Prosthetic Brow Piece

Through my research of the difference between men and women's face I found that a main feature that alters the face from a man to woman is a heavier brow bone. Men normally have a heavier brow bone than women making their eyes look more sunk in. I will experiment creating this look with highlighting and shading but I wanted to try also creating a prosthetic brow piece. I sculpted a flat piece that was the size of a forehead that makes the brow bone slightly heavier and adds a slight crease above the eyes. I then cast it in silicone encapsulated in cap plastic.

I was very happy with how this turned out as I think it's a very subtle piece that will make a small difference to alter the face. The edge of the piece is mostly good apart from one small fold at the bottom but that can be torn close to the silicone as it's being glued above the eyes. I am very happy with the texture of this piece as I think it's subtle but skin like with the very fine pore detail.

This was the piece once it had been applied. Overall I was very happy with it as it is a subtle piece but I feel the small difference it made is effective. The was extremely happy with the edges and blending of the piece as they are barely noticeable, especially around the top of the forehead. I think it also did the job of making the brow bone look slightly heavier and further forwards although it could have been slightly bigger and still have looked natural. It made my eyes look deeper set which is another feature that men have different to women so this was an advantage of the piece. I would definitely consider using this in a female to male transformation makeup and if it were to be in a full makeup I would colour the piece with red tones to match the skin and lay eyebrows on over the top.

Transgender Children

From my research into the variations in male and female faces I learnt that pre-pubescent children are very similar in how there faces are made up and can easily be mixed up without the markers of hair and clothing. This is an interesting aspect of gender research because  it questions what does make us certain genders - are we born knowing gender norms or are they imposed by society and only our sex is set in stone? Something which shows this question is gender dysphoria in children. It's said in one documentary that we begin to understand our gender identities around age 3 and children as young as this have shows signs of having gender dysphoria and some have been diagnosed as young as 5.

Gender dysphoria is a condition where a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. It mostly happens in teens but can occur in children, and this causes a lot of dispute about whether children should be able to identify as the gender they feel they are.

46 - Zach Avery

47 - Jazz Jennings aged 6

48 - Jazz Jennings aged 11

The following videos helped me to better understand transexuals and gender dysphoria in children and see first hand that pre-pubescent boys and girls faces are practically identical. In all the cases it is impossible to tell that the children are the opposite gender.

49

This documentary was most interesting in it's focus on the parents reaction to their children's gender dysphoria as I feel it shows how society often feels about our discomfort with gender that doesn't conform to norms.

50

I think this is one of the most powerful documentaries in Jazz's very early diagnosis of gender dysphoria. It is clear from this documentary that it isn't the parents influence that made the child believe they were the wrong gender as some people believe but came completely from the child. It is also very powerful seeing how self-aware Jazz is at such a young age and her strong beliefs in people choosing to be whatever gender and sexuality they want to be.

51

The most powerful part of this documentary was the description of the girl going to cut her penis off with nail scissors and the mother saying to the interviewer 'I'd rather have an alive daughter than a dead son'. Suicide is almost 4 times higher in transgender people and the mothers support in this documentary was very moving.

 Seeing these cases where children idenitified with the opposite gender from as young as 3 is evidence I feel towards the post-modern feminist theory that gender isn't based on sex but is a socially constructed concept. The children didn't have any knowledge of the transexual community before identifyinhg strongly with the opposite gender. It also helped to see how strongly boys and girls look the same before puberty and that what gender we assume a child is is based on the outward appearance of their hair and clothes. This makes me want to explore later on doing a makeup on a younger child that takes away their gender identifiers eg. hair to see the difference in how they look.

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. 

56

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.