Archive for the ‘Man’ Category
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
From piny [1]:Remember, though, that the goal is not merely separation but separation in the name of a hierarchy. This is why one set of behavioral cues gets coded as artificial and unnatural while the other is described as genuine and natural. (Of course, in other contexts, the former is base and animalistic when the other gets to be advanced; again, the only constant message is that one is better and the other worse.) This same veiled value judgment is also set on transsexuals: when Julia Serano wears a skirt, she is dressing up like a drag queen, aping real women; when I wear a suit and a tie, I am deceiving people. This has nothing to do with any inherently amenable aspect of any of these practices, nothing to do with ease or preference. In our case, it’s based on the premise that we do not have the right to certain signifiers, namely those that belong to real men and women; in the case of women, it is based on the idea that women do not have the right to be real people. Sly’s (Sly Civilian's review [2] of SOM) revelation upon reading Self-Organizing Men was that his masculinity and manhood are no more or less genuine, no more or less a matter of communication to others, than those of the ftm contributors. It’s worth pointing out that the rituals he observes are not unlike the ones Julia Serano describes as symbols of her simultaneous recognition as a trans woman and invalidation as a trans woman...(more here [3])So one of SOM's readers asks the all-important penis question [4] (since we're talking about gender signifiers)...
[1] http://feministe.us/blog/
[2] http://slycivilian.com/?p=124
[3] http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2006/10/10/3919/
[4] http://www.homofactuspress.com/?p=46
Posted in Man | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
[1]
USA Today reported [2] that a majority of disability-related complaints filed [3] with the Department of Transportation cited airline wheelchair service as a big problem.
Failure to assist passengers in chairs was the number one complaint. Passengers:
also complained of damaged chairs, poor seating arrangements, inaccessible aircraft and excessive waits for stored chairs upon landing.
How I moved through the physical world changed as more and more hormones transitioned my body into a semblance of male. Physical deference, a sense of physical safety and an awareness that I had metamorphasized into a "big guy" solidified in my mind that significant physical changes to my body changed how much physical space the world granted me. And, that "land grant," if you will, also changed my perception of myself. The world and its inhabitants conspired to let me explore as much as I wanted to. It was my right.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/waiting.JPG
[2] http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/932636501.html?did=932636501&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=Nov+28%2C+2005&author=Barbara+De+Lollis&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Complaints+cite+airline+wheelchair+service
[3] http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/cradi/ReportToCongress08302005.doc
Posted in Man, Queer, Truth | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, November 15th, 2005
The deadline is tomorrow, November 15 today for Self-Organizing Men: Conscious Masculinities Through Time and Space. (Read the entire call here [1]; and the anthology will be published by Homofactus Press [2], and each contributor will receive royalty payments for as long as the book remains in print.)We have already received some amazing words, plays, poems, essays. Some images are on their way to us, too. Several people agreed to be readers of the submissions, and our Homofactus [3]community just grows and grows.This process amazes me. What started out as a call for submissions morphed into a publishing company. Loathe to submit to the process of pitching a book, I decided to publish the book myself. Which led to another book in the works, then a third book.
[1] http://www.jaysennett.com/blog/2005/06/call_for_submissions.htm
[2] http://www.homofactuspress.com/
[3] http://www.homofactuspress.com/
Posted in Man, Queer, Writing | 16 Comments »
Monday, November 7th, 2005
[1]
I awoke yesterday morning, thinking again, "who knew?"
Who knew that underneath all my gender issues/dysphoria/etc. I made my gender choices for sex.
Who knew that men, some men at least, love the woman of their life with every fiber of their being?
In falling in love with and marrying the Divine Ms. H. she revealed to me the deepest motivations of my gender choices. In her arms and kiss, I found that, yes indeed, I did want to be a man having sex with a woman.
Sacre Bleu!
Even now I still find the whole realization awe-inspiring. Some Higher Self knew, I think, that this desire had been a true motivation of mine. Even though I could not admit it to myself at the time. After all, I had, according to my feminist ideological training, become the enemy. And wanting to play hide the sausage with a babe was just wrong, wrong, wrong.
Yet my little five year old self knew what I wanted. I still recall fantasies of marrying a woman (and having her mother really dig me, too) when I was five years old.
Unknown to my conscious mind, my five year old hooked up the Big I and ran the show!
Good thing, too. Otherwise I'd still be miserable. And I encourage all my trans brothers and sisters to have the kind of sex that turns you on and makes you feel whole. Don't let the stupid sexophobes detract you from this important part of life.
In fact, I encourage everyone to hook up with the babe(s) of your choice. Maybe you can achieve this goal more cheaply than I, what with the hormones and surgeries and such. ;-)
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/reasons.JPG
Posted in Man | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, October 11th, 2005
[1]
Peterson Toscano [2], fabulous theatrical performance activist, shared with me his thoughts about emboding a conservative ex-gay ministry kind of masculinity or how to not act like a fag, and how acting British gets you better customer service. His words remind me of how much I had to retrain my body to look and act (naturally) more masculine and straight. Especially during my early years on hormones, when I got read not as woman or lesbian but as fucking faggot.
During the beginning portion of my 17 years enduring "ex-gay" therapy, I received specific training on my voice inflection. Throughout high school my voice, although baritone, I inflected up the ends of my sentences. I was told that this was too feminine sounding and needed to sound more sure of myself, more masculine.
[1] http://jaysennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/i-lost-buddha.JPG
[2] http://www.petersontoscano.com/
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Man, Queer, Religion | 2 Comments »
Thursday, September 1st, 2005
Nick Kittle continues our delightful discussion here [1]. He raises good questions that I think boil down to: when exactly does transition to transman begin?
In response I want to widen the dialog a bit. Looking back over my life, I don't recall experiencing a transition. Transitions seemed more like it.
Each decision - to change my name, cut my hair, wear men's clothing - required a transition. The first transition occurred in my mind-heart. Then came the transition in a community setting. Each transition brought with it new experiences, new understandings, the release of fear only to find new anxiety underneath it.
Over time I've come to understand my process {perhaps true for others?} thusly:
[2] [3]where
TM = me
and the arrow = a transition point in my process.
At various times of I have felt not at all female. Others times solely male. Still other days I fell into infinity. Then felt only love about myself and my body.
Had I possessed the correct software I could have made designed my Transition Cycle as a Mobius strip: [4]
My Mobius Cycle possesses neither top nor bottom. No beginning or end.
Nick's words jibe with my experience. He writes:The importance of a name change is mostly symbolic. It's a way of saying to the world, "That identity my parents bestowed upon me when I was born? Completely wrong; here's what I really am." Transition begins when you tell the world that, all appearances to the contrary, you are a man. A transman is a transman when he says he is.
My decision to change my name fulfilled a need to have a male name. Not a need to become a transman.
I like that definition because it doesn't dictate to anyone else how they should experience their gender, but it leave me free to say with complete confidence that I am not a transman. And yet one tantalising question remains: could I, one day, become one?Like Nick, I think each transition may lead in any direction at all. As communities we force the issue when we demand that transitions become transition and female must, inevitably, lead to male.
I wanted simplicity. I wanted to become a transman / male / masculine. Short of my secondary sex characteristics, I don't what defines transman and male anymore. Have I become a transman? I don't know. I thought so a few years ago. At which point, precisely, that happened, I cannot say. So much of my gender grows in my heart-mind.
The Cycle continues. Right now I think I reside between love (represented by the heart) and infinity on the arrow. Here courage remains a top requirement. I must brace my mind in fortitude.
Trans community members place tremendous value on physical choices. Whether we like it or not, or believe or not, we value others of us who go-all-the-way or live-in-between in a physical (i.e. a way we can see). But those choices represent results of the tremendous transitions that must occur in our mind-hearts.
Who but myself must I convince of my choices? I believed in myself enough to convince everyone else in the world. I believe, then, that each of us may claim the appellation lion-hearted.
Nick writes:[M]y lack of courage is probably another fiction. I proclaim on my blog that I'm male-souled. I've blogged in detail about my gender identity and blithely given the URL to family members so they can read as much of my life as they choose. I describe myself as a boy in the "real world", although few people take that seriously and I don't bother to enlighten them. It's true that I could show more courage - cutting my hair so that I pass, for instance - but it's also a fact that I could show less. I do what I have to do to be true to myself, and perhaps it's time I learned to accept the label of brave, at least.I, too, do what I have to do to live true to myself. And to Nick, the Lion-Hearted, I say Thank You.
[1] http://www.livejournal.com/users/ksej/88384.html
[2] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/the_transition_cycle.jpg
[3] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/the_transition_cycle_2.jpg
[4] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/mobius_2.jpg
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Man | Comments Off
Friday, August 19th, 2005
I received a great suggestion to my Call for Submissions: Self Organizing Men [1].
Where I wrote:
"If you partner with women, how have you come to terms with liking your partners to act sexually submissive, particularly if you identify as male/man most of the time?"
Should now read:"If you partner with women AND like your partners to act sexually submissive..."
Thanks to a reader for this suggestion.
[1] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/jay_sennetts_blog/2005/06/call_for_submis.html#more
Posted in Man | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
From Crimethinc [1]:
[2]
[1] http://jaysennett.comwww.crimethinc.com
[2] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/poster_1.jpg
Posted in Anti Assclownery, Man, Truth | 3 Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2005
Lyrics [1] by Anderson [2] who I mentioned here [3]. Absolutely fucking brilliant!
Gotta warm-up, wrote some silly new lyrics to a great old tune that I've always wanted to cover: Not your Steppin' Stone by The Monkees (was well-covered by the Pistols)I'm Not Your Tranny BoiI yi-yi-yi-yi'm not your Tranny BoiI yi-yi-yi-yi'm not your Tranny BoiWhen I first met you girl, you didn't have a clueBut now you're walkin' round like gender ended with youYou been so ambitious bout the peeps you usend why you put my name in your book of who's who? Cuz baby:I yi-yi-yi-yi'm not your Tranny BoiI yi-yi-yi-yi'm not your Drag King ToyYou're trying to make your mark in the academeYou're droppin' all those names that you dropped on meYou're working on yr post-doctoral candidacyAppropriating parts of my identityI yi-yi-yi-yi m not your Tranny BoiI yi-yi-yi-yi m not your Trendy ToyYou say you are an 'ally' in the familycause you've appended 'T' to your LGBYou wanna know how many years I've been on Tand will I show my cockfor your documentarybut babyI yi-yi-yi-yi'm not your Tranny BoiI yi-yi-yi-yi m not your Trendy Toy ...not your Tranny Boi -- No!not your Tranny Boi -- Yeah!not your Tranny Boi not your Tranny Boi not your Tranny Boi not your Tranny Boi not your Tranny Boi not your Tranny Boi -oooooooooooooooooiWords copyright 2003 A Toone
[1] http://www.livejournal.com/users/gene_home/16793.html
[2] http://jaysennett.comwww.andersontoone.com
[3] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/jay_sennetts_blog/2005/07/anderson_toone_.html
Posted in Man | Comments Off
Wednesday, August 10th, 2005
I get asked from time to time to share with other transmen how to dress well even within a small discretionary budget.
Whether you want to look like a dandy or simply learn more about the history of bespoke tailoring, check out The English Cut [1]. You can learn about the origins of the phrase "no strings attached," how to dress up a $400 suit and what to wear during the spring and summer months.
Mostly this blog makes me feel really good about dressing up, everday. And that is saying quite alot for a white guy in america, where our standard is wrinkled, ill-fitting and adolescent.
[1] http://www.theenglishcut.com/
Posted in Man | Comments Off
Friday, August 5th, 2005
From Buck Angel's [1] blog [2]:I have been getting some emails from men (not FTM) who want to have their cocks surgically replaced with a pussy. They don't identify as women nor do they want to be women. They just want to be a man with a pussy.Men with penises who want a pussy....
[1] http://buckangel.blogspot.com/
[2] http://buckangel.blogspot.com/2005/07/men-who-want-pussy.html
Posted in Man, Queer | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, July 27th, 2005
Monday night I was cutting some oak trim and decided not to wear my safety goggles. About ten seconds later sawdust blew into my eye, where it stayed until an ER irrigated my eye late yesterday morning.
"Typical male," or "Do you know how many guys do stupid things like that?" were two phrases I heard quite a bit. "Sometimes the only thing that works with guys is shaming them," the ER tech shared with the Divine Ms. H. They both laughed.
Of course I was lying in a puddle of water that had run down my face and could not mount any significant defense.
The rest of yesterday and last night I spent with my eyes closed and still grateful I have insurance and did not have any corneal scratches.
I find it strange and delightful that my some of my behaviors get called "typically male." Delicious.
Posted in Man, Queer | 6 Comments »
Thursday, July 21st, 2005
Peterson Toscano [1] practices what he preaches. Recently asked to perform his piece Talkin Trash in the Homo No Halfway House [2], Peterson defied the Grand Hotel [3]'s (the same hotel where Somewhere in Time [4] was filmed) satorial dictum of boys = pants and girls = skirts by wearing this scrumptious ensemble [5].
Fashion Activism [6] strikes a pose!
As I shared with Peterson in an email, I think I'm being a fashion activist as I strive to dress well everyday, since I see so many rich, monied guys dressed like slobs.
[1] http://www.a_musing.blogspot.com/
[2] http://homonomo.com/otherworks.html
[3] http://www.grandhotel.com/
[4] http://www.somewhereintime.tv/
[5] http://www.flickr.com/photos/67159104@N00/26796702/
[6] http://a_musing.blogspot.com/2005/07/fashion-activism.html
Posted in Man | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
Wil Dunham [1], who graciously agreed to be interviewed here [2], has recently had his first photography exhibit and sale in Richmond.
Check out some of the pictures [3] from the show and drop Wil a congratulatory note or maybe even buy one of his stunning photographs!!
[1] http://www.wildun.com/
[2] http://jaysennett.typepad.com/jay_sennetts_blog/2005/05/the_ordinary_ma_1.html
[3] http://www.authenticeccentric.com/?p=28
Posted in Man | Comments Off
Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
Since the mid 1990s many great books have been published addressing notions of masculinity, maleness, gender and feminism. From Michael S. Kimmel and Michael Messner’s Men’s Lives to R.W. Connell’s Masculinities, to Mark Allister’s Eco Man: New Perspectives on Masculinity and Nature conversations have begun around this thing called “masculinity.”
This work has continued into transmen/ftm/trannsexual male communities with the work of Morty Diamond’s From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FtM and Beyond and Jamison Green’s Becoming a Visible Man. DJ Katastrophe, poet and hip hop artist Tim’m West and performance artist and activist Imani Henry also represent progressive forces investigating, interrogating and reorganizing understandings gender, masculinity, race, class and feminism.
Posted in Man, Queer, Writing | 7 Comments »
