Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
Debate surrounding transgender rights or acceptance will result in an immediate ban.
- Please follow the rules of the lemmy.blahaj.zone instance.
- Bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated.
- Gatekeeping will not be tolerated.
- Please be kind and respectful to all.
- Please tag NSFW topics.
- No NSFW image posts.
- Please provide content warnings where appropriate.
- Please do not repost bigoted content here.
This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
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for a lot of us HRT is a terrifying step and we build it up as you say as invasive and risky - this is mostly due to social pressure not to transition. In reality, the risks are extremely low to non-existent, and the potential benefits are literally life saving. A lot of lives would be saved if HRT were the first step. It very often clears up depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation without any other treatment, and for many it feels like the first time they were starting to be alive.
Clinically I think it's unethical to play into false narratives that HRT is risky, irreversible, or severe - instead I think it should be part of the first steps someone takes when they come to realize they have dysphoria, since the risks are so low and the clinical benefits are so well demonstrated.
Not that I don't acknowledge the psychological reality that it will continue to be perceived as risky and something people should wait to do and thus will be a scary and intimidating step, but then I feel that is all the more reason for those of us who know better to try to help compensate the social pressures against HRT by encouraging and reassuring early transitioners that HRT is low risk and life-saving.
One of the reasons I list it as the first step is because the depression that is so common in untreated trans people makes everything harder to deal with, egg cracking and looking at how to socially transition is stressful enough without depression, so by treating the debilitating anxiety and depression those challenges will be easier to take on. Simply put, addressing depression first helps address everything else.
Before estrogen, I could barely manage to go to the grocery store once a week. After estrogen I was able to clean and declutter my house, run errands multiple times a week, and generally became mentally normal for the first time in my life. So many of us experience this, and from a clinical perspective it seems more than worth it to encourage that treatment be started as soon as possible for others with similar symptoms. In the worst case scenario, if after a few weeks no mood changes happen and it's not helping, they can stop HRT if they don't feel like continuing at that moment.