Mario Martino (also known as Angelo Tournabene) is a former nun and transsexual male author. He is known for writing one of the first autobiographies on the trans male experience. He also worked with the Labyrinth Foundation in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

Work prior to gender transition

As a nun, he was removed from his

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

when it became clear that he had sexual feelings for women. In his autobiography, Martino explicitly connects his

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

to his

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

, saying "I was a boy. I felt like one, I dressed like one, I fought like one. Later I was to love like one." While working as a laboratory technician prior to his

gender transition Gender transition is the process of changing one's gender presentation or sex characteristics to accord with one's internal sense of gender identity – the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman,Brown, M. L. & Rounsley, C. A. (1996) ''True ...

, Martino and other technicians took a

17-ketosteroid 150px, Androstenedione 150px, Androsterone 150px, Estrone A ketosteroid, or an oxosteroid, is a steroid in which a hydrogen atom has been replaced with a ketone (C=O) group. A 17-ketosteroid is a ketosteroid in which the ketone is located spe ...

urine test, where it was found that he had "the 17-ketosteroids of a 17-year-old male". While working in the laboratory he met his wife, a registered nurse named Rebecca.

Autobiography

''Emergence: A Transsexual Autobiography'' was published by Martino in 1977, alongside a collaborator named Harriet. The book discussed his

gender dysphoria Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to a mismatch between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The diagnostic label gender identity disorder (GID) was used until ...

, a lack of attachment to traditional feminine pursuits, his sexual attraction towards women and not men, and difficulty coming to terms with his gender identity as a child, and how these contradicted with his Italian-Catholic upbringing. Martino's autobiography has been described as "the first complete autobiography of a trans-sexual who has undergone medical treatment to change to male from female". It was notable for including explicit mentions of sexual activity, which are often absent from

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

autobiographical accounts.

Gender transition and aftermath

Martino's

consisted of a double mastectomy, a

hysterectomy Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries (oophorectomy), Fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), and other surrounding structures. Usually performed by a gynecologist, a hysterectomy may b ...

, phalloplasty and hormonal treatment. While transitioning, he nearly died after three surgeries proved unsuccessful. However, following surgery, he was able to obtain a new drivers' license, an amended birth certificate and college certificate under his preferred name. Despite this, Martino faced discrimination by employers and school admissions officials, having been fired from his job in a nursing home when officials were told of his gender identity. One landlord kicked Martino out of his house, and he "lost out on several good jobs because of" his trans identity. "I still cannot get a teaching position in a college because of it", Martino said in 1980. He worked with the Labyrinth Foundation, a facility in

for counseling those with

. He and his wife gave marriage and psychological counselling to trans people.

References

External links

Mario Martino

Digital Transgender Archive The Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is an online resource based at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in collaboration with more than sixty international colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and private collections. It w ...

Labyrinth Foundation Counseling/Gender Service Pamphlet
Digital Transgender Archive

A Gender Variance Who's Who {{DEFAULTSORT:Martino, Mario Year of birth missing Transgender male writers Transgender rights activists Italian LGBT writers Italian LGBT rights activists Italian transgender men LGBT Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns 20th-century Italian LGBT people