Jamie Raines

{{Infobox YouTube personality

| name = Jamie Lotun-Raines

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1994|02|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Colchester, Essex, England

| occupation = {{Hlist|Psychologist|YouTube personality}}

| education = {{ubl|University of Essex (MSc, PhD)}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Shaaba Lotun-Raines|25 September 2022}}

| website = [https://www.shaabaandjamie.com/ shaabaandjamie.com]

| channel_id = UCHSIA2JRC5PWvUX4Sl8OrcA

| channel_display_name = Jammidodger

| years_active = 2011–present

| genre = {{Hlist|LGBTQIA+|commentary|lifestyle and Inclusivity activist}}

| subscribers = 1.13 million

| views = 288 million{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/c/Jammidodger94/about|title=Jammidodger - YouTube|website=www.youtube.com}}

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| associated_acts = Noahfinnce, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard

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| stats_update = 9 January 2025

}}

Jamie Anthony Lotun-Raines{{cite tweet|number=1354875434962472960|user=jammi_dodger94|title=It’s officially OFFICIAL! I feel like I’ve posted about this a lot, and I have been Dr Raines since I passed my viv… |date=28 January 2021}}Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211208/4Vdz8sZhYoM Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20210723122145/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vdz8sZhYoM&t=35 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite AV media| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vdz8sZhYoM&t=35| title = FTM transgender: How I Chose my Name | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web |last1=Lotun |first1=Shaaba |last2=Raines |first2=Jamie |date=29 September 2022 |title=reacting to your wedding assumptions 👀 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3CM2V73_AM&t=674s |access-date=19 October 2022 |website=YouTube}} (born 19 February 1994{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LARg_qM2_0g|title=I Googled Myself || Birth Name & Income|date=16 June 2019 |via=www.youtube.com}}) is an English YouTuber, LGBTQ activist{{Cite web|url=https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/16303105.transgender-groom-hopes-win-prejudices-channel-4-show/|title=Transgender groom hopes to win over prejudices on Channel 4 show|website=Gazette|date=21 June 2018 }} and psychologist. His videos include commentary on gender identity and other LGBTQ+ issues as well as general lifestyle topics. Raines is a trans man and has documented his gender transition, including the effects of hormone replacement therapy and gender reassignment surgery.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/and-finally/this-transgender-man-documented-his-amazing-journey-on-youtube-for-over-five-years-35908441.html|title=This transgender man documented his amazing journey on YouTube for over five years|website=Independent.ie|date=8 July 2017 }} His channel, Jammidodger, has over one million subscribers.

Early and personal life

Raines is from Colchester in Essex. 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 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 with their help.{{cite book |last1=Light |first1=Kate |title=Gender identity : the search for self |date=2017 |location=New York, NY |isbn=9781534560246 |page=53}} 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).{{Cite web|url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/love-sex/relationships/a23707587/jamie-raines-shaaba-lotun/|title="My mum wouldn't accept my trans boyfriend"|date=11 October 2018|website=Cosmopolitan}}{{Cite web|url=https://metro.co.uk/2018/09/27/muslim-woman-set-to-marry-her-transgender-best-friend-whos-transitioned-from-female-to-male-7981612/|title=Muslim woman explains difficulties of marrying her transgender best friend|first=Faima|last=Bakar|date=27 September 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjZ97eKgNwC4j-z_6LDjfIg|title=Shaaba. - YouTube|website=www.youtube.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InR7x2ZdJAI&ab_channel=Jammidodger|title=Husband & Wife Q&A. - YouTube|website=www.youtube.com|date=25 September 2022 }} Both are bisexual.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3bIMM1ivVw|title=Bisexuals React to Bisexual TikTok|date=30 December 2020 |via=www.youtube.com}} The two met in a college art class and became close friends prior to Raines' transition. When Raines came out, 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.{{Citation |title=I guess I'm a Dr now?! 👩🏽‍🎓 [149] 730 Hours vlog | date=8 August 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2M4qu3Wg-Q |access-date=2023-06-05 |language=en}} Each makes semi-regular appearances on the other's YouTube channel.{{Cite web|url=https://thisissummer.co/representation/jamie-raines/|title=Jamie Raines|access-date=9 April 2021|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513054331/https://thisissummer.co/representation/jamie-raines/|url-status=dead}}

Raines received his Gender Recognition Certificate late in 2019, which allows him to be recognised as a man in marriage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZSnjZ822jQ|title=Why I Can't Get Married Right Now|date=4 September 2019 |via=www.youtube.com}} He describes this as marking the end of his transition process.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4V6AWD0tCU|title=This Marks The End of My Transition|date=13 November 2019 |via=www.youtube.com}} The couple had initially planned to marry in 2020 but they chose to delay the wedding due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, which would have prevented members of Lotun's Mauritian extended family from attending, eventually marrying in 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZnnVZWAZ9g|title=We Cancelled Our Wedding|date=12 August 2020 |via=www.youtube.com}}

Career

=Social media=

Raines started the YouTube channel Jammidodger in 2011. The title is a reference to his name and to Jammie Dodgers, a popular type of biscuit in the UK.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Having found YouTube videos to be a useful resource when discovering his own gender identity {{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/C17WLtdoMba/?locale=es_ES/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.instagram.com}} 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 memes and subreddits, 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.insider.com/youtube-transgender-community-responses-to-jk-rowling-2020-6|title=YouTube's transgender community is speaking out against JK Rowling's latest 'transphobic' comments|first=Lindsay|last=Dodgson|website=Insider}}

In 2020, both Raines and Lotun made videos as part of Southend Council's Protect Your Fam project to encourage social distancing, hand-washing and mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/18902097.southend-council-fork-10k-social-influencer-covid-campaign/|title=Social media stars push social distancing and face coverings in council's £10k Covid campaign|website=Echo|date=27 November 2020 }}

In addition to frequently appearing in videos with his wife, Shaaba, Raines has made videos collaborating with other YouTubers such as Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and Noahfinnce.{{Citation |title=Fears of Being LGBTQ+ Parents {{!}} ft. @jessicaoutofthecloset & Claudia | date=3 March 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bmhb9XVV0Y |access-date=2023-06-05 |language=en}}{{Citation |title=Trans Guys Comparing Transitions ft. Noah Finnce | date=10 April 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HXt6m7rvUg |access-date=2023-06-05 |language=en}}

Raines has a significant audience on both Instagram, with 235,000 followers, and Twitter, with 52,400 followers.{{Cite web |title=@jammi.dodger |url=https://www.instagram.com/jammi.dodger/?hl=en |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.instagram.com}}{{Cite web |title=@jammi_dodger94 |url=https://twitter.com/jammi_dodger94?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}} 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 in April 2020, playing video games while talking with viewers.{{Cite web |title=shaabaandjamie |url=https://www.twitch.tv/shaabaandjamie |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Twitch}}

=Research=

Raines has a master's degree and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Essex. He was awarded his doctorate in 2021.{{Cite thesis|url=http://repository.essex.ac.uk/29565/|title=Being Transgender: Effects of Behaviour, Arousal and Wellbeing|first=Jamie|last=Raines|date=9 January 2021|publisher=University of Essex|type=phd|via=repository.essex.ac.uk}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwanSrXOOH0|title=What Science Says About Trans Men|date=21 March 2021 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.essex.ac.uk/news/2021/03/17/sexual-responsiveness-of-transgender-men-matches-their-identity-new-research-finds|publisher=University of Essex|title=Sexual responsiveness of transgender men matches their identity|access-date=2022-05-30}} He has conducted research into the sexual response of transgender men{{Cite journal|title=Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men|first1=Jamie|last1=Raines|first2=Luke|last2=Holmes|first3=Tuesday M.|last3=Watts-Overall|first4=Erlend|last4=Slettevold|first5=Dragos C.|last5=Gruia|first6=Sheina|last6=Orbell|first7=Gerulf|last7=Rieger|date=26 February 2021|journal=Psychological Science|volume=32|issue=4|pages=485–495|doi=10.1177/0956797620971654|pmid=33635743|doi-access=free}} as well as other topics related to gender and sexuality.{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jamie-Raines|title = Jamie RAINES | University of Essex, Colchester | Department of Psychology}}

=Writing=

Raines' first book, The T in LGBT: Everything you need to know about being trans ({{isbn|9781785044298}}), was released on 30 June 2023, published by Ebury Publishing's Vermilion imprint.{{cite book | url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453728/the-t-in-lgbt-by-raines-jamie/9781785044298 | title=The T in LGBT | date=29 June 2023 }} An audiobook is also scheduled for release by Penguin Random House Audio, with narration by Raines and Lotun.{{Cite web |title=Audiobook recording |url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/CstyDHboJp2/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.instagram.com}}

Reception

Raines' series of daily selfies, which he took during three years of his gender transition, were compiled into a 20-second montage for the Channel 4 television documentary Girls To Men.{{Cite web|url=https://gcn.ie/trans-man-youtube/|title=Trans man shares his transition experience in amazing YouTube videos|date=20 December 2019|website=GCN}}{{Cite web|url=http://attitude.co.uk/article/watch-trans-man-took-a-selfie-every-day-for-three-years-during-transition/8400/|title=Watch: Trans man took a selfie every day for three years during transition|date=8 October 2015|website=Attitude.co.uk|access-date=8 April 2021|archive-date=19 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119191939/https://www.attitude.co.uk/article/watch-trans-man-took-a-selfie-every-day-for-three-years-during-transition/8400/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Tqo6tAPJg|title=Girls To Men - Jamie's Transgender Transmission Timelapse|date=8 October 2015 |via=www.youtube.com}}

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.{{Cite web|url=http://shortyawards.com/12th/jammi_dodger94|title=Jammi Dodger - The Shorty Awards|website=shortyawards.com}}

In 2022, Raines won the Online Influencer award at the British LGBT Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://britishlgbtawards.com/winners-2022/|title=Winners 2022|date=22 June 2022 }}