Bearded Lesbians

Stella O'Malley is an Irish psychotherapist and author, with three books on parenting and mental health, is the founder of Genspect and leads online support groups for disenchanted transpeople and detransitioners, called Beyond Trans. Jessi is a lesbian detransitioner and member of Stella's groups.  In this episode, we discuss some of the common challenges we face when reidentifying as women and lesbians.

Mark is a 23 year old lesbian who lived as a transman for five years before finding gender critical feminism. Mark and Aaron discuss the Lesbros Project, goals and difficulties for sex realist transmen and the impacts of gender medicine on lesbian community.   Podcast episode mentioned: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5sxiS5piTZHD1nyHuaNNPU?si=z7EJY0t4TKeuWnQqkacBoQ   Lesbros Project: www.lesbrosproject.com  

Jake is a Canadian transman who's thinking deeply about his experiences of identity, sexual orientation and the medical and social traumas related to transition. This is an audio-only episode because "Jake" wants to remain anonymous.

Ramblin is an American long haul trucker and content creator trying to graple with sex-realism as a transman.  Follow him here: https://www.youtube.com/@RAMBLINTRANSMAN Twitter/X: https://x.com/RamblinTransman

Frankie courageously opens up about a difficult topic: the sexual assault of transmen by transwomen, and the silencing of victims in the name of "trans rights". You can read more about this story here: https://www.tumblr.com/sydsixxftm/778919719852032000/why-did-syd-sixx-leave-porn?source=share   More info about sexual assaults: https://www.aaronkimberly.com/post/what-a-feminist-analysis-of-sexual-assault-data-reveals-about-transmen   More information about criminality patterns: https://www.aaronkimberly.com/post/criminality-data    

Ethan is a 43-year-old transman living in Washington state. In this conversation, we explore the development of Gender Identity Disorder in lesbians and the known factors of persistence. Ethan gives an articulate account of his own life circumstances that led to his decision to medicalize. 

My Aussie friend Kev and I have regular arguments about the merits of feminism. This is what disagreement sounds like between people who are fond of each other.  I've started compiling some of the stats I've found about sex-based experiences of trans men versus transwomen. You can find them on my website here: www.aaronkimberly.com/about  

Luke is a 27-year-old lesbian living in Ireland who started puberty blockers as a minor and went on to take testosterone and get a double mastectomy at age 19. I first met her in 2021 when she was a guest on the Transparency podcast. At that time, she was still living as a transman.  Today, she is taking steps to reintegrate back into lesbian spaces.  Transparency podcast episode: https://youtu.be/b5PsLUzgBJA?si=mlJ5F_biKIukAF8I  

My friend Buck Angel and I discuss sex realism, Trump's Executive Orders about sex and gender, the social rejection faced by so many masculine women, and the need for transmen to organize and support one another through these tumultuous times.  https://buckangel.com/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/BuckAngel YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BuckAngelOfficial  

Three generations of butch lesbians who have medicalized to appear male - Xenon (age 24), Jessi (Age 69) and host Aaron (51) - come together to share stories about maintaining relationships with lesbians and lesbian spaces. 

Joe is a 36 year old clinical social worker and butch lesbian/transman who took testosterone for a year and a half. We discuss Joe's personal story and clinical practice issues. 

Kev is an Australian transman, sex realist, and team member of Active Watchful Waiting, working to protect minors from medical harm. https://www.aww.org.au/

Daywalker is a 59 year old American butch lesbian who takes testosterone as a form of self expression. We discuss meanings of terms "agender"and "gender" as we understand them in a social context. Daywalker moderates several on line groups for butches and femmes.

Mars is a 42-year-old transman from North Carolina who started taking testosterone in 2018. He hosts a popular YouTube channel, Upperhand Mars:    / @upperhandmars   Find him on Twitter: https://x.com/UpperhandMars

Pip is a 34-year-old lesbian who used testosterone for three years from age 24-27. She has an interest in sound engineering and compares the appeal of taking testosterone to the proximity concept of sound recording. (Proximity to the mic). She's settled into an acceptance of herself as a masculine woman.

Zander Keig is an award-winning social worker, public speaker, family caregiver, social care educator, best-selling author, sought-after corporate workshop presenter, and host of the popular Umbrella Hour podcast. He’s a sex realist transsexual who lived as a lesbian separatist prior to medicalizing in his thirties. You Don’t Know Dick: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118206/ Body Alchemy: https://archive.org/details/2023-07-2... Stone Butch Blues: https://www.lesliefeinberg.net  

Kennedy is a 26-year-old lesbian competitive bodybuilder - a sport in which the periodic use of prescription steroids is common, even in the female category. She describes some of the risks of steroid use, including liver damage and elevated triglycerides which is monitored through routine bloodwork. She’s not currently experiencing any health problems. Through bodybuilding, she’s achieved the masculine physique she desires for herself. Single-sex spaces are a challenge for her, as a sex nonconforming woman but, despite the social pressures to conform to femininity standards, she feels confident about her lesbianism and her female body.

Xenon is a 24-year-old actor, handyman and welder from North Carolina who is a part of the North American radical feminist lesbian “land dykes” community, historically associated with the Michigan Women’s Music Festival. Xenon has struggled with reconciling her firm commitment to radical feminism and lesbianism with her decision to take testosterone to masculinize her appearance. Lisa Vogel’s book about the history of Michfest: https://www.amazon.com/We-Can-Live-Li...

Jessi returns to the Bearded Lesbians for an in-depth conversation about the challenges we face reidentifying as women and lesbians after years of testosterone use and male-passing.

Jessi is a 69-year-old butch lesbian living on communal lesbian land in Oregon, USA. In this episode, she tells her story of starting testosterone in 1987, at age 31 and the challenges she faced while appearing as a man and taking the steps back to lesbian spaces.

Joey came out as a lesbian in high school and started to explore her identity, first identifying as a transman, and started taking testosterone at age 19. She’s since reidentified as a masculine (butch) lesbian. Follow Joey on TikTik @petitewolverine Stone Butch Blues: https://www.lesliefeinberg.net