A documentary worth watching

449ec9f1-a031-43d1-8d8d-4ca2ec98f506_c0-7-1200-560_r1300x600Katie Couric and producers at National Geographic nailed probably the best presentation on the transgender “movement” and the broader gender awakening in the United States while blending in salient perspectives from around the world.

Gender Revolution is a National Geographic documentary which explores how the gender binary is falling way in the wake of generations of human beings who defy this “norm”.

If you’re trans-attracted or transamorous – even if you are aware or think you are aware of the issues and subtle nuances of what’s happening around you – this documentary is definitely worth watching.

The show examines multiple perspectives of the movement: the nomenclature, characters, political changes underway, their impact on human lives and more. It personalizes what it means to be queer, making it clear to those who don’t understand what is happening that what is happening is real, is serious and needs their attention. If anyone you know is struggling to understand what is happening in the field of gender expression. This documentary does a good job as a general overview.

Some salient points:

  • There are distinct differences between the brains of heterosexual, homosexual and transgender people, so arguing that genitals are determinate of gender (anyone with a penis is a boy) is proven false. This is not the only evidence the documentary offers that refutes such arguments.
  • More than anything, the best measure of one’s gender is how a person feels. Consistently through the show, including in several scientific studies, it is shown that the majority of people who feel they are trans (or anything else other than the binary “norm”) rarely change their view, even after quite invasive medical procedures.
  • Many of these people are willing to die for how they feel. Indeed, one transwoman, who also happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, is 80 years old and still intends to have her “bottom surgery.” Another transwoman, also senior in years, is also a surgeon and known as one of the foremost experts in the surgery, performing nearly 130 each year. Clearly, something more than “mental illness” is at work here.
  • Gender is who you go to bed as. Orientation is who you go to be with.
  • It is possible for a man to have a vagina and a woman to have a penis. Again, anatomy does not determine gender, sex, or orientation. Intersex individuals are the best example of how sexual organs do not determine the sex of an individual.
  • There are nations, cultures and peoples who have not only accepted, but fully honor people outside the gender binary as not only something distinct from “male” or “female” but also worthy of appreciation. These nations, cultures and peoples have held these cultural norms for very long time periods. This must mean therefore that people falling into these categories also have always been around and also must be normal.

Another seemingly obvious conclusion to draw from all this is that men who are attracted to these people – particularly transpeople for our purposes – are as normal as the people they are attracted to. It’s also a safe conclusion to make that these men (men like you and me) have been around for as long as our objects of affection have been.

So what is there to be shamed about? There is so much evidence in the world that you are normal and healthy. But that evidence is invisible to you if you are steeped in stories of shame and embarrassment. Change your beliefs and discover an entire world that supports you as you are. You’ll be glad you did.

National Geographic’s Gender Revolution can be seen on Netflix.

 

On Hari Nef

I found out about Hari Nef on Pinterest, where I have a board dedicated to my desire to find my transgender partner. Today I just saw her on Transparent, the Amazon series about an older transwoman, who makes her decision towards achieving freedom and happiness. Anyway, Hari looks fantastic on the show – remember, this is fantasy, it’s not life – and the show, this season seems (at least in the first couple episodes) to take it to another level from the stupendous start it had over a year ago.

I also caught cameos of other transgender notables. You think Hari is pretty? I do. But talking about how beautiful some transgender women are is not what this post is about, nor is this website or any other property of Transamorous Network dot com.

What this is bout the state of the nation…the transnation as I see it. Hari is just one more of a list of notable figures bound to emerge on society’s main stage as transpeople make their way to the mainstream. Meanwhile, many transgender women are living their ordinary lives far from stardom, experiencing their own lives, lives far from the fantasy we see in the media. There are plenty people talking about the challenges of being trans. I don’t lean that direction as I believe there is a divine plan in place which every transperson and transamorous person participates.

What is this “plan”?

There is a shift taking place right before our eyes. While Hari is at one end, there is a lagging, yet no less powerful other end emerging. That end is the rise of guys who aren’t going to shirk from their love of transwomen. The number of guys “out” about it is still miniscule. But that’s going to change. In the meantime, transwomen are going to find, more and more, refreshing changes in their environment as people like you, assuming you’re a transamorous male, begin to accept the natural part of you that you’ve been hiding or running from or avoiding.

Maybe this post will do the trick. Maybe it will be the videos on the way, or the Man’s Guide to Finding Your Transgender Partner (due out in a few weeks). Or something I haven’t even begun to create. But the state of the (trans)nation needs you man. It needs you, not your partial self you are being when you hide from your social circle this dramatically important part of who you are.

Hari Neff is hot. But you’re hotter. Because unlike Hari, your romantic attraction to transgender women can turn the life of a transgender woman on its head.

 

Photo credit: Hari Nef (Instagram)