I am a trans man and I have no love life. But I did just hook up with a friend two nights ago. It was the first time I've had sex in more than a year. My problem is that it was a "one-time thing." I'm furious with myself for giving that away for what amounted to a hookup, and thoroughly sorry for myself for it being a "one-time thing," because it nearly always is. I feel thoroughly unlovable and dejected right now. I was raised a Boston Irish Catholic, and I have PTSD from my parents being difficult. I hope the issue is tied to fallout from my upbringing – because that's something everyone has and those things, while not entirely fixable, are manageable and not so visible. I worry it's not that, though. I worry my being trans is the first problem a potential partner sees. I am a man with a twat – a forlorn, underused twat at that.
- Not Often Picked, Everyone Not Interested Sexually
Buck Angel is a public speaker, a filmmaker, an activist and a trans man who famously and fearlessly bills himself as "the man with a pussy." I passed your letter on to him because who better to answer a question from a man with a twat than the man with a pussy?
"Anyone who hasn't had sex in more than a year is going to find it scary to get back out there and start again," said Buck. "And starting again with a body that you might not be 100 percent comfortable with yet? That's even scarier. The first thing that NOPENIS needs to hear – and really believe – is that he is lovable. And he is, even if he doesn't know it yet."
The second order of business: You gotta stop beating yourself up over that one-night stand. Take it from Buck, your fellow trans man, and take it from me, your fellow Irish Catholic queer: You didn't do anything wrong, you didn't give anything away – hell, you were doing something right.
"Hookups can be important for understanding your body sexually," said Buck. "So NOPENIS shouldn't be mad at himself. We learn and grow from our experiences, even if they're bad ones. And here's what I learned from my first experiences in the gay men's world of sex: Hookups are the way it's done. I was not prepared for that because I'd had sex only with women before my transition. That was hard for me, too, at first. But what I learned was that I wasn't being rejected, even if it was only a one-night thing. I was being accepted in a way I wasn't used to."
Finally, NOPENIS, you've got to stop seeing your body and your twat as problems. It's the only body you'll ever have, and it's a body some will find attractive and some won't.
"NOPENIS absolutely shouldn't count himself out just because he's trans," said Buck. "The world is different now, and many people are attracted to trans men sexually. He just needs to learn to love himself and to have sexual confidence, because people find that attractive." (For more Buck, go to buckangel.com.)
I have a friend who is getting married. She's cheated on every guy she's been with, including her last three husbands. This will be her fourth marriage. I'm sure she's fed the new guy a million reasons why her first three marriages didn't work out. She's a sex fiend, but she's not kinky. I found her fiancé's profile on Fetlife and he has some hard-core fetishes – even by my standards! I'm sure his kinks are going unexplored within their relationship, as my friend has been horrified by my attendance at BDSM events. I know your rule is generally to "stay the fuck out of it," but I have a rule that goes like this: "I would like to know that the person I'm dating is a serial cheater who's probably after me for my money." So do I warn the guy?
- Fucked Regarding Imperiling Ensuing Nuptials, Dan
Mind your own business, FRIEND, and do so with a clear conscience – because these two sound perfect for each other. He's on Fetlife looking for someone to diaper him, and she's probably cheating on him already. If your friend is still a dishonest, lying, heartbreaking cheat, why stop her from marrying a man who is already cheating on her or is likely to cheat on her shortly after the wedding? Watching these two walk down the aisle will be like watching two drunk drivers speed around a closed racetrack. Maybe they'll crash, maybe they won't; but so long as no one else is gonna get hurt, why risk your own neck trying to pull these fuckers over?
My father is a friendly, kind, all-around good guy. We get along well and always have. But I now have to avoid all political discussions with him. He was always a bit socially conservative, but now he gets a lot of batshit-crazy ideas from the scourge of our nation today: Fox News. How can we stop the dumbing down of our society by Fox News, Dan? We have to do something about this malady!
- Anonymous
"Anonymous is right – Fox News is a malady, one that I've often joked is worse than Ebola," said the documentary filmmaker Jen Senko. "It destroys families and has torn apart the country. That's pretty powerful."
Here's what Senko did about it: She made The Brainwashing of My Dad, a terrific documentary exploring how Fox News and other right-wing media turned her mild-mannered, nonpolitical father into a ranting, raving, right-wing fanatic.
"We need to stigmatize 'Faux News,'" said Senko. "I make it a point when I walk into a restaurant or some other public place and they have on Faux News of politely asking them to turn it off."
But how do you get your own dad to turn off Fox News?
"Speaking to loved ones is important but it's difficult," said Senko. "You have to approach them in a calm way, starting the conversation on neutral ground. Sometimes just getting them out of the house and away from the TV helps. But if you can sit down with your loved one and tell them you are concerned about their anger and their worry and you feel that Fox News is helping to generate that, it can be a conversation opener." (Go to thebrainwashingofmydad.com and watch the trailer to learn more about Senko's terrific film.)
On the Lovecast, a cavalcade of sex-toy questions: savagelovecast.com
