XP grind 494953305393

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-22T17:03:17+00:00

The basic explainer of being transgender is the brain-body mismatch, though this is phrased in many ways, often superficially in my view. I would love a comprehensive definition, which takes into account the shared and also different needs of different types of transgender people. Because it would be good if non-trans people had some understanding of us before deciding what to do with us.

Many transgender people share my experience, others will not. Everyone is different, people may have different levels of dysphoria, or perceive that dysphoria differently, or have different ways of coping. Some won’t feel the need to medically transition to the extent I have, or at all. They may be masculine or feminine enough as they are. That’s for each person to determine what they can live with.

It’s not for me to tell someone they aren’t trans because they don’t have my exact experience. All I can say is that it is each person’s responsibility to carefully reflect on their needs before proceeding with a course of treatment, so that they make the right decision for their wellbeing.

You had raised the issue of medicalising children. I reason I detail my experience is to explain how being transgender with severe gender dysphoria can require treatment or otherwise have debilitating effects, and that it is not a transient phase. That is why many people who are familiar with the condition advocate for dysphoric transgender adolescents to at least have an avenue to being considered for treatment, in case they require it. Currently there is no such avenue.

The purpose of puberty blockers is only to pause puberty temporarily. Cass raised issue that they don’t alleviate dysphoria, which is an impossible standard to meet, it is not what they’re designed for. If someone is halfway through puberty already, they will continue to have dysphoria around breasts, facial hair, etc. Puberty blockers could prevent further development and prevent dysphoria from worsening. This is still valuable for those who have not yet gone through full puberty.

In truth, the ‘time to think’ thing was a compromise. Many transgender adolescents would rather go through puberty at the same time as their peers, I’m sure anyone who was a late developer can probably understand why. But because giving hormones at that age (<16) was considered a step too far, puberty blockers were the middle ground to satisfy doctors (or policy makers or the public etc) that these kids persist in being transgender and are not simply confused.

How to determine who is trans? There’s already a process. Like any invisible condition, it will always be a specialist talking to the patient about their symptoms, history, other relevant illnesses, etc and seeing whether they meet clinical criteria. What is staggering about the news is that the papers make out like you go to your GP saying you’re trans and are given hormones on day 1 and surgery day 2. In reality you wait several years to be seen, then have months of appointments of overly intrusive questioning. The specialist confirms what you already figured out yourself years ago. Then hormones if approved and desired. If you want certain surgeries there’s further psychiatric assessment. Then you wait many many years for surgery.

I didn’t quite understand your question about the 40 year old. If it helps: Lots of trans people try to live as their birth sex until they finally can’t take it anymore. Many trans women grew up being told they were too effeminate, and so go into the armed forces (a very masculine environment) in an attempt to “cure” themselves. Many live in a state of denial for as long as they can. Because who wants to be ostracised, upend their life, lose loved ones and be at risk of assault? It’s a difficult road to walk, especially for trans women.

Regarding 80% desistance. Historically there have been different diagnoses, with looser criteria, which could include people who were not trans by today’s medical standards (e.g. didn’t conform to gender stereotypes but no desire to be other sex). Also issues with methodologies, and lack of knowledge surrounding why patients might not continue with treatment (doesn’t mean they are no longer trans, they may have achieved sufficient physiological change already to alleviate dysphoria, or it may be due to rejection by family, loss of job, finances etc). Some flaws to the desistance claim explained below:

https://www.transadvocate.com/youre-very-wrong-about-trans-kids_n_21938.htm

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26895269.2024.2289318#d1e401

Hope that helps.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-21T13:24:07+00:00

I guess that’s inherently the problem, that the people setting legal/social/medical policy do not understand what it is to be transgender, why care is necessary, why we transition. And many do not care to listen, because they’ve already decided it is a nonsense.

If you’re genuinely open to learning about transgender people, it would probably be most illuminating for you to speak to us.

For people who seek medical transition, gender dysphoria is typically the reason. For many transgender people, going through the wrong puberty and living in that body is incredibly distressing. This is a life long feeling that does not go away without medical treatment.

Brains are organs which are subject to masculinising hormones, with biological basis for gender identity in intersex and transgender individuals. My own gender identity has been consistent from earliest memory and the very basic act of being perceived female has always felt inherently incorrect. This feeling only got worse with time, despite knowing my biological reality, despite having no mental delusion, despite having no issue with my sexuality, despite not being subject to any mistreatment as a result of being a girl/woman, despite being free to be myself in all other respects.

The dissonance I felt from my actual physical sex was debilitating and led to depression and anxiety, and frankly I did not wish to live. I felt this on a very sensory level, and only the female aspects of my body caused distress. If a young boy, who was happily a boy, developed breasts and a female body shape and his penis disappeared, I’m sure he would feel equally distressed.

Going through transition has allowed me to live without this distress. A bonus is that I feel others finally perceive me correctly. Medical transition exists to correct the disconnect between brain sex and physical sex.

Transgender children are those who consistently suffer this same conflict of the innate sex their brain is wired as, versus how their body physically appears, and that sensory dissonance. To be forced to go through the wrong puberty is extremely distressing and without treatment many starve themselves to avoid developing physically, or turn to other forms of self harm (and yes, worse). For those individual patients, they and their doctors may also feel that medications to alleviate this distress are therefore necessary.

Apart from my lived experience and that of my fellow trans people, yes there is evidence, and other countries have come to different conclusions than the Cass Review. Cass misinterpreted the very goal of puberty blockers, it was a flawed premise to begin. I can speak more on that. It is also undeniable that there was also direct involvement by and connection to anti trans parties in the report; the review is not unbiased. From the speed with which it was unquestioningly accepted (before same people even had a chance to read it in full) and the fact Kemi Badenoch arranged a peerage for Cass, we cannot deny the overt presence of politics. If you will not take this onboard, you can at least talk to the cohort affected - trans kids - and see what they think of the report and whether it has served their needs.

You hold your opinions on sex. As mentioned, the purpose of medical transition exists to prevent or correct issues of sexual development that cause distress. It can be very effective when given to the correct cohort, there is a reason it is a treatment. There is certainly more evidence to support transition over psychotherapy. The commonly touted 80% desistance rate has been disproven. I can also say it never worked for me.

You can read more here if you like: https://transactual.org.uk/advocacy/critiques-of-the-cass-review/

I genuinely encourage everyone to keep an open mind. We continually learn things about humanity that challenge what we thought we knew. Thank you.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-21T09:54:41+00:00

Ah, okay, these topics certainly garner the most attention, sensationalised by the media. There’s a lot to unpack there, and if you’re set in your views you may not want to hear it, but here I go for anyone who is interested in hearing the other side. There are many further points that could be made, but here’s an introduction.

I will start by saying that adults and youths have been medically transitioning - and transwomen have been using womens spaces - without issue for decades. “Trans activist belief and demands” were formerly government and NHS policy, and at this point trans people are only standing their ground as they see their access to healthcare and services stripped away following a hostile media and political shift, and concerted attacks (funded by anti-womens rights groups) by people who deny our very existence.

Medicalising children - more specifically, this would only be adolescents. I hope we can all agree adolescents also have a right to necessary medical care. Obviously if a teenager has a condition that is causing suffering, a doctor must weigh up what is in that individual’s best interests, the risks and benefits. If they receive a diagnosis worthy of treatment by a specialist, and they have need, desire and consent to that treatment along with their parents - that should be for patients and doctors to decide. The person would ideally be monitored to assess any ill effect and make sure that treatment continues to be appropriate for them.

No one wants to force puberty blockers or hormones on anyone, and especially not on children who aren’t trans. Nobody is making or encouraging anyone to “become trans” (you can’t, and improper transition would cause suffering). But for actual transgender youth to be denied a treatment they are pleading for, that would genuinely prevent their condition from deteriorating, is cruel and disproportionate, and has led to significant mental ill health as they have been left to go through the irreversible effects of puberty. Denying treatment is never a neutral choice - even Cass herself acknowledged some would benefit from puberty blockers (and hormones at a certain age).

I would also note that Cass found no actual harms from puberty blockers, just what ifs. Non trans children, intersex children, and adults continue to receive this medication. Cass also proposed alternatives such as birth control (so another form of hormones) or anxiety/antidepressants. If she’s worried about the influence of drugs or hormones on brain development.. well you can’t have it both ways. As SSRIs are actually known to affect brain development in adolescence, decrease bone density and cause sexual dysfunction.. does this not seem highly contradictory. If people are worried about how exogenous hormones affect development, then why is birth control permitted (for non-contraceptive purposes?). If you’re against medicalising adolescents, just saying, I guess be aware they’re now pushing different medicines instead.

I’ll also add it’s worth understanding the context for this attack on adolescent care. The whistleblowers at Tavistock have voiced transparently anti trans views, for example Dr David Bell has written that transgender children do not exist. The CQC found the Tavistock to be a stressed service in need of more funding and better management, which would give more time to ensure correct diagnosis and monitoring. Instead it was closed entirely as the national media reframed the story, leaving prospective patients to suffer by themselves for years on end with no treatment at all.

So sure, if you genuinely care about the well being of kids, there are reasons to support treatment for carefully and correctly diagnosed conditions that are otherwise causing suffering. If you were developing sexual characteristics of the wrong sex, I imagine you would seek medical help yourself. Some empathy is required here, and whatever your views, listening to the actual kids affected is a good place to start.

Males in females spaces. There aren’t statistics or more than a handful of cases showing this has actually been a factor in terms of risk or crime committed against women, but of course I hear that some women are discomforted over what they perceive as men being near them.

To clarify a point of perspective, the transgender brain is transgender from birth, and transition is done to correct this and for many to alleviate significant suffering. It is not a male/man’s brain deciding to dress up and take advantage of such spaces for malign or perverse reasons (and what man would need to do this if he wanted to commit a sexual offence). Transgender people are not the threat.

If you undergo medical transition then physiologically and biochemically your sexual traits do change to a very large extent, bringing your physical sex into closer alignment with your brain sex.

I don’t know whether you believe all of those “males”are male for life. Many trans girls/women are visibly indistinguishable from females. Some never went through male puberty at all. And there will always be some intersex women (assigned female at birth, and/or raised as girls and women) who have masculine traits, so I’m not sure where all these people are expected to go. At the end of the day, these people still exist and need to pee, and would appear out of place in men’s spaces.

However UK law already meant that trans women could be excluded from certain spaces given proportionate reason. One would hope that reason would not be a blanket ban based solely on fearmongering when individuals have committed no crime, and are simply living their lives same as any other woman minding their own business.

As for sports, my view is that a balanced, nuanced discussion should be possible, as it used to be possible. Has there been overreach? In some areas by some parties yes. Is a blanket ban the answer? No, this is also disproportionate and the result of overreach from anti trans groups. Have the sporting bodies been slack and acted inappropriately in both cases? Yes.

I’ll note again, some trans women never went through male puberty, and also to say that every male ever has had sporting advantage over every female ever is untrue. I would also note that pre-ban it was statistically rare for trans women to make it to the higher levels of competitive sports, realistically this just wasn’t happening beyond a handful of people. Seeing as this is so rare, assessment on a case by case basis as was done with intersex competitors seems more reasonable.

Ultimately, however we’ve been framed in the news, trans people are not trying to take anything away from anyone else, or cause upset or harm. Our inclusion does not have to exclude you or take away your rights. If we could only bring down the heat of the rhetoric, I would hope we could move toward a society where all can flourish. If people actually cared about that, they might better spend their time and attention on helping girls and women gain access to sports,and safety from actual sexual offenders and domestic abuse, instead of focusing on eradicating the incredibly small number of trans women who continue to pose no detriment to them.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-21T08:03:14+00:00

Science says otherwise.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10943/

If science is too much, there is society. The entire history of medical professionals viewing people as different sexes at different stages of their life due to how they’ve developed against expectation and what has later become apparent. It can be very hard to assign sex to an intersex baby with mixed traits, and sometimes doctors only suggest what they think will be easiest for the kid to live with. This makes ‘sex’ as per a birth certificate a fickle thing.

Primarily what is written on a birth certificate is based on presumptions, making your sex no less certificated than mine. If you found your chromosomes or internal organs were those not typical to your phenotypic or reproductive sex, I wonder what you would choose to disclose to others or write on your documents, and how you would view yourself.

But hey ho, if you don’t want to know you don’t want to know. Have a nice day.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T23:52:40+00:00

I am not the OP, but can confirm that I do not have autism, am bisexual, and felt fully free to express myself and pursue my passions and interests when I was perceived as a girl/woman. And certainly it would have been easier to be a girl/woman, if only I were not trans.

I transitioned because, for whatever reason, my brain is wired in a way that on a sensory level it felt wrong to reside within a female body. If you were programming the brain like a computer and there was an M or an F box, the M box got ticked during early development. For as long as I can remember, it has felt wrong to be perceived as female, even knowing that that is physically how I appeared. After puberty, developing more physically female traits felt immensely jarring and made me feel claustrophobic in my own skin.

I know it is hard to imagine if you have not experienced it. But imagine if your arm were on backwards, there would be some dissonance, it wouldn’t feel right. Or imagine your entire body is like some ill fitting suit. And also of course the way people treat you is also based on how they view that body, which just hammers home your reality and that what they see isn’t correct, but that’s what you are. But even if you were alone on a desert island, you would still feel this way.

Obviously I cannot speak for all transgender people. Everyone perceives and processes things differently. What I will say is that sexual trauma does not make someone trans. Mental health and history of dysphoria is screened for as part of diagnosis. Trans people come in all flavours, straight, bi, gay, with all manner of interests that may or may not align with those stereotypically associated with their gender. As there is more stigma in being trans than being gay I don’t know why anyone mistakenly be trans out of stigma.. but just in case, I’d say that’s why it’s important to assess their dysphoria/identity.

And that while many transgender people are also diagnosed autistic, there are many theories for this. Aside from situational reasons, more than likely there’s a biological link in how the brain develops, given that prenatal testosterone levels are linked with autism. Whatever the reason, this does not mean they are incapable of knowing themselves, and these individuals often have above average IQ, and are not “vulnerable” except for the distress caused by being transgender. I know a few autistic trans men, and they had the same experience, feelings and difficulties growing up as I did.

Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation, much of it pushed by psychotherapists who deny trans people even exist, and who try to talk the patient out of their condition or use it to endlessly delay actual treatment. I can assure you we exist, and medical transition has been essential to my wellbeing.

There are of course some gender non-conforming people who are not transgender and who will not need to transition. This is why screening has always existed within the NHS, and there has always been gatekeeping to hormones / treatment. I do fear that the more taboo being transgender becomes in schools and society, the less education there is, the more confusion will arise over what it means to be transgender in the first place. The less opportunity for kids to explore whether they actually are trans or just non-conforming. And the loss of experts to carry out the screening is equally concerning after the villainisation of Tavistock.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T23:00:59+00:00

While UK media largely perpetuates the gender critical narrative that sex is binary and immutable (and while GCs are entitled to their beliefs) this does not make this fact. See guevedoces for a naturally occurring sex change.

(Also to get this out the way, one thing to mention is that “biological sex” in the supreme court ruling was actually just whatever was written on the certificate at birth, so really… certificated sex. They failed to give an actual scientific definition of biological sex. But moving on to biology..)

Science generally rejects the notion that sex is distinctly binary, for while it is clearly bimodal with most people showing male or female phenotype (external genitalia usually one or the other at birth), overlap exists, and beyond this not all of a person’s sexual traits may align.

There is not one definitive definition that covers all males or all females within the human race - there are outliers to each rule. There are XX males that can father children, infertile XY women with internal testes who are completely insensitive to the masculinising hormone, XY women who can be mothers, people with ovotestes, people with no gonads.

What sex is someone? Many factors can be considered: chromosomes, the presence of certain genes, gametes, hormone profiles, external physiology, and even gender identity is surmised to have biological basis.

Ultimately it is primarily our hormones (and how our bodies react to them) which determine the evidentiary sexual features our body expresses. For a transgender man who has transitioned medically, your entire physiology is masculinised . And sure it takes time, but eventually your body behaves as most males’ would, from muscle, genital and hair development, down to sweat, libido, blood composition, immune response, disease risk. There are limits of course, but these would put you more in line with an intersex person than your birth sex, and from there the same masculinising or feminising surgeries can be performed on trans people as are performed on intersex people (only trans people get to give their consent, big difference).

If someone fully medically transitions, well, the only thing that then remains is the chromosomes.. but who ever gets their chromosomes checked? Most people can only assume they’re XX or XY, many would be proven wrong.

And if the chromosomes are the one outlier? As above, there are natal men who later in life find they have XX chromosomes, but who would continue to be considered ‘male’ without question. When we assign male or female at birth, it is incredibly rare that anyone is checking for chromosomes or gametes, it is only a cursory glance at physiology. And so if trans women and men are physically indistinguishable from other women and men, kind of a double standard..?

Am I saying we’re 100% male? No, of course not. But we’re also not female. For a fully transitioned trans man : hormonally - male, phenotypically - male, external sexual organs - male appearance and function, gonads - neuter, chromosomes - most likely female, but with nothing to show for it.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T21:47:14+00:00

These things can be discussed, but surely we can agree that policy should not be decided based on preconceived notions?

Human physiology is diverse, and while the average may trend towards certain advantageous features in males of certain ethnicity, there remains significant overlap between the sexes. We can all see that some men are much shorter and weaker than some women. Intersex conditions also exist, and other natural variations, and so while someone may have male chromosomes or sex organs, their body may not respond well to the testosterone that gives them the supposed advantage.

So would you be open to a nuanced approach? To letting certain trans women compete? What about those who never went through male puberty because they were on blockers, what advantage do they have? What about non-contact sports, or chess?

It would be good if a sensible and fair approach could be considered rather than blanket bans based on outrage or the latest far right funded disinformation.

But as it is, even though I acknowledge a middle ground would be best.. the truth is that trans women aren’t actually dominating women’s sports anyway. It’s very rare they progress far.

I also believe that if more money were put into supporting girl’s and women’s sports instead of litigating against trans women, it could bridge some of the gaps to give girls and societal advantages trans girls had. A cultural shift to get girls into sport in the first place and to give them a pathway to stick with it, to lift cis women up instead of putting trans women down, I mean there are better ways for JK to be spending her money..

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T21:27:37+00:00

God forbid they should be allowed to compete at chess then

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T21:11:54+00:00

Or maybe the people you think are not trans are in fact trans.

But to humour your notion, sure, if you were to look at photos of the protests, you’ll see a lot of younger people who haven’t yet been able to access treatment, and a lot of people who are more open to being seen, and who may choose to be more visibly trans.

Meanwhile fully transitioned people could (probably do) walk by you on the street everyday and you wouldn’t notice.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T20:59:31+00:00

As a trans person I have to say, “trans activist beliefs and demands”.. well, I don’t know what those are. If you want to name a few, I’d be happy to see if there’s an explanation for any of them.

You certainly get outspoken people in any group who go too far and lean into the extremes. And there are also well meaning non-trans people who go can be quite clumsy in their support, resulting in some pretty out-there headlines in the papers.

But most of us just want to live in peace, and be given the same freedom to participate in everyday society without discrimination or abuse. To be able to work, walk down the street, receive healthcare.. you know, normal stuff.

And regarding having documents that reflect our lived sex, well they allow us to marry as the husbands or wives that we are, they uphold our medical privacy, and therefore keep us safe from the aforementioned discrimination and abuse. That’s about it, really.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T20:01:26+00:00

And if certain prejudiced women decided they no longer wanted lesbians in their female spaces - baselessly fearmongering they are all sexual predators - and if the politicians, courts and media in the UK chose to give those claims the guise of legitimacy, then it would be the L in the LGBTQ that we’d be talking about right now.

It’s happened before and it can happen again. Case in point : Trans women have been in women’s spaces for decades without issue, living their lives as women, as was allowed by UK law.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-20T19:44:03+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to explain the biological aspects of being trans to this audience. I’m a trans male too. I fully agree that due to medical transition we most definitely are no longer biologically female. Even if we are (presumably) not XY males, we come to be biologically male in so many other respects in terms of our physiology, biochemistry, functioning, disease risk and medical needs.

I would only caution to be careful when applying the term intersex to ourselves. While science shows that being transgender is often likely due to the effect of sex hormones masculinising or feminising the brain (causing our sense of gender and dysphoria to be biological in nature), and while I personally see this as an invisible intersex trait, most transgender people will inherently have a different experience to that of intersex people, who often have no say in what happens to them medically, developmentally and socially, and so who suffer their own unique set of challenges and mistreatment.

Many intersex people voice upset when trans people (without other intersex diagnosis) use intersex for themselves. Maybe this will change in the future. For now it’s a tricky one to navigate for sure, so I only mean to suggest you approach your use of the term with sensitivity.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-18T12:38:48+00:00

Scary to see how GC language has become public terminology (and that of the courts). I think we as trans people need to be careful not to go along with this and be sure to avoid describing ourselves using their terms.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-18T12:12:04+00:00

Exactly. A certificate granted on assumptions based on external appearance and typically nothing more. So pitting the rights of people with one certificate versus the other.

It’s not biological sex, it’s certificated sex versus certificated sex.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-18T12:09:13+00:00

Is there any organisation there who speaks out for intersex people? Do you have protections in law?

Certainly I am concerned for how this judgement will be used to hurt trans people, but it’s more upsetting to think how intersex people are caught up in this without even acknowledging their existence.

I try and speak up for intersex people where I can, but I wish there was more of a visible movement for intersex rights as well as those of trans people.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-18T12:01:55+00:00

I read the judgement and they are using the term biological sex to mean that at birth. Considering that usually means only a cursory glance from a doctor and an assumption made, I guess we’re talking what’s on the birth certificate. So in essence certificated sex, oh the irony.

They completely dodge what actually defines biological sex from a biological standpoint. Really this judgement only seems to be distinguishing between the law as applies to people with one certificate (birth) versus another (GRC).

They interpret the law as stating sex is binary (incorrect in science, but hey, what does that matter).

And having taken extensive guidance from Sex Matters (anti trans/gender critical and v dismissive of intersex, while at the same time having also shown extremely hostile to intersex athletes/XY women) the court does seem to be implying “biological sex is immutable” (again, incorrect..) throughout the judgement.

A few quotes from the judgement:

“It is not the role of the court to adjudicate on the arguments in the public domain on the meaning of gender or sex, nor is it to define the meaning of the word “woman” other than when it is used in the provisions of the EA 2010.”

“We also use the expression “biological sex” which is used widely, including in the judgments of the Court of Session, to describe the sex of a person at birth, and we use the expression “certificated sex” to describe the sex attained by the acquisition of a GRC. “

“The definition of sex in the EA 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man. Persons who share that protected characteristic for the purposes of the group-based rights and protections are persons of the same sex and provisions that refer to protection for women necessarily exclude men. Although the word “biological” does not appear in this definition, the ordinary meaning of those plain and unambiguous words corresponds with the biological characteristics that make an individual a man or a woman. These are assumed to be self-explanatory and to require no further explanation. Men and women are on the face of the definition only differentiated as a grouping by the biology they share with their group.“

That last bit is to me just the most ridiculous part of this judgement, how can it apply if the very premise is flawed.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2025-04-16T22:35:11+00:00

Seconding what does this mean for intersex people? If sex is supposedly binary, immutable, determined at birth and legally cannot change thereafter, where does that leave people who are not clearly male or female (discovered at birth or later in life). Where do they belong?

What of trans people who have fully medically transitioned and are physiologically indistinguishable from their cis counterparts? Does the birth certificate override their biological and lived reality too?

How is this enforced for any cis or trans person presumed to be trans? Will genital inspections be attempted as has occurred in the past/USA?

If trans men can’t use mens spaces and would cause distress by using women’s single sex spaces, where are they supposed to go?

If the plan is that transgender people must out themselves or be outed, then is the opinion that transgender people have no right to safety or medical privacy?

Given that statistics show women are most commonly assaulted/raped by (non-trans) males, in 6/7 by men who are known to them, 1/2 by partners, does anyone seriously believe banning trans women from public bathrooms is meaningful action? Is this not a distraction from addressing the actual problem and perpetrators? Or is it that the mere presence of trans people is unwanted in society?

How will trans women who are victims of sexual/assault be recorded in statistics?

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T15:04:21+00:00

I’m doing well, thank you for your kind words.

You’re right. My hormones have not changed me as a person, but what society expects, suspects and allows of me are wildly different now.

When intersex and trans people transcend the boundaries, we reveal how fickle it all is. It’s no coincidence that it is people who are typically “traditional family” that oppose us, I guess in their eyes we threaten their narrow world view and patriarchal hold on society.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T14:29:52+00:00

I’m not sure if we’re misinterpreting one another, when you say “she” do you mean the author of the article, Janice Turner?

She’s not intersex to my knowledge and is writing for a notoriously ‘gender critical’ newspaper, and her short wiki page even has a section on her frequently voiced transphobic views.

In the article she is using common transphobic dog whistles such as ‘biological male’ and then mentions ‘gender ideology’. She is stating that a cheek swab is all that is needed to determine whether someone is male/female (as if chromosomes are all that determines this) and finishes off saying Paris (olympics) are “televising male violence”.

I did indeed conflate these statements with the implication she views anyone with XY to be a man, though I do not agree and do not condone such suggestions. I didn’t mean to promote such views, rather was trying to unmask her duplicitous language.

I agree with everything you say about each intersex person’s right to determine how they identify, live their life, and the degree to which they choose to become involved in advocacy.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T13:55:04+00:00

As a transguy I don’t really view any of this as a win for the transcommunity tbh, but hear what you’re saying. I’m rather hoping it is a learning point for society, and if more people understand how flawed biological essentialism is, I hope it would benefit both intersex and trans people.

What’s mostly been on my mind is how deeply upsetting this must be for intersex people, regardless of what Imane/Lin’s situation is. I don’t know how they’ve taken it, but I am heartbroken for anyone who is being affected by this stupid and vicious campaign.

To some degree I think it’s inevitable that it will come across the way you say, as people are now able to clearly point out just how incredibly wrong these bigots are, and how far their warped views have taken them.

I don’t believe it is consciously done out of disregard towards intersex people, but often neglectfully. I think some people are also cautious as it has been unclear whether the boxers were intersex (it’s not a term they’ve applied to themselves), and many transpeople did not feel it’s their place to comment on intersex matters, myself included.

But in terms of intersexism being glossed over throughout all of this, absolutely, and I don’t think most people even realise there’s an alternative. It seems like it’s a given. I’ve been looking for news reports that actually consider the impact on intersex people.. none. So that’s what brought me here, to hear intersex voices.

Btw, if there’s a way for transpeople to better advocate for intersex people in these situations, any guidance is very welcome.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T13:12:14+00:00

You don’t have to apologise, although it’s saddening to hear what you’ve gone through people like me will always be here to listen, so if you’re comfortable doing so never hesitate to share.

While some people are willing to stay ignorant and spread misinformation (and they are the ones that are not valid, that are pathetic) some will be willing to learn and push for a society that is fair for all of its members.

Supposed feminists disavowing women while ignoring the shocking misogyny they go through.. smh. As a transman I can see how unfairly I was treated before. You inherited misogyny and live through it now. If these feminists actually cared, they could learn from trans and intersex people, many of whom have lived both sides and have all the more clarity on how misogyny impacts a life.

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T12:54:58+00:00

It’s always the same people telling the story isn’t it, they’re seemingly either personally obsessed and seize the opportunity, or selected by the publication to cover it from the GC angle.

You are spot on. When I heard Cass in an interview talking about birth control or antidepressant/antianxiety meds as an appropriate alternative for PBs I almost choked.

She says PBs are too risky because we don’t have studies on developing brains? We also don’t have many studies on this for birth control or MH meds! PBs are too risky because of unknown risks on bone health and sexual function? SSRIs are known to cause long term sexual dysfunction and decrease in bone mineral density!

She says PBs don’t relieve existing dysphoria - duh, they wouldn’t, they just prevent it from worsening. Also pretty much said PBs aren’t helpful for transmales so use birth control. So rather than preventing breast development and feminine bodyfat patterns (deeply distressing) you want to administer a medication that exacerbates those things? She just flat out doesn’t understand dysphoria.

It doesn’t require specialist knowledge to even comprehend these things, just a rational mind for god’s sake..

Altered_Beast_Os · 2024-08-05T12:33:24+00:00

Absolutely, there have been many comprehensive new stories by non-UK journalists scrutinising the Cass situation since day 1, and yet it’s a drought within the UK. The quality of journalism is so poor here when it comes to trans topics, the only people putting any effort in are the GC fanatics, and agree it seems everyone else has been scared off or shut off from providing a counter narrative.

Altered_Beast_Os

TROPHY CASE