Transgender

Transgender is where a persons gender identity or gender expression does not matched the sex they were born into. It is separate and independent of sexual orientation and transgender people may identify and heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual etc. A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender and identify elsewhere of the traditional gender continuum or exist outside of it as other.  

Many transgender people experience a period of identity development that includes better understanding one's self-image, self-reflection, and self-expression. More specifically the degree to which the individuals feel genuine, authentic and comfortable within their external appearance and accept their genuine identity is referred to as transgender congruence. 

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This video helped to me to gain a much better understanding of transgender people and the surgeries they go through to be reassigned to the other gender. It was very useful to see the middle case of the woman who had a 'mixed gender' with different elements and traits from both male and female as it again shows the post-modern feminist point that gender isn't necessarily a binary and some people don't or don't want to relate to a single gender. Another interesting part of the documentary were the comments about how because the last case was such a successful surgery and the man was extremely good looking and passed easily as a man, there was less stigma around his sex change than if a surgery isn't as successful or someone doesn't completely conform to one gender. It is mentioned in the documentary that we as a western society like everything to be binary and to fit into neat boxes and people of things that break these norms make us feel uncomfortable and not accept them. Overall this was a very useful documentary because it didn't just focus on one transgender person but four different cases all with different lead ups and outcomes and gave a wider, more accepting view of transgender people. 

Sex Reassignment Surgery
Male to Female

- Testicles are removed and the skin of the foreskin and penis is usually reverted, as a flap, preserving blood flow and nerve supplied to form a fully sensitive vagina.

- A clitoris fully supplied with nerve endings can be formed as part of the glans of the penis

- These surgeries can differ from person to person depending on the amount of skin etc.

- With current procedures trans women do not have ovaries or uteri meaning they can't bear children or menstruate, and will need to remain on hormone therapy after surgery

- Additionally trans women can also have facial feminization surgery (FFS) to alter the male features to bring them more in line with typical female features. This includes various bony and soft tissue procedures such as brow life, rhinoplasty, cheek implantation and lip augmentation.

- Surgeries can also include breast augmentation which is an enlargement of the breasts. Some trans women chose to undergo this if hormone therapy did not yield satisfactory results. Usually typical breast growth for trans women is one or two cups sizes below closely related females (mother or sisters)

- Voice feminization is also available altering the range and pitch of the persons vocal chords. However this procedure carries the risk of impairing a trans women's voice forever

- A tracheal shave is sometimes used to reduced the cartilage in the area of the throat to conform to more feminine dimensions of the Adam's apple.

- Because male hips and buttocks are generally smaller than those of a female, some individuals chose to get buttock augmentation. However if efficient hormone therapy is conducted a layer of subcutaneous fat will be distributed over the body, rounding contours.

Female to Male

- Many trans women seek a bilateral mastectomy 'top surgery' - the removal of the breasts and the shaping of a male contoured chest

- Trans women with moderate to large breasts usually require a formal bilateral mastectomy with grafting and reconstruction of the nipple-areola. This will result in two horizontal scars on the lower edge of the pectoral muscle, but allows foe easier re-sizing of the nipple and a placement in a typically male position.

- A hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus. Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) is the removal of both ovaries and the fallopian tubes. Some trans men have these procedures because they experience discomfort with having internal female reproductive organs despite the fact the mensus usually cease with hormone therapy.

- Genital reconstructive procedures use either the clitoris which is enlarged by androgenic hormones, or rely on free tissue grafts from the arm, thigh or belly and an erectile prosthetic.

- The labia majora can be used to form a scrotum where prosthetic testicles can be inserted.

- A phalloplasty requires an implanted erectile prosthesis to achieve an erection - several types of erectile prosthetics, including malleable rod-like medical devices that allow the neo-penis to either stand up or hang down.

- The urethra can be re-routed through the phallus to allow urination through the reconstructed penis.

Prosthetic Adams Apple

As part of my experimentation I wanted to create a prosthetic Adam's apple. An adam's apple is something that can only really be seen in men so is a clear difference between a man and a woman. A small Adam's apple could be done with highlighting and shading a woman's neck but I wanted to try to make a more prominent one to help with a convincing female to male transformation. I knew from my research that an Adam's apple is made up of two plates of cartilage meeting together at an angle. It wasn't important for me to sculpt this in along with the skin texture on a neck. I was going to do a close mold prosthetic from a life cast of a neck but I decided to first see if it would work in a flat piece as this would be a lot quicker and easier method of making a prosthetic piece along with saving a lot of material.

It took a while to get the right height and shape for the Adam's apple as I was basing my sculpt off pictures and diagrams but in the end I was happy with my sculpt.

My first attempt at a prosthetic didn't work very well. Something went wrong with the cap plastic, perhaps not letting each layer dry fully before applying the next one so the piece ripped away from the flashing. I also put a drop too much pigment in the silicone meaning the piece lost it's translucency and skin like realness.

The second run of the prosthetic was much better as the cap plastic stayed intact around the piece. There is a slight wrinkle in the center but that can hopefully be made less noticeable with IPA. The piece has a lot better translucency too. Overall I am happy with how the piece came out as I like the shape (especially the tendon shape running down from the top of the Adams apple) and I don't think it has turned out too big. I'm also happy with how the texture has been translated into the silicone.

Female to Male gender transformation

For one of my experimentations I wanted to try doing a realistic gender transformation from girl to boy using techniques more advanced than in Drag King makeup. This was imporatant as we see a lot more male to female transformations in society than we do female to male and it can be easier to transform a male to female as it's more about adding layers of makeup whereas a natural, realistic man makeup is much more stripped back. I wanted to use the prosthetic techniques I had learnt in the last unit and the beard/stubble work I had learnt in one makeup. The makeup includes shading and contouring around the eyes, browbone and cheeks to add more depth and stronger looking bone structure, a prosthetic Adams apple, laid on stubble with a mixture of human and crepe hair, hair work as the models hair is actually waist length and makeup on the eyebrows and lips.

Overall I was extremely pleased with how this experiment went. I liked the shape and size of my prosthetic a lot, however I applied it slightly too far over one side which I would need to be more careful about if I were to do it again as this could make it look obviously fake. I also found it difficult making the colouring look natural as the models neck was very pale and this was difficult to match. I need to have more practice in colouring a prosthetic natural skin colours. However I do think the prosthetic was very effective in the overall look, especially from a side view.

From my previous experimentation I decided upon using the stubble technique with lace using pros-aide as glue. However instead of just using human hair in one colour, I thought this looked a little flat so mixed a light brown crepe hair with the dark brown human hair to get the desired stubble colour. This gave a lot more of a natural hair effect and suited the models colouring better. Getting the stubble shape and thickness right took work as I wanted it to look like a natural growth of 2 days but overall I feel it worked very well and was my favourite part of the makeup. There needs to be a slight improvement on how the hair fades out around the neck as it ends in quite a sharp diagonal line but apart from this I am very pleased with the stubble.

The shading and contouring I added on the eyes, brow bone, nose and chin is very subtle but overall I think it does make a difference. I was trying to make the eyes look deeper, the brow bone look heavier and the nose look wider and although the features do still look slightly dainty I think this was effective in making the face look more masculine. I was also happy with the eyebrows as my model has a very high arch in her eyebrows which I took down with makeup and brought the brows closer together. This was effective in making the brow bone heavier and immediately adding a more masculine appearance. Lastly I also thinned and took a little colour away from the lips using concealer as men typically have thinner lips, this also helped the look a lot. Overall I was very happy with this makeup and it helped me to explore gender transformation from female to male a lot better.