#while there are issues that need to be identified based on identity (like gender

[trans-leek-cookie]

as a certified Aromantic Asexual (I should make myself a certificate) I genuinely don't Believe there is systemic oppression that specifically targets Aromantic or Asexual people.

I do however believe that people Cannot be normal about ppl who don't have sex or romantic relationships, and that can Really Impact Aromantic And Asexual People.

Also like. Aros n aces are still. Experiences Other forms of oppression that can interact with the aro and/or ace-ness

[felowtravler]

The beginning of my thoughts on the Christian argument for the legitimacy of nonbinary identities.

While these thoughts are original to me, I'm sure they're not unique. People say lots of things, especially on this website, but I'm not plagiarizing anyone's ideas.

The idea of binary systems/options seems to be a pretty Christian idea, with the juxtaposition of good and evil, God and Satan, and Jewish and Gentile. There are many other examples of this coming up, like Saved and Condenmed, Clean and Unclean, Heaven and Earth, Human and Divine.

However, the function of Christianity seems to be disruptive of established binaries (as established in the Christian Old Testament, not necessarily in all Jewish literature and thought. I am not well versed in Jewish theology, doctrine, or history, so I can't claim that Judaism is full of binaries or not. So, this is not an essay about how Judaism is anti-nonbinary identities. I can not make that claim and am certain that would be inaccurate anyway. I do know Judaism has a rich history of respecting diversity of thought.) In the Christian Old Testament, as was taught to me by the current American Christian church, whether they realozed this is what they were teaching or not, you see several binaries established (as listed above). The Old Testament is presented as this collection of literature speaking to the imperfectuon of humanity, how people can never be reconciled with God no matter how hard individuals or communities try. the New Testament is then presented as the Solution to the Problem of the Old Testament. It begins with Jesus: he comes and saves everyone. While no one knows how the cross works to earn human salvation, that's the general consensus of Christianity. Jesus died and was punished so that we humans dont have to be punished for our spiritual shortcomings.

The rest of the New Testament is made up of letters written to and between churches and leaders, mostly Paul (who lots of people have mixed feelings about, including myself) about what it means to follow Christ now that Jesus is gone (because after he came back to life he stuck around for a minute to prove he was back to his followers and then left. It's unknown if he went to heaven or just walks on the earth today as a human still. There are different theories but the general assumption in american christianity is that Jesus went to heaven to come back again one day). These letters are where we get the church as we kind of know it. The rules against women being leaders and the ones that may or may not be in support of slavery. Those super exciting ones. Anywho, within some of these...controversial letters, the different writers begin to explain some theories about Jesus, what his existence means, what to do now. Some of the messages are rather practical, which is great, but some are less so, directed towards specific congregations but are interpreted by the modern American churchas as meant for Every Church Ever. But, let's get back to the writings about christ and his believers in general, as explained in some earlier books (like Acts) and later letters.

In one instance, people wonder if they must follow Jewish tradition and restrictions. Basically, the answer is: you can if you want, but you can't hold other Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians to those same standards. Jesus' life and sacrifice means that what's been considered Unclean is not bad, it's only a choice you get to make based on preference and tradition if you want to uphold the Jewish laws (though there is debate about the extent of this argument; "obviously that doesn't apply to laws about sex and marriage and murder" but that's a whole different debate). The writers argue that Jesus came and destroyed the binary of Jewish/Gentile. No longer do Jewish Christ followers (ya know, the original followers were mostly Jewish. Christianity was originally a Jewish faith but has somehow since become its own antisemitic behemoth) have to keep themselves separate from nonJewish people. People who follow Jesus can gather together REGARDLESS of their ethnicity and cleanliness. While those differences might still exist, they don't matter. This is kind of the equivalent to being colorblind, "I don't see ethnicity." Thats not necessarily what the writers are arguing, but in this case it doesn't matter quite so much when it's written for Jewish believers (rather than to Gentile believers being told to just ignore the ethnicity of their community members). So, there's one MAJOR binary blown up.

I won't spend as much time explaining others, because they feel clear to me, but Jesus' whole thing was ruining existing boxes that people had. Unclean or clean? Doesn't matter. Man or woman? Doesn't matter. (In the sense of being gender blind rather than saying outright "gender doesn't matter/there are more options"). Divine or human? Jesus is fully BOTH. Individual or Community? Jesus is part of the Trinity, he's one person but also Three Beings. That's not a clean box (literally no one understands how the trinity works). Liberal or conservative? Jesus doesn't care what you think, it's about what you do. Jesus is RADICALLY ANTI-BINARY.

That's one of the functions of Jesus in the Bible. To destroy the binaries and boxes people hold tight. So, what would Jesus say about gender identities, especially when it comes to nonbinary folks? Probably something along the lines of, "it doesn't really matter (respectfully) what your identity is. What are DOING? How are you loving the people around you? How are you loving God? How are loving yourself?"

Jesus was never concerned with identity. Jesus was concerned with action. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant at best and a liar at worst. Enbies, you're valid. It only matters what you're doing with your beautiful self. How you treat the people in your life. How you express your love. Jesus would probably lift yall up as examples of what he came to do, that boxes don't matter as much as the people we put them into. You're living manifestations of Jesus' rebellion.

You are valid. You are loved.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Beth Bourne

Published: Feb 27, 2024

Kaiser gender specialists were eager to approve hormones and surgeries, which would all be covered by insurance as “medically necessary.”

On September 6, 2022, I received mail from my Kaiser Permanente Davis Ob-Gyn reminding me of a routine cervical screening. The language of the reminder stood out to me: “Recommended for people with a cervix ages 21 to 65.” When I asked my Ob-Gyn about this strange wording, she told me the wording was chosen to be “inclusive” of their “transgender” and “gender fluid” patients.

Based on this response, several thoughts occurred to me. Could I expose the medical scandal of “gender-affirming care” by saying and doing everything my daughter and other trans-identifying kids are taught to do? Would there be the type of medical safeguarding and differential diagnosis we would expect in other fields of medicine, or would I simply be allowed to self-diagnose and be offered the tools (i.e. hormones and surgeries) to choose my own gender adventure and become my true authentic self?

If I could demonstrate that anyone suffering from delusions of their sex, self-hatred, or identity issues could qualify for and easily obtain body-altering hormones and surgeries, all covered by insurance as “medically necessary” and potentially “life-saving” care, then maybe people would finally wake up. I certainly had.

I was prepared for failure. I wasn’t prepared for how easy success would be.

* * *

I am a 53-year-old mom from Davis, CA. My daughter began identifying as a transgender boy (social transition) and using he/him pronouns at school during 8th grade. Like several of her peers who also identified as trans at her school, my daughter was a gifted student and intellectually mature but socially immature. This shift coincided with her school’s sudden commitment to, and celebration of, a now widespread set of radical beliefs about the biology of sex and gender identity.

She “came out” as trans to her father (my ex-husband) and me through a standard coming-out letter, expressing her wish to start puberty blockers. She said she knew they were safe, citing information she had read from Planned Parenthood and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was also confused because this announcement was sudden and unexpected. While others quickly accepted and affirmed my daughter’s new identity, I was apprehensive and felt the need to learn more about what was going on.

Events began escalating quickly.

During a routine doctor’s visit scheduled for dizziness my daughter said that she was experiencing, the Kaiser pediatrician overheard her father using “he/him” pronouns for our daughter. The pediatrician seemed thrilled, quickly asking my daughter about her “preferred pronouns” and updating her medical records to denote that my daughter was now, in fact, my son. The pediatrician then recommended we consult the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Proud pediatric gender clinic, where she could get further information and (gender affirming) “treatment.” Now I was the one feeling dizzy.

As I began educating myself on this issue, I discovered that this phenomenon—minors, most often teen girls, suddenly adopting trans identities—was becoming increasingly widespread. It even had a name: rapid onset gender dysphoria, or ROGD. Thankfully, after learning about the potential side-effects of blockers and hormones, my ex-husband and I managed to agree not to consent to any medical interventions for our daughter until she turned 18 and would then be able to make such decisions as an adult.

Over the past five years, my daughter’s identity has slowly evolved in ways that I see as positive. Our bond, however, has become strained, particularly since I began publicly voicing my concerns about what many term as “gender ideology.” Following my daughter’s 17th birthday family celebration, she sent me an email that evening stating she would be cutting off contact with me.

While this estrangement brought me sorrow, with my daughter living full-time with her father, it also gave me the space to be an advocate/activist in pushing back on gender identity ideology in the schools and the medical industry.

I decided to go undercover as a nonbinary patient to show my daughter what danger she might be putting herself in—by people who purport to have her health as their interest, but whose main interest is in medically “affirming” (i.e., transitioning) whoever walks through their door. I am at heart a mother protecting her child.

* * *

My daughter’s sudden decision to become a boy was heavily on my mind in early September of 2022, when mail from my Kaiser Permanente Davis Ob-Gyn reminded me of a routine cervical screening with “Recommended for people with a cervix ages 21 to 65.” I was told that the wording was chosen to be “inclusive” of transgender and “gender fluid” patients.

Throughout the whole 231-day process of my feigned gender transition, the Kaiser gender specialists were eager to serve me and give me what I wanted, which would all be covered by insurance as “medically necessary.” My emails were returned quickly, my appointments scheduled efficiently, and I never fell through the cracks. I was helped along every step of the way.

Despite gender activists and clinicians constantly claiming that obtaining hormones and surgeries is a long and complex process with plenty of safety checks in place, I was in full control at every checkpoint. I was able to self-diagnose, determine how strong a dose of testosterone I received and which surgeries I wanted to pursue, no matter how extreme and no matter how many glaring red flags I purposefully dropped. The medical workers I met repeatedly reminded me that they were not there to act as “gatekeepers.”

I was able to instantly change my medical records to reflect my new gender identity and pronouns. Despite never being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, I was able to obtain a prescription for testosterone and approval for a “gender-affirming” double mastectomy from my doctor. It took only three more months (90 days) to be approved for surgery to remove my uterus and have a fake penis constructed from the skin of my thigh or forearm. Therapy was never recommended.

Critics might dismiss my story as insignificant on the grounds that I am a 53-year-old woman with ample life experience who should be free to alter her body. However, this argument for adult bodily autonomy is a standard we apply to purely cosmetic procedures like breast implants, liposuction, and facelifts, not “medically necessary” and “lifesaving” treatments covered by health insurance. Or interventions that compromise health and introduce illness into an otherwise healthy body. And especially not for children.

My story, which I outline in much more detail below, should convince any half-rational person that gender medicine is not operating like any other field of medicine. Based on a radical concept of “gender identity,” this medical anomaly preys upon the body-image insecurities common among pubescent minors to bill health insurance companies for permanent cosmetic procedures that often leave their patients with permanently altered bodies, damaged endocrine systems, sexual dysfunction, and infertility.

* * *

Detailed Timeline of Events

On October 6, 2022, I responded to my Ob-Gyn’s email to tell her that, after some thought, I’d decided that maybe the label “cis woman” didn’t truly reflect who I was. After all, I did have some tomboyish tendencies. I told her I would like my records to be changed to reflect my newly realized “nonbinary” identity, and that my new pronouns were they/them. I also voiced my desire to be put in touch with an endocrinologist to discuss starting testosterone treatment.

Fifteen minutes later I received an email from another Kaiser doctor informing me that my medical records had been changed, and that once my primary doctor returned to the office, I’d be able to speak with her about hormone therapy.

I responded the following day (October 7, 2022), thanking her for changing my records, and asking if she could connect me with someone who could help me make an appointment for “top surgery” (i.e., a cosmetic double mastectomy) because my chest binder was rather “uncomfortable after long days and playing tennis.”

She told me to contact my primary care MD to “get things rolling,” and that there were likely to be “preliminary evaluations.”

Six days after contacting my primary care MD for a referral, I received an email from one of Kaiser’s gender specialists asking me to schedule a phone appointment so she could better understand my goals for surgery, so that I could get “connected to care.” This call to review my “gender affirming treatment options and services” would take 15-20 minutes, after which I would be “booked for intake,” allowing me to proceed with medical transition.

This wasn’t an evaluation of whether surgical transition was appropriate, it was simply a meeting for me to tell them what I wanted so that they could provide it.

On October 18, I had my one and only in-person appointment in preparation for top surgery. I met in Davis with my primary care physician, Dr. Hong-wen Xue. The assessment was a 10-minute routine physical exam that included blood tests. Everything came back normal. Notably, there was not a single question about why I wanted top surgery or cross-sex hormones. Nor was there any discussion of the risks involved with these medical treatments.

The following week, on October 24, I had a phone appointment with Rachaell Wood, MFT, a gender specialist with Kaiser Sacramento. The call lasted 15 minutes and consisted of standard questions about potential drug use, domestic violence, guns in the house, and whether I experienced any suicidal thoughts. There were no questions from the gender specialist about my reasons for requesting a mastectomy or cross-sex hormones, or why I suddenly, at 52, decided I was “nonbinary.”

After the call, Kaiser emailed me instructions about how to prepare for my pre-surgery intake video appointment to evaluate my mental health, scheduled to take place on November 15. The email stated that prior to my appointment, I should research hormone risks on the WPATH website, and to “research bilateral mastectomy and chest reconstruction surgery risks and recovery” on Kaiser’s website.

I decided to request a “gender-affirming” double mastectomy and phalloplasty. Kaiser sent me a sample timeline for gender transition surgery preparation (see below) that you can use as a reference for the process. I also asked for a prescription for cross-sex hormones (testosterone) as needed and recommended by Kaiser.

[ Source: Kaiser Permanente, Top Surgery - EXPLORING YOUR SURGICAL OPTIONS ]

Pre-Surgery Mental Health Video Appointment, Part I

This “Mental Health Visit” assessment was conducted over Zoom. The Kaiser gender specialist started with questions addressing my marital status, race, gender identity, and other demographics. She asked whether I was “thinking of any other surgeries, treatments in the future.” The list she read included “gender-affirming” hysterectomies, bottom surgeries such as metoidioplasty and phalloplasty, vocal coaching, support groups, and body contouring. “Anything else you might be interested in doing?” she asked. I said that I’d perhaps be interested in body contouring. I was also assured that all the procedures would be covered by insurance because they were considered “medically necessary.”

I dropped in several red flags regarding my mental health to see the reaction, but all were ignored. For instance, I revealed that I had PTSD. When the therapist asked me about whether I had experienced any “childhood trauma,” I explained that I grew up in Mexico City and had been groped several times and had also witnessed men masturbating in public and had been grabbed by men in subways and buses. “I was a young girl, so [I had] lots of experiences of sexual harassments, sexual assault, just the kind of stuff that happens when you are a girl growing up in a big city.” “So, you know,” I finished, “just the general feeling that you are unsafe, you know, in a female body.”

The therapist did not respond to my disclosure that trauma could be the cause of my dysphoria. Instead of viewing this trauma as potentially driving my desire to escape my female body through hormones and surgery, she asked whether there is anything “important that the surgery team should be aware of” regarding my “history of trauma,” such as whether I’d be comfortable with the surgeon examining and marking my chest prior to surgery.

When asked about whether I had had any “psychotic symptoms,” I told her that while I had had no such symptoms, my mother had a delusional nervous breakdown in her 50s because she had body dysmorphia and became convinced she had a growth on her neck that needed to be removed. I told her that my mother was then admitted to an inpatient hospital for severe depression. I asked her whether she ever sees patients with body dysmorphia and whether I could have potentially inherited that from my mother. She told me that psychosis was hereditary, but that it was “highly unlikely” that there was any connection between body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria.

I enthusiastically waved more mental health red flags, waiting to see if she would pick up on any of them.

I’m just wondering if my feelings, or perseverating, or feeling like these breasts make me really unhappy and I just don’t want them anymore!...I’m just not sure if that’s a similar feeling to body dysmorphia? How do you decide which one is gender dysphoria and general body dysmorphia, and just not liking something about your body? Feeling uncomfortable with your body? And I did have an eating disorder all through college. I was a distance runner in college so I had bulimia and anorexia, you know. So I don’t know if that’s related to gender dysphoria?

The therapist replied, “I completely appreciate your concerns, but I am going to ask you questions about your chest, about your expectations. And then I’ll be able to give you an assessment.” She also said the main difference between my mom’s situation and mine was that my mom didn’t really have a growth on her neck, whereas it’s “confirmed” that I actually have “chest tissue.” Furthermore, she said that while “historically there has been all this pressure on patients to be like ‘Are you really, really sure you want hormones? Are you 100% sure?’ We are a little more relaxed.” She continued, “As long as you are aware of the risks and the side-effects, you can put your toe in the water. You can stop ‘T’ [testosterone], you can go back and do it again later! You can stop it! You can stop it! You know what I mean?”

Because we ran out of time, I scheduled a follow-up phone meeting on December 27, 2022 with a different gender specialist to complete my mental health assessment for top surgery.

Pre-Surgery Mental Health Video Appointment, Part II

During this meeting, Guneet Kaur, LCSW, another Kaiser gender specialist (she/her/they/them pronouns) told me that she regretted the “gatekeeping vibe” of the meeting but assured me that since I have been “doing the work,” her questions are essentially just a form of “emotional support” before talking with the medical providers.

She asked me about what I’d been “looking into as far as hormones.” I told her that I’d be interested in taking small doses of testosterone to counterbalance my female feelings to achieve “a feeling that’s kind of neutral.”

When she asked me about me “not feeling like I match on the outside what I feel on the inside,” I dropped more red flags, mentioning my aversion to wearing dresses and skirts.

I don’t own a single dress or a skirt and haven't in 20 years. I think for me it’s been just dressing the way that’s comfortable for me, which is just wearing, jeans and sweatshirts and I have a lot of flannel shirts and, and I wear boots all the time instead of other kinds of shoes. So I think it’s been nice being able to dress, especially because I work from home now most of the time that just a feeling of clothing being one of the ways that I can feel more non-binary in my everyday life.

She responded, “Like having control over what you wear and yeah. Kind of that feeling of just, yeah, this is who I am today. That’s awesome. Yeah.”

She then asked me to describe my dysphoria, and I told her that I didn’t like the “feeling of the female form and being chesty,” and that because I am going through menopause, I wanted to start taking testosterone to avoid “that feeling of being like this apple-shaped older woman.” “Good. Okay, great,” she responded, reminding me that only “top surgery,” not testosterone, would be able to solve my chest dysphoria. (Perhaps it was because all these meetings were online, they didn’t notice I’m actually fit and relatively slender at 5’-5” and 130 pounds, and not apple-shaped at all.)

She told me that we had to get through a few more questions related to my medical history before “we can move on to the fun stuff, which is testosterone and top surgery.”

The “fun stuff” consisted of a discussion about the physical and mood changes I could expect, and her asking me about the dose of testosterone I wanted to take and the kind of “top surgery” technique I’d prefer to achieve my “chest goals.” She told me that all or most of my consultations for surgeries and hormones would be virtual.

The gender specialist told me after the appointment, she would submit my referral to the Multi-Specialty Transitions Clinic (MST) team that oversees “gender expansive care.” They would follow up to schedule a “nursing call” with me to review my medical history, after which they’d schedule my appointment with a surgeon for a consultation. Her instructions for this consultation were to “tell them what you’re wanting for surgery and then they share with you their game plan.”

[ Decision-making slide to help me identify my goals for top surgery–flat chest, nipple sensation, or minimal scarring. Source: Kaiser Permanente, Top Surgery - EXPLORING YOUR SURGICAL OPTIONS ]

She told me that Kaiser has a team of plastic surgeons who “only work with trans and nonbinary patients because there’s just so much need for them.” She asked about my priorities for chest surgery, such as whether I value flatness over nipple sensation. I learned about double incision top surgery with nipple grafts, as well as “keyhole,” “donut,” “buttonhole,” and “Inverted-T” top surgeries.

By the end of the hour-long appointment, I had my surgery referral and was ready for my “nursing call” appointment.

Nursing call with Nurse Coordinator from the Transgender Surgery and Gender Pathways Clinic at Kaiser San Francisco

On January 19, 2023, I had my nursing call with the Nurse Coordinator. He first said that “the purpose of this call is just for us to go through your chart together and make sure everything’s as accurate as possible.” Once that was done, my referral would be sent to the surgeon for a consultation.

He asked me about potential allergies and recreational drug use, and verified that I was up to date on mammograms, pap smears, and colon cancer screenings, as well as vaccines for flu and COVID. I verified my surgical history as well as my current medications and dietary supplements.

He told me about a “top surgery class” available for patients where one of the Kaiser surgeons “presents and talks about surgical techniques and options within top surgery,” and includes a panel of patients who have had top surgery. I signed up for the February 8th class.

Within 10 minutes he told me that he had “sent a referral to the plastic surgery department at Kaiser Sacramento,” and that I should be hearing from them in the next week or two to schedule a consultation.

Appointment for Testosterone

On January 27, I had a 13-minute online appointment with a primary care doctor at Kaiser Davis to discuss testosterone. The doctor verified my name and preferred pronouns, and then directly asked: “So, what would you like to do? What kind of physical things are you looking for?”

I told her I wanted facial hair, a more muscular and less “curvy” physique, and to feel stronger and androgynous. She asked me when I wanted to start, and I told her in the next few months. She asked me if I was menopausal, whether I had ovaries and a uterus, although that information should have been on my chart.

The doctor said she wanted me to come in to get some labs so she could check my current estrogen, testosterone, and hemoglobin levels before starting hormones. Then “we'll set the ball in motion and you'll be going. We’ll see you full steam ahead in the direction you wanna go.”

That was it. I made an appointment and had my lab tests done on February 12. My labs came back on February 14, and the following day, after paying a $5 copay at the Kaiser pharmacy, I picked up my testosterone pump. That was easy!

Top Surgery Consultation

On the same day I received my labs, I had a Zoom surgery consultation with Karly Autumn-Kaplan, MD, Kaiser Sacramento plastic surgeon. This consultation was all about discussing my “goals” for surgery, not about whether surgery was needed or appropriate.

I told the surgeon that I wanted a “flatter, more androgynous appearance.” She asked me some questions to get a better idea of what that meant for me. She said that some patients want a “male chest,” but that others “want to look like nothing, like just straight up and down, sometimes not even nipples.” Others still wanted their chest to appear slightly feminine and only “slightly rounded.” I told her that I’d like my chest to have a “male appearance.”

“What are your thoughts about keeping your nipples?” she asked. “Are you interested in having nipples or would you like them removed?” I told her that I’d like to keep my nipples, but to make them “smaller in size.” She asked me if I’d like them moved to “the edge of the peck muscle” to achieve “a more male appearance.” I said yes.

I was asked to show my bare chest from the front and side, which I did. Then she asked me how important it was for me to keep my nipple sensation. I replied that it was important unless it would make recovery more difficult or there were other associated risks. She highlighted the problem with the free nipple graft, saying that removing the nipple to relocate it means “you're not gonna have sensation in that nipple and areola anymore.” However, some nipple sensation could be preserved by keeping it attached to “a little stalk of tissue” with “real nerves going to it,” but that would require leaving more tissue behind. I told her I’d go for the free nipple graft to achieve a flatter appearance. It was also suggested I could skip nipple reconstruction entirely and just get nipples “tattooed” directly onto my chest.

She told me I was “a good candidate for surgery,” and put me on the surgery wait list. She said that the wait time was between three and five months, but a cancellation could move me up to a sooner date. Also, if I wanted surgery as soon as possible, I could tell the surgery scheduler that I’d be willing to have any of the other three surgeons perform my mastectomy. Outpatient top surgery would cost me a copay of $100.

They contacted twice, in February and March, notifying me of cancellations. If I had accepted and shown up on those dates, they would have removed my breasts. This would have been less than five months from the time I first contacted Kaiser to inform them of my new “nonbinary” gender identity.

How Far Can I Go?

I decided to see how easy it would be for me to get approved for a phalloplasty. Known euphemistically as “bottom surgery,” phalloplasty is the surgical creation of an artificial penis, generally using tissue from the thigh or arm.

I sent an email on March 1, 2023, requesting to have a phalloplasty and concurrent hysterectomy scheduled alongside my mastectomy.

Two weeks later, on March 16th, I had a 16-minute phone call with a gender specialist to discuss my goals for bottom surgery and obtain my referral.

During the call, I explained to the specialist that I wasn’t sure about taking testosterone anymore because I was already quite athletic and muscular, and that taking testosterone didn’t make much sense to me. Instead, I wanted bottom surgery so that I wouldn’t feel like my “top” didn’t match my “bottom.” I told her:

But what I really wanted was to have bottom surgery. So this way when I have my top surgery, which sounds like it could be very soon, that I’ll be aligned, that I won’t have this sense of dysphoria with one part of my body and the other part feeling like it matched who I am. So yeah. So I just did a little bit more research into that. And I looked at the resources on the Kaiser page for the MST clinic and I think I know what I want, which is the hysterectomy and then at the same time or soon after to be able to have a phalloplasty.

I told her that I wanted to schedule the top and bottom surgery concurrently so that I wouldn’t have to take more time off work and it would save me trips to San Francisco or Oakland, or wherever I had to go for surgery.

None of this gave the gender specialist pause. After a brief conversation about some online resources to look over, she told me that she would “submit the referral now and we’ll get this ball rolling.”

Bottom surgery would cost me a copay of $200, which included a couple of days in the hospital for recovery.

Phalloplasty Surgical Consultation with Nurse Coordinator

On May 16, 2023, I had a short surgical consultation with a nurse coordinator to go through my medical history. This was similar to the consultation for top surgery but included information about hair removal procedures for the skin on my “donor site” that would be fashioned into a makeshift penis. They also went over the procedures for determining which donor site—forearm or thigh—was more viable.

After only 15 minutes, she submitted my referral to the surgeon for another surgical consultation.

On May 25 I received an email from my phalloplasty surgeon’s scheduler, informing me that they have received my referral and are actively working on scheduling, but that they are experiencing delays.

I ended my investigation here once I had the referral for the top and bottom surgery. I never used my testosterone pump.

Final Thoughts

In fewer than 300 days, based on a set of superficial and shifting thoughts about my gender and my “embodiment goals” triggered by the mere mention of “gender” in a form letter from my primary care physician, and driven by what could only be described as minor discomforts, Kaiser Permanente’s esteemed “multi-disciplinary team” of “gender specialists” was willing, with enthusiasm—while ignoring mental health concerns, history of sexual trauma, and rapidly escalating surgical requests—to prescribe life-altering medications and perform surgeries to remove my breasts, uterus, and vagina, close my vaginal opening, and attempt a complex surgery with high failure and complication rates to create a functionless representation of a penis that destroys the integrity of my arm or thigh in the process.

This describes the supposedly meticulous, lengthy, and safety-focused process that a Kaiser patient must undergo to embark on a journey to medically alter their body. No clinician questioned my motivations. No one showed concern that I might be addressing a mental health issue through radical and irreversible interventions that wouldn’t address my amorphous problems. There were no discussions about how these treatments would impact my long-term health, romantic relationships, family, or sex life. I charted the course. The clinicians followed my lead without question. The guiding issue was what I wanted to look like.

No other medical field operates with this level of carelessness and disregard for patient health and welfare. No other medical field addresses issues of self-perception with surgery and labels it “medically necessary.” No other medical field is this disconnected from the reality of the patients it serves.

Kaiser has traded medicine for ideology. It’s far beyond time we stop the ruse of considering “gender-affirming” interventions as anything approaching medical care.

This isn’t the first time Kaiser Permanente has been in the news for completely disregarding medical safeguards in the name of “gender-affirming care.” As girls, Chloe Cole and Layla Jane became convinced that they were born in the wrong body and were actually boys on the inside. Doctors at Kaiser ignored their underlying conditions and instead prescribed testosterone and removed their breasts. Both Cole and Jane have since detransitioned and are currently suing Kaiser.

The fact that children and vulnerable adults are being exploited in this massive ideological experiment is not just tragic; it’s deeply disturbing, especially considering it has evolved into a billion-dollar industry.

I hope that by sharing my story, I can bring more focused scrutiny to the medical scandal unfolding not just at Kaiser but also at medical centers and hospitals across the Western world. These institutions have completely abandoned medical safeguards for patients who claim to be confused about their “gender,” and I aim to awaken more parents and assist them in protecting their children.

--

==

This is completely insane.

Apologists online are running around saying, but she didn't mean it, she was lying, she was pretending...

It doesn't matter.

Any kind of security, penetration or integrity test is insincere too. When security researchers compromise Microsoft's operating system or Google's browser or whatever, "but they didn't mean it" is not a defence to a discovered security flaw. It doesn't matter that the security researchers didn't plan to steal data or money or identities. The flaw in the system is there regardless.

It doesn't matter that it was insincere. Because the workers didn't know that. They never checked, never asked questions, never tested. They had been taught and instructed to never ask any questions. They did what they were supposed to. And the system failed spectacularly. Because that's what "gender affirming care" means.

Additionally, the claim that Beth Bourne committed fraud is an outright lie. A patient cannot bill. They do not have the authority. The medical clinic is the only one that can bill, and they must supply a diagnosis and a medical necessity.

If they didn't diagnose her and just wrote down what she said, then they committed fraud. If they claim they did diagnose her, then they committed fraud, because the diagnosis they concocted was bogus. This, by the way, is actually going on. Clinics are reporting fake endocrine and other disorders to get blockers, hormones and other interventions. Jamie Reed and other whistleblowers have documented evidence of this. Beth Bourne is not responsible for what the clinic does. They have medical licenses and legal responsibility. Not her.

Additionally, anyone who actually read the article would know how she tested the system. She said things like, "I've always been not that feminine. So, maybe I get my boobs removed." And they said, "sure." Instead of saying, "wait, why do you think that?" Framing it as her lying is itself a lie. They violated their ethical obligations. That much is incontrovertible. And it's directly the result of "gender affirming care," where clinics and clinicians rubber-stamp anything deemed "trans" based entirely on ideological, not medical, grounds.

[paperlunamoth]

"No one is conflating gender with sex!"

Yes you are. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you would say you were "masculine to feminine" and not "male to female." If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be using the term "assigned male/female at birth" to decribe the gender assigned to a person because of their sex. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be pushing to have the words "male and female," which are the only terms we have to refer to sex specifically, redefined to mean "person who identifies as belonging to the masculine/feminine gender." If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't so consistently act as though masculinity is what makes someone male and femininity is what makes someone female. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be saying that transgender people need access opposite sex hormones. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be calling surgery to make your genitals more resemble those of the opposite sex gender confirmation surgery. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be bothered by your legal sex being different from your gender. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be demanding access to single sex spaces on the basis of your gender. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be upset when homosexual people don't want to sleep with you because of your sex and not your gender. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't consider sexual dysphoria to be part of being transgender. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you would be distinguishing between people who are transsexual and people who are transgender, and you would have invented a separate word by now for people who are both, instead of using "transgender" to mean both or either. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be pushing the idea that sex is nonbinary, arbitrary, debatable, and a social construct in order to make how people think about it more closely resemble how they think about gender. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then you wouldn't be claiming that gender identity is an innate and immutable part of a person's biology present at birth, just like sex, despite the fact that gender is a social construct and so by definition can't be inherent to a person based on their biological traits. If you weren't conflating gender with sex, then when you argue that some people have the brain of the opposite sex, and thus are neurologically a different sex from what they are physically, you'd be using that to legitimize transsexualism and not transgenderedness (and even if we could easily and reliably identify the sex of a person's brain, that should be assumed to tell us nothing about their gender identity, since sex and gender are different things, right?). If you didn't equate gender with sex, then you wouldn't go to such great lengths to obscure the fact that most binary-identifying transgender people are also transsexual, that they want to belong to the opposite sex and not just the opposite gender, and that they want to adopt the gender associated with the opposite sex specifically because it would make them feel more like they belong to that sex.

It doesn't how matter how often or how vehemently you claim otherwise, you absolutely do conflate gender with sex, and it is one of the main reasons we take issue with your ideology in the first place. Women around the world and throughout human history have fought and bled and died for the idea that femininity, or a "feminine essence," is not what defines what it means to be a woman, for the idea that people of the female sex are oppressed on the basis of their sex and deserve not to be oppressed on the basis of their sex, and you people spit and piss on their graves and call feminism "regressive" while waving a flag with pink stripes for girls and blue stripes for boys.

[sharkboywrites]

I am a very feminine trans guy and sometimes I'm embarrassed or don't feel valid because I am infact feminine. It would honestly mean the world to me if you could write something about Vil x a reader who's going through my issue! (I hope this makes sense I'm not good at explain)

Vil with a Fem Trans Male S/O

A/N: I'm not really a feminine trans dude, i don't really dress fem unless it's for special events or cosplays (like once a year for one convention), but I do think feminine trans guys are valid. Sending feminine trans guys all my love.

Male reader, feminine male reader

Let's get one thing straight: Vil hates gender roles

He actively defies them, and he doesn't stand for anyone trying to enforce them

When Vil first met you, whether he knew you were trans or not, he really admired you for how openly feminine you were

While he didn't put the two of you on the same level in his mind, he did see view you better than most people at NRC

It was the catalyst for the two of you getting closer

You both bonded over how you expressed yourselves and how it made you feel

As the two of you got closer, you tried to hide those days where you felt like being fem was wrong from him

You knew it wasn't true, that the way you dress didn't determine who you were, but you couldn't help that little voice in the back of your head that told you otherwise

When the two of you started to date, it was practically impossible to hide it

You eventually had to open up to him

He caught you on one of those days, when you felt like the only thing you could do was put on a big hoodie to feel like you were valid in your identity

He noticed your change of usual attire, but didn't ask until the two of you were alone

He questioned you on why you dressed so differently that day, and you broke down, telling him how you felt

You told him about how you felt embarrassed to be feminine as a trans man, how it felt like you weren't really valid enough

He put a stop to that immediately, gently cupping your face and telling you that it wasn't how it worked

He assured you that you're valid in how you identify and that how you dress doesn't change who you are

He used himself as an example

He's a cis man, but dresses very fem and wears makeup almost every day

He does very feminine things, and it doesn't make him any less of a man, and everyone respects his identity as a man

After calming you down, he let you know that he loved you, and that who you are won't change based on how you dress

From then on he's constantly giving you small reassurances, whether you look like you need them or not

If you're comfortable with it, he might post you every so often and show you all the positive comments you get, and how everybody treats you just like him

Just like a man, the man that you are, feminine or not

[thelostgirl21]

I wish there was a way to clearly say:

I'm personally comfortable being called a "woman", only because I have the sexual dimorphism typically associated with a female of the human species, and that's how other people see me as when they look at my physical appearance; nothing more.

While making 100% sure not to accidentally bring any harm to the trans community, or making it sound like one's gender identity should always match their physical appearance, when that's far from being the case.

Because, until very recently, I'd always been calling myself "a girl", or "a woman" exclusively based on how I physically look.

To me, defining myself as "a woman", has always been the equivalent of describing an external characteristic of my body that others are able to see.

- I'm a woman.

- I'm 5'7''.

- I have brown eyes.

- etc.

It's always been exactly the same to me. It's what you can physically see, not who I am.

Somehow, it's like I completely forgot to develop a sense of personal identity tied to "being a woman" while I was growing up.

I could wake up tomorrow with a body that has the sexual dimorphism of a male of my species instead, have everyone call me a man and suddenly have to live my life as one, and I'd have only ONE problem with it.

Just the one.

My partner is a heterosexual man, so that would be a challenge.

But otherwise, I think I'd just be really curious to explore the physiological differences between my prior body and my new body, and then move on with my life without changing a single thing to the things I like, my behavior in general, personal interests, probably the way I like to dress, too, etc.

I'd just be "looking more masculine" while doing it.

It would be like having blonde short hair instead of my current brown long hair.

The rest of the world would treat me differently as a man, sure! But that wouldn't reflect how I identify or feel inside about who I am.

Just how others now see me as and choose to socially treat me.

My gender, to me, is something that's always existed outside of myself.

I have no personal use for it, nor is it a part of my personality.

I guess I've often been gender-non-conforming, too, not because I was attempting to rebel against my own gender, felt a need to distance myself from the binary, or anything... But just because I've never seen the point of it.

I've had boyfriends telling me that it was like I wanted to be the "man in the relationship", and being upset that I wasn't letting them play their role at times (that hasn't really been an issue with women, oddly enough); and I broke up with them without looking back, because what the fuck was that even supposed to mean?

I wasn't trying to behave like a man or a woman, I was just being myself, and adopting the social roles and behaviors I'm comfortable with. If you can't love me as I am, then what am I supposed to do?

Younger, I've had little boys back at school telling me that "it was weird for a girl to like certain things or express herself a certain way", and my response has always pretty much been to shrug, go "guess I'm a weird girl then", and then continue doing things my way.

(Yes, I'm aware that I've been very privileged to live in a world where I've merely been occasionally bullied or suffered verbal micro-agressions for ignoring the social standards set for "little girls"... Then again, I've probably embraced some of them!

I loved playing with my "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe set", or walking around with a lightsaber pretending to be Luke Skywalker... But I was cool with "My Little Poney" (the originals) and "Rainbow Bright", too!

Like I said, I wasn't trying to be "non-conforming", I just liked whatever I liked!

I was also lucky enough that my parents fully allowed me to go for what I enjoyed in terms of toys, games, activities, playmates, etc., regardless of gender.

And my physical appearance as a child occasionally had people mistaking me for a boy. So, perhaps, the other adults that saw me behave as one in public assumed I was one, and thus put less pressure on me to behave in a way that would have been deemed more "feminine" than "masculine".

By the point I really started looking more "feminine" (like I do now), I guess I'd moved past caring about it, and/or had reached a point where it made no sense to me that it would suddenly have been upsetting that I occasionally behaved "as a boy" or enjoyed "boy things" now when, until then, it had always been perfectly fine and well accepted that I did!

I guess there's something to be said about the influence of early socialisation, and how adults in the social environment of a child respond to a young child's gender, in the level of importance they might instinctively give to it later on.)

Like, I'm pretty sure that, if I were to ask you to determine my gender based on my looks alone (while fully giving you permission to do it), especially when I'm performing on stage wearing makeup, you'd go "you're a woman!" with a fair level of confidence!

But that's just it! To me that's just the way I look. A stylistic choice based on the way my body chose to develop, if you will.

What drives me nuts, though, is that I have zero problem empathizing with the trans community and their need to express their own gender identity, because I know what it feels like to need to be seen and respected as one's authentic self!

You tell me you identify as a woman, a man, agender, genderfae, etc., and/or feel a need to express it? Be yourself, and rock that gender! It is who you are, and it is your right to own it!

The fact that I feel like I don't have any particular use or need for gender doesn't mean that it can't be important for others, and that they don't have a use or need for it themselves.

Just because I don't intimately understand it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist or doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that I can't support, and actively advocate for proper gender recognition and respect in schools and other public places.

I "get it" without "getting it", if you will.

The problem, however, is that I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea that, if I identify as a "woman", people will assume that it means more to me than "I physically look female".

That it will be assumed that I emotionally and psychologically connect with my gender, and feel a need to express it, or a sense of attachment and belonging to the woman gender.

After having called the way my physical body "looks" to others on the outside "being a woman" for decades, it's hard for me to suddenly go "being a woman is not the same as passing for a woman, it's about the gender you identify with inside..." and stop calling myself a woman, because I feel like I've no gender identity inside of myself.

But "agender" doesn't quite feel right to me, either, because I'd never had any problem with the idea of being a woman, until I learned that I was supposed to give a damn about being a woman, and personally connect with my gender, that is.

And "gender non-conforming" doesn't sound quite right, either, because I'm not trying to avoid conforming to the woman gender, or expressing a different gender than the one that was assigned to me at birth.

They basically gave me a gender based on my genitalia when I was born, and I went "Yeah, sure! I guess I can look the part... Why not?"; while ignoring the whole social instructions booklet and guidelines that went with it.

So lately, every time someone has asked me what my gender is, or what gender I identify with, I've had a tendency to freeze, panic, and mentally go:

Like the idea of my having a gender makes no internal sense to me. It's not something I can relate to, "vibe with", or identify with.

Is there a way to respectfully say "I'm calling myself a woman for convenience's sake, because that's the gender traditionally associated with the way I look, and I'm okay with having grown into a feminine appearance by default? But please, don't assume it means anything to me beyond that, or expect me to behave, dress, or do anything according to the woman gender."

I've been using "gender apathetic" in an attempt to convey it, but is that really what it means, and how most people understand it?

Basically, I feel like my answers to these questions would be:

- What physical look do you most resemble? Woman / feminine / female.

- What gender do you identify with? None.

- Do you feel comfortable being called a woman, and her / she pronouns, based on the way you look? Yes.

How do you freaking call or define that?

Non-internalized cisgenderism?

[befemininenow]

Welcome to my blog, stranger.

You probably got here by accident, or by intention. Whether it was the algorithm or a shared post from this blog, it was appealing enough to get you here. Maybe it was the girls in the pics. Maybe it was the captions that persuaded you. Maybe the descriptions in the posts were relatable. Or maybe even the blog’s name caught your attention. Whatever it was that led you here, welcome to my trans girl caption blog. It’s mostly captions and post descriptions based on the fantasies and IRL experiences of trans girls on a random POV. They may even “crack your egg”. While they may not speak for all trans girls, it may be relatable to you. Once in a while, I may end up making a post about other feminine-leaning identities such as femboys if you’re also into that. However, If you’re not comfortable with this topic or expect other BDSM-related topics (i.e. sissy, dom worshipping, etc.), I suggesst you look somewhere else.

Update as of April 26, 2024: I made some edits to the post since so much has changed from last year. Also, hi. I’m Ashley Nicole. But you can call me “Nicki/Nikki”.

What is this blog about?

It is caption blog detailing the experiences of trans girl’s (or woman’s) while closeted or out. Some posts even detail my own experiences dating as back as I can remember. Imagery of girls, cis and trans, are generally used in relation to the captions. Each experience is unique, so don’t feel bad if you can’t relate to posts like “anime girls cracked my egg”. I seldom share other topics related to issues trans girls often face, as well as even share a small biography of trans girls in a few of my posts.

Who is it aimed for?

It is aimed at those who identify as transgender, questioning, fluid, and those who wish to explore their feminine side. These captions are meant to detail experiences and fantasies that trans girls have even before transitioning. However, captions are not meant for everyone, just like how not every trans girl is meant to be a programmer (sorry if I crushed your dreams).

Why did you create this blog?

Simply put, the disturbing amount of forced feminization, BDSM, and sissy blogs overflowing this site motivated me to do something different. Although few of these blogs have at least something redeeming to the point where I may reblog it and attach a description, the vast majority repels me due to its negative, humiliating energy. Unfortunately, caption blogs focused on the experiences of trans girls are either inactive or overshadowed. Lastly, I wanted to share a few personal experiences of exploring my identity through captions and post descriptions. 

Where do you get your sources?

I get them through Google searches, social sites, and of course, other blogs from this site. Captions and descriptions are also based on what I learned, read, and heard through trans girls both online and IRL.

When do you usually post?

I post almost daily, or when I’m in the mood. I often reblog from other sources, but it is becoming a rare instance. Thursdays and Fridays are throwback and flashback posts recalling my own experiences or to jog the reader’s memory of seeing a familiar picture. I even point out the original pic source for trivia, or how the pic influenced me in making the captioned pic.

How will this help?

It is meant to affirm and validate any person who often deals with denial about being transgender. Although some of these captions seem a little teasing and may be seen as a fetish, everything is voluntary. However, NEVER use captions to treat gender dysphoria! Seek professional help if you are dealing with it! Also, please research the effects of HRT pills (hormone replacement therapy) as the changes may be permanent depending on the individual. They are not like Senzu Beans that will inflate you if taking more than needed. You WILL get actual and unpleasant side effects if abused.

Can you do any requests?

I’m sorry, but I rarely have the time to check back my blog or messages anymore. If I don’t read your message for some reason, don’t take it as an offense. I’m simply quite reserved and busy IRL. It could take time before I check back. Also, no, I will not take your request to “feminize” you! Fake “mistresses, doms, godesses, and daddies” are also out of the question! I had an awful intro experience online role-playing with them and I am never doing that again!

I’m a “sissy”, femboy, crossdresser (CD), etc. Am I welcome here?

I won’t place a ban on you if you are a sissy, a femboy, or a crossdresser as I have to acknowledge a good portion of my followers are of that category. However, I do not associate myself with the term “sissy” as I take it as a derogatory word used to invalidate someone’s gender identity. If you’re looking for “sissy” or “forced fem” stuff in this blog, don’t bother. You will dehydrate as fast as SpongeBob and Patrick on Sandy’s treedome.

Last: A little bit about you?

I’m a trans girl in her very early 30s who has an internal female side that I want to express. There are days I feel feminine and there are days I feel fluid with my gender. While I’m not completely out yet due to personal and social issues, I know I will finally be my own self once the chance comes. My primary interests are girls, though I may be interested in other feminine-leaning individuals in an occasion. While I won’t reveal my actual age, I am one of the older cuspers born between millennial and Gen Z. Favorite things include, but not limited to, anime, games, pop culture, and social media. You will catch some references through my caption posts.

I hope this Q&A solved most of your questions and doubts. Enjoy your stay here. You’ll probably find something you like. Thank you.

-Ashley “Nicki” Nicole

[psychoticallytrans]

I'm going to preface this post with that this is a pretty niche intracommunity issue, but it's been bugging me a while.

The right to define yourself as a queer person includes not only the right to claim labels that feel correct, but the right to reject labels that don't fit. That's a huge part of the whole point. However, some people seem to feel like being queer just means that we've made some different identity boxes to sort people into, and that sorting yourself wrongly means you need correction.

I, personally, am a GNC man. I wear skirts because they're comfy and trap heat in winter and long hair because I'm extremely vain about my hair. Someone once spent the better part of three hours arguing that I need to "at least" identify as a nonbinary man. Which is... not how anything works? I've identified as nonbinary in the past, but eventually realized that just wasn't correct for me, and moved into identifying as a binary man. I strongly support nonbinary people, but I don't happen to be nonbinary in any way. More commonly, people will decide that I'm "fem" or "femme", which... also not really? Those are loaded community words and I don't happen to identify with them. I'm GNC. That's not the same thing.

I also see this happen a lot with sexuality. It's one thing to look at someone going "I'm straight but sometimes... I wonder..." and introduce them to the incredible variety of mspec identities to see if anything strikes a chord. It's entirely another for someone to go "I'm pansexual." and some dick to roll up and start telling them they're biphobic for not saying they're bisexual, or for someone saying "I'm bisexual, and I'm not attracted to women." to have people telling them that they're not really bisexual. "Two or more" does not necessarily have to include both binary genders, or either of them.

Deciding someone else's personal labels based on what you think they should identify as is just plain rude, and insisting on them after they've objected is even more rude. Don't do it.

[cat-in-a-mech-suit]

Re: https://www.tumblr.com/cat-in-a-mech-suit/760173505957576704/can-we-make-a-genderless-and-non-exclusive-but?source=share

(Impunkster-syndrome is a sideblog oof)

I've sort of come to a similar conclusion with a catch-all term I've had rolling around in my head for a while for anyone who is feminine but is not welcome to hegemonic femininity- trollfem (reclaiming it from the NFT project and niche radfem use as a derogatory term for transfems). My whole thing was related to homestuck and how troll femininity is still femininity but not human and therefore seen as alien by the reader. Still typing a whole post on it and it's got me in a weird place since I'm literally a Vriska and Porrim fictive in a system (I hate the term fictive when used for me but used for simplicity due to my identity situation being more complex). It would be inclusive of anyone who experiences a feminine identity and gatekept from it due to systems of oppression that consider us a threat to the "ideal feminine."

I do think there should be an equivalent term for mascs, neutrals, and androgynes- anyone who may benefit from it. Trollmasc is on the table and would sound awesome, but I do have a Homestuck Problem and I know not everyone would want to self-identify with that. There's definitely a need for wide terms like this for solidarity-building on common experiences and oppression being experienced in different ways by different groups.

If I misread the post, oops.

I love this response! Thank you for this explanation, I think the term trollfem in this context is very interesting and cool! I will admit I don’t understand the fandom references but as a fellow system with many fictivelike alters who experiences gender differently based on that I really appreciate hearing your experiences nonetheless. I honestly could identify with the term trollfem as an autistic person - even trying to pass as a cis woman before coming out as trans, I ran into some issues because my femininity wasn’t “right.” Trollmasc is a good term too, and could work as a placeholder, but I’m not sure if the metaphor holds the same way as it does with feminine trolls.. and I might want to use a broader term. I welcome as many terms to be created as anyone would like though.

[smashjewels]

Trans Masc Naoto Shirogane (my take)

Hi I’m finally getting around to finishing persona 4 golden and I need people to understand that I love Naoto so much. (my multi fandom is showing)

I also need people to understand that while yes, the game states that Naoto isn’t trans and is content with being a girl, Naoto’s story still resonates with trans people and arguably makes more sense if he were trans.

Naoto isn’t trans in canon, but there’s substantial evidence for people to see him as such.

So I’m gonna rant abt it a little

- “Seeing Naoto as trans is MORE harmful than Naoto being a girl”

The point being brought up here is that those who hc Naoto as trans are forcing this identity on him, just as transphobic people do onto others.

The main flaw with this is that Naoto isn’t a real person. No one is “forcing” a gender identity because they can’t. They’re not real. This would only be valid if in canon there was a character who forced Naoto to present as male, but there isn’t.

- “Saying Naoto is trans is like saying Mulan is trans”

Mulan dressed up as a man to protect her father, a clear reaction to the situation at hand. Naoto chooses to present as male in every aspect of his life ever since he was young. Naoto’s mother was a renowned detective as well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Naoto to be completely convinced he has to be a man in order to be a detective.

- The workplace sexism topic isn’t handled well

While I won’t deny that sexism in the workplace is a problem, the game barely highlights this. The only part we see of Naoto being discriminated against is because he’s young. The game tries to explain an issue that it never shows, there’s no evidence to the audience that Naoto would’ve been treated any differently had he present as female.

Naoto’s family is also said to be a long line of renowned detectives, some of which have had to be female.

Naoto’s shadow talks about how he’s lonely and just a child. He also says that he’ll “never cross the line between the two sexes” the shadows say the fears and inner thoughts of a person.

If Naoto’s story had been more focused on workplace discrimination, his shadow would’ve said something like “I don’t want to be a boy” implying that his expression as a boy is unwanted but forced because of workplace discrimination.

It isn’t though, it focuses on Naoto’s insecurities about never being able to change the fact he was born a woman, something that’s very similar to the trans experience.

- Naoto’s character arc is based around self acceptance, this can work for the trans hc and canon

While in the game it’s displayed as Naoto coming to terms that he doesn’t need to be a boy, and it’s okay for him to be a girl regardless of his occupation, this can work just as well (if not more) for the trans hc.

Naoto’s self acceptance can be presented as “I don’t have to medically transition/be born a boy in order to be a boy”

This could also explain Naoto’s apparent fear about gender reassignment surgery with how it’s presented with his shadow.

- “Naoto being trans would be sending the message that you can just transition to avoid systemic discrimination”

Crazily enough, trans people also face discrimination in the workplace. And this is also assuming Naoto’s arc would be about a character transitioning for convenience when obviously there’s a lot more to that to transitioning.

- Naoto doesn’t mind when people see him as a boy, even when in canon he identifies as a woman

This implies some kind of non-negative view of him being a boy, this implies that he doesn’t just do it to be not discriminated in the workplace, it’s part of him and his identity.

edit: I think it’s important to point out that it’s not wrong to perceive Naoto as a woman, as that’s what the persona 4 canon is, but the point is to rather justify the interpretations of Naoto as a transman and debunk common statements made against the hc

Anyway Kanji is gay bc he has a crush on a guy who he perceived as a guy, not cause he’s a man with feminine interests

[coochiequeens]

This is why the west is seeing a backlash against the TQ+.

By Amy Hamm November 10, 2024

Trans activists in British Columbia, Canada, are demanding that a law which prevents dangerous convicted criminals from changing their legal names be repealed immediately.

Social justice legal group West Coast LEAF issued a press release, signed by numerous trans activist groups and organizations, demanding the change on November 7. In their letter, the groups claim that the province’s legislation “harms those most in need of legal name changes, including transgender people, Indigenous people, and survivors of gender-based violence.”

They also state that the “name change ban interferes with the human rights of transgender people to use their chosen names.” In addition to repealing the name-change ban, the groups are also demanding greater access to name change services, and “dignity” for the transgender community.

The legislation at issue is the province’s Name Act, which was amended earlier this year in response to public outcry over child-killer Allan Schoenborn being permitted to change his legal name, followed by a failed campaign to keep his new name hidden from the public.

Schoenborn murdered his three children, aged five, eight, and 10, in 2008. While he was found guilty of first-degree, pre-meditated murder, a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible due to mental illness. Schoenborn is currently eligible for 28-day leaves from the forensics hospital where he is serving his sentence, and may eventually be released into transitional housing in the community. Schoenborn does not identify as transgender.

The 2024 amendment to the BC Name Act ensures that all persons convicted of serious violent offences, or offences against children—even if they are found not criminally responsible—cannot obtain legal name changes. The legislation was proposed by the now-defunct BC United Party, which was the official opposition to the ruling New Democratic Party, under premier David Eby.

Eby held a sizable majority government at the time, but now holds the slimmest possible majority with a strong Conservative Party opposition.

Despite the obvious safety risk posed to the public by enabling men like Schoenborn to hide behind new aliases, BC’s trans activists believe that it is more important for transgender persons with violent criminal histories to have their gender identities affirmed. 

If these activists have their way, criminals like Adam Laboucan, also known as Tara Desousa, would be able to hide their past by making quick and easy legal name changes. Laboucan, a trans-identified male and baby rapist, was the youngest criminal in Canadian history to be designated a “dangerous offender.” His crimes, which also include murdering a toddler, have been documented extensively by Reduxx. Laboucan currently resides in a female prison, with a mother-baby program, in British Columbia. Had his transfer to female prison gone unreported, it is plausible that Laboucan—if ever released from prison—would be able to enjoy anonymity and hide his violent, depraved criminal past from unsuspecting future victims. 

Adrienne Smith, a female lawyer who uses they/them pronouns, also signed on to West Coast LEAF’s demands to reverse changes to the Name Act. In a statement included in their press release, Smith wrote that, for trans-identified persons, “[o]ur chosen names are human rights… This change [to the Name Act] hurts people standing farthest from justice, because it essentially sentences trans people to permanent deadnaming. That is unlawful, and it is wrong. Everyone should be entitled to the basic dignity of a name.” 

Smith is the litigation director at CWHWC Trans Legal Clinic, a business that provides pro-bono legal services to “Two-Spirit, transgender and gender non-conforming people.” In addition to helping trans-identified persons obtain legal name changes, they also offer free hormone and surgery readiness assessments. 

Another signatory, Didi Dufresne, a female who uses he/they/she pronouns, is the director of legal services for the non-profit QMUNITY. Dufresne asserted that the amendments to the Name Act are a throwback to laws that once criminalized homosexuality. “The criminal offenses listed include charges historically used to criminalize queer sex (like gross indecent, incident acts, exposure); charges related to sex work which are constitutionally suspect, and a number of non-violent offenses like breaking and entering or trespassing at night,” Dufresne wrote.

Other signatories include the Canadian Bar Association (BC Branch), PACE Society (which receives federal and provincial government funding), the Society for Advocacy for Gender-Affirming Healthcare, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

In 2019, West Coast LEAF member Devyn Cousineau presided over the BC Human Rights Tribunal Jessica Yaniv hearings, in which trans-identified Yaniv sued female estheticians for refusing to wax his testicles. Cousineau referred to the waxing of trans-identified male testicles as “critical gender affirming care.” 

Premier David Eby has not issued a public response to the demand letter

[butch-reidentified]

gotta be honest, I'm so tired of comments like this. it's a frustrating and unrealistic assumption to make. trans people are everywhere. how many of us HAVEN'T known trans people irl at this point?? what lesbian 20-something doesn't know trans people irl?? I run into trans people a pretty solid portion of times I leave the house these days. I mean, they're 5% of young adults and increasing.

but on top of that, if you even read my blog for 10 seconds you don't need to ask this. honestly you don't even need to read past my PINNED which links to this:

but I also post frequently, including just yesterday, about particular trans friends, especially the ones who contributed to my becoming disillusioned with gender identity ideology by listening to them explain how it was becoming more and more harmful to sex-dysphoric transsexuals.

I went to a small liberal arts college famous for being extremely far left and predominantly lgbt(q+). I speak about my multiple years identifying as trans and being around trans people daily irl for years. it's no secret. but people would rather make unfounded assumptions than do any actual informing themselves about the person they're making those assumptions about. and I really am tired of it.

not to mention, not all trans people even do subscribe to the ideology. TRA =/= trans. these are not synonymous. plenty of TRA's call themselves cisgender, and plenty of trans-identifying folk are not TRA's.

not to mention, nothing about criticizing an ideology or its rhetoric necessitates hating the people who subscribe to it. you can critique something without hate. dissent is not hate. you can speak out about how an ideology is negatively impacting you/certain groups without wanting people dead or stripped of rights and freedom. in fact, even many people with dissenting beliefs on sex/gender still support protecting trans people.

I will say, this study is flawed: while conservatives may believe that gender is determined by sex, this is not the same question as "can whether a person is a man or woman be different from sex assigned at birth?" this question only makes sense if you view "man" and "woman" as genders. radfems do not. radfems use the dictionary "adult human female" definition of woman, which specifies SPECIES and SEX, just like "doe" and "buck" specify for deer. gender does not factor into it.

gender refers to the patriarchal social construct that assigns stereotypes, roles, behaviors, styles, likes/dislikes, abilities, etc. based on sex. gender is assigning masculinity to male humans (men) and femininity to female humans (women). conservatives want to perpetuate this assignment of gender to sex, masculinity enforced in males and femininity enforced in females. TRA's want us to pretend sex doesn't exist, only gender, but it's fine because you can pick what gender label "feels right." radfems want to get rid of this patriarchal construct so everyone would be free to be themselves without the ridiculous pressure to conform to gender. radfems do not believe that simply relabeling oneself with a different gender label solves anything, but may actually worsen the issue by reinforcing the existence of the gender construct (which is inherently regressive and sexist). I don't want to call myself nonbinary or a man so that my body hair is more acceptable (for example); I want women to be allowed to just exist in our natural state. my body hair has NOTHING to do with "gender," it's just something every human being is born with and grows more of during puberty.

[redtail-lol]

Proper Blog Introduction

Hello, and welcome to Redtail's ramblings and occasional coinings! Enjoy your stay.

Free Help for Palestine - A communal document created by me and editable by everyone for finding free ways to help Palestine! Mostly composed of petitions at the moment. If you can't donate or just want more ways to help Palestine it's very helpful.

About Me and the Blog:

I mostly will be coining orientations instead of genders because there are so many genders and the orientation market is low, and will mostly be coining labels that apply to me. However, I am willing to coin labels that don't apply to me. Please feel free to ask, and if I'm uncomfortable, I will just deny it.

Some posts aren't centered around me coining so sorry for any clutter

I am a perisex bigendermeld girl + enby and I use she/they pronouns

I have a label collection/hoard of 300+ that I loving named The Boxfort Palace. I may start a third blog just for my hoard. Or I may just keep it on the doc

Some of my important identities are asexual (fully, absolutely no sexual attraction), cupiosexual, demiromantic, lunian/mspec lesbian, bi lesbian, poly lesbian, and omni lesbian, and I specifically use full-moon springtide versions of all these labels. I do not identify as an mspec mono because there is nothing monoromantic about my lesbian attraction. I don't have an issue with the mspec mono label existing but I don't think it applies to me.

This blog supports aspec people, xenogenders, mspec gays/lesbians, gaybians, mspec hets, gayhets/straightbians and lesboys/turigirls. I am an mspec lesbian and ace.

This blog is NOT anti-paraphilia. I believe people with genuinely harmful and nonconsensual paras need access to help and support, and aren't inherently evil. I also believe paraphilias that are strange but not harmful or nonconsensual are fine. Do what makes you happy. Pro-contact harmful paraphilias, this is NOT about you. Please seek help and do not abuse.

I am Crit-Inclus and seek to understand people before I fully accept them. If I ask you questions about your identity, I mean no disrespect

I am predominantly white and am not comfortable with making things specifically for any POC because it does not feel like my place. If my blog grows big and people want to use my blog for visibility, post on your own blog and I will reblog it.

Because I am perisex I will not coin intersex specific terms, though you may ask for flag design help and reblogs for visibility

I am autistic and self diagnosed, I haven't updated this in a while but I've given up on not saying I'm autistic without diagnosis a long time ago, lmao. I got 153 on my most recent RAADS-R taking I def have autism

Still anti ABA and anti autism speaks fuck those guys

This blog is anti Boeing we hate Boeing in this household (if you're confused ask me about the 737 MAX I'll go on for hours)

I am a singlet so I'm not gonna do system specific labels. I will reblog system labels upon request

I do NOT coin radqueer identities. Radqueers can request non-radqueer identities because there's no reason to say you can't request something because of a belief. Even if it's harmful it's none of my business I'm the coiner. But I am anti-rq so you choose if you want me making the term

You may ask me to coin anything you would like if it isn't on here. It is my decision if I do it.

I am an adult, but the blog is safe for older minors

People in my DNI are allowed to use my flags and labels. I don't believe in gatekeeping who's allowed to use a term based on personal beliefs and opinions. I just don't wish to have personal interactions with you guys. It's up to you if you want to use flags made by an mspec lesbian who accepts xenogenders, lesboys/turigirls and the like, gaybians, and other complex contradictory identities.

I would appreciate if everyone who follows me can like, reblog, or comment on a post before or shortly after following. This is to make sure I don't follow back porn accounts that won't read this. I might block people who do not follow this rule because I will assume you are a porn account that just wants to send me spam links, especially if you're a blank blog.

Free Palestine. Fuck Isreal.

DNI:

Pedophiles (I'm not calling you MAPs.) Whether you're non-offending or not, please just don't interact with me. I support you guys getting the help you need but as a minor I think it's best we don't interact beyond maybe some likes and a request or two. I'm still too close to being a kid

Anyone who is going to start discourse. I don't care if you're proship, antiship, exclus, radinclus, radqueer, or anything. Don't start discourse. You can only continue discourse that I start. You can use my terms if they apply to you, like my stuff, reblog it, and comment, as long as you aren't starting an argument.

Solicitors looking to promote any sexual services. I am asexual, leave me alone. I don't want your porn. I will bodyshame you.

Anybody looking to e-date. I'm arospec, specifically demiromantic, so approaching me with romantic intent means you'll have to wait for something that'll never happen.

DO NOT FOLLOW:

Queerphobic people

Racists/ALM/Anti-BLM.

Sexists/anti feminists

Radfems (you aren't real feminists, you're misandrists, AND you're misogynists, all at once)

Zionists/Pro-Israel

People who believe in transmisogyny but not transmisandry/transandrophobia

People who believe trans men hold any significant power over cis women or over trans women

Idiots who think only transfems can use the tr slur

People who think femboy is a slur or is about transfems. There is a 0% difference between calling a transfem a femboy and calling a transfem a boy. Femboy is an identity. It's entitled to think trans women can dictate what men identify as based on the bigotrd actions of others weaponizing gnc men's identities to misgender others.

Exclusionists (including mspec lesbian/gay/enbian exclus, lesboy and turigirl exclus, and gaybian exclus.)

Incels of any type. This doesn't refer to anybody who just hasn't lost their virginity yet, but specifically the kind of people who hold it against the people they're attracted to. This is usually straight men and incels are often a misogynistic hate group.

Radqueer/transx/transid and supporters

Pro-contact or Comp-contact Big 3 Paras

Anti-contact non-harmful, consensual paras

Pro-AI art

Proship/profic

NSFW blogs

Anyone in the DNI

I follow people back blindly so please don't follow me if I'm going to have to see gross things on the feed.

[stormysapphic]

[disclaimer: i have no intention to hurt anyone's feelings or start fights with this post! i would, however, really like it if people of any and all viewpoints on this topic commented on it and shared their thoughts with me in good faith! thanks. <3] i've been thinking about "bi lesbianism" lately - not in terms of whether i'm "for it or against it", because i frankly don't think it's my place to say. and because ultimately i have no problem with someone i don't even know identifying as a bi lesbian if that's truly the combination of words that they feel best describes the complexity of their experiences. but i also think that piling labels upon labels in an attempt to fully encompass something that'll never be fully dissected and simplified anyway - sexuality is complex for everyone in one way or another - is a futile attempt and not really how labels work in wider queer communities outside your super insulated discourse bubble anyway. understand that, while you're out here on tumblr fighting tooth and nail explaining to people why you're valid, there are already bi women out there in the real world who go to lesbian support groups and call themselves lesbians in that context and no one cares. there are wlw who think they probably have some sort of attraction to men but never want to date one so they call themselves lesbians and no one cares. there are wlw who aren't attracted to men but are in long term partnerships with them and therefore identify with the bi community and are welcomed there. and i've seen some people use all of that as an example for why identifying as a bi lesbian is logical and without issue, but i kind of feel the exact opposite. like, we already get that bi and pan for example are overlapping labels and someone chooses which one they use based on their preference and the (social, political...) situation they're in. we don't need you to say you're Bi-Pan, we'll get it from the context. in my mind, that has always also applied to the overlapping of lesbian and bi experiences. in addition, i see many of the people in the mspec lesbian/gay circles say stuff like "sexuality is fluid and not binary or clear-cut" but then treat their own labels as if they're all static identities. shouldn't that philosophy of fluidity and complexity make it easier than most to understand that you can go to the lesbian support group wearing the label lesbian & then go back home to your (male) boyfriend and exist under the bi label? and in the same way, understand that calling yourself a lesbian right after mentioning you're dating a man doesn't really make sense? because i can assure you that in the wider world of queer communities no one minds. when my friend says "i love being a lesbian" even though they're technically bi and usually identify as such, or i say "i'm a lesbian but also kind of a guy", people understand. but if my friend was pushing semantic arguments like "actually, lesbians who are attracted to men exist and here's why" at the lesbian support group meeting, or if i were to write on my dating profile that my gender is male and my sexuality is lesbian, sure, that would confuse and frustrate people & understandably so, imo. and if the reason you use a million different labels at once is bc it makes you feel connected to yourself and your identity and community, more power to you, honestly! i'm seeing more and more dykefags and fagdykes lately, so why not bi lesbians too, i guess. but i hope you know that having words to describe every aspect of yourself isn't what makes your experiences valid or invalid.

[woman-for-women]

I just unfollowed because you posted explicitly anti-trans things. I thought you were a good person. Wow. Can't believe someone would believe this misogynistic bullshit and pretend to be feminist.

To answer this (and the other two asks you sent), if you believe feminism is about women being oppressed on the basis of gender, you include cis and trans women (and gender minorities) and exclude trans men. I define feminism as seeking to eradicate sex-based oppression, because I believe gender is fundamentally sexist (the belief that one can “disqualify” as their birth sex due to how they think, act, feel, present, dysphoria, etc.). Therefore my feminism includes cis women and all other AFABs, including trans men. So while liberal feminism includes trans woman and my feminism includes trans men, both of them exclude trans people in one way, shape, or form. I include trans inclusionary in my bio to make it clear that any female person is included, regardless of their gender identity.

If you believe your feminism includes trans men, why? If cis and trans women (and gender minorities who don’t fit the gender binary) are oppressed because they don’t identify as men and that’s why they’re included in feminism because feminism is about oppression based on gender, how can you include trans men without invalidating the fact that their gender is male? If you believe trans women are oppressed on the axis of gender (identifying as female) and that’s why they need feminism, how do trans men fit into feminism? Along the axis of gender identity, they’re just as male as a cis man. Their axis of oppression, which they share with trans women, is being trans. If you believe feminism is about gender-based oppression, then trans men are the oppressor class along the axis of gender, same as any cis man. The reason I consider my feminism sex based is because I care about issues pertaining primarily or uniquely to the female sex class, like menstrual huts, female infanticide, and abortion. These issues include trans men, so I consider myself trans inclusionary.

Both your feminism and my feminism exclude some class of trans people by definition, but there are widespread shared goals. Hope this helps you understand.

[feminist-bitches-only]

My current belief system (always subject to change) in case anyone found my blog and is wondering:

I am not a libfem

- I don’t find centering men in my feminism as empowering (ex: it is a myth that men’s mental health isn’t taken seriously while women’s is. When has women’s mental health ever been taken seriously??? We should be able to label our oppressors as men without being labeled as bigoted generalizers, as any other oppressed group is able to label their oppressors).

- Plastic surgery, makeup, and shaving are absolutely not empowering and I truly don’t believe there is any woman out there who truly deeply believes that these are simply personal choices that you would make regardless of social influence. In fact, certain plastic surgeries being considered as gender-affirming care is extremely misogynistic (ex: if you are on estrogen and grow breasts, but you’re unhappy that they are smaller than you want them to be - that is a symptom of misogyny & insurance should not be covering additional breast implants under gender-affirming care, thus enforcing the idea that something like breast size makes a woman).

- Sex-based oppression is VERY real. Thus, spaces for afab people should exist in addition to spaces for all women because of this & afab imagery is empowering to afab women and should not be shamed or called trans-exclusive - it is for the purpose of empowering afab people. Who are oppressed.

- Gender abolition is the goal. Gender has been constructed for the purpose of oppressing women, and has been clearly show to be used as a tool of oppression against trans people as well. Additionally, considering gender is constructed, it is perfectly valid for some to experience attraction based on sex vs gender.

- Gender-neutral language can sometimes borderline on offensive (but usually not as bad as radfems make it out to be). Additionally a woman’s issue can still affect people who are not women (ex: abortion access IS a woman’s issue [affects women mostly and is an issue of discussion only because it’s used as a tool to oppress women], but also affects trans men/enbies). If you would not say that poverty & underfunded schools are faced by the Black community just because there are also white people who face poverty, do not try to say that calling issues like abortion women’s issues is a problem.

- Misogyny against straight women/cis women/white women/etc. is still misogyny. While intersectionality increases the burden of oppressions, misogyny is still a very VERY real oppression that is often not even labeled - it’s just seen as part of living in this world as a woman (ex: rape, sexual harassment, and stalking are often not considered hate crimes; cunt, bitch, and slut aren’t considered slurs by the general public).

I am not a radfem

- There is literally no reason to misgender or deadname trans people. I cannot ever read posts on this site with purposeful misgendering without believing it is in bad faith (I don’t consider sex-based terminology as misgendering [it is perfectly okay for someone to have female/male biology but identify as a man/woman], but I ascribe to afab/amab terminology since it seems so be more affirming/less dysphoria-triggering to the trans community).

- Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Non-binary people are non-binary. While it is completely fine for you to base your gender off your sex [ex: I am a woman because I am an adult human female], it is not okay to act as if everyone’s gender needs to be determined that way. This is a major flaw of radfem ideology - if gender is a social construct, why would people be forced into a gender identity based on their sex??? Makes no sense.

- Queer is a good, empowering term. Anything can be used as a slur, doesn’t mean people can’t identify with it. I ascribe to the belief that slur reclamation greatly decreases a slur’s power. It is perfectly okay for people to not want to put their sexualities/genders into very neat boxes. Who cares if you could get a more specific understanding of someone’s sexuality with a gay/bi label?? Why is it any of your business to get a specific reading of someone’s sexuality?

- Trying to insinuate that you know someone’s sex based on shit like their facial features is embarrassing as fuck and incredibly misogynistic. I can’t imagine the embarrassment of being anti-patriarchy to only go to a cis woman and claim they’re trans because you think their shoulders are too broad or something lmao. Or, in the case of trans women, claim you know they’re trans because of *insert feature that many cis women also have here.*

My main interest: bringing communication and building relationships between the feminist & trans rights movements. Both of these groups are fighting their own oppression and I genuinely believe that they misunderstand each other’s concerns, goals, and experiences. I think that we are stronger together and as oppressed groups, we are not each other’s enemies. We can work together to stand up to the patriarchy, without dismissing the trans experience, and stand up to the gender binary, without excluding the afab woman experience. But as oppressed groups, we need to listen to each other. Lateral oppression is not, has never been, and never will be cute. ***For this reason, you will not see me tagging posts as “radfems dni” or “tras dni” or any variance of the two. People need to be able to interact and understand each other’s thoughts and concerns to be able to bridge this gap. I will not tolerate bad-faith conversation, however.