I’ve been thinking about this lately, I kind of tend to say yes but I’d be willing to compromise if trans women stopped trying to demand entry to…This is a fascinating thread which touches on several posts I and others have made on the subject of the medicalization of GID/gender dysphoria. Read all the comments if you have time; there is some interesting nuance. The big question that arises for me after reading all the comments is:
Given how extreme surgery and hormones are as a treatment—a lifelong, highly invasive treatment—why aren’t they seen as the very last resort?
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* Actually, the other problem is that hormone therapies aren’t equal. Testosterone is irreversible, period. If your body’s ever been on testosterone, whether natural or artificial, there’s no going back. When MTF kids call testosterone a poison they’re being literal (shortens your lifespan, increases risk of heart disease, etc… to say nothing of reshaping the body). Estrogen really doesn’t do much and can be taken for psychological benefits. Yet everyone treats the two as being Exactly The Same Thing
THIS^
If I had to give ONE reason why I’m writing this blog, it is that testosterone treatment, in only a few weeks, creates permanent changes–if nothing else, to the vocal cords. If a teen girl takes T and decides later that she has changed her mind, she will still have committed herself to a deepened voice and likely ambiguous gender presentation for the rest of her life. It’s huge and irreversible, like dbrvnk said. And the detransitioned women I’ve read about also say the changed voice is a major issue in their lives.
