This is a harm reduction post about DIY

I've seen some people recently using the term "bathtub estrogen" as a little joke about the production of DIY estradiols. This is fine by me as a joking term, I get that people are 1) trying to evoke a DIY punkish or prohibition moonshine sort of image and 2) communicating that we are having to turn to much less carefully prepared forms of medicine than cis people can access when we use DIY. However I recently saw a trans woman with a large platform make the joke and then when asked about it sort of waffle around the topic for a bit and then shruggingly say she does think that some estrogen is made in a bathtub in a way that made it pretty clear she doesn't actually know much about the production side of DIY. She also gestured to a global south DIY producer as being the one who was doing this, which I think is just clumsily labelling people overseas as a bit dumb and less clean.

I've been researching the production of DIY HRT for a few years as I think that the overseas supplies of DIY will be the next thing to be cracked down on by the government after all legally prescribed forms of HRT for trans people are shut down. My aim in researching it is to spread the relevant information to reduce harm for DIY users without making anyone's operations obvious to malicious parties. I can't entirely rule out the possiblity that someone very dumb and reckless is producing DIY in a place that is not sufficiently sterile, and this is part of the inherent risk of DIYing. I can however say that anyone who could afford to get the ingredients to produce DIY estradiols categorically has the money to use a professional-grade lab for it.

I would like to be clear here: bathtub estrogen does not exist

‘Oh yes, you do experience a valid intersectional form of oppression - but you’re just so fucking stupid, that you’ve chosen a terrible word to articulate your experiences. So we aren’t going to listen to anything you say! You’re just so silly and stupid, you can’t possibly be trusted to articulate your own thoughts and experiences, let alone be trusted to do your own research. In fact, don’t even think or talk at all! Leave all the thinking and talking to the smart people whose suffering actually matters.

Also, no your experiences aren’t unique at all, negating the previous statement of you experiencing a valid intersectional form of oppression’

The tone of voice is no different than when people try to manipulate trans men into detransitioning - overly sweet, infantilizing and concerned while also being incredibly backhanded and demeaning

and starting similar discourse that it did on here: people claiming it's a harmful thing to say, because "no one is immune to propaganda" and "we shouldn't shame people for learning from their mistakes".

here's the thing. I need you to realize--rather, acknowledge something. being a literal nazi is not typical. in fact i'd go as far as to say most people do not have an e-nazi phase. i've never personally met someone like that until I used tumblr and reddit. well, actually, there was a kid in my special ed class growing up who was a nazi and carried around a copy of mein kampf (not joking). but he was not very popular.

i'm not lying when I say i've always had a strong belief system that leaned more 'progressive'. this is because of what I witnessed growing up, and my mom was always a compassionate person who encouraged and discouraged certain thoughts and behaviors. I wasn't always a communist--I solidified my belief system in my 20s. but, I was never a conservative. I did have someone (my biological father) try to instill conservative values in me, but they contradicted what I saw around me. pretty simple.

so I guess what i'm saying is, depending on circumstance, belief systems can differ, and none of our experiences are universal. so no, i'm not "immune to propaganda" or whatever. i'm just saying i've always had strong values and when a lot of people online were engaged in gamergate and whatever other nonsense, it drove me insane. I used to argue a lot online, actually (long time followers will remember). I don't view myself as a morally superior person. I tend to see myself as more broken and perverted, actually. i've expressed that on here many times. so you may be projecting your insecurities onto me with this version of me that is morally righteous.

For those who don't know, recently this Bill was proposed in Parliament in Aotearoa New Zealand by an MP from New Zealand First, a right-wing party that makes up part of our current coalition government:

This Bill proposes adding definitions of "woman", "female", "man" and "male" to the Legislation Act 2019, making these the new legal definitions of these terms that apply across all New Zealand Legislation.

This Bill ignores the fact that trans people in Aotearoa have been able to legally amend their gender markers since 1995, and that people can register their legal gender as non-binary. It also fails to account for the existence of intersex people and general variations of sex characteristics that make this binary impractical (and ironic given the use of the term "biological reality"). AND it does not take into account the fact that Māori (the indigenous people of Aotearoa) recognise multiple genders and did not follow gender roles as westerners see them until colonialism happened.

On top of all that, the claims of protecting the integrity of sex-based rights fall short when you realise that the ambiguity of what "adult" refers to here will actually potentially remove rights, especially around reproductive rights of young people.

The Bill was read at Parliament, and the other parties making up the coalition voted to allow the Bill to pass on to a select committee to review the Bill, gather information, and make a formal report for the House with their recommendations. A part of this process is accepting public submissions.

People can make submissions in support of or in opposition to the proposed bill. You can make your submission online here:

https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCSSC_SCF_9E8E8A14-A51C-4567-AB33-08DE9053A7D1/legislation-definitions-of-woman-and-man-amendment-bill

If you need support with drafting your bill, there is a guide on the Parliament website, and some helpful folks have put together a site of resources including a submission generator. (If people have more resources for support, please feel free to add them in reblogs or comments)

Submissions close on Thursday, 02 July 2026 at 23:59 New Zealand Time.

#tbh i think the intense stigma against “straight” ppl “fetishizing” queerness keeps a lot of ppl in the closet

#theres no harm in exploring those feelings in private. indulge in the fantasy and see where it takes u

#dont be a creep to other ppl obv but that goes w/o saying #if id had the courage to confront the ache id feel when i thought abt lesbian sex and how id “never be able to have it” earlier

My stepmother did NOT like the way her Libertarian Viking Neighbor framed pregnancy as the fetus "attacking the woman". She incredulously told him this was extremely disrespectful to expectant mothers to portray pregnancy as so violent and negative.

Libertarian Viking Neighbor's response was that people consensually hurt each other all the time, and "there's like a whole community about that, with the acronym the one that starts with a B" And his reasoning was that if the mother was consenting to bring attacked by the baby, it in fact wasn't violent and negative because there was consent.