Frequently Asked Questions

Who's Jack?

I am a trans man. I am post-transition and have lived as a bloke for many years. I chiefly just introduce myself as a man and am non-disclosing in many parts of my life, but if asked to choose gender labels which describe my background, I would say that I am a trans man, a female-to-male transsexual, an FTM man, or a man who was born female.

My reviews of media are, of course, informed by my own background, lived experience, and cultural context. While I hope that the perspective of one trans man is helpful for trans men, transmasculine people, and non-binary people who are seeking gender-diverse media, my perspectives are not universal! I recognise that and embrace it.

You may disagree with my reviews mildly or strongly, which is important. The aim of this site is not to say, "here's my opinion and it's the only correct one," but rather to continue the conversation around trans male, transmasculine, and AFAB gender-diverse media, and collate this list so that others can join that conversation with their own opinions and perspectives.

Why Create This Site?

Trans male, transmasculine, and AFAB gender-diverse media is discussed more widely nowadays but, when I was coming up, I was frequently told that the only trans male movie was Boys Don't Cry. That, putting it gently, was bullshit. So much of our media has been erased or ignored.

For example, I had never heard of the groundbreaking Brazilian movie Vera, released in 1986, until a site visitor named Adrian generously reached out to let me know about it. I had never heard of the 1995 documentary Shinjuku Boys, featuring a trans man and other Japanese gender-diverse interviewees who bound their chests and socially presented as men in professional and personal contexts. Nobody in my orbit had ever brought up Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), co-written by the much-loved Roger Ebert, as an example of historical anti-FTM transphobia, nor the 1972 movie Private Parts.

Even when lists of amazing, history-making trans movies started to include more trans male movies beyond Boys Don't Cry, the focus was typically on media coming out of North America, with movies like Khastegi (2008) being totally ignored. Khastegi, a feature-length movie, starred trans actors as trans characters, showed a wide range of lived experiences, and depicted struggles faced by both trans men and women... It was made in Iran, though, apparently making it invisible or unworthy to Western commentators.

Put simply, trans media is so much more diverse than what I was being told, and I got sick of that.

The final straw was when I watched the 2020 documentary Disclosure, which erased or glossed over so much trans male and transmasculine media. It purported to discuss trans representation in a robust and inclusive way, but could not even adequately critique a theme which goes hand-in-hand with trans male and transmasculine media; bandage binding.

Whenever I sit down to watch a trans male or transmasculine movie, the chances are pretty high that I will see a character wrapping their body in bandages. The harms that this causes, the generations who have been impacted, and the other forms of binding which are depicted in our media deserve in-depth, thorough critique. The heath and comfort of modern-day trans and gender-diverse people is at risk. Our bodies are on the line. The only mention of chest binding in Disclosure, to my memory, was a trans woman talking about "strapping" down her chest to play the role of a detransitioning MTFTM man. At first, I wondered how such a serious issue could be so neglected in the documentary, but the answer is pretty obvious; trans male and transmasculine media was still being erased, and treated as less important.

Since I wasn't seeing that conversation occurring in a robust enough way, I decided to build those resources myself, to facilitate that conversation.

Here is more information about chest binding in movies, shows, and documentaries.

Why "Trans Male" Resources?

I chiefly started this website with trans men in mind. I am a trans man, I love my fellow trans men, and the health and representation of trans men was what initially motivated me. This site does still have the primary aim of gathering representation for trans men, with the secondary aim of gathering representation for other gender-diverse people who were assigned female at birth.

I realised fairly quickly that trans male media (and history overall) cannot be so easily separated from other AFAB gender-diverse identities. For example, consider the 2011 film Tomboy. I had been told that it was a movie about a trans boy, but when I researched it further, I found out that so, so many butches and transmasculine people found it to be one of the most accurate depictions of their childhood, with the director confirming that this ambiguity had been the intention. The 2008 film Mein Freund aus Faro was imagined as somewhat of a prequel to the movie Boys Don't Cry, with the director stating that the protagonist's gender uncertainty was deliberate; would the protagonist go on to live as a trans man or perhaps a butch lesbian? We don't know. Just using these two films as an example, I was not interested in framing them as exclusively trans male movies, because they aren't. That would be erasing the complexity of the films.

I also feel a solidarity with trans and gender-diverse people who were assigned female at birth, because so many of us have been affected by the same media. So many of us bound our chests unsafely or found happiness in trans male, gender-ambiguous, or androgynous characters who somewhat resembled us, even if we ended up using different labels. This site is about our media.

Why Haven't You Included A Particular Show, Film, or Documentary?

I'm working on it! I recently got through a health crisis, so am slowly building up the website again. Thank you for your patience!

You also will not see purely pornographic media on this site. There is a lot of trans male and AFAB gender diversity to be found in adult films, such as those produced by the wonderfully inclusive Crash Pad Series, but I'd rather keep this site non-pornographic.

Do You Make Money From This Site?

Nope. This is a labour of love, and a way to turn my frustration with the erasure/invisibility of our media into a productive project. I didn't want to sit around being bitter when I could do something instead.

Can We Make Recommendations?

Yes, you can contact me on Reddit.