Jamie Anthony Lotun-Raines (born 19 February 1994) is an English

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

and psychologist. His videos include commentary on

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 in ...

and other

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

issues as well as general lifestyle topics. Raines is a

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

and has documented his

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

, including the effects of

hormone replacement therapy Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy or postmenopausal hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause. Effects of menopause can include symptoms such ...

and

gender reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

. His channel, Jammidodger, has over one million subscribers.

Early and personal life

Raines is from

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He attended St Mary's School in Colchester, and later Colchester Sixth Form College. Raines recalls feeling like a boy from the age of four, and that he chose to express himself in masculine ways from an early age. At the age of 16, he realized he was

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

after watching a documentary involving a trans man and relating to their shared experiences. He describes his family and close friends as being immediately supportive and choosing the name

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. Traditionally a masculine name, it can be diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names and is of Scottish English origin. It is also given as a name in its own right. Since the mid-20th century it has been used a ...

with their help. In order to document the physical changes he underwent during his transition, Raines took a photograph of himself each day for three years. Raines is married to fellow YouTuber Shaaba Lotun-Raines (née Lotun). Both are

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

. The two met in a college art class and became close friends prior to Raines' transition. When Raines

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

, Lotun's family initially disapproved of their relationship, but eventually grew to support the couple's relationship. They then attended university together and both now hold PhDs. Each makes semi-regular appearances on the other's YouTube channel. Raines received his

Gender Recognition Certificate The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an Act of Parliament, act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows adults in the United Kingdom who have gender dysphoria to change their legal sex. It came into effect on 4 April 2005. Backgroun ...

late in 2019, which allows him to be recognised as a man in

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

. He describes this as marking the end of his transition process. The couple had initially planned to marry in 2020 but they chose to delay the wedding due to

COVID-19 travel restrictions During the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and territories imposed quarantines, entry bans, or other travel restrictions for citizens of or recent travelers to the most affected areas. Some countries and territories impo ...

, which would have prevented members of Lotun's

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; ; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a melting pot of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious peoples. Mauritian is made up ...

extended family from attending, eventually marrying in 2022.

Career

Social media

Raines started the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel ''Jammidodger'' in 2011. The title is a reference to his name and to

Jammie Dodgers Jammie Dodgers are a popular British biscuit, made from shortbread with a raspberry or strawberry flavoured jam filling. Bought by Burton Biscuit works in 1960, they are currently produced by Burton's Biscuit Company at its factory in Llantarn ...

, a popular type of

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

in the UK. Having found YouTube videos to be a useful resource when discovering his own gender identity he started the channel to provide a UK perspective on the transition process as well as to document the process for himself. Over time the channel has evolved to cover broader LGBT+ issues and also more general lifestyle content such as reacting to

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

s and

subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

s, and reviewing cat toys. Raines was prominent among the many YouTubers to make videos criticising the views about trans people expressed by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

. In 2020, both Raines and Lotun made videos as part of

Southend Council Southend-on-Sea City Council is the local authority of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Southend has had an elected local authority since 1866, which has been reformed several times. Since 1998 the council ...

's ''Protect Your Fam'' project to encourage social distancing, hand-washing and mask wearing during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In addition to frequently appearing in videos with his wife, Shaaba, Raines has made videos collaborating with other YouTubers such as

Jessica Kellgren-Fozard Jessica Kellgren-Fozard (née Kellgren-Hayes; born 25 January 1989) is a British YouTuber, television personality and writer. She is known for her videos on disability awareness, LGBT history, and vintage fashion. She began making YouTube video ...

and

Noahfinnce Noah Finn Adams (born 18 August 1999 ), known professionally as Noahfinnce (stylised in all caps), is a British singer-songwriter and YouTuber. Biography Early life Adams was raised in Ascot, Berkshire, Ascot, England. His interest in music ...

. Raines has a significant audience on both

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, with 235,000 followers, and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, with 52,400 followers. Raines more frequently uploads to Instagram, using story and grid posts to share information about upcoming videos and projects, as well as general daily life. Raines and Lotun began livestreaming together on

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...

in April 2020, playing video games while talking with viewers.

Research

Raines has a master's degree and a PhD in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. He was awarded his doctorate in 2021. He has conducted research into the sexual response of transgender men as well as other topics related to gender and sexuality.

Writing

Raines' first book, ''The T in LGBT: Everything you need to know about being trans'' (), was released on 30 June 2023, published by

Ebury Publishing Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Cent ...

's Vermilion imprint. An audiobook is also scheduled for release by

Penguin Random House Audio Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was originally founded in 1935 and Random House was fou ...

, with narration by Raines and Lotun.

Reception

Raines' series of daily

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph or a short video, typically taken with an electronic camera or smartphone. The camera would be usually held at arm's length or supported by a selfie stick instead of being controlled with a self-timer ...

s, which he took during three years of his gender transition, were compiled into a 20-second montage for the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television documentary ''Girls To Men''. Raines was featured in the Channel 4 documentary series ''Bride and Prejudice'' covering the tensions within Lotun's family in the run up to their engagement.

Awards

In 2020, Raines was a finalist in the LGBTQ+ Account section at the

12th Shorty Awards The 12th Shorty Awards were held on May 3, 2020 via an online live stream event. The event was originally scheduled to be held at 1515 Broadway Theater in New York City, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually. The dig ...

. In 2022, Raines won the Online Influencer award at the

British LGBT Awards The British LGBT Awards are a British award show that aim to "recognise individuals and organizations that display outstanding commitment to the LGBTQ community". The awards were founded in 2014 by Sarah Garrett . LGBT celebrities and straigh ...

References

External links

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Being Transgender: Effects of Behaviour, Arousal and Wellbeing
September 2020 Jamie Anthony Raines PhD thesis {{DEFAULTSORT:Raines, Jamie Living people 1994 births Alumni of the University of Essex Bisexual academics Bisexual scientists Bisexual male entertainers Bisexual male writers Commentary YouTubers English YouTubers English LGBTQ rights activists English bisexual men English transgender men English bisexual entertainers English transgender entertainers English bisexual writers English transgender writers LGBTQ YouTubers People from Colchester Transgender academics Transgender scientists Transgender male entertainers Transgender male writers 21st-century English LGBTQ people Transgender studies academics LGBTQ psychologists Transgender bisexual men YouTubers from Essex YouTubers who make LGBTQ-related content