Alexanda-Bleak

I'm sorry that this is so common, if you're using Folx (or an equivalent) they all have some kind of "request a new provider" (say this phrase to the customer service representative) process. I know that starting with a new person is hard, but this is a huge red flag. I want you to have someone that doesn't make you read tumblr posts and evaluate the color of their flag.

the short explanation is that those drugs lower your levels of dihydrotestosterone. your doctor thinks that, since DHT is (genuinely true, deeply oversimplified) responsible for a lot of masculinization, blocking DHT will be enough.

the primary problem here is that your doctor is trying to alleviate your gender dysphoria, not help you more closely resemble the woman you want to be.

the secondary problem is that your doctor thinks medicine is a solved science. the longer explanation is that 5-alpha reductase inhibitors are poorly-understood despite the fact that they're the most common form of gender-affirming medication prescribed to cis people.

how much research do you think exists on their efficacy for trans women? yep.

your estrogen and testosterone levels matter. it's not as simple as "more E is good, less T is also good", but if your doctor made you feel like the numbers don't matter and you should let them worry about it? you need a new doctor.

I won't describe the different ways I've felt at different estrogen/testosterone levels, but I can. the difference is large. will your doctor let you find out for yourself?

bluntly, your doctor is trying to help you become Diet Man. a "feminine man". find someone who can help you become the woman you were always meant to be.

princess, why is your doctor telling you that the same drug they give trans men to prevent baldness is a T blocker? do they tell that to trans men?

people carved trenches 3,000 years ago and filled them with chalk in the shape of a horse but what’s interesting is that if you fail to maintain the horse by adding new chalk regularly, it will disappear. for 3,000 years, we’ve been filling in chalk in this horse so it doesn’t disappear.

we’ll never know what the purpose of the horse was originally. we’ll never know if it had ritual or spiritual significance or if it was just art. but we do know that people maintained it then, and, even though the meaning of the horse has long been lost to time, we continue to maintain it now.

the people who made this horse are long dead, but they live through us still, don’t you think?

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:

Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.

Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.

Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut: