First Testosterone Shot !!
Title
First Testosterone Shot !!
Description
Chella Man is a nineteen-year-old artist and YouTuber who has risen to popularity on Instagram, where he has over twenty thousand followers. He describes his gender as being “genderqueer mentally, and FTM physically”, and he is currently taking undergoing hormone replacement therapy and pursuing top surgery. His art ranges from fashion pieces to paintings, and has been likened to the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. His series of photographs, entitled “Lines of Dysphoria” was recently featured on them.us, a new LGBT pop culture website.
In the video “First Shot of Testosterone !!,” published on his YouTube channel in June, viewers witness Chella Man starting hormone therapy by self-injecting testosterone into his stomach. The video has thousands of views. In the video, Chella is accompanied by his girlfriend, MaryV Benoit, a photographer and artist, who takes pictures of him during the shot, and his mother, who teaches him how to self-inject. While this video follows a common trend among trans YouTube communities, sharing testosterone shots and testosterone updates, the video strays from the norm of these videos in many ways. While many popular transmasculine YouTubers are white and trans men, Chella instead represents a genderqueer and POC transition. Since media lacks representation of genderqueer or non-binary people following a medical transition path, this depiction of transition is particularly valuable. Chella is also deaf, with Cochlear implants, and throughout the video, you can see him using American Sign Language. In his other videos, he talks about the ways that being deaf has impacted his trans identity and his transition. In one video, he talks about how when he puts on his Cochlear implants, he hears his voice dropping. While Chella does still hold relative amounts of privilege in comparison to many other trans people, his videos and photographs have diversified the normative Instagram and YouTube transmasculine community.
In the video “First Shot of Testosterone !!,” published on his YouTube channel in June, viewers witness Chella Man starting hormone therapy by self-injecting testosterone into his stomach. The video has thousands of views. In the video, Chella is accompanied by his girlfriend, MaryV Benoit, a photographer and artist, who takes pictures of him during the shot, and his mother, who teaches him how to self-inject. While this video follows a common trend among trans YouTube communities, sharing testosterone shots and testosterone updates, the video strays from the norm of these videos in many ways. While many popular transmasculine YouTubers are white and trans men, Chella instead represents a genderqueer and POC transition. Since media lacks representation of genderqueer or non-binary people following a medical transition path, this depiction of transition is particularly valuable. Chella is also deaf, with Cochlear implants, and throughout the video, you can see him using American Sign Language. In his other videos, he talks about the ways that being deaf has impacted his trans identity and his transition. In one video, he talks about how when he puts on his Cochlear implants, he hears his voice dropping. While Chella does still hold relative amounts of privilege in comparison to many other trans people, his videos and photographs have diversified the normative Instagram and YouTube transmasculine community.
Creator
Man, Chella
Source
Publisher
Chella Man, YouTube
Date
June 30th, 2017
Format
Moving Image
Language
English, American Sign Language
Type
Video
Citation
Man, Chella, “First Testosterone Shot !!,” An Archive of Trans Culture, accessed October 28, 2026, https://transcultural.oberlincollegelibrary.org/items/show/11.