Johnny Science

Johnny Science (January 13, 1955 – December 14, 2007) was an American activist, make-up artist, musician, and drag king known for his work on behalf of drag kings, kink, trans men, and gay men. Through the 1980s and 90s, Science hosted drag king workshops and formed what is believed to be the first FTM meetup group in New York City, F2M Fraternity. He has been called "the unsung hero of female-to-male consciousness raising" in New York City.

Early life Science grew up in Englewood, New Jersey. He was assigned female at birth and began using cork makeup to playact in male drag when he was three or four years old. His parents were generally supportive of these artistic pursuits. In the early 1980s, prior to his transition, Johnny Science played as "Suzy Science" in the band Science. These shows often included him dressing up in hypermasculine archetypes (such as a biker) and using prosthetics to have sex with his partner at the time.

Johnny Science began to seek medical gender transition in 1986. "Rites of Passage" was published out of Tenafly, New Jersey. The events were initially hosted in Kit Rachlin's apartment Science's activism frequently was financially burdensome; in one piece of advertising from September 1990 he wrote, "I have been without a phone for 6 months after running up huge bills, calling T/S's, C/D's, and professionals all over the world!"

Sprinkle met Les Nichols, a trans man on testosterone who had recently had phalloplasty, at one of the F2M Fraternity meetings in 1989 and decided to film a pornographic documentary about a sexual experience between the two of them called "Linda/Les and Annie: the First Female-to-Male Transsexual Love Story." Science wrote and sang music for the film and had some involvement in directing and editing the film as well. and had a very mixed reaction from some in the transgender community due to some of the outdated language and attitudes Sprinkle displayed regarding Nichols' body and pre-transition life. He also provided information about phalloplasty in early meetings. During this time, Science sometimes went by John Grant and Johnny Armstrong. Science insisted he had come up with the term drag king during his lifetime. Science also aired a weekly cable television show "That Show! With Johnny Science" (also called Drag King Club with Johnny Science) on Manhattan Neighborhood Network community access television.