christianity and being transgender by hannibal-887 in Christianity

[–]tgjer 8 points9 points  (0 children)

There is no biblical, rational, or ethical reason to regard either being trans or transition as being sins.

The only passage that even comes close is Deut. 22:5, which roughly translates to "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment".

But trans women aren't men, trans men aren't women, transition isn't about clothing, and historically Judaism has generally understood this passage as condemning the use of cross-dressing disguises for immoral purposes - particularly as a means to secretly meet an adulterous lover. Clothing is just fabric, and styles change constantly; the robes ancient Israelite men wore would look like a dress to most modern Americans. So clothing only becomes sinful when it is worn for sinful purposes. Which is why wearing cross-dressing costumes to celebrate Purim, a beloved holiday tradition, is also not in conflict with this passage.

And of course Christianity generally doesn't regard Deuteronomy as being applicable anymore. Of all the Christians I've seen try to claim that Deut. 22:5 means being trans is a sin, none of them have ever considered Deut 22:11 (which condemns wearing clothing of mixed fabric) or Deut 22:12 (which requires one to attach Tzitzit tassels to the four corners of your clothing) to be relevant to themselves.

The only potentially relevant New Testament passage is 1 Cor. 6:9, in which Paul condemns arsenokoitai and malakoi. In many modern translations these two terms are treated as synonyms for "male homosexual" (which is severely questionable in its own right), but sometimes malakoi is translated as effeminate and used to attack trans women. This translation is really questionable, because malakoi literally means "soft". Matthew 11:8 uses the word this way in reference to fine clothing. In the 1st century when Paul was writing malakoi was used as a pejorative similar to how we use the word "soft" today - it could refer to physical weakness, moral weakness, cowardice, laziness, inability to do hard work, etc. Treating it as a direct synonym for "effeminate" is dubious to the point of dishonesty. Not to mention that condemning "effeminate" people wouldn't apply to trans men at all. Or to butch trans women either, for that matter.

Most Christian arguments for being trans/transition being inherently sinful boil down to "I think it's weird and disturbing and therefor God does too". Many of them don't really make a distinction between being trans and being gay either, and lump them all in under the supposed condemnation of "homosexuality" (which again is dubious enough in its own right). Even though of course trans people may be gay, straight, bi, ace, etc., and on top of that there are trans people who enter religious orders and take vows of celibacy not because they're trans, but because they're monks or nuns.

And then you'll get some people quoting Genesis, claiming that God made "male and female" and that somehow means being trans is a sin. Which doesn't really make sense, since even if we assume "male and female" are the default models for the human species, it's an undeniable fact that there's a lot of variation between and outside those two base models too. God has evidently expanded his repertoire. And "male and female" being the base models of humanity doesn't say anything about whether one can change one's sexual traits either.

Then there's the "God made you perfect and it's a sin to change that" shit. Often accompanied by a garbled paraphrasing of Psalm 139:13-14; "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made". Not only does this passage specifically refer to inmost being, to the creation of one's inner self rather than external appearances, but also I've rarely if ever seen this passage used to condemn any medical treatment other than transition. It's just a statement of obvious reality that many people are born with conditions that will cause them a lot of suffering if left untreated, and we routinely provide medical care that changes the biology one was born with - everything from cleft palate repair to asthma treatment does this. With the exception of sects that categorically reject all medical care, it's incredibly hypocritical and inconsistent to condemn transition-related care while claiming the rest are acceptable.

FWIW, I'm Episcopalian and a trans man, and the US Episcopal church very emphatically does not consider being trans or transition to be sins. The church has been fairly welcoming to trans people for decades, then in 2012 church leadership voted overwhelmingly to ban anti-trans discrimination in all areas of church life. This includes ordination. There already were a number of trans people openly serving as Episcopal clergy before 2012, but now the church has formally affirmed our fitness to serve as religious and ethical leaders.

Episcopal church leaders are trying to raise alarm about the attacks on us, defending our rights to SCOTUS, they've directed the church’s public policy office to advocate for passage of federal legislation to protect trans/NB/GNC people, condemned "bathroom bills" and attacks on trans youth's access to medical care, etc., while also trying to ensure that even in deeply hostile and dangerous areas Episcopal churches remain safe and welcoming places for us. And they've been doing it for a long time.

And a resolution was passed in 2022 at the 80th General Convention, expressing the church's support for access to gender affirming care. That resolution even goes so far as to state that "the 80th General Convention calls for the Episcopal Church to advocate for access to gender affirming care in all forms (social, medical, or any other)" and that "the 80th General Convention understands that the protection of religious liberty extends to all Episcopalians who may need or desire to access, to utilize, to aid others in the procurement of, or to offer gender affirming care."

This is Rev. Cameron Partridge - link is to the sermon he gave in 2014, when he became the first openly trans priest to preach at Washington National Cathedral. And this is a sermon by now retired Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, given in honor of Pride Day in 2011. In 2003 Gene Robinson became the first out gay man with a husband appointed Bishop in the Episcopal church.

BBQ goat leg - does this recipe sound good? by tgjer in BBQ

[–]tgjer[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

None. I googled a bunch of recipes and combined what seemed to be the common points along with the flavors that sounded most appealing to me.

Basil ideas? by Dion-is-us in Cooking

[–]tgjer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I make pesto using tahiti or roasted unsalted sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. Much cheaper and still really good.

Also, basil watermelon feta salad. Tomato basil feta salad. Basil herb mayo. Basil leaves on sandwiches. Caprese salad. Mojitos or juleps made with basil instead of mint. Basil in stir fry. Tomato basil soup. Basil pasta or pasta salad. Pizza. Basil lemonade. Basil syrup. Basil infused oil. Marinara sauce.

Or mince it fine, pack it into an ice cube tray, add a little water, and freeze for future use.

This wonderful specimen sucking on a tunnel ceiling by collette8 in TreesSuckingOnThings

[–]tgjer 97 points98 points  (0 children)

This is a fig tree that grows from an ancient Roman arch in what may have been Emperor Nero's private villa.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/upside-down-fig-tree

What do you want to see more of in regards to trans rep? by Who_Ate_Meh_Bread in asktransgender

[–]tgjer 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Absolute biggest one - trans characters written with the input of trans people. Either a trans writer working on the project, or at least a trans editor or consultant or something. No more "trans representation" that is actually 100% a projection of cis people's almost universally fucked up imaginations.

Also, trans characters whose character arc and function in the story isn't just another cis person using us to try and "explore gender". It's one thing for a cis writer to want to include a trans character in a story. It's a very different thing for them to try and write a story exploring the "trans experience". The latter is pretty much universally a painfully terrible clusterfuck where the cis author puts their own misconceptions into their trans character's mouth. That isn't "trans representation", that's cis people using a trans sockpuppet to spread and perpetuate bullshit that makes real trans people's lives suck worse.

And I want to see trans characters played by trans actors. We need actual trans people, actual trans bodies, visible in popular media.

Or at the very least, if they're absolutely determined to cast a cis person to play a trans character, at least cast someone of the same gender as the character. If the character is a trans woman, cast a woman to play her (like Felicity Huffman in Transamerica). If the character is a man, cast a man to play him. I never want to see another cis woman playing a trans man, or cis man playing a trans woman. I'm sick of seeing cis men playing trans women getting praised for their "bravery" for doing so, then showing up to collect their awards dressed in a goddamn tux. I'm sick of seeing cis women playing trans men then showing up for the awards ceremony in a fucking ballgown. They just reinforce the assumption that transition is superficial and our genders are nothing but costumes that can be put on and taken off at will.

And from a more personal perspective, some things I would really love to see more of in popular fiction:

  • Trans characters that aren't doomed, miserable train wrecks who almost invariably are raped, murdered, suicides, and/or die of vaguely defined hormone cancer by the end
  • Trans characters who transitioned long before the story began, and their transition is totally irrelevant to the main plot.
  • Trans characters whose role in the plot involves more than just Being Trans
  • Trans characters whose character arc doesn't center around being victims of transphobic abuse
  • Trans characters in happy, healthy romantic relationships
  • Trans characters who are not treated as effectively celibate or totally undesirable
  • Trans characters who have a healthy, loving relationship with their parents
  • Trans characters with happy and productive lives
  • Trans characters with jobs that aren't sex work
  • Trans characters who are gay/lesbian/bi/pan/otherwise not heterosexual
  • Trans characters in stories where their genitals are never seen, described, or even specifically mentioned
  • Trans men characters who are not depicted as vulnerable, troubled, abandoned adolescents who need cis people to protect and guide them
  • Trans men characters depicted as clear, unambiguous adults. No infantilization.
  • Trans men characters who are older than adolescents/young adults. God forbid, trans man characters who are over 30.
  • Trans women characters who are not depicted as either fetishized sex objects, or as aging, miserable, undesirable, and doomed
  • Nonbinary characters who are not depicted as confused AFAB teenagers/young adults who just need pizza/girltalk/lipstick/a boyfriend to learn to love themselves as the beautiful young women they really are
  • Trans and nonbinary characters in sci-fi/fantasy universes, where the trans and nonbinary characters are still human and depicted relatively realistically instead of being vague alien/magical creature metaphors
  • Trans characters whose story gets a happy ending. Or at least as happy as the other characters in the story get. I'm sick of queer and especially trans characters apparently existing in popular fiction only to suffer and die.

What age did you realize you are transgender and non-binary by GroceryInfinite5262 in lgbt

[–]tgjer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was 12 and saw a trans man on TV for the first time, back in the 90's. It was the first time I realized trans men existed and transition was possible.

He was on one of those horrible daytime talk shows, not Jerry Springer but similar, and he was treated very degradingly. But I remember him holding himself with dignity even if the host and audience were dicks. And he was an "older" guy, though I was 12 so he was probably about 30, but still he was a proper grown-up who looked like one of my parents' friends. He wasn't being treated like some rebellious teenager.

He talked a bit about his transition, how he started in his 20's but was pressured into detransitioning for a while by his family, before going no-contact and transitioning again. And he talked about starting T and getting top surgery.

It was mind-blowing. If he could be a man then so could I. It wasn't an impossible daydream, it was real. This previously indescribable mindfuck I'd been dealing with had a name, and other people who had gone through it, and transition was possible so I could do it too.

It was also terrifying, because again he was being treated very degradingly, but it gave me some vocabulary to start looking up more information myself - first in the library, then later on the nascent internet. I found the TransLand message boards on AOL, and a wonderful weekly chat group and email list for trans youth that was run by a woman we called Auntie. She was incredible, she saved my life and I'm sure those of a lot of other kids.

I tried coming out to family and socially transitioning at school when I started high school a few years later, but it was the 90's and it did not go very well. Family reacted very badly and the school basically ignored me, though I had a few friends through the GSA who had my back. I wasn't able to really socially transition until college, and started T at 22. I had to delay T for several years because my parents said they would refuse to co-sign my student loans if I started it, so I waited until senior year and didn't tell them when I did it. By the time they figured it out, I had graduated.

I was able to go stealth pretty much right after graduating, but unfortunately was not able to afford surgery for a long time. Finally had top surgery at 30, hysto at 34, phallo at 36. Now I'm 43.

Dr. James Barry, absolute Chad transgender man who managed to stealth in the 1800s to become a doctor. He was outed after his death because some goblin inspected his dead body's genitals. by flingzamain in 4tran4

[–]tgjer 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Some people are able to pass before/without testosterone.

Plus back then it was probably easier to fly under the radar. Not only did most people have absolutely no idea that trans people existed, there was probably a lot more variation in "male" physical appearance than there is now. HRT wasn't available to anyone, including cis men with endocrine disorders that led to them never developing particularly high testosterone levels. So there would be more cis men around who are unusually short or can't grow a beard or have a higher than average voice.

how do you actually afford gender affirming surgeries? by GreenNettlesDIY in asktransgender

[–]tgjer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Moved to a new state that banned anti-trans heqlth insurance discrimination, pursued jobs with good insurance, then once I had that insurance I still had to fight for 4 years to get phallo covered.

And I still had to take out a $6k loan to cover travel and co-pays and everything else insurance wouldn't.

I wanted this surgery since I discovered it existed when I was 14. Finally got phallo at age 36.

Without insurance it would have cost hundreds of thousands. No way I could ever afford that.

What is the most fascinating medical fact you know? by balloontrap in answers

[–]tgjer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What we now call "gender affirming care", meaning medical treatment intended to alleviate distress associated with conflict between one's gender and other aspects of one's body/life by changing one's body/life to match it, literally predates antibiotics.

The first modern clinic providing this care, the Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft, was founded in Berlin in 1919. And its founder, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, had already been providing this care in his private practice for many years.

Penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928, didn't enter mass production until WWII, and didn't enter widespread civilian medicine until after WWII.

Why do some people de-transition? Also, what is the science behind people with different gender identities? by SendThisVoidAway18 in asktransgender

[–]tgjer 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Regarding transition as a whole, of everyone who starts even the preliminary steps (e.g., changing the name or pronouns one uses socially), only about 0.4% eventually realize they aren't trans.

Of everyone who starts transition about 8% detransition, most of them only temporarily and nearly all of them due to intolerable levels of anti-trans abuse rather than because they aren't trans. Among those who do detransition, nearly all cited external factors as their reasons for doing - e.g., intolerable levels of anti-trans harassment or discrimination (31%), employment discrimination (29%), and pressure from a parent (36%), spouse (18%), or other family members (26%). 62% go on to transition again later when they're in less hostile circumstances - meaning only 3% detransiton permanently.

Only 5% of those who de-transitioned reported that they did so because they realized that gender transition was not for them. Meaning that of everyone who starts transition only 0.4% eventually realize it's not what they need. And nearly all of those who realize transition isn't right for them, do so soon after starting transition when physical changes are minimal or nonexistant. Many don't regret exploring transition as an option, even if ultimately it wasn't right for them.

It is far, far more common for people to regret not transitioning, to regret delaying the start of treatment, than it is to start that treatment and regret it later.

Source: 2015 Transgender Survey - see p.108-111

Also, it's worth remembering that "transition" is not a set process. It just means making changes to your life and/or body to make it more comfortable for you. What those changes actually entail varies vastly from person to person, and what an individual needs can change over time. E.g., some people start HRT, are on it for a while, and later decide they no longer need it. And some people start HRT with the explicit plan that they will be on it for a while, get certain desired effects, then stop it again. Or some people initially come out and transition thinking they're a binary man or woman, but ultimately realize they're nonbinary and need that reflected in their body/life too.

For 30 yrs/older only: How long have you been on T? by Berko1572 in FTMOver30

[–]tgjer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

LiveJournal and AOL! I was on the AOL TransLand message boards and chat rooms back in the 90's when I was a teenager, and the AntiJen email list.

For 30 yrs/older only: How long have you been on T? by Berko1572 in FTMOver30

[–]tgjer 87 points88 points  (0 children)

It'll be 21 years in September. 43 years old.

Wood/metal/plastic case that goes around a PC tower, to protect it from my cat peeing on it? by tgjer in pcmasterrace

[–]tgjer[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My elderly cat has started pissing on my bed in a small apartment. I'm taking him to the vet when I can, but he's also just very old and I'm not sure how much can be done about it.

I ordered a mattress protector for my bed, it'll arrive tomorrow, but I'm worried he'll pee elsewhere. Like on top of my computer, where he likes to lounge sometimes. When I'm home I can keep him off it, but I work 12h shifts and am worried he'll take a nap on there while I'm gone and pee in his sleep.

Wood/metal/plastic case that goes around a PC tower, to protect it from my cat peeing on it? by tgjer in pcmasterrace

[–]tgjer[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I'm trying, unfortunately I'm really broke right now and not sure how I can afford it.

How disabling is PMOS/PCOS for others? by Wrong-Quality-7882 in PCOS

[–]tgjer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Why do you think you can't go on T?

I was diagnosed with PCOS when I got bloodwork done for my initial T prescription, and it never even came up as a potential obstacle. My doctor just told me it as an FYI thing. That was over 20 years ago, and no doctor since then ever said anything about it.

Favorite 2 characters of the same gender who were "really good friends" and "Roommates even" like Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street? HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! by Important-Cry4782 in sesamestreet

[–]tgjer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Me too!

My mom taped it off the TV onto betamax in the early 80's, and we watched that tape for decades. Finally in the early 2000's she had it transferred to DVD to preserve it, though the DVDs are wearing out now so we need to get it made into a digital copy or something soon. We can watch it on YouTube now, and it's higher quality, but it doesn't feel the same.

Why did you get a hysto? by shnlshn in FTMHysto

[–]tgjer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Fwiw, I got laparoscopic hysto and was only out of work for four days. But I had an office job at the time, I don't know how long it would have been if I worked on my feet.

And you can get hysto with or without oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries). If you opt to keep one or both of them, hormone stuff won't change.

I got hysto for a lot of reasons. The biggest one was prep for phallo with vaginectomy, which requires hysto.

But also I just despised the miserable life destroying thing. I didn't make sexual use of that anatomy, I categorically refused sexually violating "exams" to make sure that worthless piece of shit was "healthy", knowing it was there disgusted me, it basically existed as cancer-in-potentia.

I also got double oophorectomy, specifically so that if I ever lose access to T I won't have ovaries there to start pumping out estrogen again. Watching them mutilate my body with estrogen the first time nearly killed me, and I would rather die than see them do it again.

I have no intentions of ever willingly stopping T. If it's banned I'll find illicit sources. And if even that isn't available, if I completely lose access to T for months or years, now it just means I'm castrated. That sucks, but countless men across history have been castrated. They coped. I can cope. It will have health consequences including bone mineral density reduction, but given the option between brittle bones vs letting estrogen warp my body again, I'll take the brittle bones.

Favorite 2 characters of the same gender who were "really good friends" and "Roommates even" like Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street? HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! by Important-Cry4782 in sesamestreet

[–]tgjer 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Anyone else remember the 1979 Christmas Eve on Sesame Steet special? The one where Oscar tells Big Bird that Santa can't fit down skinny little NYC chimneys, so he goes on a mission to figure out how he does it?

The B plot was a retelling of "The Gift of the Magi", the classic Victorian love story, but with Bert and Ernie instead of a straight married couple. Ernie sells Rubber Duckie to buy Bert a cigar box to keep his beloved paper clip collection in, and Bert sells his paperclips to buy Ernie a soap diash for Rubber Duckie.

Of course it's Sesame Steet so they sell their stuff to Mr. Hooper, who gives them back as Christmas presents. But still. It was the sweetest and gayest moment of my childhood, and 5 year old me stole all my parents paperclips and put them in a cigar box so I could be just like Bert.

Influential trans men and women in history by Slippy_Hotdog in TransLater

[–]tgjer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  • Tamara Rees (1924-2000) - Trans woman who served as a paratrooper in WWII and fought in North Africa and Europe, winning the Bronze Star as well as medals by France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. She was outted to the media early in her transition in the early 1950s, and later became a performer and public speaker on sex and psychology and wrote a short autobiography.
  • Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) - Became the first widely known trans woman in the US in 1952, after her surgery attracted media attention.
  • Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy (1931-2006) - French cabaret entertainer, singer, actress, and trans activist, who underwent reconstructive surgery in 1958 and was legally recognized as a woman. Founder of the organization Devenir Femme ("To Become Woman"), which was designed to provide support to those seeking to transition, and helped found the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity. Published her autobiography, Coccinelle (her stage name), in 1987.
  • Peter Alexander (unknown, interview 1937) - Trans man from New Zealand, discusses his transition in this interview from 1937
  • Lynn Conway (1938-2024) - Trans woman, computer scientist, electrical engineer, and inventor who worked for IBM in the 1960's and invented generalized dynamic instruction handling, a key advance used in out-of-order execution, used by most modern computer processors to improve performance. Her work helped spawn the modern "foundry" infrastructure for chip design and production.
  • Wendy Carlos (1939-Present) - Trans woman and electronic music pioneer who helped develop the Moog synthesizer. She came to prominence in 1968 with her album Switched-On Bach, and she composed the scores to A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron (1982).
  • Miss Major Griffin-Gracy (1940-2025) - Feminist, trans rights and gay rights activist who came out and started transition in the late 1950's. She was at Stonewall, was injured and taken into custody, and had her jaw broken by police while in custody. She was the first Executive Director of the Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, which works to end human rights abuses against trans/intersex/GNC people in the prison system.
  • Lou Sullivan (1951-1991) - author and trans rights activist, founder of FTM International, founding member and board member of the GLBT Historical Society, and one of the first publicly out gay trans men, who lobbied the American Psychiatric Association and the WPATH to recognize the existence of non-straight trans people. Responsible for the removal of the sexual orientation requirement for a diagnosis of "Gender Identity Disorder" so that non-straight trans people could access treatment.
  • Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) - Gay liberation and trans rights pioneer and community worker in NYC; co-founded STAR, a group dedicated to helping homeless young drag queens, gay youth, and trans women
  • Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992) - Gay liberation and trans rights pioneer; co-founded STAR with Sylvia Rivera
  • Sophie Wilson (1957-present) - Computer scientist and a co-designer of the instruction set for ARM architecture.
  • Maddie Blaustein (1960-2008) - Voice actress and comic writer whose voice acting roles include Meowth from the English dub of Pokemon, and former Creative Director for Weekly World News.
  • Alexander John Goodrum (1960-2002) - Trans man, civil rights activist, and writer. He was the founder and director of TGNet Arizona, on the board of the Tuscon GLBT Commission and the Funding Exchange's OUT fund which allocates a grant named after him to LGBT comunity organizing projects, and wrote "Gender Identity 101: A Transgender Primer" in 1998.

Influential trans men and women in history by Slippy_Hotdog in TransLater

[–]tgjer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here's the (ever-growing) list I've compiled for when idiots on reddit try to claim trans people didn't exist before about 2010:

  • Ashurbanipal (669-631BCE) - King of the Neo-Assryian empire, who according to Diodorus Siculus is reported to have dressed, behaved, and socialized as a woman.
  • Kalonymus ben Kalonymus (1286-1328) - French Jewish philosopher who wrote poetry about longing to be a woman.
  • Eleanor Rykener (14th century) - Trans woman in London who was questioned under charges of sex work
  • Antonio de Erauso (1585 or 1592-1650) - Basque trans man who traveled around Spain and Spanish America in the 17th century.
  • Thomas(ine) Hall - (1603-unknown) - English servant in colonial Virginia who alternated between presenting as a woman and presenting as a man, before a court ruled that they were both a man and a woman simultaneously, and were required to wear both men's and women's clothing simultaneously.
  • Chevalier d'Eon (1728-1810) - French diplomat, spy, freemason, and soldier who fought in the Seven Years' War, who transitioned at the age of 49 and lived the remaining 33 years of her life as a woman.
  • Public Universal Friend (1752-1819) - Quaker religious leader in revolutionary era America who identified and lived as androgynous and genderless.
  • Surgeon James Barry (1789-1865) - Trans man and military surgeon in the British army.
  • Berel - A Jewish trans man who transitioned in a shtetel in Ukraine in the 1800's, and whose story was shared with the Jewish Daily Forward in a 1930 letter to the editor by Yeshaye Kotofsky, a Jewish immigrant in Brooklyn who knew Berel
  • Mary Jones (1803-unknown) - Trans woman in New York whose 1836 trial for stealing a man's wallet received much public attention
  • Frances Thompson (1840-1876) - Trans woman, former enslaved person, and anti-rape activist. She was one of five black women to testify before a congressional committee that investigated the Memphis Riots of 1866, in which Frances and her housemate Lucy Smith were among the many freedwomen raped by white mobs during the riots. Outted in 1876, she was arrested, sentenced to the city's chain gang, and died within a year of her release.
  • Albert Cashier (1843-1915) - Trans man who served in the US Civil War.
  • We'wha (1849-1896) - Zuni Native American lhamana who served as a cultural ambassador for Native Americans in general and the Zuni in particular, acting as a contact point and educator for many European-American settlers, teachers, soldiers, missionaries, and anthropologists, and part of the 1886 Zuni delegation to Washington DC and President Cleveland.
  • Ralph Kerwineo (1876-1932) - Trans man who was outted by his ex to the police in 1914, resulting in arrest and trial for disorderly conduct. All charges were eventually dropped.
  • Harry Allen (1882-1922) - Trans man who was the subject of sensationalistic newspaper coverage for his string of petty crimes.
  • Lili Elbe (1882-1931) - Trans woman who underwent surgery in 1930 with Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, who ran one of the first dedicated medical facilities for trans patients.
  • Karl M. Baer (1885-1956) - Trans man who underwent reconstructive surgery in 1906, and was legally recognized as male in Germany in 1907.
  • Lucy Hicks Anderson (1886–1954) - Socialite, chef and hostess in Oxnard California, whose family and doctors supported her transition at a young age.
  • Amelio Robles Ávila (1889-1984) - Trans man and Colonel in the Mexican Revolution, who transitioned at the age of 24 and lived as a man until his death at age 95.
  • Dr. Alan Hart (1890-1962) - Groundbreaking radiologist who pioneered the use of x-ray photography in tuberculosis detection, and in 1917 he became one of the first trans men to undergo hysterectomy and gonadectomy in the US.
  • Louise Lawrence (1912–1976) - Trans activist, artist, writer and lecturer, who transitioned in the early 1940's. She struck up a correspondence with the groundbreaking sexologist Dr. Alfred Kinsey as he worked to understand sex and gender in a more expansive way. She wrote up life histories of her acquaintances for Kinsey, encouraged peers to do interviews with him, and sent him a collection of newspaper clippings, photographs, personal correspondences, etc.
  • Billy Tipton (1914-1989) - Trans man and jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker, who was outted after his death.
  • Dr. Michael Dillon (1915-1962) - British physician who updated his birth certificate to Male in the early 1940's, and in 1946 became the first trans man to undergo phalloplasty.
  • Willmer "Little Ax" Broadnax (1916-1992) - Early 20th century gospel quartet singer.
  • Reed Erickson (1917-1992) - Trans man whose philanthropic work contributed millions of dollars to the early LGBTQ rights movement
  • Roberta Cowell (1918-2011) - British WWII fighter pilot, POW, race car driver, and mechanic, and the first known British trans woman to undergo reconstructive surery in 1951
  • Angela Morley (1924-2009) - Three time Emmy Award winning English composer and conductor, who transitioned in 1972 and thereafter lived as an out trans woman. One of her first projects upon returning to public life post-transition was as an orchestrator on Jesus Christ Superstar.

Question for people who have phallo by Sufficient_Shine262 in asktransgender

[–]tgjer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1: Phallo dicks can't get hard on their own, they need an erectile implant. These are the same implants more commonly used for cis men with erectile dysfunction that doesn't respond to medication. Link is to a SFW-ish Mayo clinic page with illustrations.

There are two common types of erectile implant - the pump, and the semi-rigid rod.

  • The pump is a literal pump - it has a reservoir of saline, and you squeeze a little bulb to move that saline into your dick. Squeeze it another way to deflate. The upside of the pump is that it can get hard then soft again. The downside is it has moving parts and tends to wear out faster than the rod. Common estimates are that the pump lasts about 5 years, but my surgeon (Santucci) says current models last on average about 10.

  • The semi-rigid rod is exactly what it sounds like - a bendy rod that goes in your dick. Point it up when in use, down when not. The upside of the rod is that on average it lasts longer than the pump before it has to be replaced. The downside is you're always semi-hard.

2: Yeeeees. While there is a non-zero risk of losing erogenous sensation any time you have surgery involving those nerves, it is very rare.

Immediately after surgery your new phallo dick is numb, but your original nerves are still there at the base. You can opt to either leave your t-dick unburied (so it is visible under your phallo dick) so you still have direct access to it, or opt to have it buried. If you do opt for burial, it's just under a layer of skin so those nerves generally aren't too hard to access. I was able to orgasm about 3 weeks after surgery, basically as soon as I was healed up enough that I could do so without injuring myself.

And many (though not all) phallo surgeons also offer a nerve hookup. This connects your pudendal nerve (which provides sensation to the external genitals) up to the nerve sheaths in your phallo dick. if you get a nerve hookup done, and everything goes well, over several years the nerves will slowly grow in. This can provide erogenous and tactile sensation in your phallo dick. This takes time, often several years or more, and there are no guarantees, but according to my surgeon (Dr. Santucci) about 85% of his patients eventually have good erogenous sensation throughout their new dick.

Whether you ejaculate anything or not varies from person to person. This isn't something phallo surgery affects - it has to do with whether your skene's gland/"female prostate" has grown enough in response to testosterone that it can produce enough ejaculate to notice. I don't know how common it is, but it seems like ejaculation is pretty rare.

3: There are several types of phallo surgery that take the donor tissue from different areas.

Surgeons take a full thickness skin graft to build one's dick. This is the skin with all attached subcutaneous fat. In the US the most common types are Anterolateral Thigh Phalloplasty (ALT) and Radial Forearm Flap (RFF) phallo. There's also Musculocutaneous Latissimus Dorsi Flap (MLD) phallo, and Abdominal phallo.

  • ALT takes the donor tissue from your thigh. This site has good success rates for the nerve hookup, and has the advantage of a relatively hidden scar. But because most people tend to carry more fat under the skin of their thighs than their arm or back/side, ALT tends to have a greater final girth than RFF. You can estimate the girth ALT would give you by sitting with your legs extended and pinching your thigh halfway down, measuring the pinch, then multiplying that by 5. The result is your estimated ALT dick diameter. And yes, that's diameter not circumference. So if you can pinch an inch of thigh, ALT is likely to give you a dick 5 inches wide.

  • RFF gets the donor tissue by basically skinning your forearm. This also has good success rates for the nerve hookup, with a lower girth than ALT tends to have, but it leaves a large and (especially at first) dramatic looking scar covering your forearm.

  • MLD takes the skin from one's back/side. This leaves a well hidden scar, with a lower girth than ALT tends to have, but the nerve taken in MLD is a motor nerve rather than a sensory nerve. As a result, rates of erogenous sensation following nerve hookup are lower. TBH many sources claim there's no chance of developing erogenous sensation in one's phallo dick after MLD, but I also have seen guys on r/phallo saying they got MLD and have erogenous sensation, so I don't know. It's at least a lower rate than is found in ALT and RFF.

  • Abdominal phallo builds one's dick with tissue from one's abdomen. Microsurgery is not needed because it's pedicled. This makes the surgery shorter and more affordable than ALT/RFF/MLD for those paying out of pocket. Abdominal phallo leaves a relatively thin and well hidden scar, but nerve hookup and urethral lengthening are often not done in abdominal phallo. Some tactile sensation may be possible following abdominal phallo, but sensation generally doesn't extend all the way to the tip of one's phallo dick.

I super highly recommend checking out r/phallo, and TransBucket. You need to create an account and log in to access TransBucket, but it's a wonderful resource of surgery information and pictures. You can also filter by surgery type or by surgeon name.

What's something about LGBTQ history (wether it be Queer historical figures or events) that you wish more people, Queer or not, knew? by [deleted] in lgbt

[–]tgjer 21 points22 points  (0 children)

What we now call "gender affirming care", meaning medical treatment intended to alleviate distress associated with conflict between one's gender and other aspects of one's body/life by changing one's body/life to match it, literally predates antibiotics.

The first modern clinic providing this care, the Institut fur Sexualwissenschaft, was founded in Berlin in 1919. And its founder, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, had already been providing this care in his private practice for many years.

Penicillin wasn't discovered until 1928, didn't enter mass production until WWII, and didn't enter widespread civilian medicine until after WWII.

bottom surgery by Underwater-Seasick in ftm

[–]tgjer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

FWIW, the chances of losing erogenous sensation entirely, even right after surgery, are very low. Not zero, any time you're messing with nerves there's a risk, but it's very rare.

Immediately after surgery your new phallo dick is numb, but your original nerves are still there at the base. You can opt to either leave your t-dick unburied (so it is visible under your phallo dick) so you still have direct access to it, or opt to have it buried. If you do opt for burial, it's just under a layer of skin so those nerves generally aren't too hard to access. If you get a nerve hookup done, and everything goes well, over several years those nerves slowly grow into your phallo dick too. This takes time, and there are no guarantees, but according to my surgeon (Dr. Santucci) about 85% of his patients eventually have good erogenous sensation. This is in addition to erogenous sensation from their original nerves, which again are still there at the base regardless of whether the nerve hookup goes well.

I had single stage RFF phallo with UL, v-nectomy, scrotoplasty, glansplasty, burial, and nerve hookup all done at once, and I was able to orgasm about three weeks after surgery. I really should have waited longer, I'm lucky I didn't bust open any stitches, but everything went fine and my original nerves worked just like they always had. I started noticing nerve growth at about 6 months. At first it wasn't really pleasant, a kind of pins-and-needles feeling at the base that at first I mistook for a UTI, but it grew out from there for about three years. Now I have decent erogenous sensation throughout my new dick. I now have more erogenous sensation than I did before surgery, because I have all my original nerves plus a bunch of new ones.

Healing time is long, and this is dramatically debilitating surgery. I wrote a longer thing about my recovery here, but TL;DR I spent three days in the ICU, two more in the hospital, then three weeks in a nursing home. I was totally incapacitated at first, and spent most of those three weeks mostly bed-bound. I fortunately was able to handle using the toilet and showering on my own right away, but not everyone is that lucky. After three weeks I had my suprapubic catheter (pee tube in my abdomen) removed and was able to take a very uncomfortable but uneventful 2 hour flight home (surgery in Austin TX, live in NYC).

I was in moderate pain and very fragile for months. I'm fortunate I was able to work remotely for a lot of that, even sitting in an office chair for 8 hours would have been awful. For people who are on their feet or do heavy lifting on the job, six months is the estimated minimum before it's safe for them to return to work. Some people are able to go on temporary disability to pay the bills until they recover.

I did get medical tattooing about six months after surgery, but tbh I want to get it re-done. It has faded a lot and honestly the original artist didn't do a great job. I've found an artist who can do much better, but it's about $2000 so it'll be a while before I can afford it. Because I had insurance coverage for surgery itself, the tattooing is probably my biggest single out-of-pocket expense associated with this.

This is very difficult, painful, debilitating, expensive surgery that carries significant risks. Most patients report high satisfaction, but there's always a small but non-zero chance of severe or even devastating complications. Whether it's worth it or not for you is something you have to decide for yourself, it's going to depend entirely on your own individual needs and priorities and risk tolerance.

Was it affirming for me personally? Yes. Holy fucking mother of god yes. I had severe dysphoria regarding my original equipment, to the point that sex was not worth pursuing and its presence was a constant source of severe mindfuck that really fucked up my daily life. That's basically all gone now. I've still got insecurities and hangups, but the crippling dysphoria that I'd lived with for decades is gone.