#troll hrt

[artvil-gang]

Troll HRT Part 1: Doctor's Appointment

I know this isn't the best but Cronus drew it and he isn't much of an artist.

Thanks to @ayviedoesthings, @kaylasartwork, @welldrawnfish, @nyxisart, and everyone else who inspired us! (Augh sorry for the tag)

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Another one to block

So it’s “cultural xtianity” to care about Palestinians and not write them off as dishonest? Here’s more proof of liberals using social justice language and taking advantage of people’s issues with Christianity to use against Palestinians. Who are these people to tone police how we protest or give mutual aid? They’re just like those who tried to use respectability politics against BLM.

[man-squared]

I say this with your best interests in mind- do not go on testosterone. you spend your time here discussing various kinds of discourse, fixating on gender, and surrounding yourself with an echo chamber. be completely honest with yourself- you were born female, you were socialized female, every aspect of your life was in some sense determined by you being female, and you should first reconnect with your biological reality by making healthy connections with reality-embracing females and lesbians.

Boring. You would get more points if you were off anon. 🤷🏻

Makes me more excited for my appointment, which wasn't your intended purpose, so 0/10. Thanks.

[r0semultiverse]

I think we should all go out for drinks, smokes, & deserts when J* R****** dies. Then we should resurrect her only to put her 6 feet under again!

[bloodystray]

ohhhhhh it's getting harder

[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.

[lunadook]

Human Replacement Therapy Extended Universe (and inspired) Link Collection Part 1

EDIT: We've hit the Inline Link Limit! I've linked to a reblog containing more links. (The google doc linked at the bottom of the post will still contain everything in one place.)

Been seeing a lot of those Human Replacement Therapy comics and stories going around and I wanted to try and make a list of the first (?) panels/chapters of each one me (and helpful community members) have found so far, so..........

Part 2

Dragon [by ayviedoesthings] Fish [by welldrawnfish] Bat [by kaylasartwork] Puppy [by nyxisart] Mouse [by prettiestplatypus] Worm (I can't find the first one I'm too lazy) [by shaveyoureyebrows] Axolotl [by bubbleverseart] Goat [by kontonord] Elf [by squiretilde] Eldritch [by dawning-mars] Bird [by vy-canis-melodis] Slime [by pollypoirate] Slime (Written) [by mint-and-authoress] Slime (Written) [by scrubbinn] Slime (Written) [by sandyca5tle] Shifter (Written) [by calliecwrites] Cow (Written) [by josphitia] Bovine [by pennymations] Wolf [by gracewolfing] Coyote [by vanillayoteart] Werewolf [by tobydoeswrite] Werewolf [by cyberbeast99] Tiger (Written) [by tigergirltail] Mermaid HRT Poem [by ashleyrowanthewriter] Kitsune (Written) [by mothduchess] ??? [by home-sweet-hive] Sonic [by sonic-spirit] *break so tumblr will let this post*

Aves [by cozy-kitty-corner] Cat [by entroart] King Cobra [by thecrystalmountainsystem] Polymorph [by probablyplural] Human [by deadeyedfae] Werewolf [by lycans-art-kingdom] Mermaid [by noreo-oreo] Puppy [by noreo-oreo] Deer [by aster-is-confused] Lamia [by ariathelamia] Moth [by hyacinthdoll1315] Skunk [by sundaysstrawberrykombucha] Void [by v-draws-whatever] Dragon [by zykeroth] ??? [by transpandaart] Jaguarfolk [by jaguarfolkhrt] Sheep [by cr1zz0] Bunny [by grumpybunny-edith] Fox [by disappointedcreeper] Sparrow [by lylaslilacss] Animal? [by cutepastelstarsailor] Cow [by megamoonerjenny] Bug [by thebugautistic] Vrastelian [by silliestcreature196] Elf [by siimplyapril] Demon [by shockpulse] Wolf and Crow [by sunification] Bird [by tiredtiresias] Shoggoth [by aiden-nevada]

*break so tumblr will let this post*

Bird [by comfeeeeeeee] Bird [by nuclearraven-woman] Manticore [by redroversendjayover] Spider [by sweetspidergirl] Mouse [by alice-arty] Zombie [by sunnyrabbit05] Cat [by v0vivi0v] Cyberdemon [by kazsartcorner] Troll [by artvil-gang] Polar Bear [by frostehburr] Lamia [by robins-warudo] Shapeshifter [by maxine302] Vulture [by prollymad] Dragon [by a-being-that-just-is] Slug [by a-being-that-just-is] Cryptid [by thejaded0nes] Robot [by lavender-inkwell-99] Monkey [by mechanical-sunchild] Eldritch Dragon [by your-pal-nebula] Time Lord [by joyfulbeatrix] Digimon [by reticent-fate] Plant [by jalopytheplant] Slime [by ruckeysquared] Fox [by super-sayian-kitty64] Demon [by pugsofwriting] Weasel [by alice-of-heart] Sylveon [by constellarcreator] Robot [by squiddotmid] Eevee [by darlingsuperstition] Chimera [by gate4043]

*another pause weee*

Swolbold [by flowershakur] Type Green [by scpwiki-official] Dragon [by tresenellaart] Dragon [by theinsidiousdice] Robot [by raptorbricksart] Dragon [by koalaphoenix] Gem [by techno-toister] Hybrid [by ehksidian] Ktletaccete [by fenmere] Slime [by madelinemccoolname] Succubus [by lariumbreon]

Please feel free to let me know of any you know of that I missed or ones you have created and want added! I'll periodically update the post with anything I get links to.

I have also made a Google Doc containing all of the links, including the ones that aren't fitting in this post. Part 2 of this post, with more links, is here.

[slimecpu]

My headcanons for The New Norm

-Chaz is autistic, partly explaining why they claim they're allergic to dogs before petting one when reassured its an ESA and won't drink a beer over being underage. Strict rule following behavior for the latter, and for the former, living in a town that still expects them to behave "manly" lead to masking behavior-- they say they're allergic because they got bullied for stating they're actually afraid of dogs.

-Chloe is closeted/undecided pansexual agender, still exploring her comfort zones and gender identity/expression. She's quiet about this usually, not wanting to risk her father kicking her out or disowning her.

-Chloe tells Norm that she learns LGBT terms "in school", meaning moreso that she learned from friends at school and did research online. However, there's less consequence to her social life and much more humor to her in just saying it's school-- ala Norm getting put on house arrest for making a scene with the school board.

-Charlie and Norm tend to egg on each other with bigoted commentary, but Charlie mostly sees this as banter rather than actual stances. He's a bit more tolerant than he comes off, and even becomes more accepting over time as he bonds with his daughter Regina, albeit his sense of humor doesn't change much.

-the "liberal government group" Chaz works for is actually a fringe right wing trolling group that ropes in younger LGBT people through the internet and encourages them to spread their views of what leftism is like. Each member has their own motivation-- notable examples are getting a laugh at insane extremist behavior they egg on and driving more conservatives towards extremist right wing views. One of Chaz's story arcs is learning this through the help of Chloe, and discovering how to balance their views in a more reasonable manner. Norm and Chaz start to get along during this, with him seeing Chaz as becoming "far less annoying than they used to be."

-Charlie and Regina start to bond more when he finds out she's still highly passionate about sports and isn't aiming to be a hyperfeminine stereotype with her transition-- she's actually a bit of a tomboy and her hobbies had no impact on her deciding to start HRT. They have a heartfelt conversation about when and why she figured out she was trans, followed by Charlie taking her clothes shopping to help her dysphoria.

[thestarlightbrigade]

Im thinking of leaving the Fantroll Community.

So I'm selling a LOT of my trolls. Just ask abou which one's. Cause I'm gonna downsize a lot for discord purposes. And if we have something Planned. do NOT worry, I'm not selling the ones we have plans with. Thank you.

I need to make money as soon as possible, as I'm also planning on moving out while I'm starting HRT. (Transphobic family members)

I know it's been a lot of asking from me but I literally cannot do anything without a new laptop. And I am struggling.

https://toyhou.se/Sheckles

Here's the link. I also have designs on my Ko-fi.

https://ko-fi.com/catboyavery/shop

[etherealspacejelly]

i am once again feeling emotional over the fact that i get to be the trans adult role model i wish i could have had when i was a questioning teenager for a whole new generation of trans kids

hi, im a 21 year old genderqueer demiboy. let me tell you some of my wisdom

you dont need to have dysphoria to be trans. if being a different gender would make you happier and improve your quality of life then do it

you dont have to want top or bottom surgery to be trans. you dont have to want hrt to be trans. if all you want to do is change your name and/or pronouns, thats perfectly ok. if you dont even want to do that, thats ok too

not everyone gets their name or pronouns right first try. theres no shame in changing them multiple times

gender =/= pronouns. you can be nonbinary and use he/him. you can be a cis guy and use they/them. you can be a girl and use ze/hir. its all made up anyway do what makes you feel good

multigender people exist. you can be a boy And a girl. you can be a girl And nonbinary. there are literally infinite options

the only persons gender you should care about is your own. everyone elses is none of your business. if you see someone being trans the 'wrong' way, no you fucking didnt. shut up. what are you, a cop? no one wants to be a cop.

if you fuck around with your gender and realise you're cis after all, you're not a faker or a trender or whatever. you were just figuring yourself out. thats allowed. detransitioners are valid. but! that doesnt give you an excuse to shit on trans people!!! just because You realised you werent trans after all doesnt mean no one is. your experience is not universal

dont engage with terfs/transphobes. dont send them asks or reply to them. just block and move on. trolling them only gives them more ammo to hate us. it doesnt actually help. if someone sends you a transphobic ask, dont answer it. just block them. its better for your mental health in the long run

i love you, and im proud of you.

[qweerhet]

you know, regardless of the details of this week's drama, i truly do not think that we will get anywhere with trans liberation so long as the response to people with supposedly "contradictory" transition experiences & coercively assigned sexes at birth is to publicly hold up occasional examples of bad actors as, like, representative of the entire demographic.

is the individual person described in the particular AITA drama that took off this week operating in good faith? probably not, at least not if the narrator of the drama is to be believed. trolls like that tend to stop eventually when they get bored, though, and it tends to be unhelpful to give them the outraged attention they're looking for if you want them to stop.

is the existence of this one particular troll a good argument for using CASAB language and ousting all intersex and genderqueer individuals from transfem language & spaces unless they are willing to reveal they were CAMAB? i mean, i would very much argue no. TMA people of all genders are experiencing a wave of social and state violence over the last few years; i would say that cutting TMA people off from trans support networks, even transfem-specific ones, is violent.

the entire reason TMA/TME is a better framework for viewing transmisogyny through than CASAB language is because CASAB as a lens can't accurately represent how gendered violence manifests for intersex and (non-sex-binary-conforming) trans people; someone who was CAFAB, goes through testosterone-dominant puberty, is categorized as male in middle/high school, and has to fight to access estrogen-based HRT as an adult, certainly has material experiences of transmisogyny simpatico with traditional transfem ones. to view this person through the lens of what they were coercively assigned at birth is to miss their experiences starting near-immediately after birth--hence the term TMA to discuss those of us for whom transmisogyny is a relevant, daily concern in our material realities, without relying on intersexist and exorsexist concepts such as CASAB-as-gendered-lens.

the existence of a cobra starship song where the singer flaunts how he only makes out with men in order to get women to sleep with him does not mean that authentically bisexual men do not exist, nor is it compelling evidence for interrogating every bisexual man you come across to confirm that he is, in fact, genuinely and authentically attracted to men, nor is it a compelling argument to go back to "gay or straight" language and decommission multisexual labels for fear of them being co-opted by obnoxious trolls.

[artvil-gang]

Troll HRT Part 2: Acquired!

[princeandrogyne]

actually this is the one time where i will break character &just ask you directly because i genuinely genuinely want to understand. youre one of the only people who would be able to explain this to me.

ive received hundreds of extremely explicit violent messages now from people ive trolled, including zionists and incels but mostly tmrfs. you yourself literally post about wanting to rape me inbetween posts misgendering me because u think im trans. ive seen countless cases of tmrfs sexually victimising people. yet you are never able to see yourselves as perpetrators. is it just because being female means you cant perpetrate violence in your ideology ? is that all there is to it?

again, this is a genuine question that im asking in the best faith i can manage. after this im blocking you because you seriously creep me out.

1. I didn't think you were trans until I received an anon about it 2. I've never once said I wanted to rape you. I made a joke about gay sex. Something I do often. Because I am gay and also I think the phrase gay sex is funny 3. I don't post about you unless you send me messages 4. I think terfs are radicals and I'm not a radical. I'm just some gay kid. I don't read their ideology, and I know next to nothing about it. I know a lot of terfs have been mean to me because of my dyphoria posting/talking about getting an hrt referral. Lots of female people are violent. Lots of female people have been violent to me. Its incredible that you think I'm the creepy one. After everything you've spammed me with. I'm deeply confused. Show me the place I said "I want to force sillypibble to have a sexual encounter they don't want" you're making shit up. Maybe you think someone else is me? I only have three blogs that I run right now and the other 2 are for pictures. I don't care if you block me I guess, you've only been sort of strange and mean to me, but I always thought it was ironic.

[lactating]

comouter ao3 search "troll hrt" please please pleaseplwase pmeads

[catboybiologist]

has anyone ever told you that you're perfect as a biological man and you should learn to love yourself as the man that you are????

so cw for discussions of transphobia and all that. So first off, yes, but I'm still trans. End of that discussion.

But anyways, I got this and a similar ask back to back, from either a transphobe or a troll making a weird joke. While the asks themselves are uninteresting, they made me want to talk about something that's been brewing in my head a while. And that's how the phrases "biological man" and "biological woman" make no goddamn sense, as a biologist. So I'm gonna use this ask as starting point to launch into that greater discussion- I'm not really responding to the asks itself, more dumping some thoughts I've had kicking around for a while. (Also sorry this blog is so transfemme language centered sometimes, I'm just writing from my perspective and don't want to exclude anyone I'm sorry. The rest of this post will be from a transfemme perspective but applies to transmascs as well for testosterone and other elements of ftm transition).

The reason it doesn't make sense to me is like, what exactly do you mean by biological? You're describing a massive biological system, and all of its components. So let's dissect what you could mean by "biological".

Obviously you're not talking about the entire human biochemical system, because biology includes our thoughts and behavior. So if someone socially or identity transitions, we're already eliminating some biological factors from what we consider as "biological" here.

Soft tissue secondary sex characteristics are easily acquired by HRT. Shit, I have some breasts growing already, and I'm 4.5 weeks in. So that can't be what you're talking about.

So maybe you're talking functional genetics? Well if we wanna talk that way, we gotta talk about gene regulation. The entire point of taking HRT is the change patterns in gene expression across the body, suppressing genes associated with masculine secondary sex characteristics and promoting genes associated with feminine secondary sex characteristics. Estrogen, like any hormone, is a signalling molecule that is trafficked between cells and across the body. Its job is to kick off a network of downstream signals that carry out a variety of individual functions. So in terms of active genes, a trans person on HRT will functionally be the sex of their target gender.

Okay okay, maybe for some reason you don't care if they're off or on, if you have a gene that has the potential to make you male, you're a man, dammit! Well, as mentioned before, everyone has the genes required to give you secondary sex characteristics of either sex. So under that definition, everyone is biologically both a man and a woman at the same time. And also biologically cancer. Not "biologically has cancer", biologically IS cancer. Also, we're all every organ all at once everywhere on our body. Changing patterns in gene expression are how one organ differentiates from another, and how many visible traits arise. As mentioned earlier, this includes many genes responsible for secondary sex characteristics.

But chromosomes! Y chromosome is a man! The only reason the X and Y chromosomes have relevance to sex determination is due to the Sry gene, which is linked to the Y chromosome. Why is this the case? Well, your chromosomes are paired. Normally, pairs of chromosomes are the same size and have the same genes. This is helpful, because it means you can have two copies of every gene- if one becomes nonfunctional, you have a backup, or you can express multiple spicy variants of the same gene. Somewhere in our evolutionary history, one of these pairs of chromosomes experienced a large scale deletion, causing many of these genes to be missing. It's fine if you have the backup copies on the other chromosome- but some kind of patch needs to be developed to help make sure that, on average, most offspring have at least one copy of the full chromosome. So, the individuals that linked the Sry gene to the Y chromosome, the chopped-up version of the chromosome, passed down some offspring. But there's nothing intrinsic about why it has to be this way- most animals don't have chromosomal sex determination at all. Even in mammals its fairly common for an X chromosome to grab the Sry gene, creating a phenotypic male with an XX karyotype. It's an evolutionary patch, nothing more, and a rule that is frequently broken. And if we want to talk about evolutionary patches being biological determinism… well then let's start talking about how vitamin C deficiency is the "biologically mandated" state of the human. And besides, chromosome structure is really mostly relevant for how it functionally affects gene expression, and we already talked about how gene expression is changed by HRT here.

Alright, alright dammit. I'm talking about the genitals, dammit. If you have a penis you're a man! Okay great. Tell me if you would classify post-SRS women as "biological" women then. Also, we're really starting to reach here.

Fine! I'm talking about bone structure and bone structure alone! I mean yeah, some elements of bone structure will always remain in someone that's had testosterone in their system long enough- its rock deposits in your body after all, its difficult to reverse. But some don't! Even adults on transfemme HRT experience hip widening, changes in height, and other changes in their bones (they just take a LONG time, and I've often ranted about the massive amount of misinformation regarding how long HRT takes to show its full effects). Additionally, there's plenty of surgeries for facial structures- is FFS the true hallmark of a "biological" woman? And also… no matter what metric you start drawing lines on here, you're gonna end up excluding some cis women as well.

To be abundantly clear, NONE of this is to say that you aren't valid if you aren't medically transitioning. What I'm doing here is pointing out that "biological" is a useless, overexpansive, arbitrary adjective that, even using the most transphobic definitions, still includes most trans people. The line is drawn… somewhere in here, to them. And more often than not, it will be drawn wherever excludes the most trans people, which will invariably exclude some cis people, and they'll all eat each other alive.

The reality is that "man" and "woman" are useful conventions that can be generally applied to classify most people into one category or another. And that's not unique to gender, it's literally how language works. As with pretty much any linguistic classification, its observational, not prescriptive. When thinking up of names for animals, we don't think up of a definition first, we see a group of animals that share similar traits and then think up of a name that will represent that species. But then, if we find more edge cases later, or an edge case becomes more prominent, we either adjust the definition or subdivide the group further with accurate terminology. Imagine if, around the time humanity discovered weasels, we made a definition of weasels that only included the European Mink. Then we found the least weasel, and people started crusading about how its "not biologically a weasel" and "defend weaselkind". It's just so… arbitrary. Where it begins and ends is up to us as a society, and linguistics, meaning that "biological" as an adjective here isn't doing much.

What is a woman? Well, some combination of the factors above, and many, many more I didn't talk about here. It's a classification cluster of people exhibiting certain traits that is not easily reducible to a simple adjective. And guess what, so is literally anything we see in the world. What is a race? What is a nationality? What is a species? What is continent? There are useful, simple definitions for each of these things- and those definitions are helpful on a first pass! But once you start to examine it more closely, that utility breaks down, and you have to get more nuanced. Which is exactly what happens for trans people, but for some reason, people aren't willing to have that conversation in the same way we're able to have quirky debates over whether or not Australia counts as a continent or an island.

I want to develop these thoughts further at some point, but I hope this is at least a good summary of my perspective on all this, as a biology grad student, and I hope that some people find utility and comfort in my explanation!

[ex-textura]

Hey I hope you still want people rambling about their Tavs because you've opened Pandora's box with that one and now I'm back!

My actual canon Tav is named Tristan, like me. He actually had the name first. I first made him as an OC, and then fell in love with him so much that I decided I'll use the name for myself as well.

Anyway! His full name is Tristan Trevelyan, because someone in his life thought it'd be funny to troll him like that. No, there's just some interesting naming conventions going on in the Trevelyan bloodline. His father, for example, is (or was) named Trevor Trevelyan. He's not in Tristan's life anymore though, and they've never had a great relationship to begin with, but I haven't decided what exactly happened to him. I might have to revamp a bunch of Tristan's story anyway.

So far, Tristan is a literal prince, but he gave up his right to the throne because he wanted to travel the world instead of being chained down by the heavy duties of a future king. Whether or not he'll remain a prince, I'm not sure of, because I don't know how well that'd fit into the entire BG3 lore, but it's his canon origin so for now I'm rolling with it, and even if I demote him, he'll still have a noble background.

He's also transmasc like me, but unlike me, he's known it his entire life, and his mother, Shanna, has always supported him, to a point where she supplied (and still does to this day) him with ~a tincture that allowed his body to develop in a masculine way~, so pretty much fantasy HRT. When he's wearing pants, he passes perfectly, but since that tincture is medicine, and not magic, it didn't change the bits he was born with. Tristan is also outrageously gay though, and although his past hasn't been free of any and all kinds of struggles, he's come to see it as a blessing in disguise, because it gives him at least a hypothetical chance to have biological children with a man, should he ever find one he'll want that with.

Spoiler alert: He will.

Tristan is a sweet, wholesome kind of guy. He's kind, optimistic, and will give absolutely everyone at least one chance. He's helpful, and supportive of those he even remotely cares about, and makes an effort to uplift the people around him. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he's a terrible liar on top of it.

His best non-romantic friend out of the group will be Wyll, because those two have a lot in common even already at first glance. They're both valiant swordsmen with noble backgrounds, questionable fathers, a penchant for helping others, and a huge romantic streak, and I could've absolutely seen them falling in love, if it wasn't for the fateful moment in which Tristan pulled a certain man out of a certain portal, falling head over heels for him the second their eyes met for the first time.

There's much more to tell about my boy, but I think this is enough for one ask. Hope you've had fun reading!

It's Tristan!!! I've been dying to know more about him 😭

I love a good sweet boy, and a bad liar to boot. He sounds so wonderful. He and Gale are going to be so disgustingly(affectionate) romantic together, I can't wait to hear more about their love story

Tell me more! Are they going to have a big family?? One happily spoiled child? Is their wedding gonna be so huge???

(I still ALWAYS want people rambling about their tavs in my ask box they're all so beautiful and fun and lovely and I want to know them all!)