In Defense of "FTM" 🏳️⚧️
Intro
For the past month I've been writing small blurbs on trans alt accounts across different social media platforms. Seeing as I've since come out as trans, I have decided to share them here on my personal blog as well. To call them essays would be too generous, but they are relatively dense and assume that the reader—like me—was once chronically online. I throw around a lot of buzzwords and concepts that might not be familiar to those of you who lean more grill-pilled. As always, feel free to contact me1 with any questions or comments.
Topics of consideration include, but are not limited to: trans politics, ontology, discourse, visibility, and terminology, as well as FTM-specific problems like transmisandry.
At some point I'll sit down, organize my thoughts, do some research, and write proper essays elaborating the ideas written below. For now, I hope these brief summaries of my thoughts will suffice and be of interest. They are largely unedited, save for the footnotes I added.
Thanks for reading.
In Defense of "FTM"
As ideas change and the community grows, it's understandable that we need to extend how it is defined to accommodate a broader gradient of gender identities. But it feels like in doing so we've neglected to preserve the specific context, philosophy, and history that came before us.2 I don't see it here in this instance, but I've been "online" to differing degrees for nearly two decades, and witnessed a lot of exhausting discourse surrounding the subject on multiple platforms.
I've had IRL experiences as well. But one experience stuck out to me in particular that illustrates what I'm getting at.
I got to an LGBT clinic for HRT. The staff is all lovely. But one day I was discussing what surgeons are in my area for top surgery. My PCP pulled up a clinic and showed me their top surgery page. It was titled as something like "FTM Reconstructive Surgery." My PCP scoffed dismissively and made a face and said, "I hate that word, FTM—I wish people would stop using it."
I didn't object at the moment, but inside I felt extremely crestfallen, hurt, and sad. I love using the term FTM to describe myself, and seeing it used by others is likewise affirmative for me. Highlighting the explicit transition/journey from female-to-male is the most accurate and descriptive label for me. It feels comfortable, correct, and contextual.
It just makes me sad that the terminology I prefer, which has such a strong historical background, is almost considered outdated or even offensive. I understand that it isn't broadly inclusive like transmasc, but I dislike how it's been replaced/sidelined by some, as if it is no longer relevant or appropriate.
I haven't been active in trans spaces online for years, but as I come back into things I want to make a point to describe myself how I see fit and emphasize the terminology and history that is so important and affirming to me. I hope to find other FTMs who still identify with the label as well. I feel like there is an instinct to over-correct and downplay our own attachments to certain labels/ideologies—but it is okay to want to be firm in how we view ourselves and our gender identity/transition as something independent from within the larger transmasc lexicon.
✘ Posted on — 12/08/24
✘ Last modified — 3 months ago
✘ Link — https://blog.xavierhm.com/in-defense-of-ftm
Footnotes
My contact info is listed near the bottom of my about page.↩
For more on my personal relationship with FTM history, see this section of my coming out post.↩