Can a Person Be Transmasculine and Not Want to Transition

Open Future
Trans masculine people are being excluded from the chat

In an addition to our transgender identity series, queer writer CJ Atkinson argues that trans masculine identities are being overlooked

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This is function of a two-calendar week discussion on trans bug, available here.

As the fence around trans identities rages on those of us under the wide umbrella of "trans masculine" find ourselves in an interesting place. We exist, but in discussions of the trans experience we are often overlooked.

Trans masculine identities are those of people who were assigned female at birth, but do not identify every bit female. We are a broad group of people who may identify every bit male, non-binary, agender, or "genderqueer". Some of united states, though not all, may seek medical assistance through the apply of hormones or surgery.

This variety can be hard to sympathise for people who have never felt a conflict between their identity and perceived gender. I was 26 past the time I worked out that my gender identity was causing me distress. Similar many trans folk earlier me, and as Charlie Osculation and then eloquently discussed in his contribution to this series, I was told that I was just a confused lesbian, in spite of the fact that I'grand proudly bisexual. (I'thou nonetheless ofttimes told that.)

But I am non solitary. An commodity past Evan Urquhart for Slate last yr highlighted that, since 2000, there has been a shift in those seeking medical assistance with transition.

"According to anecdotal reports from clinicians and a handful of pocket-size studies of transgender youth, trans youth clinics in North America and Europe have seen a shift from a bulk of transfeminine patients (assigned male at birth) to a majority of transmasculine patients (assigned female) now. In contrast, studies of adult trans patients thus far take either documented a bulk of trans women or roughly equal numbers of trans women and trans men."

This suggests that the story told nearly the trans masculine experience is oftentimes a footnote, an addendum to the experience of trans women, every bit though all trans people feel things in exactly the same mode. Simply, if increasing numbers of trans masculine people seem to exist, why have they been left out of the chat?

Role of the reason is that as far as media representations would take you lot believe, trans masculine people are white, physically able and capable of "passing" as cisgender men (ie, as people assigned male at birth). The focus is on trans men such as Aydian Dowling, an activist and bodybuilder who, with his muscular physique, fulfils the platonic of masculinity.

This ways there is petty space to discuss the issues faced past the silent majority of trans masculine people who don't conform to this narrow ideal. Many of us are not-white, poor, survivors of corruption or trauma, or disabled. And, because of the lazy assumption that being trans masculine is somehow "easy", considering of the belief that trans men can laissez passer by unnoticed, equally men, our trans masculine stories are erased.

The obsession with whether or non someone is visibly trans does non assist, either. This is where homophobia and transphobia unpleasantly intersect. Consider the furore well-nigh who tin utilize which bathrooms in America. A video that chop-chop went viral showed a brusk-haired woman being forcibly ejected from a bath and chosen "sir". Something like happened in United kingdom in 2016, where nosotros accept no law about gendered facilities.

This attempt to punish trans people for not looking "real" enough affects everybody who doesn't look "right". These ideals take been internalised by the trans masculine community, where the desire to be accustomed by electric current standards of beauty mean that we reinforce the capricious rules near what people need to look similar to be male or female. Those perceived as "not trans enough" are rejected, and the stories of trans masculine people who do not ostend to a stereotype are not told.

My dysphoria also didn't manifest in ways that I read it should. I was uncomfortable in my body, merely had been taught that such feelings were simply what information technology meant to be female. Rather than constant active agony, I have always felt fundamentally uncomfortable. Not and so much built-in in the wrong trunk, as feeling deeply like my body wasn't mine.

From engaging with other trans masculine people, I now know that this experience is not rare. Information technology is just not talked well-nigh. Proposed changes to the way in which we update official documents in Britain would brand many people's lives easier.

In the debate about the catchy slogans of "trans women are women", and "trans men are men", what seems to be missing is the fact that trans people are people. We be beyond all demographics and always have done, and our experiences are varied. It'south time for us to dismantle the idea that there's a right fashion to speak, to dress, to look, to be transgender.

And it'due south essential that, if the anecdotal prove is to be believed, a new globe of trans masculine young people can abound up and know that they are valid and that they matter.

CJ Atkinson is a queer writer and academic. They are the author of "Can I Tell Y'all Well-nigh Gender Diverseness?" and tweets at @theysingular.

mitchellcatir1937.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/17/trans-masculine-people-are-being-excluded-from-the-conversation

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