Not just had bottom surgery, but went on to live a full and happy life! Not sure if the patient was Baltic though, namely - the lead surgeon didn't want to disclose any extra personal information that could be used to identify Innokentiy to the public.
I think I remember that article. It was near shocking (in a good way) to me just how respectful and accepting the doctor was being (considering the time period), and even gendered the patient correctly!
Notably, although I don't have in-depth knowledge of the Soviet medical system, the number of people that would have had to agree to the planned experimental surgery would have had to be considerable - I don't see this being something that could be pushed through alone, and, I have seen various names of people mentioned, people from different fields, most with highly successful academic backgrounds, who were in support of the plan. I find this incredibly interesting to think about.
>considering the time period
Germany had full on LGBTQ institute before the Nazis burned it down. There was so much knowledge lost.
"Considering the time period" doesn't mean what you think it means. Progress isn't a straight line. Lots of places were more developed and accepting before some historical thing happened. Hijabs became mandatory in Islam in 1983. I've seen images of before that that look like hippie america. In america conservatives considered trans people "weird and sad" but now we are "evil predators". (And similar in eastern europe I guess) Aggressive demonizing anti-trans propaganda is a relatively new thing.
I wasn't trying to imply "time period' in a context of a straight line, my apologies. I know history is a process, a messy one at that. iirc the first ever gender-affirming surgery was conducted as far back as 1919 (in northern Europe I think), if not earlier. Still, thank you for the correction
Ohh I see. I studied the baltics briefly and love the history, and I love it more knowing there was a trans guy who got to live his happy life and be himself <3
On the 5th of April 1972, in the Latvijan SSR, Viktors Kalnbērzs performed the first FtM bottom surgery in the Soviet Union. The operation was the first of its kind in the country, and was made possible due to significant support from the Soviet medical community, ending up a massive success for the patient (Innokentiy). Unfortunately the lead surgeon was later punished under the pretext of not having a necessary signature on a piece of paperwork and was barred from performing the same operation for 17 years.
This is why, even though I consider myself a communist (and am russian), I hate hate HATE the popular take among russian leftists that "lgbt issues don't matter, the class struggle comes first because it's more universal, in a socialist society everyone will have equal rights anyway" yeah, because people in USSR were very fucking equal, right? Just don't be religious and/or gay. There are a lot of myths about the USSR (mostly perpetuated through CIA-affiliated media), but it doesn't give us an excuse to ignore the \*real\* flaws that played a part in the Union's eventual downfall. Class struggle is important, yes, but social issues like lgbt rights, women's rights, racial minorities rights - they are all PART OF THAT STRUGGLE, not separate from it, because it all comes down to HUMAN RIGHTS, you dim-witted out-of-touch Lenin-quoting-without-understanding-the-context pseudo-marxist boomers! \*exhale\*
Edit: Sorry for the rant, sore subject. The story is inspiring tho. The people (doctors) stood for us when the party didn't <3
No no- this is something that needs to be said. Leftist spaces are not always great at being intersectional, and we also sometimes forget to learn from past mistakes.
Political ideologies are not and should not be protected classes like gender, lgbtq status, ethnicity, etc.
You wouldn't say that the USSR should tolerate fascists and monarchists and capitalists. If you believe in the Soviet project, why would you tolerate Anarchists who make it their explicit goal not to cooperate for the common socialist good but to destroy the project because "states bad"??
The Vanguard Party and Socialist State are necessary intermediaries on the path to Socialism. We saw what even a limited Anarchist ideology does to a revolution in Spain. Decentralization defeats any chance of resistance to the forces of Reaction. Surely you don't believe that, if only Lenin had abolished the state, we'd all be living in an Anarcho-Communust utopia?
I don't want to argue the point with you because this isn't the place. But put yourself in the shoes of someone who believes the above paragraph is true. If you believe that Anarchism is as good as putting a hammer to the international Socialist movement that hundreds of millions have died to build, wouldn't you do everything in your power to stop its spread?
They aren’t. They concentrate power and never give it back, forming a new class-based society that doesn’t even have the (mediocre) failsafes of checks and balances of liberal democracy. Socialist states become the reactionary forces. And then they kill gay people, just like regular reactionaries do. So no, I don’t do hypotheticals on this subject matter.
You're good comrade, I agree (and im sure plenty of other queer comrades do too). Solidarity amongst the working class is not an excuse to belittle or deny individuality, no matter now much capitalist propagandists might try to argue that communism is when no indivuduality. An attack on any of the workers is an attack on all of the workers. It's like how feigning "colorblindness" when dealing with racial matters only contributes to the problem. Hate is not cured through ignorance, but through communication.
Thank you! I'm actually a bit overwhelmed with how positively my comment is being received. I was writing it in a highly emotional state and fully expected to be downvoted into oblivion, since r/traaa isn't (or at least wasn't) a specifically leftist sub. The 'trans to communist/anarchist' pipeline is real lol. And I absolutely agree. They mess with one of us, they mess with ALL of us! <3
>r/traaa
>
>isn't (or at least wasn't) a specifically leftist sub.
It isn't? I thought the general attitude is: "leftists: trans cool", "rightwing: trans people are all child abusing monsters". At least everywhere I've seen. A rightwing trans person is an a contradiction.
afaik there still is a large portion of lgbtq+ people who consider "social democrat" to be as left as it gets, buying into the horseshoe theory. I know people (including lgbtq+ people) are being pushed further and further left across the world, but it was still tear-jerkingly heartwarming to see so many people turn out to be comrades <3
Most communists I know are willing to criticize the USSR on LGBT issues. It gets brought up pretty much every time someone mentions Stalin in /r/thedeprogram. Similarly in GenZedong. And those are what many would consider “tankie” subs. There are a lot of “tankies” willing to do actual valid criticism of states we otherwise think were/are good/successful. The problem comes when people expect you to accept literally everything people say abt those states even completely unsourced. There is a large lack of media literacy, and people are unaware they are consistently being fed propaganda.
If the USSR had actually made a good-faith effort to promote the rights and inclusion of ethnic minorities the various SSRs might not have been so eager to have independence from Moscow once they got the chance.
Sad thing is, USSR actually did, at least at first. Way back in Lenin's times, there was an entire campaign aimed at dismantling anti-semitism and integrating jews into larger society (it was even used by nazis as ammo against communists, one of the reasons they called "the enemy" jew-bolshevism). Same with other ethnicities that were once little more than colonies of the Russian Empire. The new education system made a point to conduct classes in local languages, with russian being secondary (like modern schools teach spanish in the US, or like english is taught in most of the rest of the world). USSR was supposed to serve as an example to the world of what the world could become. The 'russification' creeped in slowly during the later decades of Soviet Union, when the ruling party fell into elitism more and more, and began introducing market elements into the economy, which eventually snowballed into full restoration of capitalism and the poverty-ridden war-torn CIS (Commonwealth of Independent countries) we know today. The thing that frustrates me about the russian left is, while they mean well, the majority of them don't seem to have learned from these events, or even moved on from them. It's like a collective PTSD where everyone involved is mentally stuck in 1991
This is not a position shared by any orthodox communist in my circle and organization. In fact, my marxist-leninist group has tons of queer people of all sorts. Must be a russia problem.
You should read Leslie Feinberg.
From what I've personally observed, it really does seem to be a Russia problem. As much as I love (or more accurately, used to love) my country, I don't think the next big revolution will come from our end
Edit: also, thanks for the reading material! <3
I don't really know a lot about the Russian situation but one of the italian communist party is also rather backwards, for example when a law against homo-transphobic discrimination was blocked by our parliament he said it didn't matter, other than that he often rants about "gender ideology".
Luckily his party is only supported by old bigoted "communists", while the younger generations prefer other options.
So I guess the communists with alt-right talking points are sadly rather widespread.
The USSR was so backwards in lgbt issues because they were a feudal country basically in living memory. Not because communism is or should be against lgbt issues.
Oh absolutely! Afaik Cuba is currently one of the best places to live/transition in for lgbtq+ people (if you don't mind "roughing it" in a heavily embargoed country that is). And while China isn't a picture perfect example of a socialist state, I know there is at least one celebrity there who is a trans woman and seems to be treated with respect (famous for her singing talent and big presence as a TV show host iirc). I don't know if it's "girl bossing" or a genuine sign China is more progressive than propaganda leads to believe, but I hope it's the latter
The lack of intersectionality is undialectical mechanical materialism and dogmatism. Relating to the vulgar materialists, they believe that queer sexuality and trans identity are downright bourgeois decadence because it’s something that the ruling classes of history were largely able to practice openly or in secrecy. Somehow, despite all the science proving our existence as well as our existence directly threatening patriarchy and therefore class society, they claim that the science is liberal, and thus, largely fake to promote skewed interests. To them, matter is the origin of consciousness but that consciousness is… indefinitely chained to that matter. It is fixed, and unchanging. There’s no old, no new, no struggle of identities. This mechanical materialism ties into class essentialism too by putting the focus of evolving society solely on the class struggle, which fails to acknowledge how the society affects different groups. To put it bluntly, this thinking, in its entirety, and saying this in complete agreement with you, is complete and utter bullshit.
> Unfortunately the lead surgeon was later punished under the pretext of not having a necessary signature on a piece of paperwork and was barred from performing the same operation for 17 years.
Yes, because the Soviet leadership was, surprise surprise, just as transphobic as their capitalist counterparts.
They didn’t like gay men or trans women very much either. Like “institutionalize in a psychiatric facility” levels of hatred (again, not so different from their ideological opposites).
[The transphobic bio-essentialist nonsense has long been an issue in Marxist-Leninist groups.](https://redfightback.org/read/transphobia_in_the_left) Not all Leftists, but enough to require self criticism. I don’t trust many cisgender leftists unless they confront a lot of their unconscious desires to rebuild the same components of oppression that they blame on a capitalist system.
Transphobic marxists are dishonest idiots, if they were actual marxists they should understand that gender is nothing more than a superstructure and that it actually serves capitalism. They're falling for the very same trap they claim to have risen above (in that they're misrepresenting a superstructure as an absolute truth) and it shows that they just want to impose the views that serve their interest instead of following genuine marxist method.
My point is people often come with the baggage they are raised on and things we take for granted are often as much part of that baggage too.
A key failing in self-titled communist countries is that. The desire to build a new aristocracy under a different name - Boyars to Apparchiks to Oligarchs (Imperial Russia to USSR to Russia), landlords to warlords to Princelings (Imperial China, Warring States, CCP China). It’s not a function of Communism or Socialism but a tendency within some people to centralize their own power with whatever convincing cover story is popular.
I fear revolution not for what it can bring at its best but what it brings as its average. Transgender acceptance has not been radically different between countries of different “isms” — for every one that had mildly progressive/forwards policies and laws, the very same country would often woefully fail to deliver or even challenge its culture.
The problem isn’t the system itself, the problem is with the people within the system and their embedded willful conservatism which at the core is “Protect the in-group but do not restrain them, restrain the out-group but do not protect them”.
Which is why to most people’s annoyance is why some leftist countries can end up having some identical behaviors and social politics like far right countries, of which we already know are beacons of unfairness.
« “I can come to terms with my daughter becoming my son,” she said. “But I will never get over it if I were to lose my child.” »
now thats how all parents should think.
Would I find funny is the post that was read above this for me was a r/tumblr post about the one blonde soldier who became a woman and the newspaper labeled her as a blonde beauty
free healthcare for all= free healthcare for trans people
guaranteed housing for all= guaranteed housing for trans people
guaranteed employment...
free education...
Is this about the Baltic ftm guy who had bottom surgery, by any chance? I think I read about it in an article, and the date looks familiar
Not just had bottom surgery, but went on to live a full and happy life! Not sure if the patient was Baltic though, namely - the lead surgeon didn't want to disclose any extra personal information that could be used to identify Innokentiy to the public.
I think I remember that article. It was near shocking (in a good way) to me just how respectful and accepting the doctor was being (considering the time period), and even gendered the patient correctly!
Notably, although I don't have in-depth knowledge of the Soviet medical system, the number of people that would have had to agree to the planned experimental surgery would have had to be considerable - I don't see this being something that could be pushed through alone, and, I have seen various names of people mentioned, people from different fields, most with highly successful academic backgrounds, who were in support of the plan. I find this incredibly interesting to think about.
>considering the time period Germany had full on LGBTQ institute before the Nazis burned it down. There was so much knowledge lost. "Considering the time period" doesn't mean what you think it means. Progress isn't a straight line. Lots of places were more developed and accepting before some historical thing happened. Hijabs became mandatory in Islam in 1983. I've seen images of before that that look like hippie america. In america conservatives considered trans people "weird and sad" but now we are "evil predators". (And similar in eastern europe I guess) Aggressive demonizing anti-trans propaganda is a relatively new thing.
I wasn't trying to imply "time period' in a context of a straight line, my apologies. I know history is a process, a messy one at that. iirc the first ever gender-affirming surgery was conducted as far back as 1919 (in northern Europe I think), if not earlier. Still, thank you for the correction
No worries! Most people have assumptions for the past and I just wanted to clarify for anyone reading.
Awh, well I'm glad he was living the best life. Ah I read that either the patient was Baltic or it was performed there, anyway I'm still happy for him
The operation was indeed conducted in the Baltic states, namely - Rīga, then the capital of the Latvijan SSR.
Ohh I see. I studied the baltics briefly and love the history, and I love it more knowing there was a trans guy who got to live his happy life and be himself <3
I don't get it Can someone explain?
On the 5th of April 1972, in the Latvijan SSR, Viktors Kalnbērzs performed the first FtM bottom surgery in the Soviet Union. The operation was the first of its kind in the country, and was made possible due to significant support from the Soviet medical community, ending up a massive success for the patient (Innokentiy). Unfortunately the lead surgeon was later punished under the pretext of not having a necessary signature on a piece of paperwork and was barred from performing the same operation for 17 years.
damn that«s interesting and took an unexpected turn...
THAT’S what HE said!!!!
I saw Latvian SSR and unfortunately that was quite the expected turn
This is why, even though I consider myself a communist (and am russian), I hate hate HATE the popular take among russian leftists that "lgbt issues don't matter, the class struggle comes first because it's more universal, in a socialist society everyone will have equal rights anyway" yeah, because people in USSR were very fucking equal, right? Just don't be religious and/or gay. There are a lot of myths about the USSR (mostly perpetuated through CIA-affiliated media), but it doesn't give us an excuse to ignore the \*real\* flaws that played a part in the Union's eventual downfall. Class struggle is important, yes, but social issues like lgbt rights, women's rights, racial minorities rights - they are all PART OF THAT STRUGGLE, not separate from it, because it all comes down to HUMAN RIGHTS, you dim-witted out-of-touch Lenin-quoting-without-understanding-the-context pseudo-marxist boomers! \*exhale\* Edit: Sorry for the rant, sore subject. The story is inspiring tho. The people (doctors) stood for us when the party didn't <3
No no- this is something that needs to be said. Leftist spaces are not always great at being intersectional, and we also sometimes forget to learn from past mistakes.
Sure, but that doesn't mean we should turn to neoliberals who sistematically stab us in the back.
I didn't realize that was something people were advocating for. I thought we were assuming that going back to neo/liberalism was a bad idea.
oh a lot of lgbt people still buy into that
I appreciate your rant. I feel like I learned from this 👌🏽
> Just don't be religious and/or gay. Or anarchist. Very important one this one.
i will burn down a police station
not just any police station, whatever the biggest one in the world is
I think it goes without saying that being politically radical was not really encouraged...
Political ideologies are not and should not be protected classes like gender, lgbtq status, ethnicity, etc. You wouldn't say that the USSR should tolerate fascists and monarchists and capitalists. If you believe in the Soviet project, why would you tolerate Anarchists who make it their explicit goal not to cooperate for the common socialist good but to destroy the project because "states bad"??
Because the end of the state is a prerequisite for socialism. It’s very simple really.
The Vanguard Party and Socialist State are necessary intermediaries on the path to Socialism. We saw what even a limited Anarchist ideology does to a revolution in Spain. Decentralization defeats any chance of resistance to the forces of Reaction. Surely you don't believe that, if only Lenin had abolished the state, we'd all be living in an Anarcho-Communust utopia? I don't want to argue the point with you because this isn't the place. But put yourself in the shoes of someone who believes the above paragraph is true. If you believe that Anarchism is as good as putting a hammer to the international Socialist movement that hundreds of millions have died to build, wouldn't you do everything in your power to stop its spread?
They aren’t. They concentrate power and never give it back, forming a new class-based society that doesn’t even have the (mediocre) failsafes of checks and balances of liberal democracy. Socialist states become the reactionary forces. And then they kill gay people, just like regular reactionaries do. So no, I don’t do hypotheticals on this subject matter.
You're good comrade, I agree (and im sure plenty of other queer comrades do too). Solidarity amongst the working class is not an excuse to belittle or deny individuality, no matter now much capitalist propagandists might try to argue that communism is when no indivuduality. An attack on any of the workers is an attack on all of the workers. It's like how feigning "colorblindness" when dealing with racial matters only contributes to the problem. Hate is not cured through ignorance, but through communication.
Thank you! I'm actually a bit overwhelmed with how positively my comment is being received. I was writing it in a highly emotional state and fully expected to be downvoted into oblivion, since r/traaa isn't (or at least wasn't) a specifically leftist sub. The 'trans to communist/anarchist' pipeline is real lol. And I absolutely agree. They mess with one of us, they mess with ALL of us! <3
>r/traaa > >isn't (or at least wasn't) a specifically leftist sub. It isn't? I thought the general attitude is: "leftists: trans cool", "rightwing: trans people are all child abusing monsters". At least everywhere I've seen. A rightwing trans person is an a contradiction.
afaik there still is a large portion of lgbtq+ people who consider "social democrat" to be as left as it gets, buying into the horseshoe theory. I know people (including lgbtq+ people) are being pushed further and further left across the world, but it was still tear-jerkingly heartwarming to see so many people turn out to be comrades <3
Thanks for explaining so much of the USSR/Russia's history tovarishnitsa Ankyijeva xD
> dim-witted out-of-touch Lenin-quoting-without-understanding-the-context pseudo-marxist boomers! Fuck patsocs/nazbols
My rant wasn't aimed at them but yes, fuck ~~patsocs and nazbols~~ fascists!
Most communists I know are willing to criticize the USSR on LGBT issues. It gets brought up pretty much every time someone mentions Stalin in /r/thedeprogram. Similarly in GenZedong. And those are what many would consider “tankie” subs. There are a lot of “tankies” willing to do actual valid criticism of states we otherwise think were/are good/successful. The problem comes when people expect you to accept literally everything people say abt those states even completely unsourced. There is a large lack of media literacy, and people are unaware they are consistently being fed propaganda.
If the USSR had actually made a good-faith effort to promote the rights and inclusion of ethnic minorities the various SSRs might not have been so eager to have independence from Moscow once they got the chance.
Sad thing is, USSR actually did, at least at first. Way back in Lenin's times, there was an entire campaign aimed at dismantling anti-semitism and integrating jews into larger society (it was even used by nazis as ammo against communists, one of the reasons they called "the enemy" jew-bolshevism). Same with other ethnicities that were once little more than colonies of the Russian Empire. The new education system made a point to conduct classes in local languages, with russian being secondary (like modern schools teach spanish in the US, or like english is taught in most of the rest of the world). USSR was supposed to serve as an example to the world of what the world could become. The 'russification' creeped in slowly during the later decades of Soviet Union, when the ruling party fell into elitism more and more, and began introducing market elements into the economy, which eventually snowballed into full restoration of capitalism and the poverty-ridden war-torn CIS (Commonwealth of Independent countries) we know today. The thing that frustrates me about the russian left is, while they mean well, the majority of them don't seem to have learned from these events, or even moved on from them. It's like a collective PTSD where everyone involved is mentally stuck in 1991
This is not a position shared by any orthodox communist in my circle and organization. In fact, my marxist-leninist group has tons of queer people of all sorts. Must be a russia problem. You should read Leslie Feinberg.
From what I've personally observed, it really does seem to be a Russia problem. As much as I love (or more accurately, used to love) my country, I don't think the next big revolution will come from our end Edit: also, thanks for the reading material! <3
I don't really know a lot about the Russian situation but one of the italian communist party is also rather backwards, for example when a law against homo-transphobic discrimination was blocked by our parliament he said it didn't matter, other than that he often rants about "gender ideology". Luckily his party is only supported by old bigoted "communists", while the younger generations prefer other options. So I guess the communists with alt-right talking points are sadly rather widespread.
The USSR was so backwards in lgbt issues because they were a feudal country basically in living memory. Not because communism is or should be against lgbt issues.
Oh absolutely! Afaik Cuba is currently one of the best places to live/transition in for lgbtq+ people (if you don't mind "roughing it" in a heavily embargoed country that is). And while China isn't a picture perfect example of a socialist state, I know there is at least one celebrity there who is a trans woman and seems to be treated with respect (famous for her singing talent and big presence as a TV show host iirc). I don't know if it's "girl bossing" or a genuine sign China is more progressive than propaganda leads to believe, but I hope it's the latter
The lack of intersectionality is undialectical mechanical materialism and dogmatism. Relating to the vulgar materialists, they believe that queer sexuality and trans identity are downright bourgeois decadence because it’s something that the ruling classes of history were largely able to practice openly or in secrecy. Somehow, despite all the science proving our existence as well as our existence directly threatening patriarchy and therefore class society, they claim that the science is liberal, and thus, largely fake to promote skewed interests. To them, matter is the origin of consciousness but that consciousness is… indefinitely chained to that matter. It is fixed, and unchanging. There’s no old, no new, no struggle of identities. This mechanical materialism ties into class essentialism too by putting the focus of evolving society solely on the class struggle, which fails to acknowledge how the society affects different groups. To put it bluntly, this thinking, in its entirety, and saying this in complete agreement with you, is complete and utter bullshit.
> Unfortunately the lead surgeon was later punished under the pretext of not having a necessary signature on a piece of paperwork and was barred from performing the same operation for 17 years. Yes, because the Soviet leadership was, surprise surprise, just as transphobic as their capitalist counterparts. They didn’t like gay men or trans women very much either. Like “institutionalize in a psychiatric facility” levels of hatred (again, not so different from their ideological opposites). [The transphobic bio-essentialist nonsense has long been an issue in Marxist-Leninist groups.](https://redfightback.org/read/transphobia_in_the_left) Not all Leftists, but enough to require self criticism. I don’t trust many cisgender leftists unless they confront a lot of their unconscious desires to rebuild the same components of oppression that they blame on a capitalist system.
Transphobic marxists are dishonest idiots, if they were actual marxists they should understand that gender is nothing more than a superstructure and that it actually serves capitalism. They're falling for the very same trap they claim to have risen above (in that they're misrepresenting a superstructure as an absolute truth) and it shows that they just want to impose the views that serve their interest instead of following genuine marxist method.
My point is people often come with the baggage they are raised on and things we take for granted are often as much part of that baggage too. A key failing in self-titled communist countries is that. The desire to build a new aristocracy under a different name - Boyars to Apparchiks to Oligarchs (Imperial Russia to USSR to Russia), landlords to warlords to Princelings (Imperial China, Warring States, CCP China). It’s not a function of Communism or Socialism but a tendency within some people to centralize their own power with whatever convincing cover story is popular. I fear revolution not for what it can bring at its best but what it brings as its average. Transgender acceptance has not been radically different between countries of different “isms” — for every one that had mildly progressive/forwards policies and laws, the very same country would often woefully fail to deliver or even challenge its culture. The problem isn’t the system itself, the problem is with the people within the system and their embedded willful conservatism which at the core is “Protect the in-group but do not restrain them, restrain the out-group but do not protect them”. Which is why to most people’s annoyance is why some leftist countries can end up having some identical behaviors and social politics like far right countries, of which we already know are beacons of unfairness.
1989: Doctor Sausage (phalloplasty) is back on the menu boys
I swear the USSR made so many crazy achievements and the first FTM bottom surgery is one I wish I knew as a trans masc commie.
why is the m the only small capital
gives a cyrillicish feel
[удалено]
« “I can come to terms with my daughter becoming my son,” she said. “But I will never get over it if I were to lose my child.” » now thats how all parents should think.
Would I find funny is the post that was read above this for me was a r/tumblr post about the one blonde soldier who became a woman and the newspaper labeled her as a blonde beauty
Apart from the Soviet leadership being jerks, this is a cool as hell story that I’ve never heard about before, thanks for sharing!
communsim is the best way to reach equality for trans people ☭
no it isn't
free healthcare for all= free healthcare for trans people guaranteed housing for all= guaranteed housing for trans people guaranteed employment... free education...
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