laurakinnys asked:
why are you so against trans people? i'm a sixteen year old kid and i'm doing what makes me comfortable. i'm transitioning safely with doctors who know more about this than you do. i'm not a boy bc i like baseball or because i don't like skirts, neither of those things are even true, it has nothing to do with gender roles, its about dysphoria. i'm doing what makes me happy. why are you against that? who am i hurting?
I have received this question before, framed the same way–that I am “against” trans people–and I hope I can answer it clearly here. I would like to limit my comments to girls/women. Although I have a number of concerns regarding MTFs, I will not get into that here.
I am not “against” trans people. I believe trans people deserve civil rights protections and should not be mistreated or discriminated against. What I am raising questions about is adults who are facilitating the medical transitioning of children and yes, “sixteen year old kids.” I have learned a tremendous amount since I started blogging, and my concerns have only become more intense over time. In a nutshell:
- The doctors who you think know so much have openly admitted that they THEMSELVES don’t know what future regret rates will be, nor the long-term impact of testosterone and other treatments on female bodies. The truth is that this is a massive, uncontrolled experiment you are participating in. I wrote about this on my Wordpress blog here: https://4thwavenow.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/kingpins-of-pediatric-transition-confess-we-have-no-idea-what-were-doingunf/
- Several of the effects of testosterone are permanent. At 16, you may feel 100% certain that this is what you want forever, but you can’t know that. No one can at 16. These are effects you will have to live with the rest of your life. There are a number of women who have now detransitioned from FTM who have to deal with that experience on a daily basis, and who have written very eloquently about it. Here is one: http://twentythreetimes2.tumblr.com/post/124439587294/hey-yo-im-a-dysphoric-female-and-ive-been
- There are FTMs who still identify as trans who are cautioning about the effects of “T”. Check out BrotherWarrior on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9go7OisFMDc
- I have no doubt that your experience of dysphoria is real. But there are other ways of dealing with it that don’t involve harming your body. Don’t take it from me–take it from people who have been there: redressalert, hot-flanks, twentythreetimes are good places to start.
- Finally, you ask: Who am I hurting? The main person you may be hurting is you. Maybe not the current “you.” But the future you. There are ways to express your identity that don’t involve permanent physical changes that may be harmful to your health, now and when you are an adult.




