transrecursive

[transrecursive]

I feel like, as a genderfluid trans woman, that my transmasculinity serves as a powerful fuck you to trans women and other queers that hate trans men. I am a transmasculine person. I have been told off and hated for this fact so much that i was pushed so deep into the static gender closet for so many years. The people who get mad at me for “fetishizing trans men” or some bullshit like that are far too often trans women. I have had people use “protecting trans men” as an excuse to yell at me for saying I want to bind as a way to maybe be perceived as a transmasculine person more easily. They yelled at me that “not all trans men bind”. They made me feel ashamed of being the fucking person that I am. They wanted to draw thick firm lines between transmasculine and transfeminine, and I said fuck your binary. I called them out for just recreating the binary. For saying amab people can never be transmasculine.

All this has done is make me get bolder and louder about the fact I am transmasculine and transfeminine and trans whatever the fuck i want. I will not have my identity defined by my genitals. I am unashamed that i am transmasculine. I am loud about it. Death before enforced static gender ✊

thank you so much for taking the time to share your story, i really appreciate it!

i've been trying to point this out for months, only to be called a transmisogynist. there genuinely, really, truly are trans women who are also men out there and we need to be treated better. i'm also a trans woman & a trans man as well, there's nothing wrong with that. your AGAB shouldn't matter- if you feel like a trans man, you are a trans man. no matter what. i don't need to know what gender or genitals you were born with. you are a trans man. you are NOT fetishizing trans men at all. so many people DO this, but you being a trans man is not fetishizing us at all.

and that DOES NOT invalidate your trans womanhood, either! they don't cancel each other out! that doesn't give anyone the excuse to refuse to see you as a trans woman as well! that doesn't diminish your experience, nor does it step on the toes of trans men of different AGABs! you are doing absolutely nothing wrong and people still just reduce you to your genitals. that's not anyone else's business at all. how is this trans community if we're reducing each other to our genitals- that's the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we do here!

They wanted to draw thick firm lines between transmasculine and transfeminine, and I said fuck your binary. I called them out for just recreating the binary. For saying amab people can never be transmasculine.

beautifully said. people are constantly obsessed with recreating the binary and it's time we stopped.

i'm very glad you took the time to share your story. people need to understand that AMAB trans people also have an extremely complex relationship with gender, and that can include being men, and yes, that includes trans men. genderfluidity is complex. it's not just "binary cis man, binary cis woman, other". it can be whatever that individual is experiencing. it's unique for everyone. i hope you continue to have the energy to stay loud and proud. you deserve to be. nobody has the right to tell you who you are, or that you're somehow hurting other people. you're not. they're hurting you. stay safe out there. you are loved

[transrecursive]

TRANSRECURSIVE

[Image description. First image: One version of the transrecursive flag. The flag has 7 stripes. from top to bottom the stripes are baby blue, pale blue, white, light purple, white, pale pink, and baby pink. The flag is flanked by a baby blue arrow pointing down on the left, and a baby pink arrow pointing up on the right. Second image: Another version of the transrecursive flag. The same as the previous version, but rotated 180 degrees, so now the pink stripe is at the top with the pink arrow pointing down, and the blue stripe is at the bottom with the blue arrow pointing up. End image description.]

Transrecursive when used as an identity label describes an individual who may have one or more of the following experiences with their gender:

a feeling or desire for a simultaneous and harmonious transition in both masculine and feminine directions

a feeling or desire to transition in alternating directions (for example, transitioning towards masculinity then back to femininity, or vice versa, perhaps multiple times.)

a feeling or desire to transition to a gender similar to what they were assigned at birth, that they may have felt denied access to earlier in life and now want to reclaim on their own terms. (E.G. unwanted gender reassignment, rejection from similar gendered peers, or being pressured to conform to the expectations of their assigned gender to the point of feeling alienated from it)

another similar experience, leading to what may be felt or described as a "repetitive" or "fractal" gender.

In use as a broader term, transrecursive is meant to act as an inclusive umbrella term for "contradictory" identities such as afab transfem and amab transmasc, without relying on assigned gender language. It also includes transfemmasc/transmascfem, and certain expressions of multigender or genderfluid.

Intersex voices should be centered in discussions of the transrecursive identity and community, but the label is not exclusive to intersex people and may be used by anyone.

Recursive transitioning is not the same as detransitioning. The distinction is in that the goal is not to "return" to the previously assigned gender, but to instead transition a second/third/nth time, continually transition, or to transition to a gender considered similar to what the individual was assigned at birth. That being said, people who have detransitioned are not inherently excluded from using the label.

Transrecursive people might identify as:

AFAB transfem, AMAB transmasc

FTM transfem, MTF transmasc

Transrecursive [man, woman, person, transfem, transmasc, or any other label] (or with no addition at all)

Gender recursive or sex recursive

Recurfem, Recurmasc, Recurgirl/woman, Recurboy/man, etc. Combinations such as Recurgirlboy or Recurfemmasc are also acceptable.

FTMTF or MTFTM (or other variants such as FTNTM, FTMTN, MTFTN, MTNTF)

Or anything else they want, as it is not mutually exclusive with any other identity label, even cisgender.

The flag's meaning and symbolism:

The use of pinks, blues, and white and the order of stripes are meant to pay homage the original transgender flag. Purple is added as the center stripe to represent the centering of intersex transrecursives, as well as to be evocative of the lavender stripe, representing diversity, added by Gilbert Baker to his original pride flag in 2017.

The arrows and their opposing orientations represent a "circular" or "contradictory" transition, as well as symbolizing movement and personal growth.

The flag is meant to be reversible, and may be flipped or drawn in any direction according to personal preference, as long as the stripes remain in their original "ombre" order with purple in the center, and the arrows remain in opposing directions.

This flag and label were designed/coined by me (the creator of this post and mod of this blog, @transrecursive.) No credit is needed to use the flag individually, but please at least let me know and consider citing this blog/post if you're going to be making money from using it (E.G. making pride merch)