Hey y’all! I’m really looking forward to this year’s Philadelphia Trans Health Conference in June. I’ve actually never been but have wanted to for the past 3 or 4 years. And now not only do I get to go, but I’ll be involved in a workshop and I’ll be presenting some early findings from the research survey you all so helpfully circulated.
There are a lot of really great presentations that I’m excited about, but I thought I would give you all info on the workshops my research and advocacy/activism lab at University of Louisville is involved in.
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Okay first of all, one of my colleagues and I will be presenting our research at the Graduate Student Research Symposium, which is on June 15 and is divided into two sessions, 8:45-10:10 & 10:25-11:40.
My presentation is based on analyses Dr. Budge and I conducted on the data I collected in January and February, and is titled Transgender Identity Integration as a Factor in the Emotional Well-being of Post-transition Individuals.
My colleague, Kinton Rossman, will be presenting their research in a presentation titled “Just Because I Commanded That Respect - I Got the Privilege”: Qualitative Examination of Privilege in the Trans* Community.
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Workshops are listed below in chronological order:
This is last you will hear about this survey I PROMISE. The Survey Will Close February 17!!
Participation has been really amazing so far and because of people’s thoughtful answers, it looks like even more research will come out of this than originally planned. For example, I may in the future be able to do qualitative analysis on some of the responses to questions like how someone defines a gender transition.
So if you participate your answers will likely be informing a really wide range of research and publications about identity, transition, and more! Please see the recruitment email below and if you’d be ever so kind as to circulate this on social networking sites today, maybe we can get a nice spike in the final two days. The more people who participate the more representative this work will be!
Thank you again to everyone who has participated and/or helped spread the word.
—UPDATE: SURVEY WILL CLOSE ON FEBRUARY 17—
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Sebastian Barr and I am currently conducting a research project under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Budge as part of my doctoral program. This project explores well-being in individuals who have undergone a gender transition (including but not limited to people who identify as female, male, genderqueer, transgender female, transgender male, stealth, binary, non-binary). To qualify for the study, participants must have undergone some degree of a social and/or medical gender transition (for many participants this can be phrased as living as a gender different from the sex they were assigned at birth) and be over the age of 18. Participation involves completing an online questionnaire that will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
The information collected may or may not benefit you directly; however, you will have the opportunity to reflect on a range of life experiences and emotions (both seemingly related and unrelated to transition). Some people may find this to be helpful. Additionally, the information learned in this study may be helpful to others in understanding how different approaches to individuals’ identities can result in higher levels of well-being. This could lead to important applications in therapy and counseling.
It is important to us that the research reflects the wide range of identities and experiences of those who have gone through a gender transition, so we strongly encourage the participation of individuals who are often left out of other studies, e.g., those who live stealth or do not identify as transgender and people with non-binary identities.
If you are interested in being a part of this study, you can complete the questionnaire here:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TransitionAndIdentityStudy.
If you have any questions, please contact Sebastian Barr at smbarr01@louisville.edu or Stephanie Budge,slbudg01@louisville.edu.
Thank you,
Sebastian Mitchell Barr
Doctoral Student, Counseling Psychology
Educational and Counseling Psychology
University of Louisville
(via autostraddle)
Hello everyone! I successfully survived my first semester as a doctoral student and have already been launched into many research projects!
I’m really excited about a project I’ve developed and am launching right now. I’m using an anonymous online survey to study the identity, body image, and emotional well-being of people who have undergone a gender transition (people who live as a gender that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth). The implications of this study could potentially be huge in the field of counseling psychology and will hopefully impact people’s experiences with therapists and psychologists. You must be 18 to complete the survey. The official recruitment letter and the link for the survey are pasted below. Please spread far and wide. Successful results require a large number of responses!
:) :) :)
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Sebastian Barr and I am currently conducting a research project under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Budge as part of my doctoral program. This project explores well-being in individuals who have undergone a gender transition (including but not limited to people who identify as female, male, genderqueer, transgender female, transgender male, stealth, binary, non-binary). To qualify for the study, participants must have undergone some degree of a social and/or medical gender transition (for many participants this can be phrased as living as a gender different from the sex they were assigned at birth) and be over the age of 18. Participation involves completing an online questionnaire that will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
The information collected may or may not benefit you directly; however, you will have the opportunity to reflect on a range of life experiences and emotions (both seemingly related and unrelated to transition). Some people may find this to be helpful. Additionally, the information learned in this study may be helpful to others in understanding how different approaches to individuals’ identities can result in higher levels of well-being. This could lead to important applications in therapy and counseling.
It is important to us that the research reflects the wide range of identities and experiences of those who have gone through a gender transition, so we strongly encourage the participation of individuals who are often left out of other studies, e.g., those who live stealth or do not identify as transgender and people with non-binary identities.
If you are interested in being a part of this study, you can complete the questionnaire here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TransitionAndIdentityStudy.
If you have any questions, please contact Sebastian Barr at smbarr01@louisville.edu or Stephanie Budge, slbudg01@louisville.edu.
Thank you,
Sebastian Mitchell Barr
Doctoral Student, Counseling Psychology
Educational and Counseling Psychology
University of Louisville
(Source: twitter.com)
Hello everyone! I successfully survived my first semester as a doctoral student and have already been launched into many research projects!
I’m really excited about a project I’ve developed and am launching right now. I’m using an anonymous online survey to study the identity, body image, and emotional well-being of people who have undergone a gender transition (people who live as a gender that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth). The implications of this study could potentially be huge in the field of counseling psychology and will hopefully impact people’s experiences with therapists and psychologists. You must be 18 to complete the survey. The official recruitment letter and the link for the survey are pasted below. Please spread far and wide. Successful results require a large number of responses.
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Sebastian Barr and I am currently conducting a research project under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Budge as part of my doctoral program. This project explores well-being in individuals who have undergone a gender transition (including but not limited to people who identify as female, male, genderqueer, transgender female, transgender male, stealth, binary, non-binary). To qualify for the study, participants must have undergone some degree of a social and/or medical gender transition (for many participants this can be phrased as living as a gender different from the sex they were assigned at birth) and be over the age of 18. Participation involves completing an online questionnaire that will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
The information collected may or may not benefit you directly; however, you will have the opportunity to reflect on a range of life experiences and emotions (both seemingly related and unrelated to transition). Some people may find this to be helpful. Additionally, the information learned in this study may be helpful to others in understanding how different approaches to individuals’ identities can result in higher levels of well-being. This could lead to important applications in therapy and counseling.
It is important to us that the research reflects the wide range of identities and experiences of those who have gone through a gender transition, so we strongly encourage the participation of individuals who are often left out of other studies, e.g., those who live stealth or do not identify as transgender and people with non-binary identities.
If you are interested in being a part of this study, you can complete the questionnaire here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TransitionAndIdentityStudy.
If you have any questions, please contact Sebastian Barr at smbarr01@louisville.edu or Stephanie Budge, slbudg01@louisville.edu.
Thank you,
Sebastian Mitchell Barr
Doctoral Student, Counseling Psychology
Educational and Counseling Psychology
University of Louisville
There is a common theme within trans stories and histories of a person vs. their body narrative. Most obviously, there is the “trapped in the wrong body” narrative. Even for people who do not describe their trans experience as having been born in the wrong body, there is still a duality between person and body almost always present. For many of us, our bodies are the locus of our gender dysphoria. There are specific markers on our body that have made others prescribe us as one gender when we are so clearly (to ourselves at least) another. There are specific changes many of us hope to make to our bodies in order to feel whole, sane, and happy. Until those changes are made (and even after sometimes), there are constant struggles to modify how we present our bodies to the rest of the world. And sometimes there is a deep personal and internal shame about parts of our bodies. There are realities about our bodies that others use against us to fight our claims to whatever gender we truly are.
Our bodies do not define who and what we are. But society often disagrees and tries to give our bodies, or at least specific aspects of our bodies (chromosomes, secondary sex characteristics, genitalia, reproductive anatomy, hormones, etc.) the final say in what our gender and/or sex is. Consequently our bodies are often pitted against us in a battle of who gets to say we are women or men, both, something in between, or something altogether different. Even if we aren’t saying we are trapped in wrong bodies, most trans people are fighting or have fought with their bodies.
Alignment is a common term used in counseling and in making the case for medical transition. Most trans people identify their bodies as not aligned with their senses of self. As a result, I believe, few people with trans histories have positive relationships with our bodies. How can we respect or value something we are fighting against? Our bodies are not our temples. And even if you respect and value yourself, if you are trans, there is a good chance that “yourself” does not equate to or include “your body.”
Many trans people dissociate from their bodies. We avoid them, try to ignore them. At worst, we mutilate and self-harm. Most commonly, we are at least trying to hide them. I work with trans youth who have rejected programming related to physical movement as it draws personal attention to one’s own body. “I don’t like my body, I don’t feel comfortable in it and with it, so I don’t want to do something that involves it.” Consequently, there is a really serious lack of physical self-care among trans people. Particularly for those earlier in transition.
It is a vicious cycle, I think. In order to avoid the pain of the battle against our bodies (which we often interpret as a losing battle), we dissociate; we do not take care of our bodies and in avoiding them, we forfeit agency over them; feeling this increased control of our bodies over our person, we further dissociate, we give up any sort of body/person or body/mind integration, we avoid our bodies even more, we take less care of them, lose even more control over them, etc.
Here is what I propose (without research and only my own case study to present as evidence): If trans* people, particularly trans* youth, put effort into taking care of themselves physically, they would develop a sense of agency over their bodies and would feel less dysphoria and trauma, since much of that stems from the sense that our bodies have control over us.
I started taking care of my body on accident. After years of not. Before I knew I was trans, I cared very little about my body. I think I dissociated from it more then than even after I came out. I had terrible posture, I didn’t care about cleanliness or presentation (beyond pleasing the ppl around me), I had no desire to do anything physical or think about what I ate. I was not proud of my body and not interested in developing any pride in it. When I realized I was a man, or at least a boy, I became ashamed of my body and really wanted nothing to do with it. Testosterone and top surgery helped me feel more aligned and even proud. I began caring more about my presentation the more comfortable I felt with my body. But I still lacked a feeling of integration. My body was something I had shaped to fit my person, but it still wasn’t really part of my self.
Last July I was diagnosed with a gluten allergy. This forced a serious dietary change and required forethought about food. I started eating healthier and became more attuned to the physical feelings of being healthier. My diet quickly became rather healthy and now I take pride in making good decisions about food (even beyond the “hey don’t eat gluten” bit). I eat consciously and consider things like water intake, lean protein, carbs, food groups, caffeine and alcohol consuption, etc.
I have for a while wanted to start a workout plan. Not to be healthy but to bulk up. I wanted a more adult masculine body. I wanted to look like the men of GQ. I’ve started and quit a number of times. For Christmas, my best bud bought me “The Home Workout Bible” which is amazing. Earlier this year I developed a dumbbell-based workout, bought a year-long membership to a gym, and set in at the beginner level. In the beginning my workouts were based solely around gaining mass and I didn’t understand much about muscles and tendons and cardio, etc. As I started enjoying going to the gym, I did more reading, and I learned about how to take care of my muscle fibers and tendons, when cardio is appropriate and safe, and how to work out in a way that benefits my health as well as increasing my muscle mass. For the past three months, I have been going to the gym 3-5 times a week, with very specific and solid workouts and I feel great. I feel the effects. Increased physical stamina. Less general fatigue. Healthier immune system. Oh and I’ve decreased my fat and gained 15 pounds of muscle mass.
Through a healthier diet and very deliberate physical activity, I have increased my health, and started to shape my body myself, naturally. The changes that came from testosterone and surgery were amazing and much needed but there is only so much agency that one can feel from such external procedures. Nutrition and Exercise involve so much will power and agency. So by accident, I started caring about my body. And I developed a sense of agency. These days (or at least 95% of them) I feel great about my body, I am proud of it, proud of the work I’ve done. And I feel more like it is a part of me. The more integrated I feel (that is the more my body is a part of my self), the more comfortable I feel. And the more I want to take care of it. My body is becoming my temple. Or more than that. It’s becoming part of this person I love so much: myself!
