There are many ways to be transgender, many genders, many experiences, you’re here to hear about mine in particular. However if you’re curious, I encourage you to seek out information that I might not cover, especially if you are currently questioning your gender, or just want to know more about all the wonderful trans people that live on this planet with you.
For clarity, let me state that I am assigned female at birth and identify as a transgender man. In this blog I will only speak on and about experiences pertaining to being a trans male/transmasculine.
To make my posts as accessible as I can, I will endeavor to provide descriptions or links to resources, where you can read more about words/topics I may discuss but ultimately gloss over. One word that may have stumped you is “assigned female at birth” or “afab” as you will see it written from here on out. TransWhat?- A Quide Towards Allyship describes the “assignment of gender” as;
The way that we assume a child’s genders based on their bodies. When a child is born they are thought to be either male or female exclusively. We “determine” the child’s “correct” gender based on a quick outward visual assessment of the appearance of the child’s sexual organs, and we do so by following a specific dichotomy. A vulva-bearing child is typically assigned female at birth (afab). A penis-bearing child is typically assigned male at birth (amab).
For many trans people, this contention between our actual gender and the gender we were assigned at birth can cause huge distress that impacts our ability to live happy healthy lives. This is why many of us, and certainly me, pursue transition. Its important to note not all trans people transition, and while some may some transition, others may only pursue certain aspects involved in transitioning.
I break up transitioning into two categories; social and medical. For me I need both the social and medical transition to live my life comfortably, but others may only do one, neither or both.
Social transition in my experience meant that I employed a number of changes that purely affected my social life and situation, I chose a different name, I used different pronouns, I dressed more masculine, I asked friends and family to see my as a boy from now on and to act and address me as such.
Medical transition, which I am largely seeking now as I have mostly successfully completed my social transition, refers to medical actions taken to be seen as a male. For an afab person, this means being prescribed the “male” hormone; Testosterone, and the completion of sex affirmation surgeries such as “top surgery and bottom surgery.” I will go into all of this in separate posts however, for this post I would like to focus on my gender identity.
As I have previously stated, I identify as transmasculine which gender.wikia defines as a term afab people use to explain how they may identify with masculinity to a greater extent than femininity. Transmasculine can be an umbrella term that covers trans male, demiboy, some gender fluid people, and other nonbinary identities. It can also be used as an identity in its own right.
I mostly refer to myself as a trans male for simplicity. I use he/him/his pronouns and only want for masculine terms to be used for me. Here is an example of how you would use my pronouns:
Mr. Sigh has a some tattoos on his arms. He looks very handsome with piercings and coloured hair. He does not like it when people are rude to him by not respecting that he is a boy.
Homegrown Boy 