Always worth re-sharing this.
1. We are all flawed, traumatized humans at the end of their rope. Many of our actions say more about the conditions we live under than who we are as people.
2. No one is disposable. No one is unsalvageable.
3. Life holds greater value than being right or comfortable. Hurt is preferable to death.
4. No one should be deprived of community.
5. Harm does not require further harm. Punishment does not equate protection or healing.
A large, non-clinical study has confirmed the overlap between autistic people and gender diversity, finding that nearly one in four gender diverse respondents were also on the spectrum.
“We identified 55 studies that consist of primary research on this topic, of which 51 (93%) found that gender transition improves the overall well-being of transgender people, while 4 (7%) report mixed or null findings. We found no studies concluding that gender transition causes overall harm.”
“I am currently recovering from top surgery. But I feel as if it is not top surgery I am recovering from. It is spending years — my entire life — in a body I do not connect with.This is not recovery. This is healing.“
From Pink News:
It’s illegal to impose restrictions on the bathrooms that trans people can use, a court in Japan has ruled.
A trans woman brought her case against the government to a court in Tokyo, arguing that her workplace discriminated against her when it limited the bathrooms that she could use.
The woman, who worked for the government at the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, will be paid damages of ¥1.32 million.
Previous studies have reported that the regret rate among transgender men and women who have transitioned are between 2 and 4 percent. In other words: No more than four out of 100 regret having transitioned.
That is an extremely low number, given the way trans people may be treated in our societies.
A new study from the Netherlands may indicate that the regret rate can be even lower.
Only 0.6% of trans women and 0.3% of trans men who underwent gonadectomy (i.e. genitial surgery) were identified as experiencing regret.
The trans people included were patients at the largest Dutch gender identity clinic, which treats more than 95% of the transgender population in the Netherlands.
For Trans Awareness Week, let’s talk trans youth.
Trans youth have increasingly become a focal point for those who actively seek to undermine trans people and our rights. So let’s note a few things:
1) The linked study only adds to the mounting scientific evidence that “children develop a sense of identity at an early age, that this identity is not necessarily determined by sex assigned at birth, and that children may hold on to this identity even when it conflicts with others’ expectations.” In short - trans youth know who they are. 2) It should be pretty intuitive, but the science backs it up: trans youth who receive support for who they are do better. Across a growing number of studies on the topic trans and gender expansive youth who are supported and affirmed by their families see decreased incidences of depression, anxiety, suicidal attempts/ideation. 3) The current standards of care for trans youth begin with purely social changes (ie. dress/appearance, names, pronouns) for youth age 3+, then proceeding - if appropriate and necessary - to largely reversible medical interventions (ie. puberty suppression) age 9+, before moving to the more irreversible interventions (ie. hormone therapy, surgeries) only once the child reaches the age of medical consent - typically age 16+ and has met appropriate clinical criteria. These steps are slow, require extensive consultation with medical and mental health professionals, and have demonstrated positive impacts both short and long-term. 4) While studies will continue to delver more into these topics, the medical and scientific consensus - as articulated by a recent policy document from American Academy of Pediatrics - is clear in its recommendation of “providing youth with access to comprehensive gender-affirming and developmentally appropriate health care.”
Whether framed as overt attacks or more veiled concerned-trolling the efforts to undermine appropriate care and support for trans youth are likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Please make sure you are standing up to support and affirm trans and gender diverse folks of all ages.
“Scholars of the brain are fond of saying “what fires together, wires together,” which refers to the brain’s tendency to form neural networks (pathways in the brain that form certain thought, feeling and behavioural responses) that become stronger and stronger every time they are used. Trauma theory holds that traumatized inviduals — and, I would hypothesis, queer and trans community as a whole — have well-worn neural networks shaped around the deeply held physical sensation that we are constantly in danger, that we are bad and unloveable, that others are untrustworthy and violent. Every time we are abused, discriminated against or neglected, those neural networks become stronger, while our neural networks associated with safety and loving relationships atrophy. We become physically less capable of imagining a world where being with others is not synonymous with being unsafe.”
Read the whole thing.
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking that even the smallest bigotries and conflicts feel so much worse when it’s coming from other queers, where it’s easier to brush off the hatred coming from cisheteronormative folks, this is a good study into just why that feeling exists.
What happens when your gender doesn’t fit neatly into the categories of male or female? Even mundane interactions like filling out a form or using a public bathroom can be a struggle when these designations prove inadequate. In this groundbreaking book, thirty authors highlight how our experiences are shaped by a deeply entrenched gender binary.
You can get a copy from Amazon
Or directly from Columbia University Press with code CUP30 for 30% off!
🌈
I met Dr Hatfield at the Gender Odyssey conference and found his answers refreshingly honest. Above all, they are easy to understand for someone who has no medical background but wants more information to be empowered to advocate for their choices. His approach – aligned with my philosophy of inclusive transition for all – is always to meet the individual where they are.
Feel free to ask your questions in the comments!
Älskar att se min ansvariga läkare calling out the terf bullshit. 10/10!
Anti trans hysteria hurts cis women too, especially gay/gnc cis women
Protip: most people who are “bathroom vigilantes” are conservative straight folks who probably can’t tell a butch lesbian from a trans woman (or a trans man, for that matter). I do want radfems, especially the butch/GNC ones, to ask themselves if they’d be comfortable being forced into the men’s room by a straight soccer mom if they got to force trans women out of the women’s restroom.
The comments on the article are basically a bunch of people going “well she dressed like a man so it was her fault” like I thought we moved on from the ‘girls can’t wear pants’ mentality??
wow look it’s exactly what we knew was going to happen
I’d just like to remind all TERFs who might be reading that this is the world that you built. This is the world that you fought for for all of those decades; one where overbearing misogynistic fascists police lesbians’ wardrobe choices. So let’s have a slow-clap for Janice Raymond et al. Well done, ladies! Your lives have clearly been well-spent.
(Source: Pink Black Helsinki blog) (anonymous submission)
On September 12, 2018, a group of non-binary people and their supporters took over the trans clinic of Helsinki. With the occupation the activists demanded equal rights to hormonal and surgical treatments for non-binary patients, and the abolition of the clinics’ gatekeeper cistem. As of summer 2018, both of the two trans clinics in Finland have refused to treat people with non-binary diagnosis. Before 2018, non-binary people had some limited access to hormonal and surgical treatment that people with binary diagnosis are entitled to.
Part of the group locked themselves with chains onto the structures of the waiting room and the police was called to cut them off. Seven were walked or dragged out of the building by the police and six were detained, some of whom were given fines. Everyone caught in the action was released the same evening.
“It was totally worth it”, said one of the non-binary people after being released from the police station: “direct action is needed for us to be heard. The new treatment policies have caused enormous distress for the whole trans community here. We will continue to take action until our demands are met.”
Pink Black Helsinki warmly thanks all participants and supporters. This is only the beginning!
The occupation was recorded and livestreamed (up to the point where the police shut down the camera) and can be viewed here.
The Helsinki trans clinic has since informed the Transgender Support Center that they are planning to begin treatments of non-binary people again next year, but the struggle to end institutional gatekeeping continues.
