This T-Shirt is FAKE NEWS

For the past couple of years, I have poured over hundreds of transgender t-shirt options in search of the ones most likely to state, in as few words as possible, what I feel as a person who is transgender and about to undergo gender affirmation surgery.

Among the few I chose were the featured image to the left and these:

                                

 

I’ve worn all of them except the one I’ve designated as today’s Featured Image, and had some amazing conversations with open, curious, encouraging people as a result of doing so…

 

But I’m having a hard time wearing that one because, although it states clearly that I’ll be transitioning, the statement itself is false. It’s a lie.

I’ve always been male. I’m not transitioning to male. I’m aligning my essentials with my essence, changing the vehicle to reflect the engine that powers it.

 

If you’ve read my book Womb Man: How I Survived Growing Up in a Booby-Trapped World, you know my story. Or you may know someone else who is transgender and have heard theirs.

 

 

So to say I’m transitioning to male simply isn’t true.

 

Just because I don’t have below-the-belt proof that I’m a male and my upper body suggests I’m female doesn’t mean my mind isn’t built on the premise that I am a man, anymore than a man who has lost his genitals through accident, war or disease is no longer male.

 

The presence or absence of physical parts isn’t what the brain’s about or the criteria that determines one’s gender. The transgender brain knows what it’s about and how everything should be, just as does the cisgender brain (people whose brains feel entirely comfortable and aligned with the gender they were assigned at birth). I could no more talk a cisgender person out of their gender orientation than they could talk me out of mine.

 

To be able to wear “Transitioning to male… please wait…” I would have to buy some cloth paint and find a way to edit it to read “Transitioning my outward appearance to male… please wait.” But there isn’t enough space to actually add that.

 

So now I want to come up with some t-shirt ideas that do better.

I’ve been thinking about that. I’m sharing them here. If someone wants to trademark them and sell them, reach out to me at the email address below. I’m claiming copyright right here right now. Here are  just a few of the ones I’ve come up with for FtM transgender individuals who are or will be undergoing  transmasculine top surgery.

 

Aligning My Essentials with My Essence. Please Wait.

 

Changing My Body to Match My Brain. Please Wait.

 

Aligning My Body with My Brain. Please Wait.

 

This Took Courage.

It Means the World to Me.

Share My Joy!

 

All Better Now!

Thanks for using my pronouns: HE, HIM. HIS

 

FREE AT LAST FROM BEING

MIS-GENDERED ON SIGHT!

My pronouns are HE, HIM, HIS

 

FREE AT LAST FROM BEING

MIS-GENDERED EVERY DAY!

My pronouns are HE, HIM, HIS

 

I DESPISE LIES

SO I MADE MY BODY STOP LYING

TO YOU.

My pronouns: HE, HIM, HIS.

 

WHAT’S  A NICE GUY LIKE ME

DOING IN A BODY LIKE THIS?

My pronouns: HE, HIM, HIS.

 

What’s a nice guy like me

doing in this disguise?

My pronouns: HE, HIM, HIS.

 

Some of the nicest guys

you’ll ever meet

are unwillingly disguised.

My pronouns: HE, HIM, HIS.

 

GENDER IS BRAIN-BASED

Please Respect

My Pronouns:

HE, HIM, HIS

 

OCCUPYING A MIS-GENDERED BODY

AFFLICTED MY SOUL,

SO I SWAPPED IT OUT!

Please use HE, HIM, HIS when

you mention me from now on.

 

CAREFUL OBSERVERS

ALREADY KNOW

I’VE BEEN A GUY

MY WHOLE LIFE.

My Pronouns are HE, HIM, HIS.

 

FLAT-CHESTED

FOR THE FIRST TIME

IN DECADES.

Hallelujah!!!

 

I Haven’t Changed Gender.

I’m Proclaiming

My True  Gender.

(HE, HIM, HIS)

 

GENDER REVEAL

(HE, HIM, HIS)

 

I think the people in a rush to make money off transgender individuals don’t truly understand them, and that’s why they can get mighty close, but no closer. I can’t say I blame them. I do understand why it would be hard to wrap my mind around something I hadn’t experienced personally.

 

Lisa and I are considering producing these ourselves, but if someone else is interested in buying them as intellectual property and manufacturing them, submit your best offers to krisATwordwhispererDOTnet.  As of this hour, they are registered in my name as the intellectual property/copyright holder.