Xavier
August 12, 2025 at 6:29:10 AM
Website:
https://xavierhm.com & https://transmen.online
Hi! I absolutely love the vibe of your site! The dithered BG is great (huge fan of pylons lol) and the color scheme is really pleasant.
I found your secret PDF and gave it a read; a lot of it was quite relatable to me as a trans man born in 1998. I, too, explored my identity and gender online, even before I could recognize that's what was happening. As an artist/writer, I also resonated with your thoughts on the creative process, especially as it pertains to tech and digital art. I've switched to digital art after spending years working with mixed media in abstract expressionism and figure drawing/painting; the difference in capacities for spontaneity between traditional and digital mediums hasn't gone unnoticed by me, and it's something that I strive to address in my own work as I've experimented over the years.
I've made a website for trans men at https://transmen.online, if you are curious. It seems that you might feel differently than the intended vibe there, in which case no worries, but I hope to create a diverse community of trans men and host essays, art, etc that explore different viewpoints. Your writing is really exciting, provocative, and extremely well-thought. I'd love to have it on the site.
Personally, I am of a different strain of philosophy and politics than yours (not really a fan of post-structuralism, and thus Foucault, and thus the Foucaultian threads woven within queer theory at large), but I enjoy studying critical theory and want to start writing about my own thoughts and whatnot. Rather than expanding upon non-binary post-structuralism, my goal is to develop a sort of modern and modular transsexual ethos for binary trans people like myself.
Jeeze, this is way too long. I'll probably reread your PDF sometime soon and shoot you an e-mail with more thoughts.
PS: I also love Richer Siken! "Snow and Dirty Rain" is my favorite poem of all time, tied with "The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock"
Replied on: August 13, 2025 at 2:36:25 PM
Hey there, thank you so much for all your kind words -- I'm glad you were able to find my (not so) secret PDF! It actually means a lot to me that you thought it worthwhile. I wrote it for a class on media and while I got great feedback on it I don't think any of my professors could engage with the contents surrounding gender outside the realm of theory.
As for transmen.online, I'm actually vaguely familiar! I've seen your personal website before (which I think rocks) and I must admit to stealing your testosterone button. So I read about it in passing, adore the domain btw. I think it's an awesome initiative. It does seem that we may differ in thought but I'm stoked about finding someone else with an interest in niche academia, so please feel free to e-mail me, I'd love to keep in touch!
I'll have to check out those poems. I've loved Siken's works since reading "Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed out, he's got such a raw, visceral way with words.
