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location:  Transition  >  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)  >  Other 1. Have you ever had any negative responses to your website? 2. Can you be my penpal? / My situation is ______ - can you help me or give me advice? 3. Can I use your website as a resource for a paper, project, presentation, etc.? 4. Can we be friends on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc.? 5. What do you think of Thomas Beatie (the "first pregnant man")? 1. Have you ever had any negative responses to your website? I’ve had hundreds of emails and personal responses to my website, and only one person in the history of my website’s existence had something negative to say directly to me. And even then, that person probably didn’t think they were being negative, because they were just trying to “save me” with religion. I’ve run across a couple of references to my website on other sites, as in articles or message boards, but most of them are in other languages so I’m not sure if they are positive or negative responses. Of the ones in English, they are usually “I ran across this interesting site” type comments. 2. Can you be my penpal? / My situation is ______ - can you help me or give me advice? Unfortunately, I am in a very rigorous academic program and find it difficult to find the time to correspond with people one-on-one through my website. While I’d love to do this for each and every person who writes me, there just isn’t enough time in the day. If you have a specific question that you can’t find the answer to either in one of the website sections or in the FAQ, please feel free to submit a question. Or, you can contact me - it may take me a while to get back to you, but at the very least I will certainly add your question to the FAQ section (anonymously) at some point so that others may also benefit from the answer. 3. Can I use your website as a resource for a paper, project, presentation, etc.? Thank you for asking! As the front page says, “Please be advised that all documents, photographs, images, and original writing on the domain www.ftmtransition.com are the property of the website owner, except where noted, and are protected under copyright. Permission is required to copy, download, or reproduce any text, photographs, or image files. Any person using this website's content in an unauthorized way will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” This means that YES, you CAN use it, but please contact me before hand and let me know what you are interested in using and how you intend to use it. 4. Can we be friends on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc.? No, sorry, I try to limit my friends on these social networking sites to people I know in person. 5. What do you think of Thomas Beatie (the "first pregnant man")? Thomas Beatie was not the first pregnant man; I have known multiple transmen over the past many years to stop their testosterone therapy so they could become pregnant and bear a child. I, personally, would not do this, because I believe there could easily be permanent effects of testosterone on the body’s physiology that we are not aware of – I do not believe it is fair to expose an unborn child to those potential effects. This, of course, is a personal opinion (not backed by any current medical research, mostly because that research hasn’t been done) and a choice I have made myself; I had a hysterectomy when I began transitioning and am therefore unable to carry a child now. I hold the personal belief that having a child is something one should do before transitioning, and the choice to transition should indicate the willingness to give up your reproductive rights, if only for the unknown medical effects of cross-sex hormone use. This isn’t to say that I believe a transman should be required to have a hysterectomy (and thus be “medically sterilized”) to be recognized as a man in the eyes of society or the law; ultimately, a transman should have the right to change his sex on identity documents without the need for any surgery (chest surgery, bottom surgery, etc.), but this is unlikely to become a reality in law.