@drq it is disingenuous and downright inaccurate to suggest that DIY HRT is akin to getting medication "in a back alley."

first, most HRT drugs can be legally purchased from actual, above-board pharmacies overseas because aside from testosterone, they are not controlled substances in most jurisdictions.

second, the DIY and homebrew communities are not ignorant as to the dangers of home compounding. most homebrewers, especially the more reputable ones, invest thousands or more into proper equipment, sterilization, filtration, and third-party testing of their products. it's not to the standards of licensed pharmaceutical manufacturing, but it is a far cry from the images of shoddy, unhygenic clandestine chemistry labs evoked by your "in a back alley" description.

third, the implication that it's safer to have hormones prescribed and taken under "proper medical supervision" is an incomplete one. even in the best scenarios, where access to informed consent care is abundant, waiting lists are minimal, and reputations are positive, there are countless ways that doctors and medical professionals can and do fuck up HRT for trans people.

many doctors chronically underprescribe estrogen while giving full doses of anti-androgens. having low T and low E, especially for long periods of time, leads to severe fatigue, chronic pain, irritability, and exhaustion - it absolutely tanks one's ability to exist in the world. many doctors do this out of ignorance, as even now, the majority of doctors providing gender affirming care aren't actually trained specifically in doing so. many will refuse to raise doses due to risks of infertility. some will deliberately withhold higher doses out of malice. more still *do* prescribe effectively, but take advantage of their reputation as someone who gives HRT prescriptions to mistreat or abuse their patients, knowing that with access as bad as it is, they probably won't speak up.

compare that to DIY, where *communities* of trans people, many of whom have professional experience in relevant fields, come together to support people in getting the medication they need. these are people who overwhelmingly want to support and lift up other trans folks, who want to educate them on making informed decisions about the life-saving medical care that they may not be able to get anywhere else, even if there's an informed consent clinic right down the street. many trans communities are large enough to have plenty of professionals within them - doctors, nurses, pharmacists, chemists, engineers - all of whom can and do lend their expertise to making DIY safer. in my experience, the best and most comprehensive resources on HRT, including reputable scientific inquiry and research, are from sources in the DIY community (https://transfemscience.org/articles/transfem-intro/ is a great example).

more often than not, the caution undertaken by those in the DIY HRT space to keep trans people safe and educated about their care is far greater than what medical institutions can provide, even in the rare instances when those institutions are accessible and adequately funded. this is not to say that DIY HRT doesn't carry risks - of course it does - but we also take great care to educate people on those risks, as well as the potential benefits. for every horror story of someone misjudging their dosing and endangering themselves, there are dozens or even hundreds of trans people whose lives were saved solely by access to DIY.