Lewis J. Hancox (born 15 June 1989) is an English filmmaker, graphic novelist, social mediapersonality and transgender activist. He is known for co-founding the documentary film project My Genderation, which has produced work for the BBC and Channel 4. His 2022 graphic memoir Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure has been shortlisted for several awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. In addition to his film and publishing work, Hancox is known for his online sketch comedy videos on TikTok and YouTube, and has been recognised for his contributions to digital media and LGBTQ representation.
Hancox was born on 15 June 1989,[‡ 1]assigned female.[1] Hancox grew up in the village of Haydock near St Helens, Merseyside.[1][2] As a child, Hancox wore boys' clothing, kept a short haircut, preferred to be known by the initials LJ rather than the given birth name,[3][4] and openly stated being a boy.[5]
Hancox once played for a local boy's basketball team without revealing his biological sex for six months, avoiding the changing room by getting changed at home before going and after leaving. Hancox stopped attending games out of embarrassment after being referred to as "she" in front of the fellow team members.[3]
In 2011, Hancox, aged 22, was one of seven participants of the Channel 4reality television series My Transsexual Summer, where seven transgender people in different stages of transition stay together in a large holiday home in Bedfordshire for five weekends.[4] Hancox has said that appearing on the series was the first time he had knowingly met another trans person and described working on the show as "one of the best things I ever did", feeling more confident afterwards.[6] At the time of appearing on the show, he was working part-time in a gallery whilst living at home with his mother in St Helens.[4]
Hancox regularly produces original content on social media, documenting his experiences and youth as a trans man through comedy sketches, featuring characters including an impersonation of a stereotypical "British mum" and "Prinny Queen".[7][8] A number of his online videos have gone viral on TikTok and YouTube, garnering him a significant online following.[5][9]
Filmmaking and recognition
Hancox and Fox Fisher founded the film project My Genderation.
Hancox, alongside artist Fox Fisher, is the founder of My Genderation, an ongoing film project centred around gender nonconformity and the experiences of transgender people in the United Kingdom.[‡ 2][3][10] The project produces documentary short films about trans people of various ages.[11] Fisher has described that the purpose of the project is to provide perspective without "shock tactics" or upsetting those being interviewed.[12]
In 2013, whilst in his second year of his Bachelor of Arts studies at London South Bank University,[1] Hancox began working on the documentary film New Genderation, produced as a part of My Genderation for the BBC and the BBC Fresh Initiative.[1][3] The documentary revolves around life of a 14-year-old Welsh transgender youth named Tayler who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a man.[‡ 2] It was screened in the London Cinema Museum in May and aired on BBC Three in September of that year.[‡ 2]
Hancox produced edutainment videos about gender, sexuality, trans topics and issues on YouTube for the advocacy project All About Trans in 2015.[13][14][15]
Hancox was listed on the 2013 Rainbow List, a list published annually in the national newspaper The Independent, to recognize and celebrate influential LGBTQ individuals in the United Kingdom, sharing 79th place with Fisher, for their work as a part of My Genderation.[16] In 2014, he was placed 13th in The Guardian "30 Under 30 in Digital Media" list, showcasing young people in the field of digital media.[17] In 2015, Hancox again appeared on the Rainbow List, featured in 48th place.[18]
In 2016, Hancox created the six-episode Channel 4 comedy series Me and My Teen Self, in which Hancox speaks to his teenage self through time travel.[‡ 3][10][19]
Graphic novels and cartoons
Hancox wrote the graphic novel-memoir Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure, which was published on 2 June 2022 by Scholastic[20][21] with book launches at St Helen’s Book Stop in St Helens and Pigeon Books in Southsea.[2][5][20][9] The book is a cringe comedy focusing on Hancox's life growing up in St Helens as a transgender youth during the 2000s,[20][7] with St. Hell serving as a contraction of St Helens.[22] The book shows Hancox going back in time to speak to his teenage self, whilst showcasing the confusion and difficulties he was going through at the time.[20] Hancox has said that he tries to bring transgender issues into the mainstream through his work.[20]
Growing up in the early noughties, I didn’t see trans people like me represented in the media, and this is the book I wish I’d had back then to show me I wasn’t alone … Entertaining while incidentally educating is so important to me – it’s time to use empathy and get beyond politics and shouting. I hope that’s what this book will achieve.[24]
Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier called the book an "important account of the lived experiences of trans people … raw, witty and occasionally very tender"[22] and Hancox as "one of the most vitally important new voices in UK comics".[32]
In 2024, Hancox's sequel to Welcome to St Hell was published by Scholastic, titled Escape from St Hell: My Trans Life Levels Up.[32] Hancox draws using an Apple Pencil and iPad, and has listed the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels and the works of Edgar Wright as creative influences for his graphic novels.[7]
From April to May 2025, in collaboration with Lush Cosmetics, artwork designed by Hancox and Fisher was displayed in the windows of all 101 Lush branches across the country, as a part of the brand's trans rights and inclusivity campaign.[35] The artwork was described by Lush as “a 'thrutopian' vision that provides a clear and engaging route from our current reality through to a world we can all be proud of”.[36]
In June 2019, Hancox attended the Portsmouth Pride event with his girlfriend,[‡ 4] when at around 10 p.m. on Delamere Road, she was punched and spat on. Hancox stepped in to defend her before he himself was attacked by a group of five men who punched and kicked him on the floor, resulting in a fractured jaw which required him to have it wired shut, leaving him unable to eat solid food for eight weeks,[‡ 4] and an operation to fit a metal plate for life.[40]
Hancox is a transgender man. He has said that at the age of five, he would cry every night to his mother, telling her that he was "a boy trapped in a girl's body".[5] As a student of Byrchall High School, Hancox attempted to be more feminine and “squashed the feeling [of being a man] and tried best to be a normal teenaged girl”[5] but did not find it comfortable. He recalled being verbally bullied by other pupils for having unshaven legs and wearing a skirt whilst appearing as a boy.[8][45]
During puberty, Hancox identified as a lesbian[5] and disliked bodily physical development, engaging in dieting and exercise to lose weight in an attempt to alter a female body shape, including hitting the chest in hopes of preventing breast growth.[46][3] He has said, "It wasn’t that I wanted to be thin, I was trying to get rid of the feminine curves which were appearing."[3] Hancox was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and later turned to weightlifting as a healthier method of changing physical appearance.[3][4]
At around the age of 18, Hancox discovered the transgender identity and existence of transgender men through the internet, and later came out to his parents, to which they were supportive.[3] He consulted a general practitioner for gender-affirming hormone therapy[4] and was required to live as a man for a year before being prescribed with testosterone, causing him to grow a beard and his voice to deepen.[3] After appearing on My Transsexual Summer, Hancox began a fundraiser for £6,000 for gender-affirming surgery, a privately-operated mastectomy and chest reconstruction. As the fundraiser was nearing its goal, Irish comedian Graham Norton donated £1,500 to Hancox, alongside actor, Stephen Fry, who tweeted about the fundraiser and donated £100, reaching the £6,000 goal.[3]
If I could click my fingers and be born again not trans, would I? There have been times I would've said absolutely … But, actually, being trans has given me so many unique experiences. I've learned to turn the hard times into humour and art, which has brought me amazing opportunities. This journey has ultimately led to me achieving my childhood dream as a comic artist. I'm at peace now with the fact that I'm just a guy like any other, but with a different perspective of life.[7]
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