#I have had enough of testosterone!!

[whatudottu]

Presently going insane rn:

Anyway let me talk about the one question that I have been contemplating ever since I began rotating petrosapiens in my mind. How the fuck do babies?

If you caught the reblog before this post, you might have noticed that a post about fat in aliens brought me to think about petrosapien fat, which contradicts a lot of what I've already established for them being an exoskeletal species, let alone being a hard sell in the sci-fantasy of rock crystal people of canon. Turning to one of my two animal inspirations of petrosapiens - bugs and more specifically in this case insects - I found out that insects can't build up fat, not in the way mammals or reptiles can, BUT they store the most of it in a very significant stage;

Larvae!

Then it fucking hit me, I already made some early headcanons about child development in petrosapiens (though I can't remember if I posted them or had a post ready to send) where they were already in a metamorphosing stage, though the responsibility fell solely to the layer who would use crystallokinesis to feed an 'egg'. I didn't fully like the idea though mostly in retrospect, because it felt strange in the 'pulled out of my ass' kinda way, a method of child rearing that felt more obligated to use crystallokinesis as a primary source for feeding to sorta justify at the time the inherent power petrosapiens have towards crystallokinesis.

Instead, between then and now I fully connected the idea that crystallokinesis is less of a power and more of an extension of a petrosapien's nervous system, compression of quartz through the use of a more electrical based nerve network that happens to not distinguish between person crystals and the similar crystalline structures of Petropia. With this in mind and the new idea that petrosapiens have larvae, wouldn't it be so cool if the larvae had the typical Earth-like electrochemical nervous system of humans (or I suppose bugs here) that adapts to an electrical focused nervous system through the process of metamorphosis? Where the larvae creates it's petrosapien crystal skin by building a chrysalis and melting within it to create their new body?

Unlike my old headcanon where the layer had to remain with the egg and constantly feeding them with crystallokinesis, this larvae version can feed itself when provided and so long as the chrysalis is well protected, the moment metamorphosis stage takes place the parent(s) can have momentary reprieve from child rearing and better prepare themselves for the toddler/adolescent stage for their child. The little grub probably doesn't even eat crystals in the early stages of their larvaehood since eating crystals initially marks as the materials for chrysalis building before it becomes a nutritional food source. Instead the little grub might be feed plants and potentially animal products in order for it to inherit and develop the chemicals required to build a crystallovorous stomach and the acids used to break silica down into digestible nutrition.

That does mean that early child rearing is a little bit more functionally deadly towards the very crystalline parents, who have to legitimately watch so that their fingers aren't bitten off, but holding the little grub is easy when it's covered in silicone membrane. The larvae at this stage is a little bit more resistant to any crystallovorous plant secretions due to the polymers of it's membrane, as well as the higher diversity of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon in it's body it has in comparison to adults or adolescents who've undergone metamorphosis, their innards becoming a more uniform silicone and their skin being the crystalline silicon many crystallovorous stomachs have adapted to eat.

It also means that the shape of a grub is also considered to be cute to a petrosapien. Things from caterpillars to maggots look so much more charming to a petrosapien's eyes that back on Petropia there would be a large proportion of pet owners having what would considered on Earth to have bugs for pets. In fact, a rather common form of pet Petrosapiens might have would be a large millipede/centipede like animal that would be the size approximate of a feather boa and often held that way too, because while they do not undergo metamorphosis, they look like a larval grub well into adulthood and are considered to be very cute for it. Pet owners with these pets who are also parents love to see their little larvae and their 'dog' getting along and would love telling their adolescent all the cute stories of the little grubs curled up against each other. Petrosapiens in the age of the Surface Craze might have had the opportunity to get a few baby pictures like that, and it would be considered very cute unless you were a human afraid of bugs or not personally a fan.

Petrosapiens on Earth might see the miniature bugs and explode with cuteness overload, others might fuck around and find out that they can make human-petrosapien hybrids Makarat you chupacabra you're lucky petrosapien kids aren't born with crystals pay child support to your human wife who birthed a grub-!

And that's the post send tweet-

#petrosapien #ben 10 #xenobiology #at this point i only think about petrosapiens as bugs rarely as reptiles- maybe i should add more reptile stuff #like leathery eggs that the grubs eat their way out of yeah let's add that #since the larvae don't have powerful enough stomachs to eat crystals yet let alone the jaw strength #which looking at a grub you can see the vague body plan of a petrosapien #the opening face- the significantly more developed rear legs (present as 'swimmerets')- #you can (mostly) tell from even the grub stage that your kid's a guy or a girl because they even have the nubs for back spines in grub stag #even if it turns out to be an excess/lack of 'testosterone' or an intersex trait #it was their grubs that petrosapiens were even able to connect themselves to old fossil records- #an extinct shrimp or prawn type thing that shares similarities to their little grub- though already with armour or even exoskeleton #also this grub thing makes the crystal twins slightly less of a hassle at least for the still unnamed human mother because i suck at names #means lucía had a grub for a twin sister for a hot while- nor did the family have much in the way for crystal for blanca to eat #so instead of crystals blanca ate bones for her chrysalis and hey look she's bone white now which- oopsie osteokinesis #no matter all the crystallokinesis that happens is with lucía and oof ouchie it's scoliosis #well- replacing keratin AND scoliosis but woopsie #that should be in an oc post

[oysterself]

revoking everyones she/her privileges cause im getting real tired of cisgenders always calling me it and its pissing me off every time i hear it from anyone now

#meowing #literally was at the pharmacy earlier ordering a refill for my testosterone and the girl had to go ask another guy abt it or whatever and #he was like ask the patient what she wants to do its her choice (i didnt have enough refills on my prescription to get my normal amount) #like i guess youre not really wrong but take a hint dumb fuck if im ordering testosterone why would u immediately refer to me with she/her #atp it just always feels malicious like seriously can you guys not. at least ask for my prns like i dont like being asked feels like #im getting clocked but maybe break out the brain cells and stop being a fucking idiot FUCK I HATE CISGENDER PEOPLE YOU PEOPLE ARE SO STUPID

[sweetenby]

That one Rudolph lesbian post has me all kinds of fucked up

Me foaming at the mouth desperate to explain that male work animals are more often than not castrated vs clamping my mouth shut bc then I'd be siding with a homophobe vs knowing it's meaningless bc the animators didn't care about any of that and just gave the reindeer antlers bc it looks good

#God I know I'm an annoying pedant but I hate not correcting misinformation/misconceptions #I just want to share my knowledge #I'm shaking And Crying #Also reindeer are used as working animals irl #And they're normally half castrated so that they have enough testosterone to be strong #But they have lower levels of testosterone so that they're more mild mannered #Like most work animals have names to refer to castrated males specifically bc of how common it is to do that #Like oxen doesn't mean cow it means a male castrated cow that has special training to pull equipment n carts n stuff #my animal adhd fixation aside #I don't think any of this information is relevant to ppl shipping whatever they want #Like if you want to say they're lesbian yeah they're lesbians! #This is the most epic interal battle I've ever had #And it's just me telling myself not to add things in the tags of a post #I am mentally unwell #These tags specifically are driving me crazy #Bc like it's you're acting like it's insane for ppl to castrate reindeer when that is smt the indigenous ppl of the north do regularly #And I don't like that #But also it's a post about lesbian reindeer that's not relevant

[dismalzelenka]

.

#today i had a pianist during a rehearsal go “wow your voice you just have so much natural talent i mean some people really work for years—” #and i kinda snapped #and i was polite but also i unloaded the entire story of the last thirteen years in the cosmic joke that is my life #this lady got thirteen years of trauma in a twenty minute speed run #she Learned Things today about existential despair and the societal clusterfuck that is the Trans Experience #and how that intersects in the classical singing world in an incredibly challenging and fucked up way #and how i went from scooting under the door into a voice program with seven lessons under me #and then three years later proceeded to fling myself into a testosterone fueled vocal puberty in the midst of a professional singing degree #and lost the respect and support of most of the vocal and choir faculty because everyone thought i was committing professional suicide #if it werent for my own voice teacher (who at some point became the mother figure I'd never had) keeping me afloat i would not be here #i have c-ptsd from the shit i went through in the choir department #i had to drop out of school for a semester because my body just folded under the stress #i started getting migraines severe enough i was hospitalized twice with stroke-like symptoms #two weeks ago i had a former teacher from the early days deadname me in front of our colleagues #she tried to play it off as no big deal and it just reminded me no matter how successful i become in this field #no matter how much work i put in to overcome my past #its always going to come back and find me through people who refuse to learn respect #and somehow! im still here! im making a living in the field i trained for #how many people in my generation in the arts degree sector can say that?? by some metrics i am thriving but jesus goddamn #i clawed and fought and bit and dragged myself to where i am right now and had to find my voice TWICE and the worst part is #she meant well #the pianist i mean #and i was polite when i told my story but it was so important to me that she understood #no amount of talent would have gotten me here without sleepless nights and long hours and blood and sweat and tears and you know what #maybe i am a better person for it but dont compliment me by implying i have some inherent gift from a god i dont even believe in #dont tell me your god put me in this place to teach other people compassion #i didnt brush the door of death as many times as i did for the sake of someone else's enlightenment #its been a long 13 years. hell its been a long 2023. in the last eleven months ive had a fundamental upheaval #of everything i thought i knew and understood about myself #so yea im standing at the gate to hell looking the devil in the eye. try me bitch. ive endured worse.

[i-am-just-a-skeleton]

Okay, to start off this is a vent post involving transphobia, mainly my own internalised transphobia, so if you'd like to avoid reading that I'd suggest skipping off now. Anyway. for anyone still here I apologise for the incoherence I just need to get this all out of my head a bit. The main thing is my dad. He's not... actively transphobic, I guess, but he is the main source of my current anxieties on this subject. Which are: I think I should detransition. I don't want to, but maybe I should. I can't tell if I want or not anymore because, maybe that will solve all this. It doesn't have to be an issue. If I was a cis guy, it wouldn't have to be an issue (or maybe it would, because I do like crossdressing and maybe I'm not entirely a guy anywa so I might still be trans anyway but anyway that doesn't matter because it's impossible), but we can't have that, so maybe it doesn't have to be anyway. If I detransition, and everything's fine, then we don't have to do anything and it all works out. And if I do feel utterly terrible then I can just go back as normal and everything will be fine. It's the logical approach to take, and it will solve all of this one way or another. Anyway. That's what it's all boiled down to, there are so many other things that play into this and I really ought to focus on untangling them all, probably. A lot of it comes from my dad, but a good bit of it's just me as well, like for some reason I have a much harder time accepting myself (and by extension other trans guys/afab trans people) and that's probably internalised mysogyny taking, the "of course everyone wants to be a man, and that's why you don't see this many trans women around now do you?" bit, and I don't really know what my own thoughts on everything are because I have both voices going in my head and all that comes out is just a mess of pain and stress and anxiety and anyway. I think I should detransition, because it seems like the easiest way to make at least a little bit of this go away, whichever way it goes.

#I... fuck #I really don't want to. It's not that much of a problem though #is it? #there' not much to change #just stop doing the testosterone shots (i've only been on it for a month it's not had any real effect yet) #change my name back #tell people to use she/her #don't even have to change the way I dress at all cause it's feminine enough as it is #I should. I don't even feel bad about it when I think about it logically #I'll do that #just have to go and actually tell people #very simple #I'll do it in the morning #(it's only 10 pm where I am #just clarifiying cause I know most of my mutuals are in timezones where it would be significantly later. #this isn't some kind of post-midnight insanity #I've been thinking about it for weeks and it's not even that late) #i think the inetention behind this post was for someone to convince me not to detransition #because it feels like the only way to stop worrying about things #but the stress of all this and thinking about actually telling anyone is making me feel physically ill #i can't fucking deal with this #help

[milo-is-rambling]

Me vs confusing gender thoughts vs mental illness

#my brain has been very loud recently. #been thinking about going on t. that was the whole reason I wanted to get a job but I was so scared to take that step that I didn’t talk to #the ppl I had to talk to and now I’m fired and broke again #so I didn’t go talk to the specialist lady my doctor recommended and now I’m broke again and I just want to go on hormones #I think I’d like myself more if I could be successful but I am not made for working #like in a sad way I think I was made to be a thirty year old in their mothers basement like I’m afraid I’m doomed to that even tho I know im #not I also just don’t like fully believe that I’m not destined to that even tho I’m the one that would have to change my actions. anyways. #I wish I was on testosterone and I lived further up north and I had an apartment or my car converted fully to a living space I wish I had #a wide array of friends who would let me spend a night and hang out and laugh and do stupid shit and I wish I could just travel and make art #and just try my best not to die before I turn 30 #but money. and getting money. and working long enough and being educated enough to have a job that pays enough to make going to work worth #it because living is expensive even bare minimum and I feel like it’ll be hard forever and I’ll be stuck behind everyone else forever #but in my head I’m 21 living in my car traveling all over properly medicated (depression meds. testosterone. and weed.)

[genderqueer-rat]

oh, btw I don't care if you're trans - if you are a transmed you're holding hands with terfs and other transphobes and you don't get cookie points for being a good little queer and not icky like the rest of us.

#gender is a game and I'm winning because i love how i look #i love being the big bad testosterone butch dyke #i love being queer #i love being genderqueer #and finding comfort in my own body #i don't care what anyone's reasons are #i trust people when they tell me they are something #I've had too many people tell me that I'm not valid to try to do that to others #it doesn't serve any of us to be playing identity politics for keeps #like we're losing rights because other queers aren't palatable #or don't fit in boxes well enough #i get it #i struggled with people using the term bisexual lesbian #i felt like something important was being taken from me by someone who didn't 'fit' #but honestly who fucking cares #people can and should identify exactly the way they want to #I'm sure some people blocked me over that #and they were right to #just let people vibe #don't expect them to air out all their shit because you don't understand why they don't have the same experience you do #it only serves as fuel for those who would rally against us #queer discourse

[seilon]

I have 15 years of piano experience, several years experience playing keyboard in an ensemble / comping, vocal training/experience, and have picked up guitar recently (about 5 months ago ish). i have the credentials now how the fuck do i join a band

#kibumblabs #i imagine you need friends and that’s probably my issue #i just have. no friends #I’m still beating myself up a bit for ghosting a friend of mine who admittedly I couldn’t do much with right now anyway cause I live 400 #miles away– but partly because he would have been my best possible shot at starting a band as he’s a very experienced and talented guitarist #and bassist and so on (the kinda guy who knows some amount of like every instrument) to the point where we’d talk about music theory #sometimes just. because. and I know is taste is good too #and I can not believe I never had the balls to be like hey. like. you wanna play together at some point #god I am mentally banging my head against a wall #anyway so now I’m here and I have no friends and no connections and my school doesn’t even have music classes/clubs/etc at all #so. fuck me dude #sigh #maybe I should focus on retraining my voice first anyway cause it’s been thoroughly fucked up by testosterone and I’ve been set back. a lot. #i really need to work on that either with a teacher or with online resources or something cause it’s been eating me alive lately it bothers #me so much. and when I see myself playing with a band i really wanted to be a singer specifically despite my piano experience (tho I know of #course I can do both) and now I definitely don’t feel confident enough in my voice to be a lead so. I’d have to. work on that a lot first #hehdhsgshhddhdhdj torture #one thing that gives me some hope is that I am in probably the best location to find Something music-wise. i mean I’m right next to #fucking LA so I mean. yeah. had an Uber driver the other day talk about how he moved all the way from Poland to SoCal to try and find work #doing music cause it was his passion and all that and at some point he asked me if I did anything live and of course I said no (I’d already #mentioned the instruments I play and whatnot) and when I said it was cause I didn’t know anyone he was like aahhh that’s no excuse! you can #find something! you live in Orange County! you just gotta keep looking and go to more places people like that get together #and I haven’t stopped thinking about that #thank you polish red hot chili peppers enthusiast u are an inspiration

[jaykin]

Any other trans person sick of the “so why do you think your trans” question every time ur trying to access trans healthcare

#anyway my new endocrinologist thinks I’m faking being trans bc Im on birth control n have sex with men 🙃 #I’m just a gay guy like trans gay men exist #they’re refusing to prescribe me testosterone until they get my medical records PROVING I’ve been trans since I was like 14 #or at least that’s when I came out #I have enough T to last me until my next appmt but GODDD it’s so annoying I hate the lack of GOOD trans healthcare out there #BRUH HE LITERALLY ASKED ME IF I HAD BREST IMPLANTS #I WAS LITERALLY WEARING A BINDER

[notdingalingalingalingrita]

why am i becoming a catgirl now

#sorry for showing this side of my life but. #im six months from testosterone and i suddenly wish to have long hair and thigh highs and little paws #but i think its more of a silly role to play than a charlie role to play #like daydreaming of an occupation i dont actually wish to persue #or of being a person i am not #i wish i was like a fake background png and i could change the image at will #i also feel like the me inside is too big to be just one person #but i talk about that enough #wish i had more bodies #id spill anlittle personality into each #and it would be much more orderly #they also kindof relate to eachother though #but not in a way i can exactly condense into one picture of myself #too mang qualities to keep track of #and i am frusturated that people might not see all of it and get the wrong idea #if i can take a second to see myself from an outsiders eyes #well its wrong i guess and kindof annoying #i usually end my vent with how i might fix it but idk #ill keep thinking #also. btw. testosterone in six months. #hide your wives

[matoitech]

midol did not help with my nausea as much today..

#urgh #feeling bad enough rn i rly didnt need any extra shit especially a 2 weeks early period when i have terrible periods #they make me badly nauseous and i dont need any help w that lmao its my state 50% of the time anyway #feels VERY UNFAIR that i JUST had this too. nauseous at least 3 weeks out of 4 weeks in a month #bcuz its a week and a half long deal <3 couldnt have short light ones oh no! #ive just been waiting for my testosterone to kill it

[lighttailoring]

.

#i shall make a tag post and then delete it #it has been very. healing. recently #to see people with body types vaguely similar to mine (mine is of course sans brutal fitness regime and/or minor plastic surgery) #and say “they are hot” #especially kristen coming out and saying she wants a moustache and a happy trail #and more importantly people being into that???????? #i was a 00s teen i used to have a wishlist of surgeries and treatments i thought i 'needed' in order to be attractive enough to exist #now i'm like: oh this 'abnormally high' testosterone level? i just had it lying around #maybe i don't need to force my body into the Woman Checklist in order to be happy #maybe i need to do the opposite #maybe my discomfort with being 'trans' was a transmedicalist view #like no i don't Need Surgery And Hormones #in fact i need the opposite #still not cis! because my birth cert says 'female' and my body and brain do not agree #it's just complicated i guess because: i very much also wanted to be Female but i wanted that in order to be Normal? #anyway idk what i'm even getting at any more. if you're still reading this i'm sorry

[catboybiologist]

“As a biologist, the terms biological woman and man don’t make any sense to me” okay then you’re an idiot and a terrible biologist. I swear to god, morons like you only become biologists just so you can hold it over others, when in reality, if biology deniers like you can become biologists, then being one really doesn’t mean much anyway. But this probably just gave an autogynophile like you a boner to read, anyway.

Oh fun! Haven't gotten one of these in a while. Disregarding the fact that you somehow think the qualification for being a biologist entirely hinges on defining womanhood, I do need to ask some clarification. I know I'm feeding the trolls here, but here we go: does your definition of "biological woman" mean:

Sociological woman? Eh, context dependent, I'm not fully out of the closet, but oftentimes, I am and present femme. So let's call that one 50/50.

Psychological woman? Because I am one.

Neurological woman? Because I am one [1].

Physical woman? My soft tissue redistribution is handling that well.

Hormonal woman? My blood tests are within cis female ranges.

Transcriptional woman? As a signalling molecule, the downstream effects of estrogen have broad transcriptional effects, completely changing the profile of gene expression and functional genomics of my cells. [2]

Genetic woman? I mean, see my above point- as far as my genes that are actually active, I have all of the same transcripts being produced, controlling which genes are expressed.

Karyotypic woman? I actually have a few signs pre-HRT that might point to a non-XY chromosome pair, but I haven't had a karyotype. We'll put that down as unknown. And hell, even if its XY, there's plenty of cis women who are karyotypically XY, with suppressed sry or complete androgen insensitivity. Interestingly enough, a completely androgen insesitive woman can go her whole life without knowing- and functionally, is very similar to a trans woman, actually. Fancy that. [3]

Reproductive woman? I can't produce an egg cell, but neither can significant fractions of cis women. Also, this is all gonna change soon, which is fun. [4]

There's also a lot of understudied aspects to the biology of HRT and even pre-HRT that are emerging, largely demonstrating widespread cellular and genetic remodeling of trans individuals undergoing hormone therapy. The field is a bit behind due to constant political pressure to revoke funding, but a lot of the results are extremely exciting in both testosterone and estrogen hormone therapies. I'm sure that, as a self professed biology As someone who presumably has a lot of expertise in biology, I'm assuming that you're aware of all of this cutting edge research, and are keeping up with modern papers, including but not limited to these cool findings:

Trans men on HRT exhibit significant genetic and transcriptional changes that make them biochemically male. [5][6]. It's a good hypothesis that the same happens with estrogen treatment, but those studies don't exist yet- I'm sure you're reserving judgment until more publications exist, of course.

Trans men on HRT develop male cell types and tissues. [7]

Trans women experience muscular and blood cell changes that align with cis women moreso than cis men [8]

And many, many more! This is an exciting, underserved, and groundbreaking field of research, and I'm sure you're keeping up with the latest in scientific journals about it.

I'm sure, of course, that you understand that it becomes impossible to draw a distinct line anywhere in here, and that words like "woman" are shorthand for the myriad of traits that invisibly synthesize in our mind and in society to represent a concept? I'm sure you understand that science is fundamentally descriptive, not prescriptive? I'm sure that you understand that these findings, while really cool and interesting, actually don't mean jack shit about what the word "woman" means or not?

As someone who is the ultimate decider in what a biologist is, I'm sure you know that bioessentiallism is a childish mindset that completely ignores and disregards the constantly changing, dynamic nature of biological systems, something that extends well beyond biological sex and its relation to gender.

I'm sure that also, that you understand that beyond just this, that the role of science in society is to advise how to achieve our moral principles, not create moral principles in themselves. And I'm sure that understanding means you know that trans affirming healthcare and supportive societal treatment leads to reduced mortality and increased happiness for everyone, right?

So great to talk to someone who is surely a scientist on this. You are a biologist, if you're talking like this, I assume? I assume you're not going to spit complete misreadings of scientific language from the background sections of these papers that only reveal you've never read a scientific paper in your life if you're thinking this way? I assume you have experience interpreting data like this?

Also, imagining my genitalia while writing this? Ew. Please stop projecting your fetishes into my inbox.

Works cited:

Kurth F, Gaser C, Sánchez FJ, Luders E. Brain Sex in Transgender Women Is Shifted towards Gender Identity. J Clin Med. 2022 Mar 13;11(6):1582. doi: 10.3390/jcm11061582. PMID: 35329908; PMCID: PMC8955456.

Fuentes N, Silveyra P. Estrogen receptor signaling mechanisms. Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol. 2019;116:135-170. doi: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2019.01.001. Epub 2019 Feb 4. PMID: 31036290; PMCID: PMC6533072.

Gottlieb B, Trifiro MA. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. 1999 Mar 24 [Updated 2017 May 11]. In: Adam MP, Feldman J, Mirzaa GM, et al., editors. GeneReviews® [Internet]. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 1993-2024. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1429/

Murakami, K., Hamazaki, N., Hamada, N. et al. Generation of functional oocytes from male mice in vitro. Nature 615, 900–906 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05834-x

Pallotti F, Senofonte G, Konstantinidou F, Di Chiano S, Faja F, Rizzo F, Cargnelutti F, Krausz C, Paoli D, Lenzi A, Stuppia L, Gatta V, Lombardo F. Epigenetic Effects of Gender-Affirming Hormone Treatment: A Pilot Study of the ESR2 Promoter's Methylation in AFAB People. Biomedicines. 2022 Feb 16;10(2):459. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10020459. PMID: 35203670; PMCID: PMC8962414.

Florian Raths, Mehran Karimzadeh, Nathan Ing, Andrew Martinez, Yoona Yang, Ying Qu, Tian-Yu Lee, Brianna Mulligan, Suzanne Devkota, Wayne T. Tilley, Theresa E. Hickey, Bo Wang, Armando E. Giuliano, Shikha Bose, Hani Goodarzi, Edward C. Ray, Xiaojiang Cui, Simon R.V. Knott, The molecular consequences of androgen activity in the human breast, Cell Genomics, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2023, 100272, ISSN 2666-979X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100272. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666979X23000320)

Xu R, Diamond DA, Borer JG, Estrada C, Yu R, Anderson WJ, Vargas SO. Prostatic metaplasia of the vagina in transmasculine individuals. World J Urol. 2022 Mar;40(3):849-855. doi: 10.1007/s00345-021-03907-y. Epub 2022 Jan 16. PMID: 35034167.

Harper J, O'Donnell E, Sorouri Khorashad B, McDermott H, Witcomb GL. How does hormone transition in transgender women change body composition, muscle strength and haemoglobin? Systematic review with a focus on the implications for sport participation. Br J Sports Med. 2021 Aug;55(15):865-872. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-103106. Epub 2021 Mar 1. PMID: 33648944; PMCID: PMC8311086.

#cw transphobia #biology #basic biology

[rossthren]

The blood curse has returned.

Hope I can dig up some energy later, I want to draw some dinosaur stuff again.

Also burned my mouth with soup and now where I got the lidocaine injection last month hurts and is super sensitive. Also having joint pain too.

#txt #someone please toss me birth control pill or testosterone like bird seeds #13 years and i have had far more than enough of this crap every month

[genderqueerdykes]

being cisgender is just not an option for a lot of intersex people.

i was never given the option to be cisgender anything. every part of me that deviated from what a girl or boy "should" look like spelled trouble. because i dressed and acted very masculine, before puberty, people called me a bulldyke, a butch lesbian, a "girl pretending to be a boy" and "not a real boy". i was never "feminine enough" to be a woman.

after puberty hit, i started growing a beard, and my shoulders and chest got broader and more square. my body became more "masculine", so suddenly, i was labeled as a "boy pretending to be a girl" and "not a real girl". after I started testosterone, i haven't stopped being called a faggot, a fairy, a sissy or a pansy because i'm not "masculine enough" to be a man despite being a bear.

there's no winning in the eyes of a society that's so focused on binary this-or-that choices. i had no hand in the matter, this all happened way before I started testosterone HRT. in fact, even when i was placed on estrogen HRT to try to "correct" my intersex traits and symptoms, i still wasn't gendered or seen as a cis woman. i was still the same tranny bulldyke. no matter what i do, my intersex and transsexual traits will always be weaponized against me; whatever sounds the "worst" at the time, or whatever invalidates what i want.

in order to liberate trans people from this struggle, we must also liberate intersex people, for our struggles are virtually one in the same. our fight for body and identity autonomy is shared. it will always be impossible for me and other intersex people to be viewed as cis anything while white American society remains focused on pointing out the "differences" between men and women, instead of embracing the similarities we all can and do have.

intersex and trans people owe it to one another to disassemble these dangerous attitudes and shut them down when and where possible. it's not only trans people who face this struggle- intersex people deal with never being able to pass or be clocked as their actual gender from birth a lot of the time. people MUST understand that women and men come in all types of bodies, shapes and sexes, whether or not they chose to look like that. and whether or not they chose doesn't matter, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, which means being gendered correctly despite how they look or sound.

#intersex #lgbtqia #lgbtq #trans #transgender #queer #transsexual #nonbinary #enby #transmasculine #transmasc #transfemme #transfeminine #transfem #ftm #mtf #our writing #body autonomy #queer liberation #intersex liberation #intersexual #intersexuality