Unearthing Transmasculine Histories
Unearthing Transmasculine Histories provides a short introduction to the transmasculine community populating the FTM newsletter in the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s.
Transmasculine Literature
FTM issues frequently included book reviews, poetry, and humorous comics. Notably, Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues (1993) continues to be heralded in trans and lesbian communities as a groundbreaking text. Stone Butch Blues highlights thin borders between butch lesbianism and trans masculinity. In addition to creating the FTM Newsletter and spearheading FTM Meetups, Lou Sullivan was a trans-masculine gay activist who convinced the medical establishment that transgender men could also be gay. Sullivan’s poem is a powerful reminder of the conflicting societal gender expectations imposed onto transgender men.
Gender and the Law in 1998
Dion Manley was a key volunteer with FTM in the late 1990s, and served as the President of FTM International from 2000 to 2002. In the late 1990s, FTM issues began to include direct calls to political action. Laws permitting gender-based discrimination were common in the United States and abroad. These laws directly impacted trans people and their job security, insurance coverage, and housing security. Many trans activists were working hard to change public perception of trans people, and ultimately alter these oppressive laws. Previous FTM issues included reference to texts on gender and the law such as "Legal Aspects of Transsexualism" from J2CP and How to Change Your Name by Attorneys Loeb and Brown.
"Tranny Films"
Reviews of transgenre media have always been present in FTM, but in-depth discussions about transgender representation in film and television are present only in issues after Sullivan’s passing. After taking over the newsletter in 1991, Jamison Green established trans visibility as a top priority. One way to accomplish this goal was to engage the transmasculine community in discussions as to why trans representation was necessary.
News regarding the “International Transgender Film Festival” in London would have been an exciting victory for FTM readers in the 1990s. Stephen Whittle was a prominent trans activist and lawyer based in Manchester, publishing a Newsletter in the UK titled Boys Own, along with a text called The White Book. These texts were advertised in many FTM issues, and Whittle was widely known throughout the transmasculine community for changing existing gender-based laws in the UK.
Trans Writings and Political Discourse
Every issue of FTM included art, poetry, and short stories from trans community members sent to the FTM editing team. Sharing these writings were crucial parts of facilitating shared transgender experiences and building communities around the globe.
Beginning in 1996, political calls to action against gender oppression were regularly included in FTM newsletters. Jed Bell's response to the transphobic question, "should trans people be involved in the gay rights movement?" would not have been the first time FTM readers were faced with hate within queer advocacy groups. As gay and gender identity rights protests kicked off in the late 1990s, these questions proliferated throughout LGBTQ+ spaces -- although trans folk were not included in gay communities at the time.
Trans News
Many trans people were only able to access trans news between the pages of FTM newsletters. It is unlikely that mainstream newspapers would report testosterone shortages, or trans legal protest actions. FTM's reports on transgender news, including hate crimes, was a vital way for the community to stay aware.
Notably, this page includes an advertisement for adult entertainment called "Alley of the Tranny Boys." Attempting to find and access pornography featuring transgender talent within a cisgender-heteronormative community would have been treated as a disdainful fetish. Although trans folk were fetishized (and continue to be!), seeing trans actors having sex the way a cis actor would, would have been validating as well as sexually arousing to members of the trans community. Accessing adult films like this would have been beyond erotic: it was transgender representation on screen in all aspects of life.
New Digital Chapter
In 1995, FTM announced their digital presence in FTM Issue #30 at www.ftm-intl.org. Later, this URL was updated to www.ftmi.org. Maintaining trans communities online while continuing to provide print newsletters ensured that queer resources reached more trans folk than ever before, while also accommodating varying levels of access. This website utilized simple HTML and text blocks, allowing for text-reader software to more easily read these webpages, as opposed to PDF files or complex texts.
As of May 2024, www.ftm-intl.org is no longer an active URL. Basic captures of the website are available through the Internet Archive by searching "www.ftmi.org", and additional digital facing reseach can be conducted through the Digital Transgender Archive.