adogadogonedog:

kimerakincaid:

the asl sign for “transgender“ is basically the same as the sign for ”beautiful“ but signed at the chest instead of in front of the face.

so that’s cool.

this is my imperfect not-a-fluent-signer understanding but:

(based on a presentation by a deaf trans guy i was at in 2005 where he was promoting that sign)

it seems like that sign was invented and implemented by trans people over the last 10-ish years. before that the predominant vocabulary was “sex change” and then some deaf trans people were like “yo fuck that” and came up with the current sign, which starts off with the sign for “myself,” then motion that indicates both change and coming together, and ends with the closed hand held against the sternum.

and in the process it also mimics the sign for “beautiful”

and because of spatial grammar, things closer to the front of your body in ASL are generally more vital, more emphatic, more immediate, more present.

so it’s actually a case where the word coherently indicates “beauty” and “self transformation” and contains hints of the complete thought of “my self transforming, through a coming together of disparate factors, into something more real, immediate, and vital than I was before.”

so yeah. that’s just fuckin’ awesome.

and that’s just the way to express that concept now.

Thats really beautiful

WW2 Veteran Comes out as Transgender aged 90

A WW2 veteran has come out as transgender at the age of 90 and is happy to finally be receiving female hormone treatment.

Patricia Davies says she knew since the age of three that she was a woman but lived in fear of how people would react for decades until doctors changed her medical records to “female” last year.

Even though she had opened up to her late wife about her feelings in 1987, who bought her jewelry and dresses to wear in secret, she remained living as Peter after receiving abuse from people in the street and fearing “electric shock treatment”.

The retired industrial photographer, who served in the army between April 1945-1948, has a distant aunt who once lived to 104 years old so hopes she has “similar genes” to keep her going so she can now enjoy life as a woman.

Patricia, from a village in Leicestershire, said: “It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I was living a lie.”

“I have been keeping quiet. I have slowly started to tell some of my neighbors. Everybody said ‘don’t worry, as long as you’re happy.”

“I’ve known I was transgender since I was three-years-old.”

“I have always been attracted to women but not in a sexual way. I’m not gay. My attraction to women was that I wanted to be like them. I would have liked to be like the pin-ups.”

“I was never totally unhappy. I always made the most of things and looked on the bright side of things. I’ve always had a wicked sense of humor.”

“Because of the general hostility of people I kept quiet. It wasn’t until recently that I felt safe to come out and I felt an overwhelming desire that I wanted to break free. So I came out and I’ve not regretted it.”

Patricia served in the army from April 1945 until April 1948, leaving when she was 21 and getting married only a few months later.

During her time in the armed forces, she served in the Far East, India, East Africa and Palestine.

Patricia said: “You took your life in your hands in the army. I lost a couple of mates and had a close shave myself.”

“I had to keep my mouth shut about being transgender, you couldn’t flaunt that as that would have been a disaster.”

“Transgender wasn’t really known in those days. I would have been classed as homosexual, which would have caused problems in the army. I would have ended up in prison. But I got through it.”

“But it was alright overall and I feel quite proud having served during the war and having done military service, in particular during the trouble in Palestine.”

“Perhaps Hitler got news I had joined in April 1945 and gave up. That’s what I like to think.”

“I feel quite relieved, quite happy. [The best thing about coming out] is being accepted as a woman. That has been something I’ve wanted all of my life.”

“If people don’t like what they see then I don’t care but no one seems to be causing me any trouble. Nobody questions it though. Nobody seems to bat an eyelid, they accept me as I am.”

“I’ve been made most welcome in the societies. I think people will benefit from being educated on this a bit more.”

Here’s to Patricia getting a couple more decades to live her best life.

Gender and pleasure

scripturient-manipulator:

hobbitsaarebas:

So much of the Euro-American understanding of being trans (or anything other than 100% constantly identified with your assigned gender) focuses on discomfort.

Some people take this idea to an extreme and claim you can’t be trans unless you hate your body and want every surgery available to you. As many other writers have said before, that’s not true. It’s perfectly possible to be trans with only mild dysphoria or none at all. It’s perfectly possible to be trans and have a mental map of your body that looks just like the one you already have.

But I’d like to push even harder against the idea that trans=discomfort. I’d like to offer this: sometimes the exploration of one’s gender can be motivated by pleasure rather than discomfort.

Let me give an example. Let’s say there’s a person named Cal. Most people think of Cal as a boy, and Cal’s all right with that. So far as Cal’s concerned, a boy isn’t a bad thing to be. But sometimes, Cal likes to imagine being a girl and being treated as a girl. Those fantasies are always accompanied by feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, anticipation, and warmth. Eventually, having had these thoughts for years, Cal asks people to use ‘she’ pronouns in private and to refer to her as a girl. Cal does this for another year before claiming the label “trans”.

Some people would say a person like Cal can’t be trans because there’s no dysphoria, self-hatred, distress, or even discomfort. There’s just a pleasure-based preference. But why is distress necessary? Why are trans people supposed to be defined solely by our pain and self-hatred?

It’s my opinion that defining trans people solely by discomfort is an aspect of transphobia. The idea behind trans=discomfort is that being anything other than 100% cis is so awful that no one would do it unless the alternative were unlivable. Think about that: defining trans people solely by their experiences of discomfort means believing that being trans is so awful that only misery could drive us to it. And to me, that sounds like the thinking of someone who really hates trans people.

So I’ll come out and say it: sometimes transition or self-exploration of gender is not just about lessening discomfort, but is about improving and deepening the pleasure we take in our lives.

I’ve never considered that angle (despite having my own gender ?????? which has resulted in me identifying as cis-ish) and I love it, that’s such a good point.

This is really important. I’d seen this related to disability acceptance, but not to gender, and it works. You’re allowed to love yourself, your body, how it feels. It doesn’t make your identity any less valid.