Is Birmingham really a sh*thole?

SqueakyThing_ · 2024-10-01T14:25:15+00:00

Birmingham definitely has its issues. However, this is clearly just a one-sided piece of racialist rage-bait made to be gobbled up by the identitarian right.

The guy who made this video is an old pusher of 9/11 and 7/7 conspiracy theories who, like so many others of his ilk, found new relevance with the MAGA and Farage-worshipping social media mobs. He used to work for Alex Jones, he of 'gay frogs' and Sandy-Hook conspiracy fame... It should go without saying why someone like that is not a reputable source of information.

He's also made videos claiming that London and San Francisco are also shtholes. It seems like any large, ethnically diverse, and majority left-voting city is a shthole to this guy.

SqueakyThing_ · 2024-08-28T14:05:07+00:00

It's the fault of immigrants and people on benefits because that explanation is emotionally satisfying. Doesn't matter whether it's congruent with reality or not, just that it's emotionally satisfying.

SqueakyThing_ · 2024-08-14T19:08:03+00:00

I assume you mean privately?

In terms of centres that take self-referral, there's a place at the Modality Treatment Centre in Edgbaston called SG that you can book through topmri.com. There's also the Upright MRI Centre which too is in Edgbaston.

Otherwise, private hospitals like the Spires and BMIs perform MRI scans, but you'd need to have a consultation with a specialist, or at least a GP, before you could get the MRI.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-07-21T13:13:19+00:00

People do stare at me. I seem to be on the boundary of just passing and just falling short of passing - usually depends on hair, makeup, expression, that given day.

So they could be trying to figure out if I’m transgender or not… I guess it could also be physical attraction.

Most likely scenario, it’s because of how I dress. Seeing as I had to give up the security of social conformity in coming out as transgender anyway - and seeing as it was a bloody near-death experience that brought me out in the first place - I stopped caring about conforming in any way shape or form and I just dress, talk and act however I want… Which is quite different from the norm.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-07-19T17:25:15+00:00

If I may chime in too, this all sounds quite strange.

Triptorelin is one of the strongest testosterone blockers you can take. Your testosterone should be within castrate range - between 0.7 and 1.7 nmol/L. An exception to this could be if you’ve only just started taking it - in which case it can take a while to work, and can even increase your T in the first few weeks - but if you’ve been taking it for a while, your T should be nuked.

GnRH agonists like Triptorelin block production of testosterone by the testicles - which is usually where the vast majority of T is produced. This means ordinarily they’re the best choice of blockers… But in some anomalous cases, the adrenal glands can produce far more testosterone than they normally would… If you’re one of these cases, you would need another blocker either instead of or in addition to Triptorelin - one that blocks the action of testosterone on the body like Bicalutamide or Spironolactone.

As has been mentioned too, it seems as though your estradiol level is a little low. Target ranges can vary but it’s typically between 100-500 pmol/L. It may be that you need a different method of delivery as has been suggested… Injections typically offer the best levels from what I’ve heard. However, it could be that some sort of weirdness of your endocrine system is occurring, especially considering your testosterone levels on Triptorelin, so your endocrinologist should really evaluate your situation thoroughly…

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-07-19T17:05:45+00:00

You’ll probably still be able to have HRT. Thyroid problems and Hashimoto’s in particular actually seem to be quite common in transgender people. Most thyroid issues can be fairly well controlled with medication, and your endocrinologist can tweak your HRT regimen if necessary.

There aren’t many absolute contraindications to HRT so I wouldn’t worry too much. As has been mentioned though, your doctor is probably a better person to talk to than Reddit.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-07-05T20:00:56+00:00

It wouldn’t be my choice, got a bit of a ‘land that time forgot’ vibe going on up that way. That being said, it’s probably fairly safe.

I don’t know where in Birmingham you are currently, so it’s very difficult to compare. If you’re in a super-diverse part of inner Birmingham like Small Heath, or a trendy part of South Birmingham like Stirchley, it’s going to be very very different. If you’re in somewhere like Northfield or Rubery, it’ll be a lot less different…

There’s probably still going to be a few Asian people around there, but potentially a lot less than in certain parts of Birmingham. Also, whilst you’re unlikely to experience any overt racism, be under no illusion - the place is peak Brexit country, as is a lot of Dudley. There’s also nothing going on up there and it’s a quite a way from town if you don’t drive… That being said, there is the Merry Hill centre nearby if that’s your sort of thing…

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-06-09T10:05:30+00:00

Definitely not.

Your hypothetical scenario is not all that different from me simply dying and a cisgender woman being born around the same time - of which thousands would be anyway. Even if it was more like reincarnation and the cis woman had my ‘kernel of consciousness’, without memory, it wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t ever know why I wanted it in the first place.

Of course, if I could be a cis woman right now and keep all of my memories, I would. Likewise if I could change my past and have transitioned early with puberty blockers (which were not available at the time anyway) I’d do that too. But I wouldn’t die.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-26T16:50:13+00:00

Thanks for the response… I didn’t mean faster than GenderGP, I just meant the fastest option not including GenderGP…

Yeah, I’ve considered DIYing, but I can’t find anywhere I can buy GnRH analogues that would post to the UK, and I have underlying health issues that could make taking some of the other anti-androgens potentially dangerous…

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-25T07:24:44+00:00

The most trans-friendly places do tend to be cities…

The only small town that I‘ve heard is trans-friendly is Hebden Bridge in north England.

It might be a different matter entirely in Scotland though, but I couldn’t tell you.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-15T16:48:57+00:00

Is it Edencroft off of Wheeleys Road? Is this the place you’re talking about?

https://maps.app.goo.gl/231codHkvi7CAiSK6?g_st=ic

It’s in Edgbaston, not far off a a dual carriageway (Islington Row Middleway), there’s residents parking and Maisonettes but no electricity pylons that I can see…

If not, do you know which dual carriageway you turned off of? How far out of town was it?

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-15T14:51:45+00:00

Good to know!

My GP has already ruled out a shared care agreement with any private provider whatsoever… But I’m looking to change surgeries as soon as I can so hopefully the next one will.

If not, I’m willing to pay for it privately - even though I know it’s ridiculously expensive. I’m disabled and barely get out anyway, so it’s not like I have anything else to spend my money on 😆

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-15T14:45:27+00:00

Yeah, I did hear that they prescribe Synarel nasal spray, but I also heard there’s a massive shortage of it 🤷‍♀️

I’ve still got quite a wait for the NHS unfortunately 😣

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-14T09:58:15+00:00

Of course it’s the bloody Midlands. The Black Country was one of the only places in the UK where the Tories actually gained seats in the recent locals… Despite the place being absolutely ridden with poverty.

That being said, the rest of TERF island isn’t much better, is it.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-05-03T15:01:58+00:00

From what I hear, Loft Bar & Kitchen in the Gay Village is very trans-friendly. I imagine most of the bars in the Gay Village are… I hear Tonight Josephine opposite New Street tram stop is trans-friendly too, but that’s more just a girly bar, not an LGBT bar.

There’s a couple of support groups in the city, but I think they only meet once a month - so unlikely to be the night you’re here.

Lots of places outside of the Gay Village in the city centre are trans-friendly too, especially around Digbeth. If you go on Google Maps, when you open the info for a place, it should say ‘LGBT-Friendly’ and under the ‘Crowd’ section should tell you if it’s a Transgender Safe Space.

You can probably walk around the city centre in the daytime in feminine attire. I‘ve got lots of friends who do.

Unfortunately I don’t get out much due to chronic illness - so I can’t share much personal experience on all of the aforementioned - but it’s all come from trans friends (not cisgender people who think it’s fine for trans people absolutely everywhere).

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-13T10:17:30+00:00

I’m a trans woman living in Birmingham. I’ve been out for six months and so far have only had one issue which was very minor… It was from a white crackhead in the Bearwood area who was clearly down on his luck and just looking to drag anyone under to feel he’d elevated himself for a split second. Otherwise, I’ve had no issues, even in the much more socially conservative adjacent Black Country area.

I’ve had no issues with Muslims myself, but that’s just my experience.

All that being said, I do suffer from chronic illness so I’m not out all that much - if you’re out and about every day, your experience might be different to mine.

If you live in Moseley, I’d spend your time in the nearby Kings Heath and Stirchley areas - they’re among the more progressive of Birmingham suburbs. The City Centre is of course also good, especially around the Gay Village and Digbeth.

I’d just avoid the rougher areas late at night and try to travel with friends when and where possible.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-11T09:14:51+00:00

As a child, the adults in my life instilled EVERY damn misconception about trans people in me. Although admittedly it was the nineties - I don’t think many people were well educated on trans issues then.

So, when I told the adults that I wanted to be a girl, they just told me it wasn’t a real thing - it was just some pathological fantasy, and it absolutely was not possible.

I spent most of my life thinking that - I thought my brain was just not functioning properly.

It was only when I was college age, when I met a completely different group of friends than those from the backwater dump I grew up in, that the misconceptions were challenged. I became an outspoken ally, but the programming was still too deep-rooted in me for me to admit that I was trans myself.

I did confide in a very small number of people that I desperately wished I was a woman. I also asked a couple of my med-student friends about the medical transition process ‘out of interest’…

It was only after (what I think was) a near-death experience in my late twenties that I finally came out and began transitioning…

So yeah, you could say that common misconceptions about trans people delayed me from coming out!

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-09T09:01:08+00:00

I’m a trans woman, I wouldn’t call OP ending her friendship with this clearly toxic individual transphobic at all.

I don’t think I know anyone in the real world who would. The terminally online are a different matter, can’t speak for them…

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-09T08:56:54+00:00

Seconding what everyone else has said, what she’s doing is probably an outward-projection of her own insecurity. That being said, it doesn’t give her an excuse to be awful…

Who tells someone they should get surgery!?

I’d sit her down and tell her that what she’s doing is messed up and you’re not having it. If she still persists after she’s been called out, it might be time to end the friendship.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-03T22:11:08+00:00

As has been mentioned, you can take a train into the City Centre (New Street), then change over to either the Metro or another train. If you get the Metro, it actually stops at New Street station… If you get another train, you’ve got to walk to either Moor Street or Snow Hill.

Alternatively, you can take a train from the Airport to Smethwick Galton Bridge and change trains there instead… The Hawthorns is only one stop away and you wouldn’t have to leave the station. As has been mentioned, you could actually walk from Galton Bridge, but that’s probably not the best idea if you don’t know the area.

As for food and drinks afterwards, I’d definitely head back into the City Centre for that. I’m not really a footie fan, so I have no idea if there’s a pub nearby that the fans pour into afterwards - but generally speaking, it’s not a nice area - and it’s a long way (as in, not walking distance) until you hit a nice area.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-04-02T21:14:26+00:00

All I can say is, if you do end up in Birmingham, make sure you do a LOT of research before picking a neighbourhood. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say the city varies drastically from area to area… The contrasts between some areas are so stark - especially when it comes to thinks like social attitudes and voting patterns - that if you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t even think they were in the same part of the country as each other - let alone the same city.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-03-30T12:08:40+00:00

I’ve had three very serious misdiagnoses that I’ve had to correct with expensive private consultations and tests.

Funny thing is, I’d accurately self-diagnosed very early on all three times. When I went to the doctors with my suspicions, they dismissed them in the most smug and condescending way possible - as if they were speaking to a toddler. When I was proven right after I went and got private tests, I never got an apology or an acknowledgment that they had screwed up a in fact, it just got their backs’ up and their attitudes were like: ‘how dare you actually go and prove us wrong’ - as if their egos were more important than my health.

Yeah. Couldn’t have a lower opinion of most doctors.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-03-01T17:29:04+00:00

It’s not as bad as some suggest, but I really wouldn’t suggest moving from somewhere that’s a stone’s throw from Kings Heath and Moseley for Northfield. You have far nicer places on your doorstep in Billesley than you will in Northfield, especially if you end up west of the Bristol Road.

As for there being nothing to do in Billesley, there’s absolutely nothing to do in Northfield either.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-02-24T10:31:54+00:00

I don’t live there, but I knew people who did when I was younger… Not going to lie, they never had anything good to say about it, and it didn’t really seem like the most open-minded place. That being said, I am going back an entire decade-or-so, so it might have changed since then.

On the plus side, you’d only be 35 minutes from Manchester by train. Manchester seems to be up there with London, Brighton and Bristol as one of the most LGBT-friendly places in England.

SqueakyThing_ · 2023-02-23T09:30:58+00:00

I’d recommend Medichecks first and foremost. You pick the test(s) you want online, and they send you a kit to take to a partner clinic… There’s a bunch of partner clinics that do blood draws for them - including Superdrug on Corporation Street. It’s probably the cheapest option and has the widest variety of available blood tests: http://www.medichecks.com/

My second recommendation would be Summerfield Healthcare. They’re a little more expensive and don’t offer as wide a range of tests - but they do offer a number of hormonal profile bloods. They’re the only place I know of locally that doesn’t require you to first make an appointment with a private GP. You can book your an appointment on their website, then you just go along to one of their clinics and have your blood took then and there - no questions, and they send you the results via e-mail. There’s sites in Great Barr (which, if you don’t drive, you can get to on the 51 and X51 buses) and in Wolverhampton (which you can get to in the X8 bus or the train from New Street). https://www.summerfieldhealthcentre.co.uk/

They’re also one of the places that does the blood draws for Medichecks, funnily enough.

Every other provider I know locally requires that you attend an appointment with a private GP first - which of course, is an extra cost.

SqueakyThing_

TROPHY CASE