Becoming Him: A Trans Memoir of Triumph

ISBN-10: 1928420222
ISBN-13: 9781928420224
Category: Female-to-male transsexuals
Language: English
Published: 2018
Publisher: Jacana Media
Author: Landa Mabenge

Description

In April 1981, Landa Mabenge enters this world, trapped in a girl's body. From an early age, Landa is aware that he does not relate to his female form, despite being socialised as a girl. In this groundbreaking and brutally honest memoir, Landa Mabenge establishes himself as a resounding and inspirational voice for anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms. In mesmerising detail, Becoming Him lays bare Landa's tortured world, growing up trapped in the wrong body, while unflinchingly tracing his transition from female to male. His childhood in Umtata is brutally shattered, when at age 11 an angry woman and her zombie-like husband unexpectedly arrive to force him to accompany them to Port Elizabeth. Life in PE with "The Parents" soon morphs into a Dickensian nightmare. Landa is subjected to horrific physical, emotional and psychological abuse as he descends into a world of isolation and shame. He recalls his prison of powerlessness: "I count the years I will have to remain a slave. There are seven before my redemption: 7 x 365 = 2555 days. Today is nearly at an end. By the end of tomorrow there will be 2554. By the end of the week, 2548. And so I will myself on. Eventually the day will come when I will be free." At 18 Landa is finally able to escape PE to study at UCT, where he tries to embrace life as a butch lesbian, but he remains tortured by his female body. After a close-to-death break down, Landa finally finds strength to embark on an arduous four-year-long journey to physically and legally become "him," relentlessly researching what it will entail to embark on gender alignment. In 2014, Landa makes history by becoming the first known transgender man in South Africa to successfully motivate a medical aid to pay for his surgeries through the Groote Schuur Transgender Clinic. Both heartbreaking and uplifting, Becoming Him is a unique story of torture and triumph, bravely opening the lid on cultural shame and abuse against those who choose a path less travelled. In 2017 Landa was selected out of over 60,000 African applicants for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Today Landa lives a transformed and happy life as a transgender educationalist and consultant.

Get the book

Similar books

Invisible Men: Inside India's Transmasculine Networks
By Nandini Krishnan
In this remarkable, intimate book, Nandini Krishnan burrows deep into the prejudices encountered by India's transmen, the complexities of hormonal transitions and sex reassignment surgery, issues of social and family estrangement, and ...
Trans-Kin: A Guide for Family and Friends of Transgender People
By Eleanor A. Hubbard, Cameron T. Whitley
This 400+ page guide includes 50 personal stories plus a comprehensive glossary, list of frequently asked questions and resources including books, videos and organizations--all of which promote awareness, insight and understanding of the ...
Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us
By Kate Bornstein
Recounts a woman's acclimation into female roles after a sex-change operation, outlining the conflicting messages that are imposed upon each gender and presenting observations on a repressed society.
Self-made Men: Identity and Embodiment Among Transsexual Men
By Henry Rubin
The book also explores the historical emergence of the category of FTM transsexual as distinguished from the category of lesbian woman and the resultant "border disputes" over identity between the two groups.
Hung Jury: Testimonies of Genital Surgery by Transsexual Men
By Trystan T. Cotten
Because the book breaks new ground in LGBT, Gender, and feminist studies moreover, it is also an excellent read for courses taught in these academic fields.
Letters For My Brothers: 4th Ed.
By Megan Rohrer, Zander Keig
In today's fast paced world, the internet can provide quick answers to personal questions.
Manifest: Transitional Wisdom on Male Privilege
By Megan Rohrer, Zander Keig
Megan Rohrer, Zander Keig. Generally, Whites and ex-patriots reside on the east end, while Blacks and Puerto Ricans ... ex-patriot and White investors, who buy up beach property and build gated communities, drive much of the economic ...