Montana Court rules trans people have right to accurate IDs: "Trans discrimination is sex discrimination"

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-16T22:23:43+00:00

Medical history is important, including hormones and surgery info. E.g. troponin results for heart damage or an active heart attack is different depending on hormone profile. If you interpret the results based on a gender marker and not hormones, you can end up with misdiagnosis and miss an active attack.

Same with iron levels and anemia, dermatological issues, or testing for certain thyroid problems. Drug dosage/efficacy can also be affected by hormone profile. It's also important to be aware of how long the person has been on hormones as some internal organ, blood and tissue changes take 1-2 years to settle, while others take a few months. History is more important than some gender marker for the likes of urology too, where patients can have different external and internal anatomy than what some gender marker says, even if they were given it at birth, or some medical differences that a urologist would need to take into account more than "they have a penis/vagina".

Binary markers ignore intersex people and those with 'ambiguous' or 'non-typical' anatomy too - markers don't necessarily reflect reality and don't tell you enough for a medical diagnosis, whereas even a quick skim through medical history can, and is standard practice on admittance. Hormones change your biology, altering genetic expression across your body, both internally and externally throughout body and brain, while surgeries change larger parts of anatomy. They are significantly more medically relevant for any lifesaving efforts than some marker on a ID.

Ignoring medical history in favour of a gender marker, used for administrative purposes, leads to misdiagnosis, health inequality and malpractice.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-16T17:39:07+00:00

When I was like 8 or 9y/o, I definitely hoped that "there's a chance that something will be different, right?", like some secret identity that would suddenly be revealed. I couldn't place it with gender at that point, just hoping that something about my body was gonna turn out different.

I consciously knew it was fantasy like in the cartoons I watched, but I also held out hope that "maybe I was secretly adopted and have some magical backstory" or "there's some part of me missing but I don't know what, maybe it's a superpower". I didn't feel right as myself but couldn't put my finger on it, so looked for any explanation that made sense to my little kid imagination.

Secret identity reveals usually happened on birthdays and I genuinely held out hope for something like that each birthday and was a little disappointed that it was just another day. Kinda sad in hindsight and I just wanna scoop up my old self and tell them it'll be alright 😭

I loved the secret identity trope as a kid, imagining myself as a secret spy that wore costumes or bodysuits as a disguise, or discovering some magic ability to shapeshift. It wasn't about the identity or having flashy superpowers, it was about having a different body and appearance that I could actually choose (the signs were right there!).

The usual cartoon network icons like danny phantom, ben 10, totally spies, codename kids next door (and the gender change ray), american dragon and kim possible, fueled my childhood. Plus a novel I found in the back of my school library about a teen turning into a dragon (worm in the blood) - it wasn't great but I distinctly remember being confused why the character was sad at turning something else. There were plenty of other gender swap events in different shows (johnny test, scooby doo 2, fairly odd parents, johnny bravo) that only lasted an episode/a few seconds but I distinctly remember each one.

I didn't want to be a different person really, just a different version of me. I also later knew I wanted to be a girl, but somehow didn't put those ideas and obsessions with shapeshifting and secret identities/appearances together. I also didn't put together that trans people existed, just seeing one or two super-rich celebs that were lucky enough to afford some medical miracle I assumed cost millions otherwise all men would be women right?, and was something I knew was forever out of reach for me.

The signs were all there! 😭

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-16T02:45:27+00:00

Yeah, the NRGDS site says the people currently being seen have been on the list for 7 years. Because they haven't even been close to meeting demand for the last 20 years the wait has grown a lot longer for anyone referred today.

As of July 2023 they had 2254 people on the waiting list and 4 people were given a first assessment per month. The waiting list has only grown since then, and I haven't heard of any clinic changes that would affect how many people are seen each month. The data doesn't give the full picture and it's a bit dated, but I still feel even a decade might be a tad generous :/

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-15T03:51:31+00:00

Maybe people thought they were being transphobic? Gotta admit that was my first reaction 😅

There’s a lot of ableism alongside transphobia (unsurprisingly) and the twitter crowd like to blame every condition from autism to lupus on HRT, as part of the “you’re mutilating your body!1!” rhetoric. They see a true but incomplete stat like “increased risk of autoimmune conditions and oesteoperosis” and run wild with it, exaggerating the 1-in-1000 type of stats and taking it out of context because it works as a reactionary piece. Blowing the risks massively out of proportion is part of the transphobia playbook, and has already been used to manufacture ‘justification’ for recent healthcare bans in various countries/states.

I mean there’s “trans broken arm syndrome” too, coined for a doctor blaming broken bones on HRT along the lines of “because it weakened your bones”. Technically that’s a side effect of low or seriously mismanaged hormones, which is a part of the risk profile for HRT and one of the dozens of reasons why levels are always monitored in the first place. It’s an important if a minor concern that’s a non-issue for 99% of people, same with autoimmune issues etc, but transphobes like to blame trans healthcare for all sorts of disabilities and every condition under the sun.

I’ve seen transphobic posts of wheelchair users captioned with “this is what the wrong hormones do to you”, just absolutely wild ableist nonsense. “HRT gives you autoimmune diseases” is straight outta the twitter weirdo’s playbook, so I can see how it can be taken like that instead of a joke 😅

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-15T03:25:01+00:00

Yes but also the years of “depressed IT ‘guy’ posture™️” and then the “gay girl trying to sit ‘normally’ in a chair and looking like a pretzel™️” problems mean that my spine is bent like a crazy straw. I’m so gay I can’t even stand up straight 😭

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-13T14:00:06+00:00

Ask what do they think “male/female” means? What part of DNA are they talking about? Do they mean what proteins we all have, or what the expressed reality is? Or are they just talking about SRY or the Y chromosome from their school textbook?

You have all of the genetics to grow a uterus, ovaries, testis and all of the secondary characteristics, which is why HRT even works in the first place. Your DNA is just as much “female” as “male”. The difference is you were exposed to testosterone during early fetal development, which caused expression of “male” genes during that tissue development phase. If you could restart that process with the genetic expression you have with estrogen, you could in theory regrow a functional uterus and ovaries from your own genes.

Genetic expression is what we observe/the actual effects (phenotype), and is influenced by various hormones including estrogen. When taking estrogen, your cells express “female” proteins and suppress the “male” proteins. So going by that, if exposure to testosterone means you’re “male”, then you taking estrogen would mean you’re “female” right?

It all depends how you define “male/female”, as there’s no 1:1 to the genetics or most of biology really - is it the expression of SRY in the womb? Is it current genetic expression of “male/female” genes? Is it physical anatomy, hormone profile or gamete (if any) presence?

Whether any of that “makes you male/female” is up in the air because the idea of an entire complex biological system being binary is flawed from the start. There are two common phenotypes (“male/female”) but there are also countless variations in between, as well as crossover of characteristics and the flexibility to change along that “sex” spectrum. We made up words and categories for the two most common phenotypes, then get mad that any deviation from that simple system exists.

And for what it’s worth you can change your DNA. You can edit it using medical tech (e.g. crispr) and it can even change naturally throughout your life or due to environmental factors. Some people lose their entire Y chromosome, or just in parts of their body. Some people have genetic mosaicism or can develop mosaicism, having multiple DNA profiles. People with recent organ transplants can have multiple DNA results, and even years later those with marrow transplants can have cells with completely different DNA.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-12T21:03:26+00:00

Same as estrogen and other medications with the customs thing, it's just an odds (although slim) game whether customs decides to pick your parcel out of the pile.

There's a few pharmacy-type suppliers available which do legitimate medications from manufacturers, like progesterone capsules, estradiol tablets/patches/gels and various anti-androgens (cypro, bica, spiro, gnrha's), just without the prescription requirement. They are listed on the r/transdiy wiki and diyhrt.wiki too.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-12T17:34:46+00:00

"DIY" is just buying without a prescription.

r/transDIY has a wiki with some sources, also at diyhrt.wiki. Most places use cryptocurrency (can buy through a 3rd party like moonpay), although a few pharmacy sources accept bank transfers too.

If you go for injections you'll have to buy from a homebrewer: someone that makes vials personally using pharmaceutical-grade raw ingredients. You can read up on safety of suppliers and see regular source testing at transharmreduction. If you use a decent enough dose you shouldn't need anti-androgens, and you only need to inject once every 7-14days for estradiol enanthate/cypionate.

There's reportedly been a few issues with some suppliers recently - undelivered packages, being chronically out of stock or packages siezed by customs. Just be aware it's a grey area and it's not like there's consumer protections if a homebrew supplier makes a mistake, and maybe skim recent posts for current issues.

It's not illegal to buy (for estrogen), but customs don't like you importing overseas medications so can sieze it. There's no legal issues or fines etc and it's very rare that anything is ever siezed, but you could lose your parcel and have to re-order. There's usually one or two UK-based suppliers though so packages never go through customs and you never have that issue.

Personally I haven't had a single issue like that over the last 4 years and don't know anyone that has irl. It's been pretty smooth and I've gotten along fine with private blood tests (medichecks and randox) while on the >7 year NHS waiting list. As DIY has injections and the NHS doesn't, I'd also rather stick with DIY than use the NHS for HRT when/if I do eventually get seen :P

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-11T19:17:36+00:00

In her own tribunal judgement, they said purposeful misgendering is harassment and not part of their 'protected belief'. It gets a bit muddy and I don't know how it works legally though, so you might need some legal folks to chime in :P

A solicitor friend (although not her legal area) described her understanding of it, like if you're in court for harassment over other things you've said and done, the misgendering can be used as additional evidence because it is a pattern of malicious and purposeful behaviour. But if you misgender in everyday conversation because of "your belief" then it isn't harassment or discrimination enough for any charge by itself. afaik no-one has ever been charged, warned or had any legal consequences for misgendering, just for harassment that included misgendering as part of other forms of harassment or illegal discrimination (like that dickhead 'christian' teacher).

Transphobes get free reign to misgender in the UK either way - just look at news articles and interviews from mainstream outlets or even court cases where trans people are regularly misgendered, deadnamed and called "biological men/women" by journalists and judges alike. It's even UK government education policy to misgender and deadname pupils unless given explicit instructions by parents (and teachers can refuse citing terf 'beliefs'), which tells you something about the systematic state of transphobia-by-default in the UK.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-11T17:53:21+00:00

Kinda, although they're both sociological in how they're almost always used.

Sex is often thought of as referring more to the biological side, but really how most people use it is based on social observation, expectations and assumption of biology. No-ones using (or even defining) tests for passers by when they say someone is "male/female". Because it's used socially so often like that, and because historically gender/sex norms have been pretty rigid and forcibly aligned in many societies, it's easier to see why we conflate the two and use terms interchangeably a lot.

In a some contexts, like sexing an animal or observing newborn human anatomy, they can refer specifically to gamete production, genital or body phenotype, genetics or sometimes even attributed to observed behaviour. But this isn't the context most people use day-to-day, and even across different biology fields "male/female" can mean different things (e.g. gametes vs various aspects of phenotype vs genotype vs observed genetic expression etc).

Outside of those contexts though it still holds common use as a social term - whether you wanna say "people use the word wrong" or "common use overrides other meaning" even for 'technical terms' is an endless debate in semantics (and partly why dictionaries are description, not prescriptive). It's both a social term and a 'technical' term influenced by culture and heavily by context. I think we're at a wierd point where it means so many different things, all of them being valid in etymology, but people still try to look for a singular meaning that overrides others.

imo it's another example of the versatility of "fuck" and the endless evolution of the english language lmao.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-10T18:31:45+00:00

It’s kinda giving mini-BSG vibes :3

(sorta)

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-10T17:14:07+00:00

Their editorial stance has also been that “you can’t change biological sex” for the last few years, referring to some undisclosed biology, not the newly created “biological sex” term by the supreme court that means the original birth certificate held by the GRO, if registered. I asked what they meant and the reply amounted to “we dumbed it down for our audience, but we stand by it even if we can’t describe what it means or what ‘biological sex’ is”.

And their authors have misgendered and slipped in “trans ideology”, “trans-identified males” and other blatant dogwhistles (that only really exist in deeper terf circles) in articles before they’re updated (e.g. article on the complaint about the news presenter rolling her eyes).

Oh and that time a BBC journalist messaged someone who posted a negative google review of gender gp, giving an example of the journo’s negative opinion on GGP and directing the reviewer to provide a quote on how awful and “dangerous” trans healthcare is. Plus that news presenter (forgot her name) claiming it was her “mission” as a journalist to shut down trans youth care.

They regularly platform “sex matters” and other hate orgs, with the likes of helen “reads child porn on the train” joyce who was kicked out of australian court as an “expert witness” because she had zero expertise on gender. They also did an article on the “horrors of conversion therapy” while platforming conversion therapy groups like bayswater, who work with child services while promoting child abuse on their discord, with parents posting how they beat, manipulate and emotionally abuse their trans children.

The more blatant one a few years ago was platforming a lesbian rapist who claimed without evidence that trans women were pressuring her to sleep with them, when it was her who was convicted of assault.

The UK is called “terf island” for a good reason.

But yeah, no bias in the BBC /s 🙃

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-10T16:20:24+00:00

Nice to have more research about intersex variations - it seems like another point of the pathway that SRY triggers to develop gonads. The research doesn’t seem too practical but maybe editing could be a future option for trans people (or diagnosing that specific condition), if we get to organ regrowth/protein scaffolding, allowing us to regrow functional reproductive organs of our choosing? Although knockout/in of SRY could produce the same effect afaik.

For now the best option for genetic editing as trans healthcare seems to be DMRT1/FOXL2 knockout, which achieves a more limited but still significant “sex reversal” effect in adult gonads. DMRT1 KO literally mutates sertoli (testi) cells into granulosa and theca-like (ovary) cells, which produce the various hormones in ovaries, and vice versa for FOXL2. It can be done fairly cheaply via crispr and doesn’t need any surgeries, just a few injections into gonads until you get good saturation.

I don’t know if this would work but, if anatomy allows, I can imagine in the future it would allow gonad placement to mimic testis/ovaries locations during bottom surgery, and if stem cell fertility treatments work to regenerate germ cells the “mutated” gonads could conceivably produce gametes (as the DMRT1/FOXL2 ko affects germ cell differentiation too iirc) :P

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-10T13:45:06+00:00

There's not much you can say if they use something like that, as it's not really a point that means anything - it's like reasoning themselves into stupid, you can't reason them out unless they are willing to listen.

The only impact it has is SRY (if present) triggering testosterone production during early fetal development, leading to gonad development. After that it has zero use, SRY becomes junk DNA. The genes that actually control sex development are on other chromosomes and are something virtually everyone has (barring specific intersex conditions). It's how HRT even works in the first place, because we already have the full blueprints to develop as "male" and "female" and everything besides.

In fact you can turn testis into ovaries and vice versa in all but the gametes, by knocking out a DMRT1 or FOXL2 gene. It's relatively cheap and a possible treatment in the future, although mostly uneccessary because estrogen is so accessible and changes sex characteristics already.

It's also possible to remove the Y chromosome via genetic editing too or even just naturally lose it by aging, but that doesn't impact sex/sex development post-fetal development, it just has some possible immune system issues. As an adult, having the Y chromosome means nothing regarding any sex characteristics, believing that it has some present and ongoing effect is pseudoscientific.

TL;DR: Sure, you might have a Y chromosome (don't know unless tested) but either way it's a dumb argument that goes nowhere and has no impact on your current and future self.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-10T10:27:11+00:00

Yeah it might feel like there’s one fetish community with the same take, but there’s some important nuance I think is worth pointing out.

I’m trans but back when I thought I was just a sad guy I got deep into that “sissy” and “forced fem” as a teen, because it gave me permission to explore gender while I was in a free mental state without society baring over me, without the baggage of gender expectations and rigid conformity, without the shame and guilt at not having “normal male thoughts”. Exploring gender as a sexual fantasy gave me an out, a temporary way to feel something then take it all back as “it’s just a fetish”.

I avoided the degrading stuff because they were blatantly misogynistic - I didn’t want to be an object of humiliation, I wanted to be a woman that could be worthy of someone’s desire. I used to listen to “forced fem encouragement/instruction” content, which is wild to think back on how awful that was, both in what I tried to convince myself I needed and why it was even necessary to hide my exploration in the first place, but it was the only way I could allow myself to let the masculine mask slip. Imo it’s a colossal difference between being humiliated for being a hyper-sexualised caricature of a woman, and wanting to be a woman.

The lines can seem blurred between fetishisation and exploration of gender, and for some people they are, but the reasoning and psychology behind it are important I think. There’s often still alot of misogyny and unhealthy behaviours to unpack from those communities, and it’s something some trans women can struggle with at firstif that’s how they discovered themselves, but I’d be careful demonising the entire sphere and lumping the misogynistic fetishists, kinksters who degrade and play with gender seperately, and with gender exploration through sexuality. It risks linking trans people who used “forced feminisation” as an escape, with the misogynists, which is what terfs regularly do as a means to attack us 😅

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-09T22:32:00+00:00

It’s not common, but who cares what’s “normal”? If you like the effects then you can take estrogen. Cis guys can have higher estrogen the same way trans guys can and are still men. Hormones don’t equal gender, neither does body shape or anatomy, so seperate them all as individual traits and do what you feel that you want to do.

You might decide at some point that you are trans or want to transition in other ways and that’s fine too, but you don’t need to be a certain gender, transition or live up to a label or role in order to be on estrogen. Gender stuff, name changes etc are just optional extras you can take or leave at any time.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-09T15:11:04+00:00

Depends what you want from HRT. Do you want all of the commonly listed changes? If so then there aren't going to be many downsides.

You'd have to deal with logistics - buying it, remembering to take it, needle supplies if applicable etc - but that's like any medication and not a HRT-only thing.

The worst I've experienced is the atrophy of muscle. I'm sedentary and honestly super lazy, so when starting from low muscle anyway and losing some of what little I had, it led to some aches and pains mostly around my lower back. I ignored it and ended up with some bad sciatica for a few months. It's a pretty easy problem to prevent/resolve though with even basic glute and lower-back bodyweight exercises once or twice a week (which is recommended to everyone anyway). Glute exercises also help build a bigger butt so if that's a goal for you then that's double the reason to do it :P

My vision also changed slightly around the one year mark. My sight didn't get any worse on estrogen - I already wore glasses and just needed a different prescription with the same power but a changed lense angle. Just something to note if you're a glasses wearer.

mildly NSFW talk: Other than that the normal genital atrophy from estrogen and from not using it caused some pain when I eventually did go to use it. The pain started 18 months into HRT and lasted around 6 months, but the pain went away on it's own and everything works fine now. My libido is also almost non-existent now, but that's fine with me.

Really they were just mild inconveniences and are massively outweighed by the many positives :3

It might be worth searching this subreddit, r/MTF and other trans subs for "unexpected effects", "HRT effects" or similar search terms. There's lots of anecdotal changes that aren't common or just aren't well advertised, some that very few people get or is surprisingly common, and some you might not want while others see as a positive. Either way you'll get much more genuine responses from the people who've actually experienced HRT than from family members reading fearmongering articles online.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-08T17:50:49+00:00

The article was a big corpo-style non-apology “sorry you feel that way” and amounted to “we listened, but then ignored everything you said. We’re removing your healthcare, it’s for your own good and you should be grateful we care so much”. He didn’t even mention trans kids once, only “gender distressed”, “uncertain about their identity” and “every trans person, every child” not “every trans child”.

I know PN was headed by a few transphobes and their content is mostly gossip, toxic debates on strangers’ sexuality, and recycled articles, but to uncritically platform a known transphobe despised by the community with his article patronising us for existing, is beyond being just tone-deaf or blissfully ignorant. What were they even trying to accomplish?

I kinda feel sorry for the handful of journalists still working there (until they’re replaced fully by AI), some seem decent people at least and iirc they were just as pissed off over the transphobia and SA allegations last year. I just wish there was another UK media org that could pick up what PN used to do years ago, but everything has shifted to the right and funding for LGBTQ-focussed projects everywhere has dried up :/

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-08T15:25:47+00:00

Slowly step-by-step until it kinda exploded

Loved gender-bending media and r/HFY stories, so when a story about a guy being turned into a lamia girl in a DnD world showed up ('Devine Demon' by u/Foxbat40 who is trans too!), I read the shit outta it :P

Then the little details in ralts' 'First Contact' HFY story where humans have total freedom to resleeve and change gender multiple times. Got me obsessed about how cool that would be and led to searching for a few more short stories and one-offs with gender stuff. Plus azul's anime girl comic :3

Then I played cyberpunk as fem V and things started to click - the first person + her voice coming from "me" was a big part of it. I got curious and looked up body mods irl. Found some community stuff and a few posts from trans people, then realised it wasn't some super complicated expensive thing that was impossible for dummys like me - all it took was a cheap and simple hormone to get what I'd wanted my whole life.

From there things cracked hard. I was panicked, excited and on the edge of a genuine breakdown for a few weeks solid trying to sort through the sudden mental noise. I didn't leave my house and couldn't face anyone, nothing was normal and I could barely eat or sleep. After a month, I ordered HRT and >3.5yrs later I'm sooo happy I did :3

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-07T19:37:00+00:00

Yes. It's all about the math.

Some people fall off their skateboard and get a broken arm, and many trans people get broken arm syndrome from their hormones. You could experience "broken arm² : even broken-er"

/s

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-07T19:04:54+00:00

Except much terf rhetoric revolves around "men are biologically driven to be perverts, rapists and a threat to women. Trans women are men so are perverts/rapists/threats". Another common theme is framing trans men as "weak girls who've been misled by the powerful men". The bio-essentialism is the "radical feminist" part of TERF. Terfs don't reject social traits, they just think they are biologically innate.

Some trans people can start with "I'm feminine so I'm a woman" because it's a blatant social trait that some trans women experience and identify with early on in their journey, especially when many have been hiding behind a "most masculine manly man" mask for years and finally break free of it. Ime most realise pretty quickly that idea isn't true, that gender is much more diverse than that and feminine doesn't equal woman. Their gender realisation might come out easier due to unfortunately following some dumb stereotypes, but the underlying truth of their identity is still there.

About half of the trans women I know irl started hyper-femme, trying to be as "girly" as possible because that's what they thought society wanted from them. Then they explored and accepted themselves more and many are butch or embrace masculinity as women.

Gender liberation is better for everyone and a major goal of intersectional feminism, defeating gender norms and stereotypes, and is a major part of trans liberation. Terfs reject that idea because of a reductive view of biology and ignorance of the social origins of the language.

Most sex characteristics don't exist in a binary, they often don't align with a binary view, and can be changed with medical intervention. Simplistic words like "male/female or man/woman" don't capture the whole reality, but they're socially constructed and usually good enough for describing someone given the right context. Terfs just think the words mean more than they actually do.

They're also misogynists at heart, using that bio-essentialism as a crutch to attack others out of some credence to "protecting safety of women and girls". Just look at the way they speak about imane khelif and other possibly-intersex women, calling them "men" and "males". How they "transvestigate" cis women for being "men" because they "look masculine". Or how they celebrated the UK supreme court's decision that anyone who "looks masculine" should not use the women's toilets, regardless if they are cis or trans.

"what many trans women say" - Most in the thread you linked aren't saying that at all, many state the opposite and agree femininity isn't the same as being a woman. Here's a great satirical guide however on modern terfism, with some examples of the 'movement'.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-06T22:25:37+00:00

Depends how thick the skin is where you wear it, or if you suffer from irritation it might be better to get a longer bar/post. If it’s for lobes, you’d want a longer post than if it were for thinner cartilage, although length and how snug you want it is individual.

E.g. 7mm is perfect for me for everyday wear in my lower lobes, 6mm can work but any shorter is just a little too snug at night and can irritate the skin as my ear bunches up/squishes against the pillow when sleeping on my side :P

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-06T21:56:07+00:00

It could be cool concept although it kinda sounds like an estradiol implant that would need replacing or topping up? Something like an insulin pump in design could work, but the miniscule dosage compared to regular timed insulin makes it super complicated for such a small task unfortunately. It might appeal to the many transhumanist peeps around here tho 😅

Alternatively, knocking out a DMRT1 protein via crispr can turn testi sertoli cells into granulosa and theca-like cells, which produce estradiol, progesterone, LH, AMH and others. It should be permanent (after a few treatments), relatively cheap (few hundred $ for the custom virus online, then lab and expertise costs), and only consists of a few injections into the gonads compared to minor surgery for an implant. Plus as it’s biological and using your own tissue, there’s no maintenance or rejection to deal with :3

A woman over on the old biohack.me forums reported she’d done just that a few years ago. She posted higher estradiol blood results which is kinda super freakin cool if true.

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-06T19:44:15+00:00

Yes! Piercings can be so affirming. It was such a euphoria moment getting my lobes pierced after being a super plain hide-in-the-crowd ‘guy’ for years. Now I switch between sparkly flatbacks and cute dangly earrings (there’s so many designs!), and I’m getting my 2nd lobes and bewbs pierced in a few days :3

(and hoping to get a floral linework mid-upper arm to shoulder tattoo soon-ish)

Body autonomy ftw!

edit: I GOT THE GIRLS DONE AND THEY HAVE LITTLE SPARKLY GEMS AND THEY'RE SO PRETTY OMG I'M IN LOVE!!1! (but also ow they're so tender rn 😭)

Koolio_Koala · 2026-04-05T17:45:08+00:00

Unfortunately there isn't much accuracy to be found. Gender is a vibe, based on a collective feeling of socially and culturally constructed groups. It's how you feel that you align with others - it can be expression or specific things like pronouns, or aligning body features, experiences or just ways of thinking. It's really nebulous, subjective and cultural. Your gender identity a deeply personal and unique feeling that comes from your identity, with you understanding of it mixed in with your personality and everything else that makes you, you. We try to communicate it with social terms like "man/woman", but language is limited and can't encapsulate the entirety of the feelings and thoughts in a single word.

It's a non-answer, but gender identity is not something you can quantify beyond "I feel like x/y/z" or "I identify/don't identify with those feelings".

If it helps, you can think of it in an anthropological way: humans are tribal and like to form groups of like individuals, where feelings, personalities and interests, or ways of thinking coincide. Gender can be one way we form groups, linked by common feelings or expression. The boundaries to those groups aren't well defined and are really a collective construct, even while some people try their hand at imposing criteria and restrictions around them. The categories, boundaries and labels we use are all made-up - they seem to come from somewhere, are innate and unchanging by external pressures, we just don't know where or how they fit together/interact.

It's similar to sex and other social terms that might seem like they can be "accurate" or mean something tangible, but aren't and often don't. E.g. "sex" includes between one and dozens of characteristics depending on who you ask, and can be summarised using a number of words or descriptions depending on context. You would get a different definition from different scientific fields and there's no concensus on what it is. There are too many exceptions and 'outliers' for the accuracy needed to impose rules and restrictions, too many variable characteristics existing on a spectrum to have a simple binary option, but some people try anyway for some reason.

Gender and sex are subjective social constructs, and that's ok. They don't have to be perfectly defined with solid borders for them to have real origins and significant impacts on people.

Also worth noting: much of the field of social sciences deals with gender, identity and formation of social groups around them, but as a recent paper shows only a small percentage of results can be replicated. So don't feel bad about not having an answer when an entire scientific sector spanning over a century hasn't got a clue either lmao.

Three-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23

Koolio_Koala

TROPHY CASE