The world, according to Dominic.

My 10 year highschool reunion is coming up, so I put this together, for my classmates who are on facebook and may stumble upon my profile on the facebook group and wonder who I am. It’s a lot easier than explaining!
I graduated in 2002, and it’s now 2012.. but these were the best photos I could find for a comparison.

real-transmen:

femmeftm:

Hey guys, Dominic here.
I’m a 29 year old femme FTM.

In light of the recent ignorant anonymous comment, I thought I would share this video I made a year ago, about what makes a person a man.
I go into society’s definition of what a “man” is, and define what I think makes a person a man, or simply, male.

[Video footage used:
Scatterheart performing “more than a man” in Fall 2009, and Spring 2010.. and a scene from a movie called “Victor/Victoria” from 1982, featuring Julie Andrews as Victor/Victoria.. a struggling soprano singer who makes it big when she pretends she is a gay male, and takes a job as a female impersonator.]

Song:
“More than a man” by Scatterheart, of course.

FTM Television:
http://youtube.com/ftmtelevision

My personal YouTube channel (rarely updated):

http://youtube.com/xtwoofheartsx

My personal Tumblr:
http://xtwoofheartsx.tumblr.com

My trans-related Tumblr:
http://dominic-scaia.tumblr.com

Hope you all get something out of this video, and remember there is no wrong way to be a man. Or any other gender, for that matter ;)

<3 Dom

Great video!

Thanks! That means a lot coming from you!

“wtf r u doing to yourself your a girl not a guy chemicals cant change that…ur a mess”

Oh yes, because that’s TOTALLY how it works! Oops.. I’ve already been on testosterone for four years and I chopped off my boobs and had my reproductive organs scooped out.. shit! Whatever am I going to do?! I’m such a mess!

Lol, moron.

xtwoofheartsx:

Wearing my hair in a samurai ponytail a lot lately.

FTM Television was “hacked” today (our account was somehow compromised).
All of our videos were deleted, and the password was changed twice.
We don’t know who did this or how it happened.
I was able to regain access to the account and change the password because the recovery email is my personal email address.. but all videos are gone, and we don’t know if we can get them back. We are absolutely heartbroken.
To our subscribers, we are so sorry. We are trying to see if there’s any way we can have our videos restored. Hopefully it’s possible.
- Dom

Trans friends & allies, would you please do me a big favor and fill out both parts of this survey? (I had to break it into 2 parts because survey monkey has a limit of 10 questions per survey)
It’s for a business I am trying to start.
Thanks so much!!

Transgender online shopping survey part 1
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XVMCTT6

Transgender online shopping survey part 2
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XVN6VD9

This comment left on Kenneth’s video is VERY problematic. This is a fellow transman basically saying that if you are comfortable with your “female” genitalia and use it for sex, you are not actually male.. that you’re just a “masculine female”.
If any of you would like to respond to this person’s oppressive and ignorant comment, I encourage you to do so. I already did.

This is what he said:
“…what confuses people about a trans-male sexually attracted to males is intercourse. if you want to be a (trans)-male, having sex with a bio male means you embrace your female genitalia (unless you use a prosthetic penis to penetrate / cover your vaginal opening). if you embrace your female genitalia, then you are a masculine female in a heterosexual relationship, not a gay trans-male. When a trans-male like Buck Angel is being penetrated by males in porn videos, that confuses people about trans-male sexuality. if you want to look like a male (or just look masculine), just say that instead of calling yourself a trans-male. but if you want to live as a heterosexual male, then i can’t honestly say you’d enjoy penetration on the receiving end. oral sex, yes, but not penetration.”

This is what *I* said:
“No, actually. Being comfortable with one’s genitalia has nothing to do with gender identity. Some transmen — MANY, actually, are comfortable with what they’ve got between their legs and use it for sexual gratification, and it DOESN’T make them any less male. Your biggest problem is that you equate physical sex with gender. That’s the kind of bullshit cisgender people say to us. When you say shit like this, or have these kinds of views, you’re oppressing people in your OWN community.”

You can respond to the comment(s) at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=v9lcCxOhD9E

The Transbrothers week 2 - Dominic - Public washrooms & changing rooms

It’s week 2, and in this video, I talk in length about my experiences with public washrooms, etiquette, and change rooms.
I had more to say on this topic than I thought! XD
I forgot to mention STP’s. No, I don’t use one. They don’t work for me at all. I prefer to sit, anyways.

Personal channel:
http://youtube.com/xtwoofheartsx
Tumblr:
http://dominic-scaia.tumblr.com

Hi mom,
Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you til now.. but I wanted to let you know your card arrived first thing monday morning. Fast eh?! Thank you so much =)
Thanks also for the photos. The boys are so grown up.. it’s insane. I miss them quite terribly.

Christmas is a rough time of year for me. I miss you guys so much it hurts.  It’s the only time of year I really drink. Just to get through it.
I wish I didn’t have to be alone. I don’t feel like I have a family.
I often wish I could just be someone you approve of, so that I can be a part of it.
But to be that person you see me as, I’d be miserable.. and I probably wouldn’t want to be alive.

Being this person I am living as now, I am the most stable I’ve ever been in my life. I don’t hurt myself anymore.. I haven’t touched drugs in 5 years.. I stopped lying and overcompensating completely.. I haven’t tried to kill myself in a long time.. I stopped hurting people.. and many of my other bad habits stopped as well. I wasn’t a good person back then.. but now, I’m a genuinely good person, and I can actually say I’m proud of who I’ve become. I just wish you could be proud of me too. I understand that there’s a conflict of interest, and I do understand why. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less.. you know? It hurts to have your parents not be proud of you. It hurts to have your siblings not want to have anything to do with you. It hurts that the one thing that has made me happy has driven you all away.. and it hurts that I can’t do anything about it.
All I can do is live my life and try to build my own family out of friends and people I’ve met along the way. I have four pseudo-moms, a street dad, several “brothers” and “sisters”.. but it’s just not the same. They’re not my real family.. and no matter how many times they call me “son” or “brother”, it doesn’t replace or change the fact that you guys never will.
I’m beyond the days of getting mad that you call me by my birth name, refer to me in female pronouns, and send me cards that say “daughter” on them. I’ve come to terms with the fact that you never will see me or accept me as anything else.. I’ve accepted it.. but it will never stop hurting me.
I just want you to know I wish so much that I could be the person you all want me to be. Then I wouldn’t have to be alone. Then you’d be proud of me. I’d have a family again.

This is not a choice I’ve made.. because if I had the choice, you can bet I never would have gone down this road. Losing my family was a risk I had to take in order to be happy. It’s a risk all people who transition take. Among all the many other risks. We would never choose this life if we didn’t have to. No one wants to be discriminated against or at risk for being the victim of a hate crime.. no one wants to lose family, friends, jobs, places to live, or basic human rights (in canada, the rights of transgender people are not protected). But it becomes a choice between, “okay, do I want to end up taking my life..” or “do I want to be happy but possibly risk losing everything that’s important to me?”
Most of the time, life is more appealing than death.. and for me, I just wanted to live my life and be happy and do all the things I had dreamed of doing and achieving all the things I wanted to achieve.
So I did what I had to, to feel like I was finally being ME.
Nobody put the idea in my head or convinced me this is who I was.. and I didn’t do this for attention (obviously.. it’s been over 5 years now) and I certainly didn’t do this to hurt anyone, especially not you.
I’m not trying to persuade you to accept me or anything, because I know that none of what I say could change anything. I just wanted you to know why I transitioned, why I’m living as this person.
I may have explained all this to you before.. I’m not sure. Maybe not with this much clarity or objectivity.. and this time I didn’t bother going into the medical aspect of it or explaining the “what”, as there is no need for it. I’m not trying to convince you of anything anymore, and all it would do is make you uncomfortable.
I just felt the need to go into the “why” now, for some reason, as well as how losing my family as a result of it, affects me.
I actually intended to write a couple of lines saying thank you for the card, and then press send.. so much for that.. heh. Verbal diarrhea. I’m a writer. I guess it happens.

Anyway, I know that with regards to this person I am living as, things between you, the rest of the family, and I, will probably never change.. but that doesn’t stop me from hoping.
Because I miss my family. As dysfunctional as our relationship has pretty much always been, I’ve always wanted to be part of the family, and have always longed for your approval and acceptance.. and every holiday I spend alone, I never fail to think of all of you and wish I was there. Wish I was with my family around the christmas tree. Or eating turkey. Anything, really.
I just don’t want to feel like an orphan anymore.
I’m still here.. I’m still the same person.. my body may be a bit different and I may go by a different name.. but I promise I’m still your child. Still your blood. That will never change.
I love you, and I hope you’re doing well.

- D

ftmtelevision:

CALL FOR AUDITIONS FOR ALL-FTM COLLAB CHANNEL!

Hey there! We are an all-FTM collab channel on YouTube called “FTM Television” and we are now looking for 6 new weekly members for the channel, as well as some subs.. so now is your chance to audition, if you want to be part of it!
Watch this call for auditions video, and if you want to be a part of the channel, go make an audition video!
You have until December 17th, or whenever we get 20 - 30 audition videos.
Good luck, and we can’t wait to watch your videos!

Me =)

A lot has happened since I posted the initial story about James, the transman who was attacked on Wednesday.. so I’m going to give you an update.

Firstly, not long after James pressed charges, his attacker, Mark, turned around and pressed charges on James, for defending himself.. which was a huge outrage. Way to vilify the victim.

Anyway, the good news (GREAT news, actually!) is that, as of yesterday morning, I believe, the charges against James have been dropped, and Mark has been arrested and charged with assault.
I’m not sure how this happened, but the fact is that it did, and this is very good news!

You may reblog this, but I’ll be editing this post as I get more details.. so keep your eyes peeled on this blog.

A canadian transman made this in response to the anti-transgender ad that ran in the National Post on Sept 27th. Great response.

This is for all you transmen (and other non-binary or gender nonconforming men) out there who face discrimination just for being yourselves, for not being the stereotype or “ideal” of how people think a man should be.

This was a video for week 2 of the all FTM collab channel I facilitate, FTM Television, in which I talk about how different social groups / divisions of society / etc define what a “MAN” is, and also my opinion on what I think makes a person a man.
 
Click here to see the music video for “More than a man” by Scatterheart! (It’s epic, I promise!)