GC: Do you genuinely desire to have more trans men in public positions (i.e. acting, politics)?

submitted by GenderbenderShe/her/hers from self.GCdebatesQT

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[–]SnowAssMan 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (12 children)

You're describing a recent phenomenon which is mainly only occurring in the West, among the middle-classes. Why would you assume that trans-men will always think of themselves as men?

There is a movie from 1999 called Boys Don't Cry about a girl who wants to pass as a man (based on a real person). At the time she was a girl, nowadays we revise history to make her a he. 1999 wasn't that long ago. In just as little time the pendulum could swing right back again. Maybe once the economy is better & people are less into conformity, then we could see a return to gender abolition instead of gender appropriation.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

But Brandon Teena identified as a man. Their story hasn’t changed. I remember when the film came out and nothing has been revised about the story.

[–]SnowAssMan 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

Then how come the film reviews at the time all refer to the character/person as a girl, using female pronouns throughout?

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Because the character is female.? I’m sure what is considered correct or respectful in journalism has changed since it came out, but the story hasn’t. Brandon Teena was a transman and that is clear in the film.

[–]SnowAssMan 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

But it's clearly not clear from the reviewers' perspective (I checked multiple ones). They all watched the movie, didn't they? "Trans-men are men" is a very recent claim. Maybe this individual was more like Gemma Barker.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I just read some reviews. I certainly haven’t read them all, but the fact Brandon identifies as a boy or man is present in all the ones I’ve seen. Brandon literally insists he is the entire movie. Have you seen it? I do think they weren’t necessarily as artful in referring to trans people back then, so maybe that’s what you picking up on. It was seen a lot more like extreme homosexuality by many so those words would be used. There are many situations where someone is historical is revised to be trans. This isn’t one of those though. Brandon Teena was a transman. He didn’t even die that long ago so many people who knew him are still around. The director of the film has said she intended to portray him as a transman.

[–]SnowAssMan 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

I only watched the documentary. It reminded me very strongly of the more recent UK-based Gemma Barker story.

The only interview I saw of the director was just the same as the reviews, describing the character as a girl & using feminine pronouns. The interview only seems to confirm what I'm saying. The director said she herself was a tomboy & was looking for a story about a woman who subverted gender roles, by taking on the role of a man, she referenced female pirates.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I’m not really going to continue because I don’t feel like you are discussing this in good faith. That said, I am super disappointed, based on responses, that many here seem willing to rewrite the story of someone who literally died because they were trans. If it’s wrong to do that to lesbians and GNC women and it should be wrong to do that to transmen. Brandon deserves better.

[–]SnowAssMan 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The revision of history is in the other direction, mate. Just check the comments on that interview with the director. They are all "correcting" her pronoun usage. Join the crowd.

[–]questioningtw 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

They need to read the book. Reading it sort of made me realize why I get deeply annoyed with QT philosophy where gender is just some sort of game or personality type. This person literally couldn't live as a woman. And it wasn't because of gender stereotypes or anything(most of his friends where actually women even), he just really saw himself as a man and didn't understand why. It was a good book, but really depressing.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for sharing! That books sounds like a difficult read (even the film was really difficult to watch). I don’t like the way QT is changing things either. Being trans (or more accurately, a transsexual) used to really be about people who couldn’t exist any other way (even if it was mental illness, we didn’t have anything else we could do). Brandon clearly seemed like one of those to me.

[–]questioningtw 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I actually read the book "All He Wanted" by Aphrodite Jones; and there is no way he was was woman. He wasn't even like Buck Angel who lived as a lesbian for a while, he seemed to have extreme gender dysphoria. What was so depressing was in the book, he was actually diagnosed with GID and was supposed to have more therapy so he could get HRT, but for whatever reason decided to take off.