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‘Objectified’: An Interview with Singer/Songwriter Shawna Virago

February 2, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Shawna Virago isn’t shy. This in-your-face singer and songwriter lets you know just what she’s thinking – about being trans, about being a woman, and about being Objectified. Her first CD is out now, and I hope there will be a second.

As someone whose iTunes collection pretty much came out on vinyl first, I appreciated the ’60s political folk influences on Virago’s album, Objectified, but this isn’t your mother’s (or your grandmother’s) protest music. Virago’s “folk punk” is definitely twenty-first century stuff – and here’s what she has to say about her music and herself:

Matt Kailey: How would you describe yourself and how do you identify?
Shawna Virago: I would describe myself as a songwriter who happens to be a transgender person. I don’t identity with any one particular gender, although I have used terms like trans woman, transsexual and she-male, as well as debutante, bitch, femme and the-girl-next-door. I’m proud to be transgender. Life would be so boring if I wasn’t.

MK: How would you describe your music and who are your influences? I definitely see some good ol’ ’60s folk/protest music influences, in both the lyrics and the musical style, but it might just be my age.
SV: I would describe my music as folk punk with a touch of Americana. I listen to a lot of country music and roots music and music that comes from swamps. I have also been influenced by political songwriters, such as Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, John Doe and Exene Cervenka and Joe Strummer.

MK: Is Objectified your first major CD? Please describe your musical history – when and how you first got interested in music, singing/songwriting, etc.?
SV: Objectified is my first solo CD. I’ve been in many bands over the years, each one of them quite raunchy. Playing guitar and writing songs is something I’ve wanted to do since I was young and I’ve been playing guitar for over twenty-five years. Continue Reading »

Posted in Information, Interviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Ask Matt: Do Both Trans Men and Trans Women Prefer Female Partners?

January 30, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Question MarkA reader writes: “I’m a trans woman. Recently I have wondered why there seems to be a much greater percentage of trans women who seek relationships with women than trans men who seek relationships with other men.

“Stephen Ira’s (Warren Beatty and Annette Bening’s son) story of having a boyfriend started me thinking. He is the only trans guy who I ever heard of having a boyfriend. The couple of trans men I know would never consider a relationship with a male.

“Now I know I can get into a basic male-bashing rant, but could there be other factors I’m missing? Any ideas?”

Sexual orientation is a slippery little slope, and few know that better than members of the trans community. Certain estimates say that the percentage of gay- or lesbian-identified trans people mirrors that of the larger non-trans population, and depending on which studies you read, people with a same-sex sexual orientation make up anywhere from 3 to 10 percent of the general population (I’m talking U.S. research figures here).

I happen to think that the percentages are substantially higher, both for non-trans and for trans people, and I think the percentage of bisexual people is even higher – or would be, if our (U.S.) culture allowed us to follow our attractions wherever they led without stigma or repercussions.

In my experience, I have not seen that more trans women are attracted to women (trans or non-trans) than trans guys are attracted to men (trans or non-trans). I am aware of quite a few trans guys who consider themselves to be gay or bisexual (and I also know quite a few who have other, broader labels for their sexuality). My own estimation, from personal experience but with absolutely no scientific data to back it up, runs at about 30 percent with regard to non-heterosexual orientation.

But let’s say that it’s true that more trans women are attracted to women than trans men are attracted to men. If it is true, here are a few possible explanations for such a phenomenon: Continue Reading »

Posted in Ask Matt, Commentary, Observations | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments »

Trans People: Are We ‘Just Like You’?

January 26, 2012 by Matt Kailey

The “just like you” argument is about as old as time, dirt, and me. It probably emerged with the first person to be marginalized by a group in power, and there was likely enough of a difference between this person and that group that the group was able to justify shutting him or her out.

So clearly this person was not “just like them” – at least not in whatever way mattered to the larger group.

Trans people (as well as people with non-straight sexual orientations) continue to use this argument in our demands for equal rights, and it certainly is a valid one – but it’s not the only one, because not all trans people see themselves as “just like” the (non-trans) population in power.

I have made this pronouncement myself on many occasions over the years, and I was, and am, sincere when I make it. But there are other times when I have questioned the wisdom – or even the truth – of it.

The fact is that I – and all other trans people – deserve equal rights whether we’re “just like you” or not. And one of the great things that the Internet has done – besides make resources available to isolated trans people and keep us informed about what the Kardashians are up to, whoever they are – is that it has brought to light the fact that most people aren’t “just like you.”

In fact, there is no mainstream “you” and there never was. We just didn’t know it, because we didn’t have access to all the goofy, weird, and utterly bizarre stuff that those people who are considered the mainstream “you” take part in. Continue Reading »

Posted in Commentary, Observations | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments »

Ask Matt: What’s Wrong with the U.S. Health Care System?

January 23, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Question MarkA reader writes: “As a European living in New York, I find the U.S. health insurance system bewildering, to put it mildly. A German friend just had his bottom surgery done (is in the process of – seems to take a lot of steps, including complications) and there is no question that his health insurance would pay for it.

“In addition, frankly, U.S. medical costs are astronomical. So how does the average U.S. guy pay? At an FTM meeting, I heard a strange comment: ‘I wish I were on Medicaid.’ Is that more likely to pay than health insurance? Seems weird. I checked my own insurance and the alternative available through work, and neither of them pay for ‘gender stuff.’

“At the same time, they have known me as none other than ‘he,’ my documents are in ‘he,’ and even my birth certificate, due to arrive shortly, is in ‘he.’ So if ‘he’ lacks a body part, or the hormones, surely that is no longer gender alignment.”

As an American living in the United States, I find the U.S. health insurance system bewildering as well. In my experience, the bottom line with U.S. healthcare is that most insurance companies will pay for as little as they can get away with, regardless of what medical situation you are in.

However, an increasing number (a very small, very slowly increasing number) are starting to cover some or all aspects of transition. But most do not, and most policies have specific exclusions when it comes to anything related to transition – one thing insurance companies don’t care much about is “gender alignment.”

In a capitalist society, it’s pretty much all about money. Anything that costs money and doesn’t make money is suspect and is examined under a microscope to see how paying for it can be avoided. In addition, and this is my opinion only, I believe that there is an unspoken concept of “morality” underlying many of the decisions that are made about various goods and services that businesses offer to the public. Continue Reading »

Posted in Advice, Ask Matt, Information | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments »

Thin Mint Morality Wars: The Girl Scout Cookie Boycott

January 19, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Last year, I wrote a guest post for the excellent blog Womanist Musings called “Leave the Kids Out of It,” about a brouhaha over gendered Halloween costumes. Now we’ve got another situation where kids are being dragged into adult morality wars.

The Girl Scout Cookie boycott, organized to protest the admission of a trans girl to a Colorado troop, was allegedly conceived by a fourteen-year-old girl, but my guess is that she’s getting her faulty information from somewhere above (and I don’t mean heaven – I mean an adult).

Although I believe that the Colorado girl eventually decided not to join the Scouts (who can blame her after all the negative publicity – she’s seven years old!), the morality police are not going to let the situation rest. They are calling for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies this year because, unlike the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts organization wants every child to have a chance to participate in scouting.

I have always had mixed feelings about boycotts. In many cases, they hurt the very people who they’re trying to help. Boycotting an entire state over an anti-LGBT or anti-immigration law hurts LGBT business owners or the immigrants in that state who are struggling to make a living. But boycotts do work, and sometimes they lead to very successful outcomes for those who were wronged.

In this case, however, the boycott involves more than just a multimillion-dollar organization receiving some kind of “message” from the morality police. It involves little children who were not involved in the Colorado troop’s decision (which was the right one, by the way). It involves little children who approach their friends and neighbors, or who set up shop outside of grocery stores, or who send their mom or dad to work with an order sheet and then thrill to the long list of purchasers at the end of the day. Continue Reading »

Posted in Commentary, Information, News | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments »

Ask Matt: The Breast of Both Worlds

January 16, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Question MarkA reader writes: “I’m a gay trans man about four months on T, and I’m making plans to schedule top surgery soon. Although my overall gender identity is pretty much binarily male, my sexual identity seems more dual-gender, in that when I’m feeling aroused, nipple stimulation and visualizing myself with a mixture of both male and female physical features really turns me on – including the fact that I have breasts. This tendency to sexually fetishize my breasts has gotten stronger since starting T.

“Since I identify overall as male, a muscular, masculine-looking chest is something I really want, and I don’t think I’d be satisfied with just a reduction. I’m finding top surgery to be much more difficult to follow through with, though, because I’m worried that part of me may regret removing my breasts, even if it’s only when I’m aroused. I feel prepared to accept that possibility, which is why I intend to go through with it. I just have no idea if I will still have a desire to fetishize my chest post top surgery, and if so, I have no idea if I will still feel able to any more, especially if I lose all sensation in my nipples.

“I was hoping you might have some advice to offer me, and I’d like to ask about if and how you resolved your own sexual identity with your gender identity. Did you have any regrets after starting T or after your top surgery? Do you think it’s okay to feel like you’re sacrificing something to get something else you want more? Or does having even a little bit of regret usually come back to haunt you?”

Testosterone is an amazing and completely discombobulating hormone. I believe what you are experiencing is more common among trans guys than you might think. It’s just that, if it happens, most guys won’t talk about it.

What’s happening, as you know, is a change in sexual arousal – both in strength and in type. When I started testosterone, not only did my sex drive expand to fill all available space (scientists are puzzling over all that dark energy out there in the universe, but I can tell them what it is – my sex drive), but it also changed. Continue Reading »

Posted in Advice, Ask Matt, Information, Observations | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments »

‘Transfigurations’: An Interview with Photographer Jana Marcus

January 12, 2012 by Matt Kailey

In 2003, photographer Jana Marcus started photographing and interviewing trans people for a small photo exhibit. She didn’t know at the time that the exhibit would grow into a major project, Transfigurations, that would travel to galleries around the country for several years and receive prestigious awards and universal praise.

Transfigurations has recently been released as an elegant softcover book that is destined to be in every trans person’s collection (and on his or her coffee table, as well). With a foreword by renowned trans activist Jamison Green and over 100 pages of photographs and bios of trans men and women, Transfigurations presents the true diversity and varied experiences of the trans community.

Matt Kailey: Transfigurations, which is an absolutely beautiful book depicting a diverse cross-section of the trans community, was originally an award-winning gallery exhibit. Can you explain how the whole project got started and why you decided to take on this project?
Jana Marcus: I’m a documentary photographer, which for me means I enjoy telling stories through images and words. I’ve always been drawn to subjects I don’t understand, and try to discover answers through the camera.

Transfigurations started when I went to graduate school in 2003 and had the opportunity to spend three years creating personal work, which is a huge luxury for any artist, especially for me, who had been working as a commercial photographer for years. Around the time I started grad school, I had rented a room in my home to a young man who was studying at the local university. After six months, he shared with me that he had been a woman five years earlier, and told me about his transition process. I was amazed.

I didn’t know any transgender people at the time and certainly had no idea women could become men. His story stayed of great interest to me, so as I was deciding what my thesis in grad school would be, I decided to photographically investigate who trans men were and their thought processes around what influenced their concepts of masculinity. The original work was twenty pieces titled The Making of a Man. After grad school, I took six months to photograph trans women and their concepts of femininity. I then repackaged the entire work, of both trans men and women, and that became the exhibit Transfigurations. Continue Reading »

Posted in Information, Interviews, News | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Ask Matt: Trans at Tax Time

January 9, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Question MarkA reader writes: “I am a trans woman who transitioned at a young age. During this time, and for years after, I was pretty much unemployable, becoming stuck in a legal twilight where I didn’t have enough money to complete SRS and thus obtain full legal recognition as female, and due to other circumstances, retaining a male name that I couldn’t legally change. So between the ages of 17 and 30, I had next to zero legal work history and often relied on others for financial support.

“Foolishly, I failed to educate myself about the necessity to file income taxes each year, since most of my income was through the support of others. Needless to say I didn’t keep good financial records and I never once submitted my taxes.

“I finally started getting my life together, changed my name legally, and for the first time was able to find and keep legal work to support myself. I was thrilled except for one thing. I was terrified to begin submitting my taxes for the first time as I had no way to explain the twelve-year delay. Even some years later, I still haven’t worked up the courage to submit income taxes yet. What’s changed is that I really now do have a trackable source of income for the last few years and I have legal documents backing up my female identity. But I’m still terrified. Everybody speaks of failing to file taxes as a one-way ticket to prison.

“I know you aren’t an attorney and not qualified to give legal advice, but I don’t even know how to bring this up or where else to bring this up.”

I’m definitely not an attorney and not qualified to give legal or tax advice (I know you said it, but I felt the need to repeat it – you can never have too many disclaimers). Any information that I present here can be found on the IRS website or on the Internet by doing a search for tax attorneys. I will tell you what I know and hope that readers who are experts or have more experience than I do will fill in the particulars.

You are probably not alone as far as your situation. We all know what the employment scene is like for trans people out there, and I’m sure that there are many who are receiving financial help from family and friends or are receiving cash gifts or payments in exchange for various services. Many people do not file tax returns based on this income.

However, according to the IRS website, the IRS considers all income as taxable (including illegally earned income), so people should be filing taxes on any income (money in exchange for goods or services) that they receive. However, gifts, including cash, given by family members, friends, and acquaintances are generally not considered income and are free from tax up to $13,000 (currently). Continue Reading »

Posted in Advice, Ask Matt, Information | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments »

Ask Matt: So Are You Single?

January 5, 2012 by Matt Kailey

Question MarkA reader writes: “So are you single?”

Yes.

Short question, short answer. But if you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I can’t just give a short answer to anything. I think being single is an important thing to talk about, because relationships, while a primary concern of many people in general, are a particular concern to those in the trans community.

At this point in my life, I’m single by choice, and there are a few factors involved. Probably the most influential of those is my tendency to be a loner by nature. As I explain in this post that I wrote for Womanist Musings last year, lonerism is highly misunderstood, because we’re often seen as antisocial, maladjusted, or just plain stuck up.

I am none of these things, but I am probably a classic Myers-Briggs Introvert, someone who gets his or her energy and who rejuvenates by being alone. This is a personality trait that a lot of people don’t understand, and it can lead to others feeling rejected when the loner needs to be alone.

Another influence has been my pre-transition versus post-transition experience of the world. As a female, I was unsure of who I was or what I wanted, which makes sense when you are a person struggling with trans issues, because you aren’t who you are. But I had a tendency to live through my male partners, because my real goal was to be like them. And I needed that male energy, so I was not without a partner from the age of fifteen to the age of forty-two, when I started my transition. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ask Matt, Commentary, Information, Observations | Tagged , , , , | 36 Comments »

Tranifesto’s Most Popular Posts of 2011

January 2, 2012 by Matt Kailey

WordPress just sent me a “Your 2011 Year in Blogging” report that provides a year-end summary of the most viewed and most commented on posts for the year. Although I can always see my stats, it’s nice to have all that information in an organized little bundle.

So to welcome in 2012, I’m going to link to the most popular posts of 2011. Read them again or for the first time (or, if you hate reruns, I will see you back here on Thursday).

I hope 2012 turns out to be great for all of you, and thanks for making Tranifesto so successful. Without my readers, I would be writing for myself, and it’s bad enough that I talk to myself!

The Top Five Posts in 2011

The most popular (most viewed) post in 2011 was actually a post I wrote in 2010 – Testosterone and Sex Drive: My Second Adolescence.

The second most popular post in 2011 was written in 2009 – Gay Men Kissing Kicked Out of Restaurant: Why It Matters to Trans People. (Note for SEO buffs: “gay men kissing” seems to be a very popular search engine term, even if it’s not happening much at my house.)

Number three was What Does Being a Man Mean to You?, number four was Chaz Bono on TV: Explaining Heterosexual Dancing to the Children, and rounding out the top five was Meet the New Gender Police – Same as the Old Gender Police.

My most commented post in 2011 was Ask Matt: Coming Home to One’s True Nature, with 52 comments.

And thank you, CaptLex, for being my most active commenter in 2011, followed by Anon, Ethan, Maddox, and Sean.

The majority of my readers were from the United States, with Canada second and the UK third, but I have readers all over the world, including Singapore, the Philippines, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Brazil, Venezuela, and Peru. The reach of the Internet continues to amaze me (remember, I grew up when color TV was an innovation).

Again, thanks to all my readers and commenters for a fantastic year. Please stick around for 2012!

Posted in Information, Observations | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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