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Has anyone else noticed the preoccupation trans people seem to have with discussing medical treatments? I suppose it’s a natural thing for us to discuss amongst ourselves, given that for many of us it’s a part of our evolution. Most groups discuss the things that they have in common.
I’ve often wondered if all the talk about medications, surgeries, and doctors might be counterproductive in our community. I wouldn’t want anyone to feel pressured to live a certain way or fit into a certain box. There are a zillion ways to be trans.
I know that a lot of people benefit from various treatments in many ways. I’m happy for them, truly. But like any medical condition, it’s better to not need treatment in the first place. For those of you that find peace or happiness without it, I am even happier.
I just want to go on record as saying I wish that we, as a community, would de-emphasize these things. Taking hormones or having surgeries will never make any of us ”more trans” than any other. These are not the things that define us.
However, I do understand that it’s a natural thing we are likely to discuss. I just hope we can do so in a way that doesn’t make anyone feel like they need to do anything to fit in.
What do you all think about this? For those who haven’t sought medical changes, have you felt pressure from the community? Does anyone else think we focus too much on such things? Have you ever been made to feel ”lesser” or like an outsider as a result?
I look forward to your thoughts.
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I absolutely love the thoughtful comments you all have posted. Yes, this is a tough subject, but as usual, we rise to the occasion and have good insightful discussion. Isn’t that is what we all need to learn and grow?
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You were trans before you ever did anything. Treatments do not make us trans.
I’m glad you chimed in. Thank you for your thoughts.
That’s a philosophical position. I’m not sure I agree. I know someone, a cisgender man, who claims to be a trans woman yet has made no physical or other changes in even the smallest way. He/she has kept the same masculine name and no-one, no matter how transphobic, would object to his/her appearance – or even notice anything. Is he/she transgender?
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An excellent topic!
I think it’s just fine to talk about all this. Where else can some of us go? Personally, I’m lucky to have a vibrant trans community where I live, so I get to discuss this often with others over coffee.
And yeah, we do discuss drugs and surgeries, but it’s not our main topic. That would be sex. LOL!!
Anyway…
My daughter got me an excellent book for Christmas called, The Transgender Issue: Trans Justice Is Justice For All, by Shon Fay, 2022. She wholeheartedly includes non-binary, trans femmes and men as being transgender and recognizes that social, medical and surgical transitioning are equal partners in everyone’s journey.
I do understand that many here don’t have the financial resources to seek medical or surgical interventions, but many of us do. Our nations cover these costs at no charge, unlike in other jurisdictions. So, it’s natural and appropriate for us to discuss this.
Barb
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My feeling is that I simply want to be as feminine as is practicably possible for me. If that includes hormones or surgery, I would consider them with their drawbacks and risks as well as their advantages. I look at trans women on YouTube and I confess to envy, as some of them look and speak in a far more feminine manner than I have yet been able to achieve – not through want of trying. My desire to be feminine is deeply rooted but it does not destroy my ability to judge the pros and cons of surgical processes and of body-altering chemicals. Whether trans forums like this one should reduce the emphasis on these, I’m not sure: they have undoubtedly brought greater contentment to many people. Perhaps greater discussions on their disadvantages, and how to live without these very expensive processes, would be an improvement.
I would be interested to learn more about how transgender people in poorer countries (the Global South) live and how they feel about their bodies. Do they long for expensive surgeries and chemicals? I know that some countries such as Iran provide them more readily than here in the UK where they are now available almost entirely only to those with the money.
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Rebecca, thank you for your thoughts. I’m not sure it is as much about de-emphasizing as it is about making sure we don’t become so focused on it that we become one-dimensional in how we approach and discuss being transgender. Especially to the exclusion of how we love to write, to read, to create music, and art, and build things, and fix things, and cook things…. Or chart the heavens, or create new medicines… The list is endless. I think that may be a premise the original author was looking for. Hugs
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Lawyers sometimes say:
“It is a distinction without a difference.”
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“Rachel-Wan is very wise!” :)
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My thought is that, as Mr Spock once said on Star Trek, a difference which makes no difference is no difference. I am happy to be argued out of this position – it isn’t something I feel strongly about. Another example might be someone claiming to be gay but continuing to live exclusively and happily in a hetero relationship for their whole life. It could be said that labels are for tins of beans, not for people, so does it matter at all? I’m not convinced either way on this.
Nobody has called my friend a cisgender man, so far as I know. My argument is that he/she acts as one in every part of his/her life.
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