Author | Mira Bellwether |
---|---|
Illustrator | Bellwether |
Cover artist | Bellwether |
Language | English |
Publisher | Self-published |
Publication date | October 2010 (digital) August 2013 (print) |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Zine |
Pages | 80 |
ISBN | 9781492128939 (print edition) |
Website | Official website |
Fucking Trans Women (FTW) is a zine created by Mira Bellwether. A single 80-page issue, numbered "#0", was published in October 2010 and republished in 2013 as Fucking Trans Women: A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women; further issues were planned, but none had been published as of Bellwether's death in December 2022 [update] . Bellwether wrote all of the issue's articles, which explore a variety of sexual activities involving trans women, [lower-alpha 1] primarily ones who are pre-op or non-op with respect to bottom surgery. Fucking Trans Women was the first publication of note to focus on sex with trans women and was innovative in its focus on trans women's own perspectives and its inclusion of instructions for many of the sex acts depicted. [1] Emphasizing sex acts possible with flaccid penises or not involving penises at all, it coined the term muffing to refer to stimulation of the inguinal canals, an act it popularized. The zine has received both popular-culture and scholarly attention, and was described in Sexuality & Culture as "a comprehensive guide to trans women's sexuality" [2] and in Playboy as "widely considered" the "most in-depth guide to having sex with pre- and non-op trans femme bodies". [3]
Mira Bellwether, [lower-alpha 2] a self-described "trans dyke" [4] then living in the U.S. state of Iowa, [lower-alpha 3] created the zine over the course of "a year or so". [7] She was inspired partly by the 1970s–1980s magazine Drag and what she described as "a spirit of sisterhood and cooperation between drag queens, transsexuals, and crossdressers manifested in articles that talked about our commonalities and shared experiences as well as our shared political struggles across communities". [8] She intended to publish a zine featuring submissions from others, but found the material insufficient; she instead chose to make the zine a solo effort and number it "#0" to leave room for a "#1" featuring others' contributions. [9] In an interview with Kennedy Nadler of Autostraddle in 2013, she wrote that she "wanted to speak to aspects of our sexuality that are almost never given any attention in media whatsoever: those of us who enjoy sex with other women, trans and otherwise, and some of the difficulties (as well as unique pleasures) of trans women having sex with cis women". [10]
Fucking Trans Women #0 was published online in October 2010, [10] billed as an "80-Page Giant". [11] Bellwether republished it in print through CreateSpace in August 2013, [12] without the "#0" and with the subtitle A Zine About the Sex Lives of Trans Women. [13]
The zine's cover depicts a woman in a leotard (with prominent crotch bulge) and open jacket holding a whip. At her feet, indistinct figures run around in a ring. [5]
Rachel Stevens and Megan Purdy of WomenWriteAboutComics characterized the design as "intentionally messy". [14] The zine is black and white, with articles overlaid on grayscale images of nude or erotically-posed women. [14] For many of the acts Bellwether depicted, no scientific diagrams existed, and so she illustrated them herself, [15] an innovative approach for the time. [16]
"I think one of the ideas in FTW that I'm the most proud of is that the penis can be an organ for receiving pleasure in any state."
Bellwether,interview in Autostraddle [10]
Rather than set a cohesive narrative, Bellwether focused on trans women's [lower-alpha 1] physical experiences. [17] She highlighted both how trans women's bodies differ from cis men's [18] and how they are similar to cis women's bodies, such as the structures of the penis and clitoris respectively. [19] Bellwether had a penis and therefore focused on the perspective of pre-op and non-op trans women (those who have not had bottom surgery). [18] She emphasized sex acts possible with flaccid ('soft') penises, [20] associating feminizing hormone therapy–induced erectile dysfunction with pleasure rather than with a lack of sexual satisfaction. [21] She criticized the focus of "almost all sexual discourse on penises" being "on erect penises, hard penises, penetrating penises". [22] She also explained how trans women with penises can use strap-on dildos, which may be more pleasurable and allows trans women to decide the meaning of their body parts. [23]
"I want to drop into your arms and be held as tight as you can hold me because I'm beautiful and special. I don't want to wonder whether you're scared to touch me, I want to know that you aren't."
Bellwether,Fucking Trans Women #0, "Touch", p. 48 [24]
Another major focus is the innervation of trans women's bodies. Bellwether described the "thick web" of nerves spanning trans women's genital areas and showed ways to use them to bring pleasure [25] such as stimulating the perineum. [26] She wrote that it was important that trans women's lovers be enthusiastic about touching their bodies, rather than avoid contact out of a fear of causing offense. [24]
Bellwether coined the term muffing to refer to the act of invaginating the scrotum and penetrating the inguinal canals, an act that Fucking Trans Women #0 is credited with popularizing. [27] Versions include pushing the testes in and out of the inguinal canals, [3] which Bellwether terms 'autopenetration'; [28] pushing the testes in and then massaging the teste and the mouth of the canal; [29] and fingering the canals without use of the testes. [30] This masturbation technique stimulates the ilioinguinal and genitofemoral nerves. [31] Many trans women are familiar with inserting the testes into the inguinal canals in the context of tucking, which is how Bellwether discovered the practice. [32] (Scholar Lucie Fielding writes that Bellwether was probably not the first to have the idea. [27] Grace Elisabeth Lavery cites Jennie June's Autobiography of an Androgyne [1918] as an early description of the same practice. [33] )
Bellwether emphasized trans women's need to learn how their own bodies work, describing a "sexy mad science (white lab coats and leather gloves optional)" of working from data toward conclusions and addressing her readers as her "fellow genital cartographers". [34] She rejected attempts to impute a deeper meaning to trans people's genitals, writing, "what I have between my legs is not a metaphor or an analogy but something new and wonderful" [35] and "My body is a woman's body and part of it is my penis, a woman's penis." [36] In the context of muffing, she referred to her inguinal canals as cunts , [37] which Lucie Fielding in Trans Sex notes in the context of a broader phenomenon of trans people renaming their body parts. [38] Bellwether referred to "the sensitive, fleshy tube of flesh with all the nerves and blood vessels in it" as the penis for the sake of comprehension, without claiming that it is an objectively correct term. [39]
Fucking Trans Women has been highlighted by Greta R. Bauer and Rebecca Hammond in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality as a resource for trans sexual health [40] and was described by Shoshanna Rosenberg et al. in Sexuality & Culture as "a comprehensive guide to trans women's sexuality". [2] Muffing in particular has drawn attention in popular-culture sources including Playboy , [3] Broadly, [11] Autostraddle, [41] and The Daily Dot ; [42] it was promoted by scholar Lucie Fielding in Jessica Stoya's sex advice column with Slate . [43] Tobi Hill-Meyer in Autostraddle writes that "Having some familiarity with the area from tucking has led some trans women and trans fems to explore this area, and for trans women and trans fems who experience genital dysphoria, being penetrated in the front can be really meaningful." [41] Katelyn Burns in Playboy, also emphasizing muffing as less prone to inducing dysphoria, says that Fucking Trans Women is "widely considered to be the first and most in-depth guide to having sex with pre- and non-op trans femme bodies"; Carla Pfeffer in the Journal of Homosexuality and Constance Augusta Zaber in Book Riot similarly characterize it as the first in that regard. [1]
Fielding's Trans Sex describes a "mystification" process of seeing past the "habitual reality" of one's body and identifies as "foundational" to this Bellwether's statement in Fucking Trans Women that "The form of someone's body doesn't necessarily determine what that body means, how it works, or what it can do"; [44] she cites this phrase further to refute the proposition that all post-op trans women will wish to engage in vaginal penetration. [45] Ana Valens in The Daily Dot praises in particular Fucking Trans Women's criticism of phallocentrism; [46] writing sex guides there and in Allure , she cites Bellwether in discussing the innervation of trans women's genital areas as distinct from focusing solely on the penis. [46] [47] In a 2022 Mary Sue article, Valens refers to Fucking Trans Women as "the gold standard in transfeminine sex and masturbation" and writes that, 12 years after it was first published, it remained "one of the best resources for transfeminine people who have penises". [48]
Rachel Stevens of WomenWriteAboutComics praises Bellwether's message to trans women that they don't have to emulate transgender pornography; her colleague Morgan Purdy agrees and points to her "[t]otal rejection of codifying a single trans women's sexuality". [14] Broadly 's Diana Tourjée describes Fucking Trans Women as "groundbreaking" and "iconic". [11] Using Bellwether's preferred term for her inguinal canals, she writes that the zine "helped a generation of pre or non-op trans girls reclaim their 'cunts' and find new sexual practices that supported their gendered bodies." [11]
Autostraddle's Nadler says it was the zine that had most influenced her life and wrote, [10]
The zine's focus on the bodies of pre- and non-op trans women, and how these bodies move in bed, was revelatory. Reading FTW provided perhaps my first glimpse into an understanding of trans women's bodies, like mine, not as incomplete projects or disturbing visions, but as always already carrying the capacity to be beautiful, the potential to be sexual and sexy.
She also notes the duality of the zine's title, which can be read either in the sense of "how to fuck trans women" or "trans women who fuck". [10] Kai Cheng Thom in Xtra Magazine also speaks of its impact on her transition and others', writing, "FTW leapt directly into the black hole that has historically surrounded trans women’s sexualities—and it shone like a guiding star. Written in Bellwether's distinctively unapologetic, funny and ferociously intelligent voice, FTW addressed trans women's pleasure on our own terms", when "mainstream society would prefer us not to have sexualities at all". Thom describes the zine as having a "mythic status", passed from one trans woman to the next as "community lore". [49]
Bellwether did not claim to speak for all trans women, but rather portrayed a diversity of experiences [50] and sought reader submissions to fill in missing pieces. [51] She acknowledged that the acts described in the zine may not be consistent with the experiences and desires of all trans women, telling Nadler, "It isn't everybody's story, but it's my story." [10] Fucking Trans Women #0 ends with a submission call for a next issue including anal sex, sex among trans partners, and BDSM. [52]
At the time of her death in 2022, Bellwether still wanted to publish at least one more issue, and was frustrated by the dearth of responses to the call for submissions, despite the first issue's widespread popularity in the trans community. As a result, she advocated for dialogue within the trans community that would make it more possible for trans women to write candidly about their sex lives. [53]
In amniotes, the clitoris is a female sex organ. In humans, it is the vulva's most erogenous area and generally the primary anatomical source of female sexual pleasure. The clitoris is a complex structure, and its size and sensitivity can vary. The visible portion, the glans, of the clitoris is typically roughly the size and shape of a pea and is estimated to have at least 8,000 nerve endings.
Fellatio is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed fellatio, or colloquially as teabagging.
Orgasm or sexual climax is the sudden release of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, characterized by intense sexual pleasure resulting in rhythmic, involuntary muscular contractions in the pelvic region. Orgasms are controlled by the involuntary or autonomic nervous system and experienced by both males and females; the body's response includes muscular spasms, a general euphoric sensation, and, frequently, body movements and vocalizations. The period after orgasm is typically a relaxing experience, after the release of the neurohormones oxytocin and prolactin, as well as endorphins.
A zine is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation. A fanzine is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest. The term was coined in an October 1940 science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenet and popularized within science fiction fandom, entering the Oxford English Dictionary in 1949.
A sex toy is an object or device that is primarily used to facilitate sexual pleasure, such as a dildo, artificial vagina or vibrator. Many popular sex toys are designed to resemble human genitals, and may be vibrating or non-vibrating. The term sex toy can also include BDSM apparatus and sex furniture such as sex swings; however, it is not applied to items such as birth control, pornography, or condoms. Alternative terms for sex toy include adult toy and the dated euphemism marital aid. Marital aid also has a broader meaning and is applied to drugs and herbs marketed to enhance or prolong sex.
Tribadism or tribbing, commonly known by its scissoring position, is a sexual practice involving vulva-to-vulva contact or rubbing the vulva against the partner's thigh, stomach, buttocks, arm, or other body parts, especially for stimulation of the clitoris. A variety of sex positions are practiced, including the missionary position.
Gender-affirming surgery for male-to-female transgender women or transfeminine non-binary people describes a variety of surgical procedures that alter the body to provide physical traits more comfortable and affirming to an individual's gender identity and overall functioning.
FTW or F.T.W. may refer to:
Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth. Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vulva while fellatio is oral sex performed on the penis. Anilingus, another form of oral sex, is oral stimulation of the anus.
Sexuality in transgender individuals encompasses all the issues of sexuality of other groups, including establishing a sexual identity, learning to deal with one's sexual needs, and finding a partner, but may be complicated by issues of gender dysphoria, side effects of surgery, physiological and emotional effects of hormone replacement therapy, psychological aspects of expressing sexuality after medical transition, or social aspects of expressing their gender.
Non-penetrative sex or outercourse is sexual activity that usually does not include sexual penetration, but some forms, particularly when termed outercourse, include penetrative aspects, that may result from forms of fingering or oral sex. It generally excludes the penetrative aspects of vaginal, anal, or oral sex, but includes various forms of sexual and non-sexual activity, such as frottage, manual sex, mutual masturbation, kissing, or hugging.
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle.
Mira is a feminine given name with varying meanings. In the Romance languages, it is related to the Latin words for 'wonder' and 'wonderful'. In Slavic languages, it means 'peace' and is often used as part of a longer name, such as Miroslava, Mirjana, or Sławomira. In Albanian, it means 'goodness' or 'kindness'. In Sanskrit, it means 'ocean', 'sea', 'limit', or 'boundary'. It is sometimes also a short form of other given names.
Queer pornography depicts performers with various gender identities and sexual orientations interacting and exploring genres of desire and pleasure in unique ways. These conveyed interactions distinctively seek to challenge the conventional modes of portraying and experiencing sexually explicit content. Scholar Ingrid Ryberg additionally includes two main objectives of queer pornography in her definition as "interrogating and troubling gender and sexual categories and aiming at sexual arousal."
Porn for women, women's porn or women's pornography is pornography aimed specifically at the female market, and often produced by women. It rejects the view that pornography is only for men, and seeks to make porn that women enjoy watching instead of what is being offered in male-centric mainstream pornography.
Zackary Drucker is an American multimedia artist, cultural producer, LGBT activist, actress, and television producer. She is an Emmy-nominated producer for the docu-series This Is Me, a consultant on the TV series Transparent, and is based out of Los Angeles. Drucker is an artist whose work explores themes of gender and sexuality and critiques predominant two-dimensional representations. Drucker has stated that she considers discovering, telling, and preserving trans history to be not only an artistic opportunity but a political responsibility. Drucker's work has been exhibited in galleries, museums, and film festivals including but not limited to the 2014 Whitney Biennial, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Hammer Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Shine Louise Houston is a filmmaker and the founding director and producer of Pink and White Productions, an independent production company creating queer pornography in San Francisco. Houston makes feature-length pornographic films in addition to producing, directing, and shooting hundreds of installments for her queer porn membership site CrashPadSeries.com. Houston distributes her own work and that of other indie adult filmmakers through PinkLabel.tv, catering to different sexual communities.
Mira Bellwether was an American author, artist, and sex educator best known for Fucking Trans Women, a single-issue zine in which she wrote and illustrated all articles. Described in Sexuality & Culture as "a comprehensive guide to trans women's sexuality", Fucking Trans Women was the first publication of note to focus on sex with trans women and was innovative in its focus on trans women's own perspectives and its inclusion of instructions for many of the sex acts depicted. Bellwether was also an advocate for transgender women and in opposition to trans-exclusionary feminism.
A bellwether is an indicator of trends, often in the context of politics. The term is derived from the practice of placing a bell on the neck of a wether at the head of a herd of sheep.
Transgender people use a variety of terms to refer to their genitals and other sexually dimorphic body parts and bodily functions. While some may use the standard clinical and colloquial terms, others follow neologistic approaches. These replacement words serve as alternatives to existing names that may conflict with a person's gender identity and trigger gender dysphoria. In medical contexts, providers may use traditional clinical terms, may mirror patients' preferred terms, or may use alternate terms such as internal genitals and external gonads.