The SciShow folks doing their usual solid short-form documentary work on a topic that's personally dear to at least a couple of their own staff: a 101-level intro to hormone replacement/gender-affirming hormone therapies. :heart_transgender: Suitable for sharing with teachable cis friends and family.
I was talking with a cis-male college about #OpenHRT at dinner yesterday and explained how the options essentially range from buying pharmaceutical grade medication in Spain or Portugal on the one end and mixing powdered Estrogen with 60% Vodka to make a spray on the other end.
His initial take was that he wouldn’t mess around with mixing his own medication. A while later I mentioned that I pay ≈100€ per month for my medication and he immediately went “I would totally mix my own medication at those prices”.
Don’t talk to Jornos about this stuff, yes, but I sincerely believe that it is a good idea to educate trans-friendly cis-folk so that the first of all learn it from us with full context and secondly because many of them will understand and may speak up for us, when someone else spouts nonsense.
#DiyHRT is not something that we will be able to keep secret forever, nor should we because it is the most visceral and unambiguous statement how bad the current systems are. Let’s use it as such!
We've been hearing an increasing number of reports of trans people's GPs refusing to prescribe their HRT to them - even if they have a letter from an NHS gender clinic requesting that they do.
With everything going on in the world to restrict access to gender-affirming hormone therapy, it's even more important that folks know where they can find info on doing this as safely as possible :TransHeart: :NonBinaryHeart: :AgenderHeart: :BiGenderHeart: :DemiBoyHeart: :DemiGirlHeart: :GenderfluidHeart: :GenderqueerHeart: :2SpiritHeart: :IntersexHeart:
You'll find almost everything you need to get started at the below:
Update #1: I wanted to share this article that was brought to my attention. The US Guardian wrote a piece that really gets to the heart of why I'm sounding a warning, while also helping to frame that this isn't directed at the .com Guardian—they seem to have a healthy viewpoint on how trans people should be treated.
@alice Don't talk to the cops, don't talk to reporters. Especially not the Grauniad, at least the Daily Heil or the Scum are upfront about their bigotry.
I wish for all the people who believe #trans kids should be subjected to double-blind studies of the effectiveness of hormone treatments to themselves subjected to the first double-blind studies of the effectiveness of parachutes.