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Gender warriors | page 1, 2, 3
But the openness and experimentation of the queer-as-fuck kids has softened some of the F2M dogma. Throughout the weekend, older F2Ms thanked "all the young punks" for expanding definitions of transgender. The queer-as-fuckers don't worry about whether someone injects testosterone -- or "takes T" -- or whom he has sex with, two things that can cause F2M infighting or at least labeling. The young set is also dragging transgender into the outside world: Their punk androgyny lacks the furtiveness the older F2Ms grew up with. When a workshop leader in his late 50s said, "And of course you're made to feel shame for being sexual at all," the girls with the shaved heads just looked blank. Then they happily blurted details about their strap-ons, labial piercings and range of sex partners.
Virginia Vitzthum Virginia Vitzthum's column appears every other Tuesday in the Urge edition of Health & Body + Archives
The world is catching up; these little gender warriors are more likely to end up in a Benetton ad than in a Stonewall-type battle. But the young punks are merely the least abashed wing of a historically contentious subculture. F2Ms are engaged in an ongoing protest, not only against the gender police, but usually against all patriarchs, racists, some parents, jocks and cheerleaders, too. Most are well-versed in feminism, gay rights and other radical politics. Among the True Spirit workshops were "Our Role in the Revolution," "Working to Eradicate Racial Privilege" and "Trans Feminism." Most of the F2Ms attending True Spirit pass as men, but they don't want to trade in their outsider status as "queers" for male privilege. They're like monks in, but not of, the gendered world, living a new type of maleness that doesn't oppress anyone. Mel, nee Melanie, who started "taking T" six months ago, explains masculinity as a psychological challenge rather than a set of characteristics or behaviors. "All the men in my family are assholes," he said. "So transitioning is healing that for me." It's not just loving the enemy, but becoming a better version of him. So what happens when you throw testosterone into this volatile mix of feminist idealism and the longing to be male? The initial changes are much like those of male adolescence: cracking voice, wispy stubble, acne, increased sex drive. Gary Bowen, founder of American Boyz, underwent a profound metamorphosis when he started "T" a few years ago. He suddenly could understand male grunting and other nonverbal communication. He found it harder to think of words for things (but no, he's nothing like Homer Simpson). Strangest of all, he went from right-handed to left-handed. He did not, however, feel compelled to smash shit up: "I felt more relaxed, happier in my body than I had my whole life." Mel and other new T-shooters also described greater energy and horniness, but again, not aggression or belligerence. Such testimonies make me wonder if "hormones" are a flimsy excuse for male violence. Perhaps socialized men give testosterone a bad name.
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