hi everyone! i've started a patreon! it will be a regularly updated comics feed, with cute little sketchbook comics like some of the comics i've posted here. i may not be updating here as much and just concentrate on keeping that feed going (which will help pay my dollar dollar bills u_u)
please tell all of your friends and help me survive and enjoy some art :v
i've really enjoyed doing research for this project, i've found it resonant and heart-rending and interesting
i think a big motivation is the lack of trans and gnc history in our world, we seem to have no history and no elders are common trans complaints
one of the research directions i'd like to go in is the forced gender non-conformity tradition of eunuchs, the ancient tradition of castrating (removing the testes) of a child specifically to change their hormonal balance and bring a third gender category into being to bridge the otherwise binary masc and femme parts of ancient cultures. like, if there weren't trans people, we would make them
and the tradition of afab contemplatives using that third gender to find shelter in ancient monastery communities by claiming to be eunuchs and living in otherwise traditionally masculine/male ascetic communities in secret and safety
i've found the common appeal in culture and in histories of cultures that there wasn't as much transphobia back then, trans people were permitted to hold what were essentially shamanistic and healer roles, with no mention of trans artists, trans warriors, trans bakers, trans politicians. the 'magical' element of marginalized identity essentially banishing each group to the exceptional and continuing to leave us in the margins, if we survive the process
another thing this research has cleared up for me is that colonialism didn't invent transphobia, or anything else really. misogyny, transphobia, racism, slavery, oppression and marginalization were human attributes made large by empire, starting with whatever empire came first (in the unnamed, unrecorded distant past) and continuing into the present. i find this very depressing personally.
an ideal time before people thought there were only two kinds of people and they should act like this, with everyone disagreeing about how they should act, across cultures and time periods, is maybe a weird kind of idealism about older cultures being better, or a strange long-distance kind of nostalgia not really seeing the past for what it was, which is a human tradition
that nationalism is a kind of local colonialism, the ruling class of korea passing down how someone should perform gender in the 16th century didn't need an ounce of colonialism, it was colonialism, pretending to be local and unified, standardizing behavior in an attempt to control a populace with the potential for infinite variation
eleanor rykener giving 14th century english clergy what they wanted, because they were rich, and getting in trouble for it, didn't need any colonialism to happen, except the more local colonialism of states and power
and the ruling class of an early city-state made certain that a woman couldn't be an author, and the head of some ancient nomadic family made certain their child could not perform their gender in a way that made them uncomfortable, by withholding care, or using the ritual of exile
i think it comes down to, who are your friends? who is your family? who exercises power over you, who do you fear, and what are their values? does culture give you space or take it away?
i've heard that it is illegal in pakistan for a trans woman to be employed, and there is also a famous trans woman doing tv journalism, simultaneously [just researched this and she got her tv anchor position the same year as the 2018 transgender persons act, which gave trans people the right to employment and education for the first time, an act which was being revoked in parts beginning in 2023, and i'm sure is applied differently to different people and contexts like most laws]
in this way we each live essentially in different cultures and time periods and have our lives dictated to us in wildly different ways, with wildly different possibilities. your neighbor could live a hundred years in the past or future and the universe could seem like a vastly different thing
friendship, community, and connection seem more important than imagining some global-cultural sea change that it seems like each generation of hopeful trans people thought they maybe could see in their lifetime
i think it's a slow push and a slow push back, bending towards justice
i would be honored if i get to write and illustrate a little history of people a little like me. it would be a wonderful, difficult experience imo
a trans man in the early 1600s who was forced into a convent by his impoverished family who couldn't afford to marry him off
he transitioned and escaped the convent and traveled to south america
there he helped the spanish colonize and murder the indigenous population, and passed as a man without question
he got into trouble for having affairs with married women, got into bar fights and duels, and killed many spaniards in south america, including his own brother
he went by many different names and had many different jobs while traveling through south america
eventually he returned to europe and wrote a book about his exploits, became famous, and eventually got a papal dispensation to wear pants as a known afab person
(for comparison, joan of arc wearing pants a few centuries earlier was considered threatening, and it wasn't legalized in the u.s. until 1923)
there were stageplays about his life written and performed during his lifetime and he had a portrait painted by a painter who also painted the author cervantes
he went by the name francisco at the end of his life and traveled to the americas again before disappearing
source:
Erauso, Catalina de (1592–1635)Spanish woman who fled a convent and, disguised as a man, rose to the rank of lieutenant in the Spanish colon
late 14th century trans woman in england who worked several jobs and was arrested for doing sex work
she was an embroideress and an alewife (someone who brews alcohol for sale, a traditionally feminine labor dating to ancient mesopatamia)
no mention of a family, it seems likely she was an orphan and/or impoverished
she was also a sex worker who worked with the clergy frequently, because they paid well
she was introduced to sex work by a local sex worker, and taught to dress as a woman by another woman who was also encouraging her daughter to do sex work
this woman then set up eleanor with her first client, a member of the clergy
eleanor was an itinerant worker, living and working somewhere while doing sex work on the side, then moving elsewhere
eventually she was caught with a client and put on trial, where she named a long list of clergy as her clients, as well as the women who introduced her to sex work
no further information about the trial or its results exists
source:
A Transgender Woman and Sex Worker in 14th Century England
in the 16th century, im seong was born intersex and afab. they were raised as a girl in korea
when they came of age, they were married to a man who was shocked by their status and kicked them out of the house
afterwards they wandered the streets and began wearing men's clothing and eventually passed as a man
then they fell in love with a woman and were married, but someone reported them as a former woman, now presenting as a man
their case confused the local magistrate enough to send it to the high courts
for being intersex and passing as both masc and femme, they were declared both yin and yang, and called a monster (a word in korean that applies to objects, 'abject thing' may be a better translation)
they also may have been a practicing shaman, and used their gender expression as a part of their rituals, which the ruling class would have looked down on.
korea was nationalizing and standardizing at this time, leading to a tripling of the percentage of slaves and serfs in the population (from 10% to 30%), thanks to an increase in the national stability that helped maintain a persistent inherited institution of slavery and serfdom in korea for about 1,500 years
the high court recommended execution, but the king refused and reduced the sentence to exile
source:
조선왕조실록
in the 17th century, thomasine was an intersex and afab servant, living as a girl during their childhood in newcastle upon tyne in england
in adulthood they presented masc to enter military service and earn money, and went by the name thomas
after military service they returned home, presented femme, and earned money doing needlework
later they presented masc again and immigrated to the u.s. for work as an indentured servant
in their new town they still presented femme sometimes, which confused their neighbors. they were eventually accused of sleeping with a maid and investigated
they could only be charged with the crime of debasement if it was proven they were male. a group of women investigated and declared they weren't female, then some men investigated and declared they weren't male
the u.s. court had been obsessed with preventing same sex relationships, and were fully confused by a subject whose sex was ambiguous (and a big part of the controversy was that they were accused of relationships with "both" genders)
after a more thorough medical investigation in the court system of a larger city, they were declared of dual natures and sentenced to wear both masc and femme clothing simultaneously
originally from benin africa, she was enslaved and forced to live in lisbon, portugal, in the mid 1500s. at some point she earned her freedom
she lived as a woman in a home along the lisbon riverbank and survived by being a sex worker
she was often seen using feminine gestures and carrying a vessel of water on her head from a nearby fountain, a traditionally feminine activity
her neighbors gossiped about her birth sex and current status of her reproductive organs
when questioned by the inquisition she said she was a woman and claimed to have the anatomy to prove it, but the inquisitors disagreed after forced examination
she was called a sodomite and re-enslaved for life as a result of her trial
source:
The colonial construction of transphobia and the continued enforcement of the gender hegemony, have created an environment in which transgen
kidnapped from central africa and brought to bahia in brazil in the late 1500s
given the name "francisco manicongo" and sold to a portuguese shoemaker who tried to force them to wear european men's clothing
they refused and continued to wear traditional african women's dress and pursue relationships with men
during the inquisition in brazil, a document called "denunciations in bahia" records their trial, calling them a sodomite and ordering them to wear men's clothing
the story goes that while they were forced to change clothing, they continued to pursue relationships with men freely
in brazil, march 9 is celebrated as xica manicongo day, and they are considered a story of early trans resilience
source:
We celebrate the life of Francisco Manicongo on March 9, known as Xica Manicongo Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Manicongo was taken from the
-amab empress of rome of syrian descent who asked for feminine pronouns and dressed femme, in the 3rd century ce
-rose to power beginning as a child dancer in the temple of elagabal, worshipped a meteor, and entranced soldiers to help fight for her side of the royal family
-established a women's senate (giving authority to her mother and grandmother)
-appointed women to positions of power, which brought her judgment into question
-she had relationships with both men and women, was married multiple times, and was an active sex worker while reigning as empress
-possibly the first historical record of someone asking for gender-affirming surgery
-lots of rumors around her, hard to tell what's true
-she was murdered and thrown into a river after only a few years
-a pharoah who ruled egypt in the 15th century bce
-used masc and femme pronouns
-wore a beard and masc clothing in some of their representations
-as an early afab pharoah, they spent a lot of time defending their right to rule
-went by several titles like, 'the king herself' / 'his majesty, herself'
-early representations of them were mixed between masc and femme, and later representations were purely masculinized
-their rule was prosperous and successful, lasted more than 20 years, and saw a resurgence in art and architecture
-their successor tried to destroy all evidence of their reign several decades after their death, likely to prevent other afab ppl from ascending to the throne (hatshepsut made some preparations to allow their daughter to succeed to the throne)
2087
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