Eli Erlick

NYC-based author, organizer, and PhD. She/her. www.elierlick.com

[elierlick]

How did trans people live in the 1960s? Queens at Heart follows four young trans women in NYC as they navigate gender-affirming medicine, work, and relationships. Historian, activist, and filmmaker Jenni Olson stumbled on the documentary’s 35mm reel when it was listed at a projectionist’s sale in the early 90s. The original negative is likely lost forever but the UCLA Film and TV Archive restored the short for the Outfest Legacy Project in 2009.

The film is certainly exploitative and invasive. However, it is still sympathetic and provides a rare look into our history that we otherwise would not have. Watch the full film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X__VKNw0XiI

[elierlick]

Broadway’s first trans man casting director, Charlie Hano, explains how many trans men there are in Broadway productions (hint: it’s not many)

[elierlick]

I recently realized I haven’t been dressing in clothes designed for men as often lately. Femininity serves as a buffer for me. It protects me from harassment. The more feminine I dress, the less inclined fascists are to use pictures of me as a cultural scapegoat, a “scary trans woman.” In turn, fewer harass, threaten, or dox me. It’s a retreat that protects me, but also stifles who I am.

Trans people should be able to change outfits as easily as anyone else - without consequences that could (and have) turned physically violent. There should be some semblance of autonomy in how we dress. Yet, this is one of those unrecognized consequences of the panic over trans people. They police not only how we transition but also the very clothes on our backs. 

[elierlick]

In 1953, 16-year-old Farhaad Najafi became one of the first trans men to undergo surgery in Iran. His case was celebrated as a medical breakthrough in newspapers across the world. He told reporters, "I thank God for becoming a man."

[elierlick]

Does anyone else think Elliot Page will play Caeneus in The Odyssey next month? It would be a perfect fit. - Trans men - Relentless fighters - Cult following - Caeneus transformed into a bird, Elliot made a documentary about birds - Neither can be killed by centaurs

[elierlick]

An iconic UK bookstore is offering visitors the opportunity to vandalize Harry Potter books for 25 pence. The Bookish Type, the trans-owned bookstore in Leeds running the promotion, will donate all proceeds to gender-affirming healthcare costs. Good fundraising idea or bad messaging? 🤔

[icaruskey]

fantastic idea

Books are precious, but not to the point you can't deface them or reuse them in ways that you want/need, especially not a dime a dozen copy of a popular series.

This is art. It's activism, it's demonstration. And the money goes to a good cause. So good all around.

[genderkoolaid]

i think people need to get a grip around the fact that a state or other governing body banning/destroying books is bad because it stems from intent to control people's knowledge and what kinds of ideas can be expressed and shared.

it's not that, like, astral nazi particles are created whenever anybody of any social status or authority fucks with any book.

[mossdftba]

Speaking as a librarian:

I've destroyed books. Dozens of books. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson and The Hobbit and Dog Man and Avatar: the Last Airbender and and and...

They're not precious irreplaceable artifacts, a lot of them are printed on shit paper bound with shit glue and they fall apart after enough readings. I used them for art projects and library decor and cut them into bookmarks. We bought more copies.

This ^ sounds like a great fundraiser, especially if it's a used copy that was donated or picked up cheap. Depending on edition, this title has between 250-400 pages. Which means excluding stuff like title page, publisher info, flyleaves, etc, this fundraiser is making MINIMUM £60 for gender-affirming healthcare. Maybe £55 if the book was purchased specifically for this fundraiser.

[lost-carcosa]

Established in 2019, The Bookish Type is an independent LGBTIQA+ bookshop at 58 Merrion Centre, LS2 8NG. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10-6.

[elierlick]

Where can I get one for my cat? She must be protected from the French!

[elierlick]

After many sold-out talks in October, I'm doing another European speaking and book tour this summer! Stay tuned for the full lineup, but for now my publisher and I have 5 more cities that we’re currently looking for new bookshops and venues in:

Dublin: July 12-13 Berlin: July 16-22 Geneva: Jul 30-Aug 2 London: Aug 5-10 Brighton: Aug 5-10

I know plenty of you are in Europe, so if you work with venues in these cities that might be interested in hosting, message me!

[elierlick]

June 11th: join our panel of trans athletes and experts at P&T Knitwear for the year’s biggest discussion on trans people in sports. You’ll learn exactly why trans athletes are being targeted and what you can do to speak up! Order your tickets from P&T Knitwear.

[elierlick]

The state already lost the wars on drugs, s-x work, and abortion. Why would hormones be different? Prohibition doesn't work. It simply drives us to underground markets that nobody wants to use. Sharing hormones protects our bodily autonomy and exposes their futility. Art: @Totinoboy0.

[hellyeahscarleteen]

Protecting Yourself from Criminalization for Self-Managed Abortion — OARS

Self-managed abortion (SMA) with pills is very medically safe and effective throughout early pregnancy, but there is a significant risk of criminalization in many U.S. states. While it is impossible to fully eliminate the risk of criminalization when having or planning to have an abortion at home, t

[kickerofelves]

Leave no online footprint of searches or purchases. Digital Defense Fund’s abortion privacy guide is your go-to resource for this. Using private browsers, two-factor authentication, encrypted messaging, strong passwords, etc. is critical. Google searches have been presented as evidence in an SMA trial before. Do not leave a digital trail.

Use the medications properly to prevent interactions with healthcare providers. The pills are very effective, but they have to be used right. Carefully follow the instructions provided on the How to Use Abortion Pill website. Note that misoprostol tablets should always be taken by dissolving them under the tongue. Do NOT insert misoprostol vaginally if you are self-managing an abortion. While this is medically safe, it can leave incriminating pill remnants that can be detected in the vagina during a pelvic exam if you end up needing to seek medical care. 

If it’s not an emergency but you need expert health advice, use a free calling service like Google Voice to call or text the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline at 1-833-246-2632. Medical complications are very uncommon with abortion pills, but they’re not impossible. The M+A Hotline is safe to use and is staffed by trustworthy clinicians who volunteer their time to help those who choose SMA. Do not use your own phone number to call as this will create a record that is visible to your cell service provider. 

Don’t disclose any information about SMA to emergency room staff if you do need to seek medical care. This is how most people who are arrested for SMA are reported. Healthcare providers are almost always who calls the police in cases of SMA criminalization. Contrary to popular belief, HIPAA does not protect your private health information from being shared with police if you are suspected of doing something that could be considered a crime. If you believe you need to seek urgent medical care, do not hesitate to go. Say “I think I’m having a miscarriage” and provide your symptoms. Do not mention any use of or purchase of abortion pills. There is no widely available test to detect misoprostol in your bloodstream. If you do not disclose it, there is no way for a medical provider to tell the difference between a medication abortion and a spontaneous miscarriage.

Do not talk to the cops. Period. Do. Not. Talk. To. The. Cops. If you are questioned by police you should state, “I am exercising my right to remain silent, and I wish to speak with an attorney.” Do not speak again or nod in response to a question. Contact the Repro Legal Helpline as soon as possible for expert legal advice: 1-844-868-2812. Do not agree to questioning or speak to any law enforcement official without a lawyer present.

[elierlick]

Peter Thiel fleeing to Argentina is the funniest possible thing right now. He moved to the whitest neighborhood, which is also known for harboring SS commander Herbert Kuhlmann. Does this flag a declining Trump regime or is Thiel just trying to avoid more taxes?

[elierlick]

Let me get this right: TERFs complained that a trans woman was listed as a woman in Parliament, so Parliament officials removed the search-by-gender function on their website to avoid conflict… then TERFs blamed the trans woman for something she had nothing to do with?

[elierlick]

I don’t usually post about acquisitions from the NYC Trans Archives, but this one is too cool not to share. We recently obtained 1 of the 2 known remaining copies of the censored 1933 German booklet “Wie erlange ich eine vollendete Büste?” (“How do I achieve a perfect bust?”). It advertises an early estrogen compound using a patient who was assigned male at birth.

The text shows that not only were hormones readily available to trans people in the 1930s, but actively advertised to them. Nazis targeted this specific book in the 1930s, leaving only a few copies left in existence. This text, along with hundreds of other rare trans books, zines, and ephemera, will be available for viewing next year when NYCTA opens to the public.

[elierlick]

The Department of Education worked with the far-right Family Research Council to officially designate March 12th as Detrans Awareness Day last year. But what actually leads people to detransition? It's not regret, but social stigma, incited by the very figures who claim to protect detransitioners. I want to hear their stories describing how the current moral panic influenced their decisions.

[the-black-day]

We need a detrans awareness day, but not for the reasons these conservatives think we do. We need it so that people who detransitioned because they were treated like shit and thought the closet and living with dysphoria was preferable can actually speak about it...

[elierlick]

You wouldn't know it from mainstream media, but cis lesbians are the most supportive group of trans people... even more than trans people ourselves!

Media doesn't present reality: it creates it. The moral panic over trans women in queer spaces is a contrived conflict invented to drive our community apart. But our movements are connected at their core, and we are stronger together.

[elierlick]

One year ago, trans women held an iconic topless protest outside the Scottish Parliament. I love it when trans women hold topless demonstrations. If they're arrested, the state must admit they're women. If they aren't, it exposes the obvious contradictions of defining trans women as legally male.

Now, a year later, Parliament has its first two transgender members, one of whom represents JK Rowling in Edinburgh. We can't attribute this momentum solely to the protest, but the direct action seems to have galvanized a new political movement of trans people across Scotland.