Exec Summary...

Transpeople often experience persistent negative mood states concerning their bodies, even after undergoing medical interventions, partly due to limitations in current treatment. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, low self-esteem and depression, which have negative outcomes for health and social functioning. Many transpeople also have difficulties negotiating sexual and interpersonal relationships, which can be problematic for sexual health.

Between the 17th and 19th July 2009, TBA held its first retreat for transmasculine people. The retreat had the following aims:

  • Provide a safe and supportive environment in which to share experience and explore sensitive issues
  • Provide structured workshops and discussions incorporating experiential learning and psycho-education
  • Facilitate learning of coping mechanisms and health behaviours

Provide the opportunity for transpeople to challenge themselves and address any fears around intimacy and body image

Workshops provided were as follows:

Let’s Talk About Sex!

This workshop aimed to explore how transpeople negotiated safe-sex and intimacy and the difficulties that this can present.

Dissecting the Trans Body

Here issues around transition and medical interventions were discussed and investigated using small group tasks and discussion.

Touch Many trans people find being touched difficult due to issues around intimacy. As touch is vital for human happiness a massage training session was incorporated into the weekend.

Photography This workshop enabled participants to view their bodies in different ways and to compare their perceptions to others.

There were a number of other components to the weekend which were valuable, including discussions, a meditation session and free time for group cohesion.

Findings

The weekend was attended by 18 transmasculine people. Delegates were varied in type of interventions desired/undergone and in terms of sexuality and gender identity.

Body Image:

Mean scores for the a number of dimensions increased during the retreat, such as the importance of healthy eating, the importance of having a double mastectomy, the importance of having facial hair, the importance of having a metoidoplasty, the importance of having a phallus and the importance of having hormone treatment. Interestingly, whilst the importance of having a vagina increased during the retreat, scores for the importance of having a penis decreased along with importance of having a hysterectomy.

Confidence with body image:

Mean scores in confidence in certain settings were used to evaluate how delegates confidence with their bodies had changed during the retreat. Scores that increased included the following: confidence going swimming, confidence being naked/partly naked with a sexual partner, confidence being massaged, confidence having a photo taken, and confidence using male changing facilities.

Confidence with sex and intimacy:

Finally, mean scores relating to sexual health situations were assessed pre and post the retreat. Scores that increased during the retreat included confidence attending GUM/sexual health clinics, confidence discussing sexual health with a partner and peers, confidence asking for/discussing the sex you want to have, and confidence in ability to give and receive sexual pleasure.

In addition to measuring change, we also evaluated the retreat itself. To summarise, on a scale of 1-7, one being very poor and 7 being very good, the mean scores were as follows:

  • The facilitators: 6.25
  • The venue: 5.56
  • The food: 6.06
  • 'Disecting the Trans Body' Workshop: 5.31
  • 'Let's Talk About Sex' Workshop: 6.00
  • 'Touch' Workshop: 6.33
  • 'Photography' Workshop:6.00
  • The retreat overall: 6.44

Participant Comments

“Never a more honest, open discussion with other people whose bodies are similar to mine.”

“I can’t thank jay and lee enough for providing this superb weekend retreat. I arrived feeling anxious and leave feeling positive and proud of myself.”

“Much more than I hoped for because the space was all inclusive, all body types and stages of trans-ness were here and we ALL got involved and I’ve made new friends.”

“The social aspect of chatting, laughter, sleeping in a dorm with a group of transmen. Feeling one of the crowd. Somewhere that I felt a sense of belonging, of coming home.”

“[The best part of the weekend was] Knowing that we are people who are valuable and can use our experiences to find meaning and to connect with others’ lives.”

What did you gain from the retreat?

“Inspiration, understanding, the feeling of being accepted and connected to people.”

“Feelings of comradeship, friendship. Learnt a few things too! Specifically regarding different types of T.”

“Lots – learned more about different surgical options, how people feel about the choices they’ve made. Hopefully I will have come out a bit more confident too.”

“Information – connections – good fun. Rare opportunity to speak my mind on topics which are taboo elsewhere.”

“A sense of family.”

“Better body image – felt unhappy being overweight but seeing other larger sized guys who were cute too made me feel much better about myself."

Overall Evaluation

The evaluation of this retreat demonstrated how valuable this kind of small scale intervention can be. It offered exceptional value for money in terms of psychologically significant benefits for those taking part. Enhancing people’s experiences of their bodies is vital, particularly in this population which has high levels of co-morbidity and suicide.  We have identified a number of future retreats including one with a sole focus on sex and relationships and one looking at the body in different ways. Both of these are valid and useful to community members. We would also like to host a retreat for couples where one or more partner are trans as transition can be stressful for relationships and raises a number of unique issues.  The people who took part in this valued a sense of community and a sense of themselves as being connected and the same as others, rather than as separate. We hope to be able to offer this and further events in the future so that more transpeople can benefit from this kind of space.