Mario Martino (also known as Angelo Tournabene) is a former

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

and

transsexual A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...

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 the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

Work prior to gender transition

As a nun, he was removed from his

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term 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 personal pattern of romantic attraction 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. Patterns ar ...

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 in ...

, 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 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 ...

, Martino and other technicians took a

17-ketosteroid class=skin-invert-image, 150px, Androstenedione class=skin-invert-image, 150px, Androsterone class=skin-invert-image, 150px, Estrone A ketosteroid, or an oxosteroid, is a steroid in which a hydrogen atom has been replaced with a ketone (C=O) g ...

urine test A urine test is any medical test performed on a urine specimen. The analysis of urine is a valuable diagnostic tool because its composition reflects the functioning of many body systems, particularly the kidneys and urinary system, and specimens ...

, 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 inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic label of gender i ...

, 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 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 ...

autobiographical accounts.

Gender transition and aftermath

Martino's

consisted of a double

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

, a

hysterectomy Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus and cervix. Supracervical hysterectomy refers to removal of the uterus while the cervix is spared. These procedures may also involve removal of the ovaries (oophorectomy), fallopian tubes ( salpi ...

phalloplasty Phalloplasty (also called penoplasty) is the construction or reconstruction of a penis or the artificial modification of the penis by surgery. The term is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement. History Russian surgeon Nikolaj B ...

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 archive and finding aid for transgender-related materials in digital and physical collections. It provides a single search engine for researchers to locate and use materials from more than sixty int ...

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 LGBTQ writers Italian LGBTQ rights activists Italian transgender men LGBTQ Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns 20th-century Italian LGBTQ people