Girlz to MEN

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Available Summary:

"This documentary was created out of curiosity about transgender, so I asked Jaye, Chevy, and Gino, who are transgender men, to share a bit of their authentic stories." -YouTube.

Jack's Summary:

Despite the production quality, these are some worthy and insightful interviews with three trans men. The trio discuss dating, sports, employment, sex, testosterone, mastectomies, and more. However, one of the interviewees (Chevy) makes some potentially harmful comments which warrant deeper discussion.

The positive things, first...

I really liked Chevy’s response when asked if he identified as a man or as a trans man. He said, if he had to choose between society’s labels for him, he would just choose man. I feel the same way on most days, so I appreciated this comment. Gino had the same response and also added, “I don’t think anything can singlehandedly define a man. Or masculinity. We are what we know we are. We are what we speak.” I really loved that. I would say that Gino's interviews were my favourite, including a beautiful, considered response to a question about God and whether transitioning is right or wrong.

I appreciated Jaye’s discussion about how his needs changed as he transitioned, and the consequences of being outed. When he was still being received in society as a stud, he needed his girlfriend to tell her family that he was actually a trans man, but once he was passing as a man, he needed girlfriends to respect his privacy and not out him.

WARNING: Unsafe binding, harmful rhetoric.

Chevy, after asserting that his journey has been made harder by "fad" trans men who are only transitioning because it "looks good", revealed to the interviewers that he binds with duct tape. This, he implied, makes him a real trans man, compared to trans men who don't go to such unsafe lengths.

Any documentary that promotes duct tape chest binding is dangerous. I worry about newly-exploring trans men, or even gender non-conforming women and non-binary people, who might be influenced by Chevy's comments. Binding unsafely, and potentially cracking your ribs, doesn't make you any more "real" than trans men who choose not to do that. I chose not to do that to myself, pre-surgery, after being seriously harmed by that practice. I didn't become any less "real" by making that choice.

Chevy's experience is what it is. It is good that he had the opportunity to speak authentically about his journey, and I adored the interview which also featured his female partner. But this documentary presented duct tape chest binding with no warnings, no disclaimers, and certainly no concern for vulnerable viewers. And that warrants criticism. Learn more about chest binding here.