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Gender warriors
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March 7, 2000 | When Beth Harrison Prado was 8, her mother told her that her wishes
would come true when she kissed her own elbow. In order to get the male
body she longed for, "I stuck my arm between the door and the wall like
this," she says hoisting her thick bicep with her other hand. "I pushed on that door until I broke the bone." Harrison Prado, a self-described "stone butch who likes femmes" recently shared that anecdote to murmurs of recognition at the True Spirit Conference for F2Ms.
Virginia Vitzthum Virginia Vitzthum's column appears every other Tuesday in the Urge edition of Health & Body + Archives
About 450 male souls journeyed to Alexandria, Va., for the three-day event, including some who have "transitioned" with testosterone injections and surgery, some (mostly younger) who hadn't and others along the way. Though F2Ms frame it in more political terms, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association refers to the belief that one's gender does not match one's genitals as "gender dysphoria." Gender dysphorics can include everyone from transsexuals, who transition completely -- hormones, surgery, name change -- to garden variety tomboys and sissies. The 1994 DSM estimates that one in 40,000 men is transsexual and one in 100,000 women is F2M transsexual. What baffles outsiders is how unconnected gender dysphoria can be to sexuality. Many F2Ms are attracted to men, but say they've always felt like gay men themselves. Others must transition from being a lesbian lover to half of a heterosexual couple and some are attracted specifically to other F2Ms. Sponsor American Boyz invited an alphabet soup of identities to the 85-workshop event: "Butch, Transman, Gender Outlaw, Transsexual, Drag King, New Man, Boychick, She-Bear, Shapeshifter, Transfag, Tomboy, F2M, Passing Woman, Two-Spirit, Amazon, Tranny Boy, Intersexual, Female Guy, Tranz, Boss Grrrl, Bearded Female, Transgenderist, Sir, Kuramir, Hermaphrodite, Questioning, Just Curious or a Significant Other, Friend, Family member or Ally (SOFFA)." The first workshop I went to was "The Interplay of Difference: Creating Heterosexual Imagery," where a short, pear-shaped man with a wispy beard (a common look at True Spirit) spoke softly to six people with closed eyes. He told them, "Picture your own gender for a few moments, then picture the gender you're attracted to." Piles of crayons and paper were stacked in the corner for drawing those images later. The leader's soothing instructions were interrupted constantly by shrieks of laughter floating over from next door. I peeked at my schedule and saw that the panel in the adjoining room was called "Queer as Fuck." I snuck out of the fantasy exercise to join the rowdy grrrls and boyz who were fighting categorization rather than redrawing it. The large room was jammed with college kids who looked even younger, like teenage skateboard punks. They sported brightly dyed buzz cuts and mohawks, heavy-metal band T-shirts and piercings through every dent or rise on their faces. The most common jewelry was the angry-bull omega through the septum. The theme of the raucous rap session was the tension between "What the hell are you looking at?" and "Hey, look at me!" Kid after kid professed outrage at being treated differently because of her threatening, masculine appearance, which inspired sisterly indignation. A few others bemoaned, to similar encouragement, the loss of their radical look as they transitioned. "I feel too normal as a guy," they whined. The loudest cheers went to a green-haired butch who offered, "You know what really gets them? When they ask why I have so many piercings, I tell them, 'It represents Jesus' suffering on the cross.'"
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