{"id":101,"date":"2018-04-30T04:46:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T04:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/?page_id=101"},"modified":"2018-04-30T19:41:19","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T19:41:19","slug":"feeling-at-home-in-the-body","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/feeling-at-home-in-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeling at Home in the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Feeling at home in the body while trans is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hard<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0That said, there are infinitely many ways trans people have found to feel more at home in their bodies.<\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>Definitions<\/li>\n<li>Document 1: Example of the Medical Model<\/li>\n<li>Letter from Ben Power: Resisting the Medical Model<\/li>\n<li>Cartoon from &#8220;Twenty Minutes&#8221; Newsletter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Some Helpful Definitions:<\/h4>\n<p><b>Pathologization:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> To view or characterize something as medically or psychologically abnormal. (Merriam-Webster).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Then, the pathologization of transness would be when medical institutions construct transness as something wrong, and which needs to be fixed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Medical Model of transness:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when medical institutions with power define transness in a very binary way dependent entirely on medical interventions; care is offered only if the person agrees to prescribe fully to the \u201cnew\u201d gender role they will take on\u2014 that is, the medical model seeks to erase trans existence by assimilating them into the patriarchal gender binary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is, of course, complicated by the many ways in which different bodies can be perceived as more or less assimilable\/ acceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141\" style=\"width: 232px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-141 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGES-1-8.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Selected pages from Erickson Educational Foundation &#8220;Guidelines for Transexuals,\u201d 1974.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Content forecast:<\/strong> this document is an example of the medical model of transness (see\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">definitions if need be).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though the creators thought of themselves as trying to help trans people\u2014with the funder of the Erickson Educational Foundation being a trans man himself\u2014, they talk about gender in rigidly binary and bio-essentialist ways, with \u201ctransitioning\u201d conceptualized as inherently linked to medical intervention.\u00a0 I offer this as an example of the medical model.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-142 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-2.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-143 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3-768x994.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3-791x1024.jpg 791w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/Guidelines-for-Transexuals-PAGE-3.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 232px) 100vw, 232px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Selected pages from Erickson Educational Foundation &#8220;Guidelines for Transexuals,\u201d 1974.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To be clear: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is no wrong way to be trans or gender nonconforming.<\/span><\/i><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The problem does not lie in individual trans people\u2019s decisions about their bodies.<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rather, the problem lies in 1.) restricted access to quality care, and 2.) the fact that, for most of the 20th century, (and still sometimes now) the interest that medical gatekeepers showed in learning more about hormone replacement therapies and what we would now call gender-affirming surgeries was driven by an interest in making transness and queerness disappear, not giving trans folks autonomy.<\/span><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-152 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-768x997.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-789x1024.jpg 789w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/page-1Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg 1264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-153 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-768x997.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-789x1024.jpg 789w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/2Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg 1266w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-154 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-768x999.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-787x1024.jpg 787w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/3Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg 1264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-155 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"231\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-768x999.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2-787x1024.jpg 787w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/PAge-4-Out-of-the-Medical-Model-Two-Gender-Box-and-into-the-Fire-of-the-Boston-FTM-Conference-A-Call-for-Inclusion-and-Unity-2.jpg 1264w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px\" \/><\/a><\/h4>\n<h4><em style=\"font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 16px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Letter from Ben Power, founder of the East Coast Female To Male Group, and archivist of the Sexual Minorities Archive to this day. <\/span>\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this letter and \u201ccall to inclusion and unity,\u201d Ben Power* details the experience of being pushed out of participating in the 1997 Boston FTM** Conference for his workshop \u201cTransnatural\u201d (about being trans and not wanting or being able to seek medical interventions).<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I support my FTM brothers who have chosen to medically transition, and I support other brothers like me who have chosen a different path and view.&#8221;&#8211;Ben Power<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He goes on to ask critical questions of his community members (see pages 3-4).\u00a0 The reason I have selected this piece is because, importantly, it documents controversy. \u00a0Namely, controversy produced by the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the medical model<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of what is acceptably and unacceptably trans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What does it mean for trans people to have different desires and experiences of feeling good or bad in their bodies? \u00a0What does it mean for trans folks to take different approaches to interacting with doctors and the medical institution? \u00a0What does it mean for some voices to be leveraged and others squashed out?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">*I use his name as it is today, though it was different at the time of writing this letter.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">**a term not widely used today\/ thought to be offensive to many people, though I use it here to mirror the name of the conference at the time.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_159\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-159\" style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/cartoon-page-8-of-twenty-minutes.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-159\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/cartoon-page-8-of-twenty-minutes-116x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"260\" height=\"673\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/cartoon-page-8-of-twenty-minutes-116x300.jpg 116w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/cartoon-page-8-of-twenty-minutes-396x1024.jpg 396w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/cartoon-page-8-of-twenty-minutes.jpg 621w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-159\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cartoon from the XX Club\u2019s \u201cTwenty Minutes\u201d newsletter, page 8, 1990.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/cross-country-connections\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-134\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/22previous22-button.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"131\" height=\"47\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/country-queers\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-135\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/258\/2018\/04\/22next22-button.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"137\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeling at home in the body while trans is hard. \u00a0That said, there are infinitely many ways trans people have found to feel more at home in their bodies. Definitions Document 1: Example of the Medical Model Letter from Ben Power: Resisting the Medical Model Cartoon from &#8220;Twenty Minutes&#8221; Newsletter Some Helpful Definitions: Pathologization: To &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/feeling-at-home-in-the-body\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Feeling at Home in the Body<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-101","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/101\/revisions\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/trans-archives-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}