Category: trans

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One Gene Away

I’m not going to try to re-phrase this article about how ovaries/testicles are determined by a single gene. Better you read it from the source:

As embryos, our gonads aren’t specific to either gender. Their default course is a female one, but they can be diverted through the action of a gene called SRY that sits on the Y chromosome. SRY activates another gene called Sox9, which sets off a chain reaction of flicked genetic switches. The result is that premature gonads develop into testes. Without SRY or Sox9, you get ovaries instead.

But Henriette Uhlenhaut from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory has found that this story is woefully incomplete. Maleness isn’t just forced onto developing gonads by the actions of SRY – it’s permanently kept at bay by another gene called FOXL2.

Uhlenhaut developed a strain of genetically engineered mice, whose copies of FOXL2 could be deleted with the drug tamoxifen. When she did this, she found that the females’ ovaries turned into testes within just three weeks. The change was a thorough one; the altered organs were testes right down to the structure of their cells and their portfolio of active genes. They developed testosterone-secreting Leydig cells, which pumped out as much of the hormone as their counterparts in XY mice. They only fell short of actually producing sperm.

Uhlenhaut found that FOXL2 and SOX9 are mutually exclusive – when one is active, the other is silent and vice versa. The two genes are at opposite ends of a tug-of-war, with sex as the prize. FOXL2 sticks to a stretch of DNA called TESCO, which controls the activity of Sox9. By sticking to TESCO, FOXL2 keeps Sox9 turned off in the adult ovary. Without its repressive hand, Sox9 switches on and sets about its gender-bending antics.

and

Uhlenhaut’s work isn’t just of academic interest. It could also help to treat disorders of sexual development. It could also change how gender reassignment therapies are done, paving the way for gene therapies rather than multiple painful surgeries.

Emphasis mine. That is such a goddamned cool idea.

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New Round of Trans Characters

Bored to Death, the HBO comedy, is adding a transgender character, but that should’nt be too surprising since one of the characters is based on Jonathan Ames.

A Canadian show called Degrassi – which first aired in the 80s but has returned in recent years –introduced an FTM spectrum character this past summer. (Warning: the clip on that website is triggery.)

If anyone wants to review these, or let me know about others I may have missed, please do!

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Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Call for Interns

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is looking for interns for the positions listed below. The deadline for submission of applications is December 1, 2010.

Internships begin December 15, 2010. Their end date depends on the particular position. The survey and chapter interns will likely complete their work by the end of the Spring. The website and publicity interns will continue on through the book’s publication, tentatively next Fall.

Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply. The book’s editors are willing to work with your school to obtain credit for your internship.  Unfortunately we do not have funds at this time to provide payment to interns. All interns will be recognized by name in the final book.
Continue reading “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves Call for Interns”

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Link Between Trans & PCOS?

Paula Puffer, speaks with Walter Futterweit, MD, OBGYN.net PCOS Pavilion Editorial Advisor

Audio Link *requires RealPlayer – free download
http://av.obgyn.net/ramgen/PCOS/PCOSsandiego_futterweit2.rm

Barbara Nesbitt: “Hi, this is Barbara Nesbitt, and I am at the PCOS Conference in San Diego. I would like Paula Puffer, who is the web-mistress of the PCOS Support website and also the Coordinator of OBGYN.net PCOS Pavilion, to say hello, and she’s going to do an interview.”

Paula Puffer: “Hello, this is kind of a spur of the moment thing so I really don’t have any set questions but I’m sitting here with Walter Futterweit who is with the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. In some of my work as PCO Support web-master, I’ve had the privilege of putting up Dr. Futterweit’s articles on our bibliography of professional journal articles, and one of the things that I found quite interesting is that he has done research with women who want to become men and PCOS and how the changes with the hormones and stuff have affected them and affected their ovaries.”

Dr. Walter Futterweit: “This is quite a diversion to talk about this subject at this momentous meeting here in San Diego. I must say that a lot of this work is still ongoing, and as a member of the Harry Benjamin Foundation, which is a group of specialists interested in gender patients and the treatment prior to and post-sex reversal surgery, I’ve had occasion to study at least eighty women who were desirous of becoming men. During that time, we found that 27% had features of polycystic ovary prior to treatment with male hormone and after the treatment with testosterone, 75%-80% had enlarged polycystic ovaries which were exactly identical to those found in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. So this is quite a significant percentage and makes us think again of other potential pathological or physiological derangements that may occur not just in terms of altering the mindset of genetic females but what it is that also may be a factor in the causation of PCOS.”

Continue reading “Link Between Trans & PCOS?”

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Trans Guy Plays Ball

A trans man is playing on a women’s basketball team:

But Monday was anything but ordinary because it was the day the world would learn about the decision Allums had embarked on one year earlier: to come out as a transgender man playing on a women’s basketball team.


He noted that he was biologically identical to any other female, but said, “I just would prefer for people to call me a he.”

“I decided to do it because I was uncomfortable not being able to be myself,” Allums, 21, said in a telephone interview Monday, hours after an article about his experience was published on the Web site Outsports.com. “Just having to hear the words ‘she’ and ‘her,’ it was really starting to bother me.”

NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) has a piece about the Trans Student Athlete Guide, as does the NCAA (National College Athletic Association).

The Guide itself can be found in .pdf format on the NCLR’s site.

For those of you who know anything about sports, and/or are trans yourselves, I’d love to hear your take on this report.

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Alameda County Elects Trans Judge

Check this out:

OAKLAND — Alameda County has become home to the first transgender trial judge in the country as Victoria Kolakowski won the race to fill an empty seat on the county’s Superior Court bench.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting results, Kolakowski held 50.2 percent of the vote against Deputy District Attorney John Creighton, who had 48.7 percent.

The race gave voters a distinct choice between a candidate with unquestionable experience and one who would have brought a new level of diversity to a bench populated by prosecutors and men.

Creighton was the candidate with experience with more than 25 years arguing cases in front of juries as a county prosecutor.

More here

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Happy Halloween!

Ah, the only internationally recognized holiday of the crossdressing world is upon us again, & I had an interesting experience shopping for Halloween costumes & party decorations with Betty.

We were looking around at the mass-produced costumes, me mostly cursing about the oversexed women’s and girl’s costumes (the girls’ costumes show more skin than the ones for adult men, for crying out loud) and Betty thought maybe she’d figure out a costume around an interesting wig. But: I found myself getting uncomfortable when she started trying them on. It was just too much of the past, & started messing with my sense of her gender. It was a Big Deal when she finally got to grow her hair long enough, and have it styled unisex/feminine, that the wigs brought me right back to when she couldn’t do that and had to have men’s cuts (since she was a leading man onstage) and so had to wear wigs in order to go out “en femme.”

So no wigs for us, but we did use spray-on black hair dye (so she could be Wednesday Addams & I could be Frida Kahlo, unibrow & all).

Halloween is still far & above our favorite holiday, but it’s definitely taken on new meanings in this post-trans life of ours. My feminism is more tweaked when she wants to wear short skirts & fetishy shoes because I expect her to say no to all this bullshit objectification of women — and that’s in addition to the absolute bullshit of this culture agreeing that it’s okay for women to be sexual once a year (& once a year only).

So what about you? Has Halloween changed for you in the context of your trans identity/journey? I’d love to hear.

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Trans Partners: Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Hey, lovers of trans people! Come out about your desires today for National Coming Out Day! Celebrate the beauty of trans bodies and souls, no matter their shape or size or color.

There’s not enough of us out.

Here’s an exercise I ask trans partners to do when they’re feeling isolated: imagine you are Professor Charles Xavier and you’ve got that fabulous helmet — except instead of finding mutants, it helps you find other partners of trans people.

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For the Record

I don’t do this often, but I wanted to be sure people know that I only use the terms “wife” and “partner” for the person you all know as Betty these days. “Husband” was from back in the day when her primary identity was still male, and for when we were trying to figure out a “middle path,” dually gendered, genderqueer sort of thing, which has long since been abandoned.

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The End of Suicide Prevention Month

A few days ago, during the last week of September which is Suicide Prevention Month, another LGBTQ teenager killed himself because of bullying. He was 13.

First: Please remember that there is always someone to call.

The Trevor Project
1-866-488-7386
http://www.thetrevorproject.org

A few weeks ago in a town near Appleton, a young gay man did the same. A local man named Paul Wesselman was so touched by this student’s lost life and the pain his friends were in that he wrote a piece for them, young people who were struggling with being who they are. I found what he said smart and true and asked if I could reprint them here.

1. This is awful.
You are going to feel lots of emotions, and it is going to be difficult for some time: you’ve probably already figured out that being a teenager means lots of complicated, conflicted emotions. Add the suicide death of a friend and the mix of grief, anger, confusion, frustration, sadness, and devastation becomes even more cruel. Your family and friends may not always say or do the “right” things, but I suspect they are mostly motivated by a sincere desire to ease your significant pain. The sad truth for us is that we cannot erase your anguish, because this is just awful.

2. Things will get better.
Don’t hate me for saying this, and I’m not saying it to diminish the extraordinary pain you currently feel. This probably occupies every second of your life right now. Next week you will likely still think about it every few minutes, and for weeks after that you may still find yourself reminded of Cody or of the loss every hour of every day. Eventually, your heart and your mind find a good place to store the positive memories while the grief (which never disappears entirely) will fade into the larger quilt of life.

3. Positive things can evolve from horrible situations.
There is nothing we can do to bring Cody (or my friend Steve) back, and we cannot go back in time and change the circumstances that led up to these awful deaths. We cannot change these tragedies. AND: we do get to choose how we respond to them. I’ve noticed how frequently you post such kind, loving, AMAZING words on each other’s walls. Those heartfelt expressions are profound to all who see them and are tiny examples of the light that may come out of this extreme darkness. (Please note I’m NOT saying “God did this for a reason,” or “This tragedy happened so that good things could happen.” I personally don’t agree with either of those statements. I do believe that when blechy things happen which are beyond our control, we can, if we want, CHOOSE to make sure positive things come out of these awful circumstances.)

4. What you do next is up to you.
After my friend Steve died, his mother Judy transformed the grief and frustration into energy and passion to prevent future suicides by creating LifeSavers. http://TheLiveSavers.net/ has helped thousands of students to become caring listeners and observers. I found these words posted on their website:

USE YOUR POWER OF CHOICE WISELY
Choose to love . . . rather than hate.
Choose to laugh . . . rather than cry.
Choose to create . . . rather than destroy.
Choose to persevere . . . rather than quit.
Choose to praise . . . rather than gossip.
Choose to heal . . . rather than wound.
Choose to give . . . rather than steal.
Choose to act . . . rather than procrastinate.
Choose to grow . . . rather than rot.
Choose to pray . . . rather than curse.
Choose to live . . . rather than die.
-from The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino

Not only do I hold you in my heart, I also have deep compassion for the tremendous pain that he must have been experiencing. My high school and college years were significantly challenging and I thought about ending my life frequently. I tried more than once. The excruciating pain I felt seemed insurmountable and never-ending. I’m so glad I lived to find out that neither of those were accurate. With time, healing, counseling, and considerable help from a remarkable tribe of friends, I found the strength to face and conquer the darkness and I believe that I eventually found success and sustainable joy not in spite of those hurdles but in part BECAUSE of them.

I share these words not to take away the pain you are feeling, nor to fix what cannot be fixed. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone, and that by relying on your friends and family, your inner strengths, and other resources (school, church, community, etc.), you will remember something that Christopher Robin once reminded Winnie the Pooh:

You are braver than you believe,
stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think.

What I want to emphasize is that plenty of us left high school and were surprised by how much more power we had in the world than we thought. Not record-breaking power, but the power to find friends we liked, who would support us; power to live where we wanted, where we felt safe or interesting or amazing; the power to make decisions about who we would be and how.

& Finally, to close out Suicide Prevention Month in the hope that we won’t have to have one next year, and with the knowledge that many, many, many trans people struggle daily with grim, hopeless thoughts, here is a resource guide specifically for trans people & their allies put together by NCTE.

It gets better.