We interviewed Buck Angel over two years ago and we’re not gonna front, looking back at it now, we kind of cringe at the feature. (We kept referring to his transition as ‘his surgery’. Ungh) But it just goes to show how educated society has become in only two years! Anyway here’s our #TBT interview with Buck Angel…

In case you missed the memo, Buck is one of the earliest spokespeople for the trans community and although he chose to undergo the majority of the transition, he decided to keep his vulva – proving that like many things, being trans is not simply a black/white situation.

Buck originally landed a successful career in modelling as a female but was always uncomfortable with her looks. After battling drugs and depression, Buck began gender reassignment but kept his vulva as he believed he could never have the same sensitivity in a prosthetic penis as a biological man.

Happier now than ever before, Buck has a CV packed with achievements from mainstream actor to fetish filmmaker, motivational speaker and LGBT Rights Activist.

When we interviewed Buck, he had two films doing the rounds at the festivals. ‘Mr Buck’ had been shown at the LLGFF, documenting Buck’s life to date, while ‘Sexing the Transman’ was filmed by Buck himself and talks to various trans men about their sexuality after gender reassignment.

You were signed to Elite Model Management. What were your experiences back then? 
That was during the mid-eighties when androgyny was just coming into its own in the fashion world. I was actually one of the first girls to be put out there with this look.
Of course it has gone on to be huge in fashion, and you can still see it everywhere. I had so many opportunities to become a huge ‘star’, but my alcohol and drug abuse, combined with my very low self-esteem basically crippled my career.
Mostly I did sportswear and new lines—nothing super big. Though I remember working on Boy of London, and have some funny photos from those shoots.
And London is where many of the big opportunities were handed to me, but I failed by not showing up. I really did not want to be there. My friends were the ones encouraging me to do it and I was just really lost and hating life at that time.

You were homeless at one point, stuck on drugs & alcohol and then attempted suicide. What was the turning point? 
Well, during that time I was prostituting (as a ‘boy’), some guy picked me up and I went back to the house with him. I was almost raped and realized that I could possibly have been killed. Somehow I got myself out of that situation and I drank myself half unconscious.
I was literally lying in the gutter and remember thinking that I need to get myself to a better place or I was going to die. I called an ex-girlfriend for help, and she said, ‘If you promise to get sober I will pick you up.’ It was that event that finally set me on the road to my recovery.

When you went through your transition, did you ever imagine your life would take you into the Adult Entertainment Industry, public speaking, filmmaking and running a Dating website?
No way! If someone told me my future back then, I would have laughed in their face. I was a super shy person; I was angry all the time, and had really low self-esteem.
In addition to the surgery and the hormones, there was a process of maturing and developing my self-confidence, and that took time. I guess the most surprising thing that came from my sex change is how I’ve become a truly happy, healthy, person with good self- esteem. I just didn’t know that was possible before my change.

When you were going through your transition, at what point do the government officially recognise you as a ‘man’?
After my surgeon, Dr. Alter, performed my top surgery (to remove my breasts), he wrote a letter stating that I had undergone ‘sex reassignment surgery’ and that I am male and should be granted a gender change on my birth certificate.
It was never specified exactly what type of surgery I had—just that a doctor had performed ‘sex reassignment surgery.’ Some laws have changed since I did that many years ago and they also vary from state to state in the US. But, I have had my birth certificate replaced (not just amended) stating my gender is male, and all of my other legal documents were changed as well.

Were your family very accepting ?
I had lost contact with my parents for many years, mostly due to my drug and alcohol abuse. So I started my hormone treatments and had surgery before I re-established a relationship with them. After I was a couple years into my change I called them and made amends, which they accepted.
I’m so happy that now we have become very close – I would say closer now than ever before my change. My parents know what I do and who I am and they have been super supportive of my work. They see how I am changing the world in a positive way and how happy I am. I honestly think that they are proud of me. I think that’s what all parents essentially want from their kids: to see them be happy.

What do you think it is about seeing, in your own words, a ‘Man With A Pussy’ in porn that is so attractive to gay men? Who are your fans?
Well, I think what is attractive to my gay male fans is my masculinity. Of course not all gay men are into me. But the ones who are, find me sexy because they focus more on the whole male energy—and that is what I am about.
At this point I would say I pretty much have fans from all orientations and backgrounds who like my adult work — except for straight men. They actually like me for my activism more than my adult work, and that makes total sense to me.

You must get a lot of fan mail…
Yes, I get letters every day from people telling me how I’ve helped them. All of them inspire me but the ones that really stand out are from the younger generation who have seen my ‘It Gets Better’ video. They tell me that I gave them hope and that they no longer want to kill themselves. That makes me so proud and helps to keep me focused.
I frequently get messages from parents or teachers who deal with transgender youth and they are so grateful for me putting myself out there, which helps them understand what the kids are going through.
The other letters I get that stand out are from bio men who have wanted to have a vagina their whole lives but could never talk about it to anyone for fear of being attacked. They didn’t desire to be women—they just wanted to be, well…like me! So I gave them a safe space to talk about it. A few guys have actually had the surgery to become a ‘man with a vagina!’ That is just super fascinating to me.

In 2005, Allanah Starr was nominated for an AVN for Most Outrageous Sex Scene for your work together. Do you think featuring two trans stars is that outrageous? 
We did not win the award but we did make history. At the time it was shocking because it was the first scene ever in the adult entertainment business with a transman and transwoman having sex. Today I would say it’s comparatively normal. I have done other scenes with transwomen since then. That scene is still talked about in the industry and it is also used in some classrooms to illustrate trans sexuality.

Could you tell me a bit about your new film? 
‘Sexing The Transman’ is a documentary that I made about how the sexuality of different trans men has been affected by their use of testosterone or just by changing gender. I got the idea because I noticed how many transmen started to identify as gay men, whereas before, they were only attracted to women. This happened to me as well. So I felt the need to discuss this aspect of FTM sexuality.
The film includes intimate interviews and also some pretty graphic scenes with nudity and masturbation.
I was able to get a lot of different people to discuss this with me while I was on the road. It was my first effort producing a genre other than porn, and it was so well received all over the world. It even won an audience award at a queer film festival in Australia. It is still screening at some festivals this year, and I am planning to release it on DVD.
I have also produced a XXX series of adult films by the same name and have three volumes now. It is essentially like the mainstream documentary but has more sex in it and a great diversity of transmen. ‘Sexing the Transman XXX’ has been my best selling product ever! It was nominated for AVN and XBIZ awards and also won a feminist porn award.

What was it like living your life with a camera with you so much?
The documentary ‘Mr. Angel’, which is about my work in the adult industry as well as my personal life, had its world premiere last month at the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) 2013. It was so amazing!
The film took about six years to shoot because it was so difficult to obtain funding. And we also expanded the focus of the movie. About halfway through, I decided that I was willing to talk about my personal life, too.
At first I wanted to discuss only my adult work. I wanted to show the struggles of being a pioneer in an industry that is surprisingly closed minded. But I had begun to expand my work and started educating and public speaking, so of course the story had to change.
It was fine having Dan (the Director/Filmmaker) follow me around because our relationship started to evolve as well. We became like brothers basically, and that made me feel safe with him.
We are hoping that it will show people that guys like me are normal, and that people need to think outside the box and de-program themselves about so many things.
It’s funny that the film was hard to fund because of my ties to porn. But if you watch almost any television show you will see things way more disturbing than what I do. So I hope this film will help to diminish the stigma about adult work, because I’m able to show how positive and empowering it was for me.

Watch Tyra tell Buck that she would expect him to have a big dick!

I’m a big fan of Tyra Banks. What was she like? 
Well she was super cool, but that show itself was not something I was happy about. They actually lied to me to get me on the show. They said they would talk about my work and my life, and then when I got on the show it became all ‘Buck The Freak of Nature’ so I was really pissed off. But I guess I handled it well since I became Tyra’s most memorable guest of season 5!

What’s next for you?
I have so much traveling ahead of me! My speaking engagements have been really going well and I am working on a couple of new films. I have also been cast in a mainstream movie that will be shot in late August. I am pretty excited about trying something new. Also last year I was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, which works to help insure sexual freedom as a human right. It has been a big honor for someone like me (who never even graduated from high school) to be able to grow in so many ways, educate others, and have a positive influence. One of my dreams is to put all that together and give an awesome TED talk!

And finally, please can you tell me a secret. 
I am the one who farts on the airplane!

LINKS
http://www.buckangel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/officialbuckangel
https://twitter.com/buckangel