#transfem history

[androgynealienfemme]

"Legally, at that time, one was required to wear at least three-gender appropriate articles of clothing. Otherwise you were subject to arrest. Few heterosexuals were aware of the law. The archaic ruling was of major consequence only for the queens of the queer community. For my late-night forays, I generally wore two socks and a silky, if male, tank top under my very feminine slacks and top.

My outer garments had for years been very non-gender specific: velvet tops over stovepipe-cut slacks; oversized shirts over tight, tight jeans. I did not, however, hit the streets in cute little skirts and cashmere sweaters. I was conscious of the dress code and the fact that I was known to every cop on our block.

The city's finest were often found kibitzing with the owners at the club. In the years leading up to San Francisco's "gay-ola" scandal of the early 1960s, it was common practice for the owners of gay clubs to "grease" the legal system. Financial consideration in the right blue pockets allowed talented "fairies" to work and play without constant police harassment. The cops on Broadway knew who I was, and I knew them for what they were. Like everyone familiar with gay life, I carried a healthy fear of our law-enforcement officials. I played by the rules and only slightly bent the dictate that you arrive and exit the club... male.

"I know you think you're real, Girl," Stormy would fret, "But you're still almost six feet tall and bear a striking resemblance to that popular drag queen Lee Shaw. Don't think you're invisible to the police."

My friend was concerned for my safety, but her primary fear was not of the men with whom I danced at the Street of Paris. She knew how badly I would be treated if picked up by the police. I would be unceremoniously tossed into jail, if not worse."

“The Woman I Was Not Born To Be” by Aleshia Brevard (2001)

[gender0bender]

Drag queens having fun at T-Club, a gay bar in Prague, in the 1980s. Photos taken by Libuse Jarcovjakova, you can view more photos of the T-Club on her website http://www.jarcovjakova.com/albums/t-club-1983-1985/.

[alienbycomics]

Gender Nonconforming Jesus: A look at art history. CW: religion, transphobia, artistic nudity, depictions of open wounds (Long post)

Here’s a link to the original comic: Trans Jesus

[tskimberlee60]

Who’s ready to suck what’s down there 👇 🥵😈

Drop a ❤️ if you think you can suck that off🥵

Telegram: @Tskimberlee60

[justdavina]

HOT HOT HOT Barbie pink goes well any day!

[man-squared]

[ ID: A screenshot of part of a Wikipedia article about the goddess Inanna. The excerpt reads "Individuals who went against the gender binary were heavily involved in the cult of Inanna. During Sumerian times, a set of priests known as [italics] gala [end italics] worked in Inanna's temples, where they performed elegies and lamentations. Men who became [italics] gala [end italics] sometimes adopted female names and their songs were composed in the Sumerian [italics] eme-sal [end italics] dialect, which, in literary texts, is normally reserved for the speech of female characters. Some Sumerian proverbs seem to suggest that [italics] gala [end italics] had a reputation for engaging in anal sex with men. During the Akkadian Period, [italics] kurgarrū [end italics] and [italics] assinnu [end italics] were servants of Ishtar who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples. Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also had homosexual proclivities. Gwendolyn Leick, an anthropologist known for her writings on Mesopotamia, has compared these individuals to the contemporary Indian [italics] hijra [end italics]. In one Akkadian hymn, Ishtar is described as transforming men into women." End ID. ]

literally nothing makes me feel crazier than the total lack of attention paid to FTM history.... like there is also references to Inanna/Ishtar turning women into men. there were the pilipili, people who ritualistically became male guards in her temple. but i guess that's not. queer enough? for anyone to talk about ever

[shutinthenutouse]

[genderqueerdykes]

to whoever needs to hear this: transvestite and transsexual are not slurs. "outdated" queer terms are not inherently slurs. these are literally historically the first 2 terms created and used to talk about the trans community, both coined the first doctor to perform successful trans sex reassignment surgeries, who spent the rest of his career pioneering and paving the way for the modern surgeries we perform today. his name was Magnus Hirschfeld, he was a jewish doctor who began a lifetime of fighting for queer rights due to being moved by the struggles his queer patients went through in terms of not being allowed to accept themselves during the Nazi regime at the time. these are perfectly fine terms that have grown to develop their own distinct meanings and communities over time. this man spent his life fighting for trans and jewish rights during Nazi occupation. any queer term can be used as a slur in the wrong hands. thank you

[anissa-kate]

Reblog if you wanna get fucked by a horny tranny😊🍆🍑

[liberaljane]

💙 Empowered women empower ALL women. 💚

Digital illustration featuring a large group of women of all different races, ages, sexualities, abilities and gender expressions. There’s text that reads, ‘a woman is anyone who identifies as one.’

[campgender]

butch trans women: a butch voices 2011 panel

…the transcript!

as far as i can tell, the captions on youtube are fairly accurate, but creating a full transcript was still important to me for a few reasons: accessibility, archival, & resources. 1) especially for people who can’t listen to the audio, i think the transcript is a lot easier to read with punctuation, speaker notation, etc. 2) i’m always concerned about the possibility of youtube videos being taken down (by the creator or more likely youtube itself) & text documents are a lot easier than video to share & store, including offline. 3) whenever possible i incorporated updated & archived links of resources mentioned as well as pdf backups.

watch, read, share with your friends, add to your trans microlibrary (@thetransfemininereview), print out & put on your bookshelf, & most importantly remember butch trans women are a vital part of butch/femme history, present, & future❣️

google doc / pdf link

[androgynealienfemme]

"It was 1962, and I was one of a mere handful undergoing transsexual surgery in America. The procedure was in its infancy, but I was prepared to take advantage of everything medical science knew about altering gender. I hoped it knew enough.

I wasn't sure of my doctor. During an earlier meeting in his office, my surgeon had offered to take measurements of my future husband's private parts. He said it would ensure a proper fit. I thought his suggestion twisted and disgusting. I'd wanted to scream at him, but I knew no one else who did the surgery in this country. I smiled, cast my eyes toward the floor, and said nothing.

"He's only a means to an end," I cautioned myself. "This doctor doesn't have to be polite. You need his expertise, so keep your mouth shut, let it pass, and don't make waves." It was hard advice to follow.

The evening before my operation, the good doctor stopped by my room. I"m going to carve a hole in you the size of that roll," he said, pointed a long slender surgeon's finger at my dinner tray. I didn't want a vagina the size of a large dinner roll! Still, I smiled at his sexual allusion. I knew the drill. My destiny, as I saw it, was to accept whatever a more powerful male said or did. It was simple. Everything revolved around the penis. Men accepted theirs; I refused to acknowledge mine.

"You will have a wonderful future," the doctor assured me. "You know what it's like to be a man." And he swaggered out of my room.

"What the hell did he just say?" I asked aloud. My physician believed my future as a woman would be rosy because I understood what it was like to be a man? Only a male could possibly believe that. I had no concept of what it was like to be a man. Why did this doctor think I needed gender-altering services? But I swallowed my feelings. I couldn't complain. I valued this operation more than I valued my own life. It was clear, however, that there would be no violins sweetly playing in the background as my not-so-understanding surgeon worked his transgendering magic. I bit my tongue. I reacted as I always had when threatened- I turned everything inward.

Wisely, I decided to concentrate on my lip gloss. In only twenty-three years, I'd turned the safe haven of superficiality into an art form."

“The Woman I Was Not Born To Be” by Aleshia Brevard (2001)

[trans-androgyne]

Yes, trans men and mascs have historically been subjected to less public violence and ridicule than trans women and fems. Is having privilege really the only reason you can think of for that? Have you considered that they had less ability to be publicly visible in the first place? Please remember that the lack of autonomy women have historically been granted also applies to transmascs. They would have been considered the property of men. Spousal rape wasn't illegal everywhere in my country until 1993. How easy do you think it would be for forcibly impregnated transmascs to transition? For abused transmascs in general? Do you think they were all even allowed out of the house often without a man? There are so many stories of transmascs being forcibly institutionalized for being trans. Is that situation and otherwise being quietly abused and erased really so much better than hypervisibility?

[sugarclarice]

Will you kiss and tell? 💋👅

[i-love-sufjan-stevens]

Vintage Trans Men, Women, and more!

as promised,

Trans-Femme Fatales and Cowboys!

[justdavina]

Such a HOT transgender girl!