Changing Sexes Ep.2

Watch... But I Wouldn't Recommend It!

Jack's Summary:

Oh, boy.

So, I am an FTM transsexual. I am a man who was born female, and I live my life as a male as much as possible. I always like seeing media where transsexuals use that word, my word, because I feel represented and connected to transsexual men throughout history.

This ain't it.

The issue is not with the interviewees themselves. The issue is with the smooth, toothpaste-ad-esque voice which mislabels, misgenders, and misrepresents trans men. One of the first lines in Changing Sexes is, "In this hour, four transsexual women, and their quest to live as men; the ethics, the science, and the search for acceptance in changing sexes." Women, eh? Seems you've fundamentally missed the point.

An interview with a trans bloke, who firmly and unambiguously asserts that he is a man, is preceded by the narrator saying, "Rachel has decided that she wants to become a man". I can understand such an explanation if merely referring to the social role that a trans person has decided they will inhabit externally, but this documentary seems unable to grasp that trans men are already men internally. This is particularly an issue with "Rachel," who is not real enough a man for the filmmakers to refer to him as such.

In testament to the invisibility/erasure of trans men, particularly in decades past, the documentary asserts that three-fourths of trans people are trans women, and only one-fourth are trans men (you can learn more about this invisibility/erasure in Then and Now). Non-binary and gender-variant people, of course, not existing. The filmmakers responsible for this documentary seemingly missed the decidedly binary-transcending butch/trans Leslie Feinberg...

Within three minutes, and with barely any context beyond the invalidating narration thus far, the documentary launches into an attack on transitioning. Viewers are introduced to the idea of transition surgeries, particularly bottom surgeries, by a doctor who is staunchly opposed to them.

Much like TRANS, this documentary asserts that transgenderism/transsexualism is a thing that "happens" to people. "It does happen, even in the midwest, to little girls with idyllic childhood memories," the narrator croons, while showing childhood pictures of a trans man whose interview is about to be played. In this interview, the trans man talks about how his "idyllic childhood" was plagued by dysphoria and distress at his changing body. So, not that idyllic, then...

This man, named Dirk, has a girlfriend named Heidi. In a complete contradiction of the film's framing thus far, Heidi says, "What people should know about Dirk is that he's just a guy. He's not a woman who wants to be a man. He's just a man, and that's the only way he can live."

Seems the filmmakers completely disregarded Heidi's perspective when they were writing the narrator's script.

Dirk talks about transitioning hormonally and legally, in terms of his name change. Dirk's appointment with his supportive doctor is filmed. The narrator claims that being on testosterone replacement therapy will increase Dirk's risk of uterine cancer, necessitating a hysterectomy. No evidence or study is cited to back up this claim. Almost immediately after this claim, Dirk's doctor frankly says that (back in 2008 when this film was released) doctors do not yet know the long-term risks for trans individuals using testosterone... which contradicts the narrator's claims of certain and foreseeable health risks. The doctor, far less alarmist than the narrator, talks about monitoring bodily functions which can be impacted by hormones in any human body (including cis people), to ensure they stay within a "satisfactory range".

It goes without saying that I encourage you to speak to qualified medical practitioners if you have any concerns about the risks associated with HRT. You deserve up-to-date, evidence-based information. Here is a video where a trans man, who began testosterone in 1996, talks about his experiences with HRT, and urges caution before you believe alarmist rhetoric on the internet... or in sensationalist documentaries.

Moving on from Dirk, the documentary proceeds to discuss "Rachel," who is one day away from his top surgery. Referring to this man's parents, the narrator says, "They are devastated by her decision to become a man". The documentary then cuts to an interview where his sister is saying, "It's like a death in the family, because it is". We finally learn, during this interview, that this man's chosen name is Ryan. He is not referred to by this name because, again, he isn't a real man yet by the filmmakers' standards.

Ryan's best friend speaks negatively about his transition, saying that she has told him, "You're still going to be the same person inside," with this seemingly affirming statement instead meaning that he, in her view, is still a woman inside, and will be trapped in an unwanted body post-op. Again... the point has been missed!

Dirk is shown binding his chest using a sports bra, on top of elastic bandages, on top of a velcro binder without shoulder straps. This is extremely unsafe, and the physical dangers of binding this way are not specified.

Discussing binding his chest, and struggling with the binding falling down, Dirk says:

It's just a stop-gap solution, for now, and it's going to fail eventually. And I don't know when that's gonna happen. Y'know, as it is, the past few months, I've pretty much just stopped going outside whenever I could, because it's just not worth the binding, more than anything. I'm used to being very physical, I'm used to being an active person, I work outdoors. And I love the winter. But I can't do it. And I'm not gonna go out unbound with my family, in the stage I'm in, because it's just not safe... If I have these breasts, that's such a red flag to people. Like, that person isn't what they say they are. That person's pretending to be a guy, but really he's a chick, you can tell. And, y'know, there's a safety issue there. There's lots of trans people getting killed. There's lots of hate crimes against trans people. I don't... I don't want that to be me.

He is trying to access a mastectomy, but it is prohibitively expensive, leaving him stuck between a rock and a hard place. His safety, and his family's safety, depends on him being consistently read as male.

After this sensitive and revealing segment focusing on the struggles of a rural trans man in the early-2000s, the anti-trans doctor from earlier in the documentary returns. If he were posing his concerns as questions, and perhaps consulting empirical studies, his commentary would have more value than the unfounded assertion he makes that a persistent trans identity and gender dysphoria are comparable to... being anorexic.

Ryan is shown prior to his top surgery, tearing up as he calls his unaccepting mother and says that he loves her, asking that she pass on his love to his father as well. Truly heartbreaking and important.

Footage of Ryan's surgery is not shown, but his chest is shown immediately post-op, which could be considered graphic to some. Proceed with caution.

Returning to Dirk, the narrator notes how Dirk's son refers to him as "daddy," and remarks about how male he seems, then musing about whether Dirk and other trans men are "impostors". With every ad break, this film really does feel the need to remind viewers that FTM transsexuals should be doubted, viewed with suspicion, and distrusted. Dirk and Heidi then talk about the judgement, rejection, and transphobia they have both experienced, with the documentary seemingly unaware that such views are being encouraged by the film itself.

What we see in Dirk is a man who is helping to raise his girlfriend's child, and that child has accepted him as a father. That's wonderful, but you wouldn't know it from the way this documentary prioritises sensationalistic rhetoric.

Jamison Green, a bisexual pioneer for trans male visibility and acceptance, is introduced around 33 minutes into the documentary. Because he looks and sounds like the filmmakers' idea of a man, he is consistently referred to with he/him/his pronouns, and by his chosen name; a courtesy not extended to Ryan, because of how he looks and sounds. Jamison's commentary on trans people, as ever, is progressive, calm, and understanding of those who feel threatened by transsexuals. It's a shame his valuable commentary is bogged down by the majority of this documentary.

The documentary then turns to FTM bottom surgeries. Jamison talks about his decision to undergo metoidioplasty. No notes, fantastic stuff, I really appreciate him sharing his experience.

Scott, another trans man, talks about having phalloplasty and feeling so overwhelmed afterwards by the magnitude of what his body had to go through in order to alleviate his dysphoria. He had just undergone a major surgery which, ultimately, did provide what he had wanted and did work the way he had needed it to, but it was a huge undertaking. That is entirely understandable; as Finlay Games explored in his phalloplasty memoir Top to Bottom, phalloplasty can be incredibly arduous, even for people who passionately want it and ultimately thrive post-op. It's a big deal. Like any major surgery, it's physically exhausting, which is what Scott describes. He's only three months after his most recent surgery. He's still recovering and adjusting.

The way that the narrator frames Scott's experience, though, is by dramatically saying, "When he woke up, he was horrified at what he had done". Alarmist, to say the least! No need for nuance here!

The anti-trans doctor pops up again to say, "The people who are gender dysphoric are truly suffering. They're not kidding anyone, they're not dishonest people, they're not bad people". They are, however, people whose strongly-felt sense of gender should be disbelieved and compared to anorexia, though, I guess. With the context of his earlier comments, this weak defence of transsexual people comes across as condescending because, of course, we may not be bad people, but we still don't know what's best for ourselves and our bodies. He does.

Another doctor argues against hormones and surgery, suggesting that psychological interventions should be used instead. Now, I personally believe that, yes, psychological support is very, very important whenever anybody (trans or not) is considering irreversible medical treatments, but that support is not what the doctor is keen on. He's keen on conversion therapy to fix us. Once again, he knows best. We don't.

With only a few minutes to go in the documentary, viewers get to see Ryan one month after his mastectomy. This surgery legitimises his manhood enough that the narrator deigns to call him Ryan.

Wonderfully, Dirk's friend Heather lends him a large sum of money so that he can finally have top surgery, paying it forward after her brother lent her a similar sum of money in the recent past. Ryan's relationship with his parents is healing, and he is happy with his medical transition. So, the people in this documentary end on a happy note, in spite of the documentary's best efforts.