There is so much more I could say about this, but there is not enough room. Remember to check with reality rather than believing conspiracy theories promoted, supported, and funded by white nationalist hate groups.
Missouri is proposing 20% of the nation’s anti-trans legislation this session. Gender-affirming care for young folks is on the edge of being criminalized (so much love to trans friends in states where that has already happened).
Please keep up with the anti-trans legislation in your state and combat it. There are lives at stake.
Transphobes do not touch this post.
Image ID: a 10-image cartoon comic featuring Joey, a boy with short hair.
Image 1: Joey, upset, gesticulates towards an open laptop. Text reads: The reality of St. Louis trans kids. Last week, a former (non-medical) employee of Washington University’s Pediatric Transgender Center was featured in a viral article about how the clinic was “rushing” kids into medical care and “mutilating” us. Every single thing she said was a lie, but the media loves it. Footnote reads: I wouldn’t give any more attention to this, but it is immediately endangering the lives of trans people. Missouri has launched a state investigation and is actively attempting to criminalize gender-affirming care based on conspiracy theories.
Image 2: Joey points to a map of the United States where Missouri is singled out, and a map of Missouri where St. Louis is indicated with a star. The text reads: The Transgender Center, located in St. Louis, Missouri, has been the target of hateful attacks from the far-right state legislature for years. It is part of Washington University Hospital, a branch of a prestigious private university.
Image 3: A younger Joey injects his T shot in his leg while someone takes a photo. Text reads: I can tell you that everything in the article is false because I received care at the Transgender Center beginning at 16 years old. My medical transition has brought me nothing but joy. What a gift it is to be trans!
Image 4: A younger Joey sits on a couch and stims with a tangle fidget toy. Text reads: No one is “rushed”. I sat on many waitlists, had to have 6 months of specialized gender therapy and a diagnosis of gender dysphoria before even being referred to the Center, and I was denied as “not ready enough” by an endocrinologist the first time I finally got an appointment. Footnote reads: If you’re curious about what it looks like to be a trans kid, I did another piece on that! Check out tinyurl.com/transkidscomictumblr.
Image 5: A colorful map of the United States shows how many states have a Negative Gender Identity Policy Tally and how many states have criminalized gender affirming care. Joey holds a credit card. Text reads: St. Louis’ Pediatric Transgender Center is the only one in the region, meaning the waitlists are extremely long. Plus, no one in the only industrialized country without free healthcare is getting medical care for fun. Many American trans folks have to fundraise for our care.
Image 6: Joey, distressed, sits on a couch while talking on the phone. The person on the other end says: “That’s me!” Text reads: This former employee spoke about specific cases, and patients have been able to identify themselves. She shared our private medical info and called us horrifying.
Image 7: This is split into two panels. In the first, Joey holds up a box of condoms and a packet of birth control pills. Texts reads: She especially hated trans men such as myself, saying that trans ideology was destroying “girls”. She lamented about hormones making us “sterile”, which is a complete lie. We trans mascs have to actively prevent pregnancy. In panel two stands a doctor. Text reads: Every time I had an appointment at the Center, doctors reminded me: Remember: testosterone is not a contraceptive! Footnote reads: The wonderful Erin Reed wrote a breakdown debunking all the lies in the article. See tinyurl.com/erinreedmissouri.
Image 8: Joey, masked, sits at a circular table with his brother, an unmasked boy with fluffy short hair. Joey’s brother is showing him his phone. Text reads: Major newspapers continue to platform these complete lies because they bring in engagement and money. The Washington Post tracked down my little brother’s personal cell phone number to try to get in contact with our mom – the president of an organization supporting trans kids in Missouri. Freaky, right?
Image 9: Joey, looking disgusted, leans against a door frame while talking on a cell phone. Text reads: But no one wants to talk with me, the adult who medically transitioned at this clinic as a minor and has not “desisted” in six years. The Washington Post reporter, who didn’t know anything about trans people, talked with me for 20 minutes and used a sentence of mine in an article about “both sides of the debate”. She didn’t mention that this former employee is being legally represented by a recognized anti-LGBT hate group, nor that all of her claims are unsupported by reality or science.
Image 10: Joey looks angry and gesticulates. Beside the drawing are two photos of Joey, one of him happy in front of a trans flag, and the other of him drawing up testosterone to take his first T shot. Text reads: There is no debate. There are trans people, and there are people who want us dead. There is truth and there are conspiracy theories. Where is my viral article in a major paper?
Listen folks, gender is a made up and presentation is subjective, you can be as feminine as you want and still be a man, as masculine as you want and still be a woman and anything at all in between because the ideas of feminine and masculine are totally arbitrary. Something is feminine or masculine for no reason other than “because a person said it is”. You’re a man and want to wear a dress and be pretty? You absolutely can. It doesn’t make you less of a man.
With that being said, if you wish to assign a gender to something as a form of personal validation, you absolutely can. If you wish to see having a beard as a defining trait of masculinity, that’s absolutely okay, if you just assign it to yourself and acknowledge that others may, and almost certainly will, see things differently to you. Sticking with the beard example, you would have to acknowledge that there’s many women in the world who also have a beard for a variety of reasons, and then having a beard doesn’t make them masculine or invalidate their femininity.
But the thing is, I'm a wierdo, at least compared to the larger social climate. Hell, in that regard, 70% of this website is populated almost exclusively by wierdos. And it ain't like none of us understand the social norms, it's simply a matter of giving a shit and/or acknowledging that those "norms" would mean, for me, being ostricized for being trans; or, for other people, closeting their niche interests and ways they wish to live their lives
The wierdos know how it works. But how it works is just fucking lame.
"isnt bullying recognized as a form of abuse" the thing is, like, not broadly, societally speaking... i mean think of all the posts u see regularly that are like, "bring back bullying" etc. "everyone needs to get bullied a little it builds character." can u imagine people making these statements broadly about abuse? bring back abuse? abuse builds character? nah and that is because people do not think of bullying as abuse, they do not think of it as traumatic and i actually think this is in large part because it is seen as an issue that only affects children (not even true) and people still broadly feel that children's feelings and experiences do not matter
i had a meet n greet with the anaesthesiologist for my top surgery and he said it’s his favourite procedure to work on because everyone who wants it is just so truly happy to be there, and i can’t stop thinking about this career that is 99% attending to various sadnesses miseries and woes and 1% having funny little dudes in dangerfield buttonups throwing themselves on the operating table like YEEHAW LET’S GOOOO
too embarrassed to reply on main or go off anon but @ the anon looking for more dronification audio, i've been on the exact same search as you recently & i found miss lilith's "task mistress" audio which i found nice trying it last night while i did low-focus things, i'm grateful i was only using it at my desk at home though as there's some edging prompts near the end of the productivity loop and i'd be afraid if i was using it in my headphones where others might be (gym, library, etc) that there might be aaaaa conflict of interest x)
Thanks for the info! I hope the previous anon finds it useful.
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