Yes, I added the asterisk onto the
prefix 'trans' on the title of this blog post. Yes I did. Will that
give away the fact that I support the asterisk's place? Well drat,
never mind. Allow me to go anyway...
There has been a lot of debate in the
past fortnight about the place of the trans* asterisk in the FTM
Transsexual community.
Now, as I understood it, transsexual
was a term, or an identity, depending on how you see it
(I know, now more than ever, that many people see transsexualism as a
medical condition, which is totally fine, and I think that to
a certain extent I too agree...). however, I saw it too as a word
which went underneath the transgender umbrella – something which
has now been shortened to being the trans* umbrella WITH the asterisk
to show inclusion of EVERYBODY.
Under this umbrella we have identities
such as: transsexual, transgender, agender, bigender, genderqueer,
genderfluid, non-binary, intersex, transvestite. The list goes on and
on.
I am going to name drop because I need
to to get my point across. Because of their gender identity, people
have been questioning Auguste and Emery's place on the FTMtranstasic
channel.
Due to YouTube's regulations, you can't
have asterisks in channel names. Does this mean that had you been
able to do that three years ago, the channel FTMtranstastic would
have been FTMtrans*tastic? I don't know. But that seems somewhat
irrelevant regardless.
Not everyone on that channel identifies
as transsexual, therefore I am going to assume that the channel was
named that under the intent of 'trans' was to be a shortened version
of the word 'transgender' and not 'transsexual'.
I don't think there is any debate about
the word 'transgender' being an umbrella term, or maybe there is and
I've missed it in the mess of it all, but I think that still stands.
So if we see the shortening 'trans*' as being 'transgender' then what
is the problem with the asterisk?
I personally think that the asterisk is
there to see a differentiation, so that when you use 'trans' to mean
'transgender' it has an asterisk, otherwise people might think you
meant 'transsexual' and then you get into all sorts of trouble.
There is a difference between
transsexual and transgender. Yes there is. I totally one hundred per
cent agree.
As I understand it, many transsexual
people feel like their idenity is invalidated due to the inclusion of
gender variant and gender non-binary folk who are identifying with
the term 'FTM'.
Here's another identity to throw into
the mixer. FTM. Female to male. Now, in my opinion, (I feel like I
need to put a disclaimer here ALL OF THIS IS MY OPINION), any person
who was female assigned at birth, with the intention to transition in
all walks of life to male (including any variations of social
transition and physical transition) should be deserving of the
identity FTM.
“Deserving of the identity FTM”. As
if it's a prize. It's not a prize, it's an identity.
Auguste and Emery have stated may times
that they want to go on HRT and I know for a fact that both of them want top surgery. They are changing their names and
they use male pronouns and they are both changing their gender marker from F to M. To the rest of the world who are not going
to be in their pants, they are male.
When they apply for jobs in the future,
they will be seen as male. When they meet new people and make new
friends in the future, they will be seen as male. For all intents and
purposes, in their future, they will be seen as male.
Therefore, they too are FTM.
I understand they use the term
'non-binary FTM' meaning they don't identify wholly with the male
identity but do you know what, not every single FTM person does. And
do you know what's even more funny? Neither does every cis person. My
Mam doesn't feel totally female all the time. Try telling her she
isn't a woman. I dare you.
So do I think that the trans* asterisk
has a place in the community. Yes I do, to differentiate between
transgender and transsexual. Do I think that non-binary folk can be
FTM? Yes I do. Do I think that Auguste and Emery have a place on a
channel for FTM trans* people. Yes I do. I also think people who are
transsexual do. Because they too are FTM trans* people.
Bring on the hate and attack me. I
would just like to state, even though I wish I didn't have to, that I
am not non-binary. I am a binary, male, FTM who one day will probably
be more comfortable with the term transsexual than I am right now.
The only reason I am not at the moment, is because I have not gone
under any medical transition yet. That is my personal belief. Right
now, I am comfortable saying I am FTM transgender.
Love,
Benjamin x
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