I guess I just feel frustrated that our communities express themselves using the medical system’s benchmarks.
TRANSCRIPT:
Panel 1:
(There is a big, blue arrow in the background, pointing to the right, and a caption to the left of the panel, which reads:) How far into your transition are you?
Sam: (A person wearing an olive green, collared shirt, and a dark grey vest, who is facing the viewer, but looking down. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is closed, small, and with slightly downturned edges. Hands are holding a sign before Sam’s chest, which reads:) Pre-Op Pre-T
Joe: (A person wearing a deep v neck, long sleeved purple shirt and a blue neckerchief, who is looking directly at the viewer. Eyebrows are raised and pushed together slightly, mouth is closed, with downturned edges. Hands are holding a sign before Joe’s chest, which reads:) Pre-Op 6 months on T
Panel 2:
Sam: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking down. One eyebrow is raised, the other lowered and mouth is open, with very slightly downturned edges. Hands are holding the tops of two sides of the sign, which has a rip halfway down its middle.) What does that even mean?!
Joe: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking down. Eyebrows are lowered and pushed together slightly, mouth is open, with very slightly downturned edges. Hands are holding the tops of two sides of the sign, which has been ripped in half. There are two parallel lines between the pieces of sign, which indicate movement.) Why is this the go-to indicator?
Panel 3:
Sam: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking at Joe. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is open, with upturned edges. One arm is bent up at the elbow, its palm facing up.) I’m a comic book geek who uses words like man to describe himself.
Joe: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking at Sam. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is open, with very upturned edges. One arm is raised at the shoulder and bent up at the elbow, its palm facing up, and the other is around Sam’s shoulders.) You are my gentleman companion! And I’m your gender queer pansy boy.
Panel 4:
Sam: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking at Joe. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is open, with slightly upturned edges. One hand is on Sam’s hip, and the other is bent forward at the shoulder, up at the elbow, and its index finger is pointing towards Joe, with two sets of parallel lines to either side of it, indicating movement.) But You’re on T! If we use that arbitrary indicator of transness then you should be manlier.
Joe: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking at Sam. Eyebrows are raised and mouth is open, with very upturned edges, and both arms are raised from the shoulder. Joe’s legs are very hairy. One leg is raised at the hip, and bent down at the knee, with Joe’s skirt swishing up above it.) But I wanna wear skirts! And I want you to be my bear!
I’m noticing more and more how much frustration with labels is expressed on queer blogs/comics/etc. I’ll admit that I probably have no idea what it’s like to have that kind of frustration and sometimes worry about offending people just because I haven’t dealt with it. I don’t want to offend people though :-/
No I think it’s a general trend at the moment – a tendency towards blurring the lines and borders of identity that were set up – for me it feels quite an empowering thing to do, and a very interesting conversation to be having 🙂
Hah, tell me about it. My partner is on T and has all the genes for hairiness. He (half)jokes that he’s turning into a gorilla, but wishes he could be a pretty not-so-hairy boy. I, on the other hand, am not on T yet and am probably not gonna be especially hairy anyway (I really love body hair). *sigh* It’d be nice if the physical indicators did not determine who we are to the vast majority of people, even within the queer community. The wider community generally reads as a straight couple….. well, a straight couple made up of two queers; a tomboy/”dyke”/clown type (me) and a queer indie fag type (him).
PS – I keep reading your blog, and it’s rad! Every single post I read makes me want to grab J (my partner) by the hand and whisk us off to NZ to meet you guys (we’re from Perth, Western Australia) cos you sound so awesome.
This makes me so happy! Hairy pretty boys are wonderful! As well as hairless bears! Makes me think of dykes in love with lesbian men, fags in love with their lesbian life partners!
Happy Happy Happy!
Ha! Yeh, I don’t think it’s in my genes to be hairy either, and Joe’s not particularly thrilled at the amount of hair he is growing. I have nooo idea what society reads us as… I think currently we just confuse them! It’s so nice to hear of other guys experiences – especially where one partner’s on T and the other isn’t! If you ever feel like visiting make sure you let us know! We have vague plans to move to Australia in a few years too!
1) Totally agreed.
2) If I went on T I’d be an absolute shag carpet. Part of why I haven’t!
3) Are you a fellow sweater-vest enthusiast?
1) Yay!
2) If I went on T I think I’d find out that I would not grow a lot of hair… the potential disappointment is stopping me a little bit.
3) YES YES YES YES.
I reckon. It only matters if you say it does. The other assumption is that ‘how far along you are’ also matters.
Yeh I agree, I’m trying not to make it matter. And Ah yes, that old question – I’ve yet to come up with a response that I feel happy with for that one.
omfg it’s so true!
That’s why I just say I am a dude, or a transman, and people do ask where I am in my transition and I tend to list of the past events… but wtf, here and now I am a guy just like any other and maybe my junk isn’t conventional but what does that matter?
I see why you draw now, whereas I rant in comment boxes… >.<
😀 Yeh it seems like that’s the first phrase that people say when they do their youtube vids, and it always strikes me as a bit weird that that’s the first thing they say. I dunno… I just wish that wasn’t the case, it feels quite hierarchical .
Oops, that was a reply to Blackshire :S
i totally agree with you about the labeling- it bothers me when pre-op, post-op, pre-t, etc are treated as the only available categories. i would rather find just the right words to describe myself than try and squeeze into those categories, especially since none of those categories seem to have room for a genderqueer transguy with a love of eyeliner and camp.
I get that, but at the same time I think there are different sides to it like everything else.
I plan on having surgery and t at some point, aka when I’m out of my single sex college and can afford it, which who knows when that is… But I’m really curious about how T works, what surgery is like, and things like that. Knowing what some members have been through can let you know if they have some advice for ya.
Sure, it doesn’t mean anything about circumstances or anything like that, and I don’t view it personally as a hierarchy. To me, it’s just facts about the life, but I definitely think others mean it as a yardstick to compare “progress.”
I’m just petrified of everything and want to get as much data as possible though…
Oh yeh, I can totally see how it is useful to hear from people who’ve been on T a while/had surgery – definitely important for gathering info… it just feels hard when all the videos on youtube begin with that, like it’s the yardstick… but I guess it really depends on the person – for some it’s just to let you know, and for other people it’s their definition of progress.
To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to put anything trans related into youtube for a long while. I don’t… Yeah no. Youtube is an interesting place. I think I’ll stick with Cows Cows Cows and other harmless stuff.
Stuff that doesn’t have loads of stupid comments.
But yeah, totally by person.
PS: Saw the comic in GO: TNG. : )
I’m really glad I picked that book up on a whim, but man I cried everywhere I think. Some of the things I’ve seen and been warned about lately are just… so awful. At least it’s slowly getting better…