elierlick:In 1934-1936, trans brothers Mark and David Ferrow of Yarmouth, UK, both transitioned at a
elierlick:In 1934-1936, trans brothers Mark and David Ferrow of Yarmouth, UK, both transitioned at age 13 with full parental support. Mark medically transitioned first in 1939 at 17 and his brother soon followed. “Though we have been girls, we have both felt men at heart,” Mark told a reporter. Their stories show that trans youth can grow up to be happy, celebrated adults.David lived in their hometown of Great Yarmouth, UK for the rest of his life. He became a local icon. At 15, he started selling books. He later ran a wildly successful bookshop until death in 2006, age 81, 68 years after transitioning. He had a daughter, Jan, who supported his work. The whole town adored him. Why, yes, that is a mug of his face.Mark, always passionate about art, joined the Kirby Muxlue Players troupe as a writer and traveled throughout the UK. His David Gower painting is currently in the UK’s National Portrait Gallery! His art still hangs in collections all over the country - although it’s almost never recognized as being by a trans artist. Mark married Edna Hall in 1942 and died in 1991, age 68, in Leicester.It’s important to mention that it’s unclear if both men are intersex despite the reports. At the time, it was customary for non-intersex trans people to claim intersex conditions in order to access care (e.g. Roberta Cowell). Regardless if they were trans or intersex and trans, I would hate their underreported stories to be forgotten! Reblogging because I’m both fascinated and disgusted with the comments arguing they were intersex and not trans. Some people who clearly don’t study trans history sure have a lot to say. The final paragraph caveat clearly wasn’t enough. First and foremost, being intersex and trans isn’t mutually exclusive. Second, these comments are using the intersex community to push the idea that trans youth are somehow less natural, ethical, or worthy of medical care than cis intersex youth.As stated above, people who transitioned in the ‘30s almost universally claimed intersex conditions whether they were intersex or not. Often, being trans was considered an intersex condition itself. The Ferrows likely fabricated the condition to gain access to treatment. They could have also had high testosterone or have been dropping their voices, leading to cracking (the only reference to possible intersex conditions). The words trans, transgender, and transsexual simply did not exist in 1939. Intersex was also an extremely uncommon term for the time. I saw a couple people mention that David has a daughter, Jan, and that proves he isn’t trans. One comment went as far as to say “transmen [sic] can’t father children.” Not only is this a horrible thing to say but it’s also untrue. Trans people can absolutely have children in a myriad of ways. Having a child doesn’t have anything to do with biology. This aspect of the story crossed my mind. I checked just in case I was looking at the wrong David Ferrow and confirmed he was born in the same small town on the same day as stated in official government records and news reports. I also checked the birth records for Great Yarmouth around the Jan’s years of birth. There were no results.It’s difficult to know exactly the circumstances they transitioned under. They absolutely could have been intersex - but that doesn’t take away from their transness. What we know is that they were unambiguously assigned female at birth. Then they transitioned. This is reflected in both the news stories and government registers. We can only interpret the world through a culturally-defined lens and currently, the term we have to describe this is trans. -- source link
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