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Hexbear has several trans communities. Make sure to check those out: - [/c/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns](https://lemmygrad.ml/c/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns@hexbear.net) - [/c/transenby_liberation](https://lemmygrad.ml/c/transenby_liberation@hexbear.net) - [/c/anti_cishet_aktion](https://lemmygrad.ml/c/anti_cishet_aktion@hexbear.net) We love our Hexbear comrades <3
Hello everyone :) I recently created a Trans room in the GenZedong Matrix space. You can join the GenZedong space by following the [instructions](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067) in /c/genzedong, and then you should be able to see the Trans room in the room list. Matrix is a secure chat platform that's somewhat similar to Discord, but encrypted and open source. It's also federated like Lemmy. GenZedong has its own matrix server at genzedong.xyz (run by me on my own infrastructure :3), which has a GenZedong space (spaces are similar to what Discord calls servers). We have lots of rooms (similar to Discord's channels), including the Trans room I've mentioned here. Join the space today so that we can take over and become the rightful leaders of GenZedong!... uh, I mean so that we can talk about stuff and definitely not take over anything at all... >:3
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3088303 > Hey folks, a handful of people seemed interested in a public group chat, so now you have one! > > I will be appointing mods asap. Please message me in this thread if any of you are interested in spearheading this project. Same basic rules for being a mod apply, just be a socialist and not cis. 
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2987978 > DISCLAIMER: This is not medical advice, engage in DIY HRT at your own risk; the intent of this post is harm reduction. This information is not intended for minors; by reading further you agree you are over the age of 21. > > DISCLAIMER 2: This is not rigorous scientific research. I conducted this experiment over the course of a work day, carrying out my actual work while trying to not arouse suspicion. I did not have time to create a calibration curve to conduct quantitative analysis. Further, isolating samples and using IR and NMR to identify impurities would increase my chance of being found out by coworkers. I also forgot to collect a data point and made another mistake that I explained in the “results” section that I did not have time to correct. That being said, these results are roughly accurate and I am using them to inform my own DIY HRT. > > This is somewhat of a follow-up of [this post on DragonOrdnance estradiol enanthate](https://hexbear.net/post/1419643), and I plan on posting every year with stability data for prepared solutions when properly stored (cool, dark, dry). Since I have 10 vials with 7 mL each, I have enough to provide over a decade of stability data. I also have leftover powder which I also plan on testing yearly. > > Abstract: > > To improve the safety of the DIY transfem community, it is necessary to demonstrate the thermal stability of estradiol esters to ensure DIYers properly sterilize injection vials. Without an autoclave, a higher temperature is necessary to destroy all bacterial endospores that may be present. Estradiol enanthate (EEn) has considerable thermal stability and can be sterilized at home without the fear of decomposing the EEn. At the suggested home-sterlization conditions of 130degC for 30 minutes, no decomposition was detected. Even at 180degC for 1 hour, less than 5% of the EEn decomposed into an unidentified compound. Light exposure also has minimal effect, with no decomposition detected after six months of continuous exposure to artificial light and indirect sunlight. Home sterilization is recommended to avoid infection. However, it is recommended to store both EEn powder and EEn solutions in a cool, dry, dark area to minimize the decomposition of EEn over longer periods of time (EEn powder is shelf-stable for five years and likely much longer). A follow-up study will focus on long-term stability of properly stored EEn powder and EEn injection solutions. > > Introduction: > > Last week, I saw a post about a comrade who started HRT and mentioned their sterilization method (130degC for 30 minutes). A discussion in the comments included users suggesting that estradiol enanthate (EEn) would start to decompose at 130degC. This surprised me, as I remember seeing somewhere that estradiol ester injection solutions can be sterilized at higher temperatures than an autoclave (121degC) without significant decomposition. This is important because autoclaves are effective not only for the high temperature, but for the elevated pressure as well (~30 psi, or ~2 atm). Therefore, slightly higher temperatures are required to effectively sterilize injection vials. DIYers likely don’t have access to an autoclave or any kind of pressure vessel, so to improve the safety of transfem DIYers, I aim to alleviate concerns regarding the thermal stability of EEn. > > I have a considerable stash of EEn powder that I purchased 1.5 years ago (likely over 2 years past its manufacture date) and I have an injection solution I prepared in bulk, originally intending to prepare vials as needed. This bulk solution has not been subjected to heat but has been on my desk at home where it’s been subjected to artificial light and indirect sunlight (light, like heat, accelerates decomposition of EEn). In this experiment, I determined the stability of EEn under various conditions: as a powder and a solution, and after exposure of the solution to light and/or heat. > > Methods: > > All injection solutions were prepared as 50 mg/mL EEn in MCT oil with 2% (v/v) benzyl alcohol. > > The EEn powder, MCT oil, and benzyl alcohol were kept at room temperature in opaque, resealable plastic bags since receiving them 1.5 years ago. The light-exposed injection solution was kept at room temperature in a clear, resealable plastic bag where it was continuously exposed to artificial light and indirect sunlight for 6 months. Two more injection solutions were prepared the same day as this experiment to represent injection solutions that have not been exposed to significant light. > > The “light-exposed solution” was analyzed by GC-MS. Then, the solution was sealed in injection vials and the vials were placed in a GC oven at 130degC for 30 minutes. This “light-and-heat-exposed solution” was analyzed by GC-MS. > > One of the freshly-prepared solutions was sealed in injection vials and placed in a GC oven at 130degC for 30 minutes. This is the “heat-exposed solution”. The other freshly-prepared solution was transferred to an open test tube and subjected to a 180degC oil bath for 1 hour. This is the “high-heat-exposed solution” and represents the worst-case scenario of a DIYer sterilizing at a temperature far beyond what is necessary. > > Results/Analysis: > > The chromatogram of the EEn powder suggests this is a high purity sample, as the only peaks are EEn (at 26.4-26.9 minutes) and the MCT oil from previous analyses (Image 1) This EEn powder was analyzed following the analysis of several EEn solutions, and the needle wash was empty, so there were three other peaks that were confirmed to be triglycerides from the MCT oil residue on the needle. There is also a solvent peak (acetonitrile) at ~1-2 minutes. The mass spectrum is consistent with that of EEn (Image 2). > >  > > Image 1. GC Chromatogram of EEn powder > >  > > Image 2. Mass spectrum of EEn powder > > Image 3 demonstrates a newly prepared EEn solution that was exposed to light and atmosphere while being heated at 180degC for 1 hour. Samples were diluted by adding 1 gram acetonitrile for every 10 mg of sample. As the samples were at the same concentration, the peak area of the EEn peak is a reasonable (though rough) measure of the remaining EEn. Before heating (t= 0), the peak area was 186.0 M counts. At t= 15 min, peak area was 184.9 M counts. At t= 30 min, peak area was 178.7 M counts. At t= 1 hr, peak area was 195.4 M counts. The peak area at 1 hr had the highest z-score at z= 1.5324, giving a p-value of .1254. This indicates it is very likely that the variations in these measurements are due to chance. The chromatogram at t= 1 hr demonstrates the production of a decomposition product, but the peak area of this decomposition product is <5% of the area of the EEn peak (Image 4). > >  > > Image 3. High-heat solution chromatograms > >  > > Image 4. High-heat solution chromatogram at t= 1hr, zoomed-in to visualize decomposition product peak > > The following three chromatograms represent the light-exposed solution that was not heated (Image 5), the light-exposed solution that was heated at 130degC for 30 minutes (Image 6), and the newly-prepared solution that was heated at 130degC for 30 minutes (Image 7). > >  > > Image 5. Chromatogram of EEn solution exposed to light for six months > >  > > Image 6. Chromatogram of EEn solution exposed to light for six months and 130degC for 30 min > >  > > Image 7. Chromatogram of EEn solution exposed to 130degC for 30 min, but no light exposure > > In absence of rigorous quantitative analysis, the proportion of peak area of EEn to benzyl alcohol was used to compare the decomposition of EEn. The concentration of benzyl alcohol in these solutions was constant, so it is another reasonable yet rough estimation of remaining EEn to determine if decomposition occured. For the light-exposed/no-heat solution, the EEn peak was 68.99% the area of the benzyl alcohol peak. For the light-exposed/heat-exposed solution, the EEn peak was 68.41% the area of the benzyl alcohol peak. For the no-light/heat-exposed solution, the EEn peak was 68.20% the area of the benzyl alcohol peak. These values are not significantly different, indicating that decomposition did not occur in any of these samples. (I forgot to measure the peak areas of a no-light/no-heat solution, I’m sowwy :(, but you can look at the 180degC data to see that no significant decomposition occurred at 30 minutes at such a high heat). > > Conclusion: > > According to GC-MS data, no significant decomposition at normal sterilization conditions (130degC for 30 minutes). Even at 180degC, EEn is fairly stable, remaining 95% intact after one hour at this extreme temperature. Light exposure is also a minimal risk, as no significant decomposition occurred after six months of moderate light exposure.
en.prolewiki.org
I've finally finished an essay I've been working on for a long time, and this one was a project that taken a while to complete. I've seen a lot of people who live on TERF Island but not necessarily talk about how transphobic the UK can be, even compared to the United States. This essay serves as a baseline for the contradictions within the UK that will intensify when trans people are now the primary scapegoat within society. This essay covers a lot of aspects of transphobia within the UK, which is almost nationwide (in regards to England). The link to the essay can be found below, or by clicking that box thing. I hope people can be more aware of transphobia. [Essay link](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Essay:Welcome_to_TERF_Island)
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2208792 > I don't think I did so last time. > > Here you go: > > > > > > >Left: Gage Skidmore. Donald Trump [photograph], Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED, Right: Mark Burns on the Stew Peters Show. > > > >On Monday, former President Donald Trump announced his endorsement of Pastor Mark Burns for South Carolina's 3rd Congressional District. The pastor has previously exhibited extremist rhetoric towards LGBTQ+ and transgender individuals, calling for the arrest and execution of those he accuses of LGBTQ+ and transgender "indoctrination." Trump's endorsement threatens to swing a crowded Republican primary in Burns' direction. Given the heavily Republican lean of the district, Burns would emerge as the clear favorite to win the congressional seat should he win his primary. > > > >Pastor Mark Burns made headlines in 2022 for calling for the return of the House Un-American Activities Committee to arrest and execute LGBTQ+ and transgender allies and individuals whom he accuses of "grooming." In a video released after his appearance on The Stew Peters Show, Burns stated, "The LGBT, transgender grooming of our children's minds is a national security threat because it is ultimately designed to destabilize the republic we call the United States of America. That's why, whenever I'm elected, I want to start holding people accountable for treason to the Constitution. I'm going to push to reenact HUAC... We need to hold people accountable for treason, start having some public hearings, and begin executing those who are found guilty of treasonous acts against the Constitution of the United States of America..." > > > >You can watch clips of his statements from that 2022 interview here: > > > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39RHsfm-RH8 > > > >Burns has run for Congress twice before, in 2018 and 2022. Although he campaigned as a Trump-inspired candidate in those years, he failed to secure an endorsement from the former president. This year, however, it appears he has finally received that endorsement. Donald Trump posted, "There are many great conservatives exploring a run for that seat, but Mark Burns has been with me from the very beginning of our movement to Make America Great Again," adding, "Pastor Mark Burns is an America First fighter and has my complete and total endorsement." That endorsement is significant in a crowded field of nine Republican candidates. Furthermore, the previous election did not even feature a Democrat on the ballot—the winner of the Republican primary will be the prohibitive favorite to win the congressional seat. > > > >You can see the endorsement here: > > > >  > > > >It does not appear that Burns has changed his views towards LGBTQ+ and transgender individuals. The day before receiving the endorsement, he took to Twitter to call Transgender Day of Visibility "blasphemous" and "an insult to the millions of Christians who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ," reacting to Transgender Day of Visibility coinciding with Easter Sunday in 2024. Notably, Transgender Day of Visibility has always fallen on March 31, while Easter's date varies. Just after receiving the endorsement, Burns appeared on the far-right Freeman Report, where he claimed that Democrats are "attacking real women in America" with transgender-inclusive policies. > > > >Trump’s endorsement is the latest sign that the candidate is embracing extremist anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender stances for the 2024 election. On March 30th, Trump decried a proclamation by Biden recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility, calling it “blasphemous” and demanding that he “issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Trump has previously advocated for targeting gender transition support “at any age” and investigating hospitals and manufacturers of hormone therapy and puberty blockers. He has also previously called for national bans on trans youth care as well as a national trans sports ban. > > > >When asked about the endorsement on the Freeman Report, Burns stated that Trump had called him and declared him "the congressman," indicating that both Trump and Burns feel confident about the impact of the endorsement. The Republican primary election for the seat is scheduled for June 11, 2024. Should he win over 50% of the vote, Burns will represent the Republican Party in the race for a seat that has been held by a Republican since 1995.
www.thegospelcoalition.org
Given today's controversy in the United States regarding Biden accidentally acknowledging trans people on easter Sunday, I have been in thought and reading most of the morning. I stumbled across this article this morning and it floored me. Except for ages, timelines, and the lack of physical violence and conversion therapy, this story could have been written by my parents about me. It is disgusting. Throughout the entire article the author misgenders their child consistently, but that's not even close to the end of it. This passage is deeply disturbing, but I believe it's very important to call attention to the sick thinking patterns that go on inside these peoples' heads. > During one conversation, when we said we couldn’t use his preferred name and pronouns, he said to us, “Then I can’t guarantee I won’t kill myself.” He eventually went to his room, wailing and weeping profusely. My wife and I were also crying, feeling helpless. Certainly, it’d be easier to simply call him by his preferred name and pronouns. Certainly, it’d be easier to celebrate the things he celebrates. The parent, recognizing the emotional abuse they are inflicting upon their child and its effects even acknowledges *that it would be easier* to affirm their child's gender and not be an abusive asshole. But instead, the author doubles down and adopts a victim complex, "taking up his cross" so to speak of continuing to abuse his transgender child. > When my son thought we hated him, he didn’t realize our love for Jesus (and for him) is greater than he could imagine. This sentence is deeply revealing and it is the experience of being on the other end of this resonates with me to my core. My parent's *didn't* love me. They love an abstract idea of a straight white christian *man* that they wanted to create which never existed and never will. When they say "our love for Jesus is greater", the author is showing the exact same thing my parents did. His own hatred and rejection of his child's, not only gender identity, but entire self, is way less important than their well being, and is upheld by his professed "spiritual convictions". I should note, there really isn't a coherent anti-trans argument from the Christian Bible. I've read and studied the book several times in my life, and it's hardly concerned with the ideas of gender identity, it's more about lineages and not eating shrimp, no, you cannot blame what you are on "Jesus". At the end of the day, the white american evangelical is an abusive, destructive person who seeks justification for their internal prejudices by manipulating a religion, but it has little to actually to with the religion. It's the people. The religion doesn't make them hate, hateful people adopt it as an excuse. I hope for the child of this author, that they have found a safe and healthy life away from their abusive family with people who love and support them. I know I have. It has taken me years, but I am a happy, successful, woman with a very full social circle and a great life. Sadly, not everybody makes it out of this so lucky. And for every one or two like me who survives through all of the abuse, the beatings, the torture, and the pain of white christian bigotry, I fear many more don't get through it. Sorry for the long post, I will never stop thinking on this topic. As I grow older, I work with younger transgender people in my community with similar trauma, and I try my best to never forget where I came from, and all of those who are still there. Happy trans day of visibility everybody. If you're able to, help somebody else, and if you are struggling, please never give up. :3
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/2164247 > You can access the link [here](https://mega.nz/file/Vi00UYiB#cFaF1mLqAV5pBIoVobpfPzIwgJtelZtzCBpvlxLn3kg). > > ^ PDF version from MEGA.
www.erininthemorning.com
Check out the article above. [Here's also a good response to JK Rowling's ill-informed Tweets.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zVNzm5l5W0) Take care, everyone. Maybe subscribe to Erin in the Morning's Substack or Restack her article (and give it a like as well).
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1750473 > Here is the archived link: > > https://archive.is/MiCtL > > Great article! I wonder if I'm queer myself or perhaps non-binary. Regardless, I highly recommend reading this, especially if you love classical music or are queer yourself (but, of course, officially for now I am a cishet male so I maybe I'm wrong about the article's quality or genuineness). But yes, do give it a read if you want to sometime. Also, let's of performers to read from here and lots of groups to follow. > > Take care!
yewtu.be
Crosspost from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/2749636 > >The other law that was used, again, in particular against trans women was paragraph 175. If you’ve […] come to other lectures or read about this, you maybe already know about paragraph 175. It was Germany’s […] national law against… what was called ‘sodomy’ or what we would call consensual adult male–male sex—was illegal. Um… lots of countries had laws against male–male sex, […] also a number of countries had gender neutral laws against same‐sex sex. So Austria, for example. > > > >[…] > > > >And paragraph 175 predates [1933], but the [Fascists] rewrote it and made it harsher, and often trans women, when they got into trouble with the police, they would be accused of 175. Although they were women, the [Fascist] police refused to sex them as women, and if they were having relationships with [cis] men, then those would be construed as gay relationships and they could be charged. > > > >[…] > > > >Let me talk through just a number of cases that I’ve found, to kind of show you the level of violence, but also the kind of twists and turns that could happen. The first is a case of a woman, […] her name was H. Bode, she lived in Hamburg, she had had a transvestite certificate under Weimar. When the [Fascist] state came in they no longer respected that certificate, and she had a number of arrests and convictions for… um, or in charges for crossdressing and also for having sexual relationships with [cis] men. > > > >The arrest that lead to her murder took place when one night she went out to a bar with her aunt. Bode was dressed [in women’s clothes] and passed as a woman at the bar. They got chatting with some soldiers who had just come back from the war in Poland—this is […] in [1939]—and they were all having drinks together at a table, and then suddenly one of the soldiers jumped up and said, ‘Oh wait, you’re not a woman, you’re a man dressed a woman’s clothing!’, and the soldiers grabbed her and brought her to a police officer who was walking ab[ou]t, and she was arrested. > > > >And she was eventually charged under paragraph 175, and they also brought a crossdressing charge against her. She had several convictions already, so the police decided to escalate her case, they called in a medical examiner, the medical examiner wrote […] this horrible report where he finds that she’s a ‘transvestite’ and a ‘homosexual and a ‘psychopath’ and all kinds of bad things. And they start using this kind of language in her file, which is always a really bad sign for people. > > > >So […] at one point they wrote in her file, quote—this is the police writing about her—‘It cannot be denied that a man going about in women’s clothing is not in keeping with prevailing concepts of discipline and morality. Under the current state, a state of manly outlook, it is not permissible that a man counterfeit the other sex by wearing women’s clothing.’ > > > >So, to me as a historian, this was really interesting because they’re referring directly to the fascist state here, the state of ‘manly outlook’. In fascism, […] male dominance and masculinity were really important, so what they’re saying is like, look, we have fascism, we can’t have this kind of stuff—behavior going on, we can’t have a trans woman, it’s in direct violation of what fascism is, so we have to do something about her. > > > >And indeed they…decided to send her to a concentration camp. They sent her to Buchenwald, where she was murdered in 1943. > > See also: [*Transgender Experiences in Weimar and Nazi Germany*](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=ueuKM6Wqoc0) and [*Trans Liminality and the Nazi State*](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/530122).
cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/735905 > Glad that the party has improved on this. It wasn't always so. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, it either said little of LGBTQ struggle or allowed homophobic opinions; this was due to a misunderstanding that communist parties had about Marxism and gay and trans folks. Also, during the tail end of the 1980s, just things started to go away but it was too late... > > Sadly, some communist parties are lax on this question (I won't name names though).
Hello! This may be very off topic, so feel free to remove! I wanna find more queer friends or even partners... and i dont really know where to look lol Meeting queer people irl is not really possible for me rn and what would prolly be the go-to places to look for peeps online - reddit and discord, are borderline spyware I suppose by its nature, this post already kinda acts as an advert, so hi my very real name is CocaineShark and I'm a (learning) ML and a linux n' art nerd, 19 they/she
I'm brewing up ideas for a manga that incorporates trans stuff. I want to add them at some point without resorting to stereotypes so I need some discussion regarding this here.
www.workers.org
>In bills specifically made for children, and framed as solely a woman’s issue, if an athlete’s biological sex is called into question they can be subject to genital inspection. If fondling a child isn’t enough “confirmation,” they will also undergo a DNA test to make sure there is no Y chromosome lurking, and if that’s not enough to satisfy the accusers, the child’s testosterone levels will be analyzed, just like Semenya’s. > >The governors of Utah and Indiana actually vetoed the anti-transgender sports acts, resulting in a “rare split in culture wars” between Republicans. (Reuters, March 25, 2022) > >Mind you, the British Columbia case is in an elementary school, where hormone levels are indistinguishable between sexes, as is average physical ability. A little girl had a random man request to see her genitals purely because of her short hair and what he described as “floppy boy shorts.” > >And if asked in Florida instead of British Columbia, that request becomes infinitely more likely to be carried out. This kind of increasingly accepted reaction teaches little girls their appearance matters more than their physical prowess. They are to appear feminine at all times or risk state-sanctioned molestation.
fair.org
>The **New York Times**, which has become [notorious](https://fair.org/?p=9033469) for its bad coverage of trans issues, has at least twice (6/9/23, 11/14/22) uncritically presented the speculative claim that puberty blockers “lock in” kids on a pathway toward subsequent treatment with cross-sex hormones. Both articles cited a portion of a [report](https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/) by Dr. Hillary Cass, commissioned by the English National Health Service to review its gender-identity services: > >>“The most difficult question is whether puberty blockers do indeed provide valuable time for children and young people to consider their options, or whether they effectively ‘lock in’ children and young people to a treatment pathway,” Dr. Hilary Cass, the pediatrician overseeing the independent review of the NHS gender service, wrote last year. > >The Cass review provided no studies indicating that blockers “lock in” children toward a treatment pathway. Instead, it cited two [small studies](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0243894) showing that nearly all participants who start blockers (96.5% and 98%) proceed to cross-sex hormones. > >Hinkle’s ruling points out two problems with this claim that the **Times** doesn’t. First, this is correlation, not causation. Second, there’s a more plausible explanation, [backed](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/150/2/e2021056082/186992/Gender-Identity-5-Years-After-Social-Transition) by [research](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797619830649#bibr9-0956797619830649), that most kids proceed to cross-sex hormones because they had persistent transgender identities before starting blockers: > >>The defendants note that 98% or more of adolescents treated with GnRH agonists progress to cross-sex hormones. That is hardly an indictment of the treatment; it is instead consistent with the view that in 98% or more of the cases, the patient’s gender identity did not align with natal sex, this was accurately determined, and the patient was appropriately treated first with GnRH agonists and later with cross-sex hormones. (Emphasis original.)
Since my family doctor appointment two days ago, I've been really angry. I live in Canada and to have HRT in my province you need dysphoria. I'm in my thirties and they require me to see a psychologist to diagnose me with dysphoria. I do have dysphoria but it is not as strong as most other MTFs. And I'm not that feminine, I'm more tomboyish. For example I love wearing a beanie in winter and a baseball cap during summer. I don't want to have to suffer through all the trouble of seeing a psychologist for HRT. I feel like I should be able to make my own decisions about my body. I just want to access the treatment I need without jumping through hoops. It's already hard enough to come to terms with my gender identity. I don't want to have to go through an additional process of talking to a psychologist and being judged by them. I'm afraid they won't let me have HRT because I'm a tomboy. It's not fair to have to justify my identity and gender expression to someone who doesn't understand what I'm struggling with. As a tomboy, I'm worried that I won't be accepted as a transgender woman, and that my gender expression won't be taken seriously. I'm scared that I won't be given the medical care I need, and have to prove my identity to receive it. I want to be able to access HRT without having to prove who I am. I want to be respected and accepted for who I am, without having to explain myself... And I'm sure they'll use my schizophrenia against me. As someone diagnosed with schizophrenia, I'm worried that it will be used against me in terms of accessing medical care and being accepted as a transgender woman. People may not take my gender expression seriously, or may use my mental health diagnosis to invalidate my identity. I hate this planet...I hate my life
academic.oup.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/530122 > :::spoiler [Excerpt] > >On 27 May 1937, R. was interned at Sachsenhausen concentration camp under protective custody. On 5 February 1938, R. and Gertrud were divorced. R. was released from Sachsenhausen six weeks later, on 22 March 1938, and by October that year Gertrud had remarried. > > > >R. believed that Gertrud was the one to denounce her to the Gestapo, a deep betrayal that had landed her in Sachsenhausen. According to R., Gertrud told the Gestapo that she knew nothing of R.’s gender non-conformity, claiming a narrative of ‘deceit’ that would have been familiar to the authorities. > > > >Up until this point in history, gender-crossing behaviours were often linked to espionage and theft. Claiming deceit would protect Gertrud from accusations of adultery and would legitimize her divorce and remarriage. > > > >Gertrud’s actions are less shocking when contextualized within the climate of fear in [the Third Reich], in which wider society functioned as an unofficial branch of the Gestapo, with neighbours and even loved ones denouncing those who did not belong in the *Volksgemeinschaft*. > > > >Gender nonconformity constituted a heightened ‘risk’ category in terms of drawing negative attention to visible queerness, and the practice of alerting gender non-conforming people to the police in [the Third Reich] was common, even within queer circles. > > > >[…] > > > >While interned in Sachsenhausen, R. continued to experience betrayal. Her mother, Alice, wrote letters to the Youth Welfare Office, who took R.’s children away from her. While her mother ‘did not care’ for the children emotionally, she gained custody of them when the state deemed both R. and her wife incapable of looking after them. > > > >Alice also cleared out all items from R.’s flat, removing her economic security and, according to R., pushing R. to ‘lose interest in life’. R. would later reflect on ‘what moves the woman to want to get rid of me’, because Alice ‘continued to work against’ R. after 1936. > > > >Despite her forced de-transition, R.’s mother continued to spurn her — the sharp break between the Weimar and [Fascist] eras blurred by the continuity in familial rejection. There is no downplaying the crushing reality of the post-1933 world. But for R. the significant watershed was 1936. The greatest losses were her gender and her closest relationships. > > > >Released from Sachsenhausen in March 1938, R. was now childless and partnerless. Yet she did not attempt to avoid repeat offences or reinternment after her stay at Sachsenhausen. As will become clear, R. suffered over the course of the ensuing years, but her life cannot be captured with the simple juxtaposition of a queer haven destroyed by the unyielding brutality of [anticommunist] violence. > > > >[…] > > > >For R., much of her personhood and self-worth was linked to her being allowed to live as a woman. Through her de-transition, she had suffered a profound deprivation of humanity. It also signalled a change in her personality and personal relationships. While the [Fascist] state heterogeneously persecuted R. from this point onwards, her de‐transition evoked greater personal and interpersonal damage than direct forms of punishment and incarceration. > > > >R.’s emotional state in 1941 was bleak: not only could she no longer live as the gender that gave her the most self‐worth, but she was also alone, plagued by voices that buttressed her sense of worthlessness, abusing alcohol to stem the feelings she could not bear, without the resilience necessary to prevent herself acting on self-destructive behaviours. > > > >In the eyes of the court, repeated imprisonment and internment had not altered R.’s behaviour, indicating the need for alternative measures to be taken. The judge overseeing R.’s prosecution in 1941 therefore saw no use in further carceral punishment, and instead sent for her to be psychologically assessed so that she might be sent to a psychiatric institute. The presiding judge for her previous offence had also had R.’s ‘state of mind’ assessed. > > > >In 1938, Dr. Frommer had produced a highly detailed report, which concluded that R. was a transvestite and a masochist. Dr. Fommer noted that R. had an ‘abnormality of the sex drive’, but she was ‘certainly not a dangerous moral offender in the sense of the relevant provisions of the penal code’. This was Dr. Frommer’s way of absolving R. of accusations against §175 while still acknowledging her unorthodox sexual tastes. > > > >[…] > > > >R. was not a prized *Volksgenosse* (member of the people’s community) of the SS ilk, nor homosexual, but she was ‘Aryan’ and unstable. Indeed, these characteristics played a central rôle in her treatment. > > > >Jennifer Evans’s work has shown that transvestism was of ‘the worst kind’ when perceived as an act of homosexual prostitution. But the contrast of this with R.’s case confirms Jane Caplan’s hunch that there was no decisive and uniform response to transness from the [anticommunist] state. > > > >This mirrors Samuel Huneke’s formulation of the ‘heterogeneous persecution’ lesbians were subject to in the Third Reich, wherein how lesbians were treated differed greatly depending on the categories additional to ‘lesbian’ that were assigned to them. > > > >R. occupied a liminal place in the [Fascist] carceral system. She was not clearly criminal (homosexual), but was a public nuisance to the *Volksgemeinschaft*; she had an ‘abnormal sex drive’ and was a *Transvestit*, but she was worthy of medical care and treatment, and given a chance to re-establish her place in [Fascist] society. > > > >[…] > > > >On the morning of 12 March 1943, R. was found hanging in one of the toilet cubicles in the Wittenau. The subsequent report stated that R. had committed suicide the night before and was found that morning by the caretaker. > > > >[…] > > > >R.’s gendered sense of self had tentatively found validation in the form of womanhood and femininity before 1936. But since that world had been flattened with the [Fascist] takeover, she could no longer inhabit it. Perhaps R. could no longer find a sense of place in the world or self within the gender binary, so she untethered herself from it. > > > >This can be interpreted as her letting go: a signal of her intentions in March 1943. If she could never see a future in which she could live again as a woman, she would be neither man nor woman — she would become nothing. > ::: > \ > While normally I’m impersonal when I comment on these anecdotes, I want to take this moment to express my deepest sorrow and sympathy for this poor woman. Gerd R., I am so, deeply sorry. You didn’t deserve the life that you got. Rest in peace, wherever you are.
I have been on HRT for 2 years and my face is pretty angular and masculine. My nose does not help and my browbone. I have been wanting FFS but it is so expensive. I have been thinking about going with Dr. Bryan Rolfes at Omni Cosmetic. They accept my insurance it is one of the reasons I am going with him. Has anyone had FFS with him? I am hoping someone knows how much it was for him? I just have so many bills but FFS is the only thing that will help me present as a woman.
www.thepinknews.com
>The proposed law would allow people the right to change gender identity, request a different gender identity to the one assigned at birth and the right to choose a medical intervention method for gender-reaffirming surgery. > >[…] > >“[Society] is relatively open towards the issue already. If we don’t soon build a legal corridor, there will be a lot of issues in both institutional and practical dimensions,” national assembly secretary general, Bùi Văn Cường, said. (Now imagine the U.S. Congress even considering—never mind passing—a law like this.)
I got a letter that I'm registered for military service, it's 12 months, I will be accepted in the medical exams and there's no way to avoid it, I don't fear dying in a war since what our military basically does is training and planting trees. I can choose the age that I serve in between 19 and 25. Service will obviously make it impossible to *affirm?* or how it's called, yk uniforms and military codes, not really something that i find myself in. So, I am wondering if anyone here has a similar experience and can provide with some tips or anything. Also, would it be better to do it early or late? If I do it early I'll be worked like a donkey, but I'll be given more freedom earlier. Or should I do it late which will give me a higher rank instantly (it's based on the college degree not age) and I'll just sit in an office for 12 months, but I'll finish it late and I have the risk of dropping out in college and being dragged into service earlier and possibly falling into a depression mental state with a fully loaded Chinese AK..
This is a common myth spread by transphobic - for lack of a better term - degenerates like Matt Walsh and JK Rowling. Basically they're saying sex reassignment surgery is being performed on minors. Surprisingly, this shit is easy to debunk. **My response:** No one is advocating for SRS to be performed on people below 18 and rightfully so. There's a reason why puberty blockers are recommended for trans kids, why we campaign against discrimination of trans kids, why we campaigned to not need surgery to be considered a man or a woman. I would argue this myth is nothing more than a strawman
It is very concerning and frightening the extent to which people will go to when it comes to fighting against trans rights, whether that be verbally or physically. The importance of supporting trans rights is as important as anything, especially with the way things currently are. How can we best help and support the rights, safety, and well-being of trans people?
mronline.org
>We have always been here. We just haven’t always felt safe coming out. But there’s no turning back the clock. We’re going to win our liberation today or tomorrow. At most, those who wish us ill will succeed in causing pain and suffering on their way out. I call on their well-meaning allies not to help them.
*"Scratch a Communist, and find a Philistine. Of course, you must scratch the sensitive spot, their mentality as regards women."* - V. I. Lenin In this I will be clarifying the essential nature of solidarity with sex workers to any serious leftist movement, especially in regards to migrant rights, women's rights, queer rights and anti-racism. I am not interested in any discussions about personal feelings in regards to the sex trade, nor do I care about any utopian conversations about a society in which sex work does not exist. The fact is that sex work does exist, and any discussion therefor must focus on ways to protect the lives, rights and dignity of sex workers *right now*. I acknowledge that there are cis men who engage in prostitution, and I have no desire to erase or ignore their experiences and marginalisation. However, statistically speaking the overwhelming number of sex workers are women, particularly migrants and people of colour, and queer people, especially trans people, are over-represented. This is due to the economic marginalisation and enforced precarity of women, racialised people, and trans people who are excluded from employment, education and institutional access to social services, especially for migrants in a border regime that creates a tiered system of access to rights and criminalises entire populations based upon their location of birth. Firstly I will address the term "sex work" itself. There is an oft propagated notion that defining sex work as work is somehow indicative of a glamorization of the sex trade, apologia for sexual violence and exploitation, or a desire to expand and increase the amount of sex work that happens. There is, at the same time, an argument that *all* sex work is inherently assault, and as such to term it work is to ignore the reality of the sex trade's exploitative nature. *"Part of believing me when I say I have been raped is believing me when I say I haven’t been.*" - Nikita, 2017 Annual General Meeting of Amnesty International UK.
Transcript: >It is not a woman’s specific feminine virtue that gives her a place of honor in human society, but the worth of her personality as human being, as citizen, as thinker, as fighter. > >*Alexandra Kollontai*
web.archive.org
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)—It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig’s first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the panel that one of the biggest obstacles trans people face is a lack of empathy. Only a few minutes later, a Republican lawmaker asked her an inappropriate question about her genitalia. “It was horrifying,” she said. The exchange, which was livestreamed on the Legislature’s website and has since been widely shared on social media, is an example of the type of demeaning questions and rhetoric that transgender people meet when they show up to statehouses to testify against new bills targeting their rights. In South Dakota, a lawmaker invoked “furries”—people who dress up as animals—when talking about gender-affirming care. In Montana, a legislator compared parents supporting their children in finding treatment to asking doctors to carry out medically assisted suicide. Advocates worry that increasingly hostile rhetoric about transgender people could have a chilling effect on those who want to speak out against new restrictions and could do lasting damage to a community of trans youth that is already marginalized. “I feel like that’s what they’re trying to do, to keep us from coming and exercising this right that we have,” said Rumba Yambu, executive director of Intransitive, an advocacy and support group for transgender people in Arkansas. “Because who wants to go and be asked about their genitalia in front of a bunch of strangers? Especially strangers in power.” So far this year, at least 150 bills targeting transgender people have been introduced, which is the highest in a single year, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Bans on gender-affirming care for minors have already been enacted this year in South Dakota and Utah, and Republican governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. Arkansas and Alabama have bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges. The push has included efforts in some states to restrict gender-affirming care for adults and proposed bans on drag shows that opponents have warned would also discriminate against transgender people. Herzig came to the state Capitol to testify against a bill attempting to reinstate Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for minors by making it easier to file malpractice lawsuits against providers. In her testimony, Herzig talked about working with transgender patients who are on hormone replacement therapy. “Bills like SB199 are designed to hinder, not help, Arkansans by creating barriers to evidence-driven health care they deserve under the guise of helping the young and innocent,” she said, later saying a vote for the bill was “unpatriotic, and casts doubts on our own health and research institutions who have worked through health care fields to improve the lives of Americans.” During follow-up questions, Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Herzig if she is transgender. When she said yes, he asked: “Do you have a penis?” The question was met with jeers and audible gasps in the packed committee room. “That’s horrible,” Herzig responded, telling McKee that asking her such a question was inappropriate and noting she was testifying as a health care professional. “I had never been so publicly humiliated in my life,” Herzig told The Associated Press in an interview days later. McKee did not respond to an email or phone call, but defended his question in a written statement. “As a father of four daughters, I will do everything in my power to protect my children and the children of Arkansas, especially from the woke mob who intend to push their agenda and beliefs down our throats and destroy our families,” McKee’s statement said. The idea of protecting children by withholding medical care is undermined by health experts, who have said minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression. McKee’s questions were similar in tone to those posed to Debi Jackson’s teen Avery, who is transgender and nonbinary, when they testified before Missouri legislators last year about a proposal to ban trans girls and women from participating on sports teams matching their gender identity. During the hearing, a lawmaker asked Avery if they were “gonna go through the procedure.” Since that exchange, Jackson said Avery hasn’t wanted to testify again before the Legislature. “It’s this same idea that in any of these discussions about trans people just being treated with basic dignity and respect, legislators want to reduce them to one body part,” Jackson said. “They miss the entirety of the human being sitting in front of them having a conversation.”  Advocates say the rhetoric surrounding these proposed bans further exacerbates an already treacherous environment for transgender people, their families, and medical providers. Children’s hospitals around the country have faced an uptick of harassment and threats of violence for providing gender-confirming care. Though she said she’s received an outcry of support since her testimony, Herzig said she and the pharmacy she owns have also gotten hateful emails and calls. People opposed to gender-affirming care for minors argue that children are too young to make decisions about their futures, sometimes comparing such treatments to child abuse. That’s despite medical experts saying the care is safe when administered properly. Nearly every major medical group, including the American Medical Association, has opposed the bans on such care for minors. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of gender-affirming care for kids as abuse, but a judge has since blocked those investigations. Amber Briggle, the mother of a transgender teenager in Texas whose family was investigated after Abbott’s order, said she gets frustrated when speaking before lawmakers in her state who she thinks already have made up their minds on the issue. But Briggle said she plans on returning to Texas’ Capitol this year and that Herzig’s encounter motivates her even more to show up and speak out. “They should not have to fight this alone,” Briggle said of transgender people testifying in statehouses. “They should know they have loving, supporting allies in their corner.” Herzig said she probably would not have testified had she known she was going to be asked about her genitalia. “I felt like I was pretty much prepared for any combative question,” she said. “Except that.”
A chairdre! I know I haven't been posting, I've been developing and immersing myself in a new curriculum of feminist and transgender studies (hit me up for book recommendations). For those who don't know me, I'm Seanchaí (shawn-a-key), a grassroots educator and trans feminist. In my absence, I've noticed we've had some new comrades join, and we've even had some coming outs (<3). This is wonderful, and also makes this the perfect opportunity to help prevent any tensions from cropping up by bridging the gap through education. A few months ago we did a little question thread, and it went swimmingly. I would like for us to do the same again. In this thread, I want people to ask whatever questions they have regarding gender, sexuality, feminism, intersectionality and any issues connected thereto. This *will* be a judgement free thread. These conversations can be fraught even amongst ostensible comrades, however I believe that a genuine engagement and education is the best way to build solidarity. For that end, I will be personally responding to every question. This may take me some time! Be patient with me, I am a very busy lady and I want to make sure I give each and every one of you a thorough, researched answer with recommended reading for deeper understanding. Anyone else is encouraged to answer as well in the meantime, of course! But I must ask, questioners and answerers alike, to extend each other grace, and as comrades with a genuine interest in building coalition and solidarity to engage each other with the utmost respect and in the best of faith. This is a thread for learning new things and getting answers to questions you may otherwise be afraid to ask, or may not know where to direct yourself to finding the answers. I don't want anyone to feel out of place for the limits of their knowledge, and I don't want discussions getting shut down because these *are* tender topics, and conversation around them is so often unproductive due to the hostile climate of reaction.