New Web Series 'BROTHERS' Shares The Stories of Trans Men

By Kat Callahan  |  June 3, 2014 | 12:39am
In Depth

Some might argue that transgender characters, and their actors and actresses, have made it in the media, the way gay and lesbian characters have made it before. However, this is premature. The case can be made that while trans women actresses and the transgender characters they play are finally getting the recognition which has been too long in coming, the same cannot be said about trans men.

I agree with the creators of “BROTHERS,” that more trans masculine stories need to be told.

There is a definite lack of trans masculine stories being told; stories that reflect us and the people we know. This is where you come in. BROTHERS follows the daily lives, the ups and down, ins and outs of what it means to live as a transgender individual in today’s urban society.

Trans men are often left out of the overall transgender discourse because transgender women have traditionally been considered both more visible and more of a threat to both patriarchy and to certain dark corners of feminist discourse. There is also a mistaken view that trans men have it much easier, that they can pass so much easier, because they can simply butch up naturally “softer” features. Or some such.

And, well, as someone with trans masculine friends, I can only call bullshit. It’s true that many of the trans men I know can pass at first glance as sixteen year old boys, but after a few minutes of interaction, I think this becomes much harder, especially for those who have not yet had top surgery and are not yet on hormones. Prolonged binding is not only uncomfortable and can alter one’s body language, but it in some cases, it can cause damage. The whole process of presenting as masculine and living with asserted gender identity of “man” by female assigned at birth individuals requires more narration, and it looks like we get that with this new series.

Meet Jack, Davyn, Aiden and Max….Jack, a transgender man living in Brooklyn, has recently started sleeping with a cisgender* man after exclusively dating women his entire adult life. His friend Davyn is on the verge of proposing to his longtime girlfriend, Amy. Aiden, the youngest of the group – pre-testosterone and pre-surgery – is aiming to raise money for his top surgery as the date approaches. Max, the eldest, has been on hormones longer than both Jack and Davyn, but hasn’t had the financial resources to obtain his top surgery.

I’m looking forward to this web series, and I hope they have enough funding to continue it.

Video via YouTube.

 
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