6A the university daily kansan
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triday, december 5,2003
TRANS: Girl knew she had wrong body, genitalia, by second grade
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
"The fact that people believe they have been born into the wrong body does not change. It's a basic physiological anomaly." Dailey said. "How people react to it changes."
Native American society is a good example of a society that reacts differently to transsexuality, Dailey said. "In our tradition it is seen as some sort of aberrant tradition, in the Native American tradition, it's seen as Shaman-like."
Ancient Roman and ancient Greek cultures also revered transsexual people as unusual tokens of their society, Dailey said.
"If you're living in a society that does not tolerate variations around sexuality, like our country, the United States, then things transsexuality, transvestitism and homosexuality are going to pick up a consistent negative reaction," he said.
At any given time, one in 30,000 males and one in 100,000 females are seeking to change their assigned sex, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. Those estimates are based on self reports, said Sean Morgan, professor and coordinator of counseling and school psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Morgan said he believed the variance between male and female statistics is due to social stigmas.
Claven Snow, Lawrence resident, kissed his fiancée, Vanessa Hays, Topeka senior.
"It seems there's more acceptance of women being masculine than men being feminine," Morgan said.
Sean Smith/Kansan
After Claven began hormone replacement therapy, his knuckles grew wider, his veins became more defined and the hair on his arms became darker and thicker. Other physical changes included facial hair, a deeper voice and an enlarged clitoris. Claven hadn't had his breasts removed or had genital surgery because insurance won't pay for the high costs.
Testing identity
out piped a much higher voice than I have now."
Claven remembers sitting in large lecture halls waiting for the teacher to call on him. Because his name on the roster was still Jessica, he expected confusion. So he told his professors he was transgender and to call him C.J. It wasn't enough.
At 23, Claven was living in Lawrence and a KU student. He got involved with Queers and Allies, a campus group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and those who support them. Claven was living as a man by this point; but legally, Claven was still Jessica. He had started going by CJ, at age 14. It was a gender-neutral name that was more fitting. Later, he said he adopted the name Claven for its root in Old English: divided.
"It was the students who were confused," Claven said. "The professor would call me sir, and
He was ready for the next step.
Evaluation
the process of a sex change begins with the Harry Benjamin Standards. This evaluation, administered by a psychologist, encompasses an in-depth analysis of personal history, a mental health evaluation and, in the end, a diagnosis of "gender identity disorder."
Sean Smith/Kansan
People with "gender identity disorder" know at an early age, said Pamela Botts, clinical director for the University of Kansas Counseling and Psychological Services.
sensing and understanding.
“This is a life-long issue for people,” Bots said. “It might not have been apparent to other people, the person could have been struggling very quietly.”
sugging for valid Counseling and Psychological Services will either oversee or refer patients requesting gender transition therapy, she said. Because it's an involved process, the clinic must ensure a psychologist has time to complete the evaluation that precedes any medical gender intervention.
Claven had been struggling both outwardly at a young age and then quietly after his experience in second grade.
His Harry Benjamin Standards showed he had a longstanding tradition of gender identity disorder, was currently living as a man and he was of age. He passed the evaluation.
Haptase Dailey said Claven's early association with male gender role activities, like playing with G.I. Joes and wearing male clothes, were to be expected from someone with a gender identity disorder.
Although expectations of people, or gender roles, vary between cultures, transsexuals work to fit the mold of the cultural norms of the times, he said. Although Jessica was born a female, she saw herself as male.
increased sex drive.
"Because of that, she wanted to do the sorts of things males do in this country." Dailey said.
Fitting in
Claven has been taking testosterone shots since February 2002. In these 21 months, Claven's accelerated puberty process has sped growth of hair on his face and body. He has lost his curves, his knuckles have gotten bigger and his muscle mass has been redistributed. Claven's voice is still deepening so it sometimes cracks. He also has a higher metabolism and an
On the whole, he is identifiably male.
The testosterone alone has caused cosmetic changes. But Claven isn't sure that he will undergo the next in the series of sex changes, because the surgeries are expensive. A bilateral mastectomy, or removal of his breasts, runs from $3,000 to $10,000, depending on the extent of chest reconstruction, said Morgan, Cal State professor. A genital reconstruction for a female to male transition is another estimated $15,000 to $70,000, he said. The cost is too much for Claven to handle.
Dailey said reconstructed genitalia were becoming more convincing. Doctors are performing plastic surgery to reconstruct the genital area so that male to female surgery is hardly noticeable. Although female to male surgery is currently more difficult, it is possible to construct a penis.
Claven's driver's license still says female. He would have to undergo surgery to change his legal status.
Unless he gets the surgeries, he will continue to bind his breasts with a bra-like chest form that makes breasts look more like a man's pectoral muscles. Claven said he didn't use other items common to transmen: a tube-like structure to use a urinal and a fake penis "packer" or prosthetic penis for tucking in underwear.
Sean Smith/Kansai
Functionality is questionable. Since the fluids don't flow regularly, transwomen must use supplemental lubrication once they've had surgery. Transmen have a few medical procedures available to construct a penis, Morgan said. A metoidioplasty creates a penis using the enlarged clitoris and female foreskin. A phalloplasty uses either skin grafts from the forearm or abdomen.
Botts said insurance in the United States largely did not cover transsexual health care operations. Insurers might pay for the evaluation, but they rarely pay for any intervention — psychotherapy or sex reassignment surgery.
Because many insurers consider a sex change "experimental," they don't have to pay for it, Morgan said.
For Claven, his testosterone is covered. Surgeries are not.
From left: Jessica Gish, Topeka junior, Wes Teal, Lawrence resident, and Claven lounged in Claven's home Tuesday. Most of the friends at his house were Lawrence anarchists. At study group sessions this month, Lawrence Anarchist Black Cross will discuss queer issues. In this circle of friends, he said, he felt most accepted.
Born Nov. 27, 1978, Claven
Claven Snow
TRANSTERMS*
GENDER: Mindset
EX: Capitalio
SEX: Genitalia
GENDER DYSPHORIA: Clinical diagnosis of transgender people; favored term is Gender Identity Disorder.
GENDER IDENTITY DISORDER Psychological diagnosis of transgender people.
TRANSGENDER Umbrella term for all people whose gender identity or dress matches that of the opposite sex.
TRANSSEXUAL An individual who has or is transitioning biologically to the opposite sex.
TRANSFITTE An individual
who wears the clothing of the opposite sex but still identifies with the individual's sex.
TRANSITION: The process of changing one's gender and/or sex.
TRANSMAN OR FTM: Female to male; a person born with female genitalia but lives as a male.
TRANSWOMAN OR MIF: Male to female; a person born with male genitalia but lives as a woman.
TRANSVESTITE: An individual
*These definitions can be modified to the preference to the individual.
Sources: International Transgender Peer Support Web site and interviews
Snow is the fourth of five children. He writes poetry, reads books, works at Einstein Bros. Bagels and wants to raise a family. Like many other young men, he has been promised equality. These opportunities are something he hopes to pass along.
I'll tell my children they can be anything they want to be, Claven said.
First a tomboy, now a trans-
man, Claven has found his place in life, but it has been a struggle. For a while, he thought he was bisexual and he married a man thinking it would be a way to have children. It was a mistake.
He thought he could please his parents. He's pleasing himself now.
His parents aren't happy with the decision, but Claven said they are trying their best. He knows what he wants to be: A father to his children and a husband to his wife.
On Wednesday night, Claven stood before an audience of about 30 at a poetry reading. Vanessa sat in the middle of the front row.
His fiancee, Vanessa Hays,
Topeka senior, prefers Claven
how he is today — proud and
outspoken about his gender
identity.
"His poetry is why I fell in love with him," Vanessa said.
Fifteen years of silence were broken when Claven came out as trans. The emotion, he said, leads him to write. Although society doesn't always approve of gender ambiguity, he said, in this realm, he can express his experiences freely.
Before the audience, Claven spake:
"I just want to be free/ to see/ and to be angry/ to decree/ what defines he or she/ what defines me."
Edited by Neeley Spellmeier
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