Ftm

Aaron Devor

Description

In this ground-breaking study, Aaron Devor provides a compassionate, intimate, and incisive look at the life experiences of forty-five trans men. Emerging into 21st-century political and social conversations, questions persist. Who are they? How do they come to know themselves as men? What do they do about it? How do their families respond? Who are their lovers? What does it mean for everyone else? To answer these and other questions, Devor spent years compiling in-depth interviews and researching the lives of transsexual and transgender people. Here, he traces the everyday and significant events that coalesce into trans identities, culminating in gender and sex transformations. Using trans men's own words as illustrations, Devor looks at how childhood, adolescence, and adult experiences with family members, peers, and lovers work to shape and clarify their images of themselves as men. With a new introduction, Devor positions the volume in twenty-first century debates of identity politics and community-building and provides a window into his own self-exploration as a result of his research.

Foreword, 2016 / by Jamison Green
Foreword, 1997 / by Jamison Green
Acknowledgements
New Introduction
Original Introduction
Part I: First Questions
1. Have Female-to-Male Transsexuals Always Existed?
2. Theories about Transsexualism
Part II: Childhood Years
3. Finding Out about Gender: Theories of Childhood Gender Acquisition
4. Family Scenes
5. Who Would Want to Be a Girl?: The Women (and Girls) in Participants' Families
6. Men Rule: The Men (and Boys) in Participants' Families
7. Lessons Learned at Home: Summary of Family Relationships
8. Childhood Friends and Foes: Relationships with Non-Family Members
Part III: Adolescence
9. Adolescence Is about Change
10. Crises at Puberty
11. Adolescent Friendships
12. Women Are Different: Relationships with Female Relatives
13. Access Denied, Restrictions Apply: Relationship with Male Relatives
14. Looking for Love, Groping for Identity: Adolescent Sexuality
15. Concluding Adolescence
Part IV: Pre-Transition Years
16. Finding Identities
Part V: Changing Over
17. A Long Road
18. Making the Decision
19. Making the Changes
20. Coming Out Stories
21. Are We There Yet?
Part VI: Life after Transition
22. Nature Calls: Toilet Traumas and Medical Necessities
23. The Naked Truth about Sexuality
24. Visions of Genders
25. Lessons from the Journey
Part: VII: Concluding
26. Conclusions and Questions
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Subject Index
Participant Index

Sujets

• Gay Studies
• LGBTQ+ Studies
• Gender Studies
• Human Rights
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Canadá
• Sociology
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Health
• Canada
• United States

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 29 août 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253023346
• Langue: English

Extrait

FTM
Jamison Green
FTM
Female-to-Male
Transsexuals in Society
Aaron Devor
With a new introduction by the author
And a new foreword by Jamison Green
Indiana University Press
Bloomington and Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
Portrait of Jamison Green by Loren Cameron.
All other photographs by Aaron Devor.
2016 by Aaron Devor
First reprinted in paperback in 1999.
1997 by Holly Devor
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-02286-8 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-02334-6 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17 16
Contents
New Foreword by Jamison Green
Original Foreword by Jamison Green
Acknowledgments
New Introduction
Original Introduction
PART I: FIRST QUESTIONS
1 Have Female-to-Male Transsexuals Always Existed?
2 Theories about Transsexualism
PART II: CHILDHOOD YEARS
3 Finding Out about Gender: Theories of Childhood Gender Acquisition
4 Family Scenes
5 Who Would Want to Be a Girl?: The Women (and Girls) in Participants Families
6 Men Rule: The Men (and Boys) in Participants Families
7 Lessons Learned at Home: Summary of Family Relationships
8 Childhood Friends and Foes: Relationships with Non-Family Members
PART III: ADOLESCENCE
9 Adolescence Is about Change
10 Crises at Puberty
11 Adolescent Friendships
12 Women Are Different: Relationships with Female Relatives
13 Access Denied, Restrictions Apply: Relationship with Male Relatives
14 Looking for Love, Groping for Identity: Adolescent Sexuality
15 Concluding Adolescence
PART IV: PRE-TRANSITION YEARS
16 Finding Identities
PART V: CHANGING OVER
17 A Long Road
18 Making the Decision
19 Making the Changes
20 Coming Out Stories
21 Are We There Yet?
PART VI: LIFE AFTER TRANSITION
22 Nature Calls: Toilet Traumas and Medical Necessities
23 The Naked Truth about Sexuality
24 Visions of Genders
25 Lessons from the Journey
PART VII: CONCLUDING
26 Conclusions and Questions
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Subject Index
Participant Index
New Foreword
A FTER TWENTY YEARS, and a dramatic-though still far from complete-shift in public attitudes toward transsexual people, one might imagine that more would be known about those of us who transition from female to male, or somewhere in-between. One might also be quite surprised to learn that there is still a mysterious fog obscuring transsexual or transgender men from public view. Is it passing privilege? That is, the fact that many trans men are simply seen as men, possibly because testosterone is quite effective in masculinizing various physical features so that most people simply don t notice us? Don t forget that the appearance standards for men in North America are much less demanding than those for women, so we don t have much of a challenge in that department (which can be a great relief!).
We have our insecurities, some of which play out in the kinds of relationships we choose. Sometimes trans men attach ourselves to abusive partners, or partners who are not good for us in various ways. Some of us struggle with substance abuse, persistently using something to obliterate the frustration of being unable to fully live the life we re looking for, perhaps because of economic deprivation, or because of bad reactions to testosterone, or failed surgery. And others live perfect lives; with wonderful, supportive, and loving partners with whom we are truly equal, with good jobs and retirement benefits, and the ability to own property; with good relationships with our children, who are intelligent, kind, ethical, and responsible. And others are unable to find steady work, struggling from day to day and terrified of becoming homeless. How does this happen? Can we blame all our problems on transsexualism? I don t think so. These kinds of things happen to anyone. It s the luck of the draw. But because no one s gotten the message yet that trans men are living and dying among us, we have to remind the reader that we exist, that we have a few needs that are unique, but that for the most part, we are pretty much like other people, like other ordinary men, or like androgynous men (or even women), or like the boys we wished we could have been when we were young, but instead we get to experience our youth a second time. And maybe this time we can be smarter about it.
The problem of visibility-or, rather, invisibility-really is a vexing one for many trans men. When we are invisible, no one outside of our intimates truly knows us, and it s difficult to relax in social settings. No one can understand our pain when we see trans people being ridiculed on reality TV, or in the news. No one can grasp our deep horror and immense sadness when we learn of another trans person (most often a trans woman of color, but none of us is truly exempt) being murdered or viciously harassed because someone discovers or deduces their trans status. No one can imagine our trepidation that someone could discover we have an unusual life history. Some of us are afraid to see physicians because we don t want them to know the history of our bodies. We re afraid doctors or nurses may refuse to treat us, or laugh at us, and talk about us disdainfully after we ve gone on our way-or worse, right in front of us, and everyone else in the waiting room. Some of us have even been physically assaulted in physician s offices. If it can happen there, where you are vulnerable, and you have gone there to receive care, where you expect to be particularly safe, it can happen anywhere.
Yet it s time again to bring out this research, this revelation of details, this compendium of knowledge and experience, to try again to let the world know who we are. Because we re not all that different from anyone else, and yet we have some amazing histories, some real insights about life, some actual wisdom to share with the world because of our unique experience. Yet we remain largely hidden in the shadows. Not for lack of trying to make a difference, to change laws and policies, to educate, to create art, to help other people. We are not glamorous or exotic or threatening. We are relentlessly invisible.
Aaron Devor s work remains, even after twenty years, the most elaborately detailed research ever produced about a cohort of trans men. Dr. Devor is a meticulous social scientist, a thoughtful and observant man, a clear and logical writer, well-grounded in both theory and history. His integrity is impeccable. He has recently been rewarded for his long years of dedicated scholarship with the world s only Research Chair in Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. This is a fitting tribute to a man who has dedicated his life to understanding gender and the social forces that impact our perception of it, as well as the social forces that are moved or changed because of how our-anyone s-gender is expressed.
It could be said that Aaron was ahead of his time when this volume was first released. Now it is reassuring that the Indiana University Press has enough confidence in this work to make it available anew, because general and academic interest in transgender people, cultures, practices, etiologies, treatments, struggles, achievements, talents, even genius, is awakening at last. As Aaron notes in his new introduction to this volume, much has changed since his original research was done: Vocabularies are new, laws and policies have been enacted that protect and sustain transgender lives, medical approaches to gender variance are considerably less rigid and pathologizing. Transgender people may still have difficulties under certain circumstances, but the shame that once draped itself around our necks has largely fallen away. Yet the value of Aaron s work remains because the stories are true, because the lives he documents are real, because it s time now to pay attention, and to recognize that there is so much more to learn.
Jamison Green, PhD, MFA
January 2016
Oakland, CA
Original Foreword
M Y FIRST ACQUAINTANCE with any literature on female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals occurred in 1984 when I was trying to determine what options were available to me as a male-perceived, masculine identified, female-bodied individual. What I found then and for the most part since has consisted mainly of critiques of highly dysfunctional families; accounts of gender dysphoric children presented to clinicians by their homophobic parents; dismissive, tut-tut attitudes toward girls who refused to give up their tomboy ways; a great deal of misogyny and sexism; studies that generalize about FTM experience based on one or two interviews; the assumption that the FTM process is the mirror image of the male-to-female (MTF) process; and the constant refrain that not enough study has been done. At last, here is a book that opens a window on FTM lives without condescending, either to the reader or to the population it describes.
This book deserves a wide readership among people interested in female-to-male transsexuals as well as among transsexual men themselves. Psychotherapists and medical practitioners who work with transgendered clients primarily see male-to-female people and as a result