13/04/2012 | Writer: Barış Sulu
Pembe Hayat LGBT Solidarity Association has recently published a book called ‘Trans Man / Experiences of Female to Male Transsexual Individuals’. The book, edited by Aras Güngör, contains life experiences of 8 trans individuals.
Pembe Hayat[i] LGBT Solidarity Association has recently published a book called “Trans Man / Experiences of Female to Male Transsexual Individuals”. The book, edited by Aras Güngör, contains life experiences of 8 trans individuals.
Güngör, while talking about the inspiration of the idea to edit the book, says in the prologue: “The idea comes from the belief that the lack of the visibility and representation of Trans Men in Turkey and the whole globe as a member of the LGBT movement and the social sphere and especially the lack of news of trans men in the media is a big landmark and an important turning point in many people’s lives as much as it has been in mine.”
In the book, hardships and adversities of trans men are told mainly consisting of their childhoods, school and career lives, families, surgical processes along with juristic complexities.
The medical aspects are explained by Associate Professor Dr. Serdar Nasır and a chapter on trans change process and general law is prepared by Attorney Sinem Hun.
A trans dictionary is also in the book which contains a short life story of Jake Bee Garland who is the very first known trans man along with the other experiences of trans men.
Being the very first book published in Turkish about trans me also provides more resources on this field.
The cover, designed by Tennur Baş, points to how trans men are labeled and stigmatized.
The book is available for free from all the LGBT Associations’ offices in Turkey.*
From the introduction:
“Trans men generally share their ways to come out to their families along with social, medical and legal experiences online with the other trans men going through the same struggles. However, this connection is very limited into a narrow frame causing an isolated and exclusive medium which also results in an inaccessibility to people apart from this certain group. These disconnected, separated and small grounding groups are the main ways of enlightenment and support for trans individuals because of not only the indestructible conception male identity but also the unfortunate fact that the visibility of trans individuals is a threat to their living and personal space in the current society. Apart from these ‘lucky’ individuals who has access to this medium of connection, the trans men who have no idea of or mean of access to these groups, for example people who are in rural areas mostly with lower socio-economic conditions and cultural taboos than the urban setting individuals with more chance of opportunities, live their lives in a sad, desperate and usually depressed manner…
“…Trans men can hit the walls of hierarchy and potency in the organized LGBT movement of Turkey which has roughly 15 years of history…
“…When where were kids of the same age, one would be called to the big living room to ‘show his wiener to the uncles’, whereas the other would be locked in darker, smaller back rooms of the house because ‘her skirt revealed too much’. When we grew up, one got tired of the living rooms and left from the front door, whereas one couldn’t even unlock the doors that were on. The system classified our biological difference like this and by doing so it made us different, separated. And as a sign of increasing the visibility of trans individuals who broke down those doors even if it was not easy and take place in ‘LGBT movement’, you are holding this very book.”
*It is possible to collect the book from Pembe Hayat and Kaos[ii] GL offices in Ankara, Istanbul LGBTT, Lambdaistanbul and SPoD offices in Istanbul, Siyah Pembe Üçgen[iii] offices in Izmir and Hebûn LGBT office in Diyarbakır.
Translation: Caner Cengiz/PembeHayat.Org
Tags: life
