Welcome to #TransTuesday! I’ve talked so many times about how trans people and cis people really aren’t all that different, but there’s one way most cis people never realize that may just blow your mind. Strap in for CIS PEOPLE GET GENDER AFFIRMING HEALTHCARE TOO.

This one is VITAL for cis people to see. Cis friends, please boost this thread! We REALLY need cis folks to understand what's going on here.

#trans #transgender #transrightsarehumanrights #transrights

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRR8AlSWptr3yfwqxNblwe9io7jkJJjNDlkV9a-2toAwTfhEQsSKtfbcAA3itgGDBMd4h1KQ9JEtmdn/pub

Trans Tuesday 140 - cis people get gender affirming healthcare

@tillybridges I lost my ovaries and uterus to endometriosis a decade ago. Pap smear results were worrying so the gyno surgeon removed my cervix too and I now have what's called a vaginal vault. Basically my sex-related internals are pretty similar to a post-op trans woman's.
I've been on HRT since. It's not for anything like gender dysphoria. The rapidity of change in going from having an internal source of estrogen when I woke up one morning to having none by lunch time was real hard on my body. Hair loss, emotions all over the place, memory and concentration problems so severe keeping myself fed was a major accomplishment.
GPs have been gaslighting me ever since on what's possible re trying a higher dosage or adding progesterone. So that part tracks with affirming my gender. The practice's pharmacist did my last HRT review on Monday and she was happy to give me an increased dose to see if it helps with memory and concentration decline. Here's hoping.
But I'll have to come off of it altogether once I hit 60. That's approaching quickly. How do you square that with gender affirming healthcare? The invisibility of aging cis women?
Trans women should have the healthcare they need, but please, don't erase the reality of cis women like me, the reasons some of us are on HRT and how it's only ever a temporary thing. Some of us are vulnerable and hurting too.

@emma literally not what I did.

also trying to prevent hair loss IS gender confirmation, as is adding estrogen because your body can no longer make it so you go back to feeling like YOU.

I certainly didn’t erase you in stating the drugs are given to cis people for gender dysphoria (they are) and that that’s what they were developed for (they were).

they are also used for other things! other things that are not what this essay is about.

@tillybridges My hair falling out like I was a cancer patient in a telly drama felt very different from gender affirmation. I didn't care if I looked more masculine or less feminine. I truly didn't. I've always been shite at conventional girl stuff like make-up and accepted that decades ago.
I went on HRT because I was struggling cognitively and emotionally, not to retain some femininity.
I'm terrified of how much I'll struggle again when I'm forced off it when I reach 60. When I asked how you square that I actually want to know because it hurts every time I read one of these sorts of essays.
But this is about you and I deserve to be fucking invisible because of my identities so sorry for butting in with my question and point of view.
@tillybridges Would it truly be that arduous to not write in such a sweeping, declarative way? It's not like you'd need to go into any detail, just leave a little space for the other more important and more common reasons cis folk use HRT. "Some uses of HRT are gender affirming" does that. Really simple, and your argument would be stronger because it would be more accurate.

Is that really an intolerable demand? Changing a few words. Trans people very understandably want to be represented accurately and to be talked with, not at. Cis people do to, and your essay is about cis people.

Or if you really mean to say that ALL uses of HRT are gender affirming care, then could you, or someone, kindly help me get my head around what that means when I'm forced off it in three years?