically. I am doing this very slowly. A low dose that will allow my vocal chords to change slowly so that I have wiggle room to train through it. Six months and my voice is doing extremely well. Singing like a baby bird!
And here’s the thing I mainly discovered, most of the dudes who can’t sing after they took T, couldn’t sing before they took T. You have to think along the lines of American Idol here. How many of those people think they can sing ‘cuz their mom told them they could? Now you’re starting to get my drift. Ha ha.
————————————————-
Check out his changed voice!
I found something about mental illness and being trans: http://gender-soldier.org/mental.aspx (not sure if you're still looking for this kind of info, but just in case)
Thank you so, so much for passing this link along.
GRRR I can't get the true life episode to load past the 2nd commercial break! I've restarted, replayed thru, etc ):
Sorry to hear that :( Maybe try watching it in a different browser…? Like, if you’re using Internet Explorer, trying opening it in Firefox, Safari, etc.. Good luck!
I finally watched MTV’s True Life: I’m Changing My Sex. I think that it was pretty well done, for the most part. I didn’t like the very cliche moments of filming the male-to-female person applying make-up, and while I could totally understand why Ted wanted to burn his binder, I couldn’t help but think how useful that used binder might be for someone else can’t afford a binder of their own. Overall, though, nice job, MTV.
Another good resource for the trans community
Not only does Chaz Bono have a website (http://chazbono.net), he also set up a forum/message board for transgender folks, allies, and gay, lesbian and bi people. He has a specific section called “Ask Chaz”, in which he responds to user’s questions about his transition. Chaz also replies to some of the threads that user’s have created on the message board. Check it out!
GV Soft Packers →
early2bed.com
This seems to be one of the only places online that you can buy a relatively cheap, non-pink soft packer.
Thoughts of Citrine: PSA: I'm not... →
november-bites.tumblr.com
I’m not going to succumb to external pressures and expedite my journey towards my ideal self. I’m not going to rush into HRT or bind 24/7 during the summer so my body aligns with the traditional archetype of man/male. Physical transitioning is important to me, I’m just not ready. I want to be done…
What To Do If You Are Flat Like A Ken Doll: On Being Trans at Dyke March →
boygirlboigrrrl.tumblr.com
I missed dyke march this year, but I really wanted to go. And I know some of you are thinking, dyke march? Really? That’s the last place I would expect you, a proud, vocal, visible transperson to go or want to go. Don’t you know that you are not welcome there?
And the answer is sure, and…
I'm bleaching my penis.
And then I’m going to blow dry it so there’s not towel fuzz on it.
- How many guys can say that?
- Does anyone know how to get the rubber smell out?
- How many guys can say ^ that.
- I don’t want formsprings about this.
Going to Dee’s for the weekend. Happy fourth of July everyone : D
Haha - Dude, for a second I thought you were doing some potentially dangerous rendition of this.
Will you be my boifriend?
Yes :)
(My girlfriend just admitted she wrote this to me while sitting across the room a moment ago)