#trans autonomy

[my-midlife-crisis]

[genderqueerdykes]

being cisgender is just not an option for a lot of intersex people.

i was never given the option to be cisgender anything. every part of me that deviated from what a girl or boy "should" look like spelled trouble. because i dressed and acted very masculine, before puberty, people called me a bulldyke, a butch lesbian, a "girl pretending to be a boy" and "not a real boy". i was never "feminine enough" to be a woman.

after puberty hit, i started growing a beard, and my shoulders and chest got broader and more square. my body became more "masculine", so suddenly, i was labeled as a "boy pretending to be a girl" and "not a real girl". after I started testosterone, i haven't stopped being called a faggot, a fairy, a sissy or a pansy because i'm not "masculine enough" to be a man despite being a bear.

there's no winning in the eyes of a society that's so focused on binary this-or-that choices. i had no hand in the matter, this all happened way before I started testosterone HRT. in fact, even when i was placed on estrogen HRT to try to "correct" my intersex traits and symptoms, i still wasn't gendered or seen as a cis woman. i was still the same tranny bulldyke. no matter what i do, my intersex and transsexual traits will always be weaponized against me; whatever sounds the "worst" at the time, or whatever invalidates what i want.

in order to liberate trans people from this struggle, we must also liberate intersex people, for our struggles are virtually one in the same. our fight for body and identity autonomy is shared. it will always be impossible for me and other intersex people to be viewed as cis anything while white American society remains focused on pointing out the "differences" between men and women, instead of embracing the similarities we all can and do have.

intersex and trans people owe it to one another to disassemble these dangerous attitudes and shut them down when and where possible. it's not only trans people who face this struggle- intersex people deal with never being able to pass or be clocked as their actual gender from birth a lot of the time. people MUST understand that women and men come in all types of bodies, shapes and sexes, whether or not they chose to look like that. and whether or not they chose doesn't matter, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, which means being gendered correctly despite how they look or sound.

[bfpnola]

Clips from the Oklahoma House floor concerning anti-trans legislation, original linked in source

Edit: I see this post is popping off again, thank you for sharing! Reminder to our youth watching this video (operationally defined as those 14-25), @bfpnola is an international, Black-, queer-, woman-, and youth-run organization. We’d love to have some new volunteers, especially from Oklahoma in particular because we don’t have any! If you’d just like to meet everyone first, this is our Discord Server. Why not start there and then you can decide? 🫂

[lazylittledragon]

my absolute favourite genre of transphobic propaganda is when the caption is like “look at this poor, confused little girl who was forced to mutilate herself :(” and the picture is just the hottest man you’ve ever seen in your life with a full beard and a body that would make thor weak at the knees

[tigersorange]

can everyone try and see if you can do anything to help trans ohioans in the face of these bills and rules. tbh. i am scared and im worried about the mental and physical health of my trans siblings and myself in the future in this state. please do this and spread it around. we need all the help we can get.

Email your comments to MH-SOT-rules@mha.ohio.gov with a title of "Comments on Gender Transition Care Rules.

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A RESIDENT OF OHIO TO DO THIS!

additionally please sign this petition by the aclu to help stop an emergency session of ohio congress meant to override the veto on the bill banning trans kids from participating in sports here: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/stop-hb-68-veto-override?social_referer_transaction=3347992&ms=sbsocial

more you can do: https://jessk.org/blog/things-you-can-do-right-now-for-ohio

PLEASE REBLOG AND SPREAD THIS!!

[fuckyeahanarchistposters]

"Body autonomy for all by any means necessary"

[reasonsforhope]

"The number of teenage abortions in Finland fell by 66% between 2000 and 2023, its public health institute THL said on Monday, attributing the reduction to the offer of free contraception to adolescents and compulsory sex education in schools.

Finland also passed a law in 2022 liberalising abortion, at a time of deep divisions over abortion rights in Europe and court rulings in the U.S. that restricted access to terminations of unwanted pregnancies for millions of people there.

The number of abortions among women under 20 rose during the 1990s in Finland, which led the Nordic country to respond at the start of the 2000s by making morning-after pills available without prescription from 15 years of age and sexual education compulsory in all schools.

"We can assume that sexual education plays a significant role," THL's research professor Mika Gissler told Reuters, adding that increased access to contraception from a young age was another factor behind the change.

The number of abortions fell 66% to 722 in 2023 from 2,144 in 2000 among all teenagers aged 19 or younger in Finland, while the drop was even steeper at 78% among those under 18 in the same period, THL's statistics showed.

"Since the latter half of the 2010s, the decline in the number of young people's abortions has also been influenced by the introduction of free contraception in many welfare regions," THL wrote in a report...

Under the 2022 liberalisation, Finland from September 2023 stopped requiring women to give a reason for having an abortion, making it available upon a pregnant person's request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

[Note: That's actually not a very long window for abortion! Many conservative states in the US have actually instituted 12-week bans, and it's caused terrible upheaval and limits to medical services. Sounds like Finland should liberalize further, imho! Still, important progress!]

THL said it was too early to conclude whether the legislative change, which took effect last year, will have an impact on the number of abortions."

-via Reuters, June 3, 2024

[intersexfairy]

having breasts does not make you a woman. having a vagina, vulva, or ovaries does not make you a woman. having XX chromosomes or an estrogen-dominant body does not make you a woman. having a period or the capability to have children does not make you a woman.

having or not having these things can affirm your identity and make you feel more like yourself, for sure. but the point is your body does not decide who you are - you do. you are in control of your own gender, your own identity. you are you no matter the body you inhabit. and i hope that if you dont feel it now, someday your body feels truly like home.

💜 this post includes intersex people. don't forget your intersex peers! 💜

[m0thmancore]

hot take that should be much more lukewarm than it is: if your feminism doesn't have room for piercings and tattoos and dyed hair and collars and animal ear headbands and stuff like that, it's not really all that feminist.

people can just do what they want. if they want to get cosmetic surgeries or use different names or pronouns or dress "weird" those things are just allowed. cringe is dead. doing things that don't affect others in any meaningful way but make you feel good is good.

people can decorate their mobility aids. wear clothes with metal studs on them. go out in horrendously loud tie-dye mess clothes. we love that. that's bodily autonomy for you.

being loudly queer and gay and trans and a feminist and disabled and a legitimate animal and a furry is cool as fuck actually it's 2023.

use whatever swear words you want. the weird old WASPs giving you stares are because they're not as cool as you.

this also goes for kinks and those who (safely and consensually) practice them btw, even that one you find weird.

"bodily autonomy but only for people who make the same decisions as me about how to decorate and use theirs" isn't good feminism practices.

go forth and be safe ofc but above all be yourself

[avalovesindie]

I am by no means an expert but it seems to me “your body does not belong to you” is a major theme of right wing authoritarianism and, interestingly, modern USAmerican thinking. This underpins so much from abortion to forcing kids to hug their relatives. Your body belongs to the state, or God, or your husband, or your boss, or your doctor. Everything from trans and gay liberation to forcing autistic people to look in your eyes to making cashiers stand for no reason. Your body does not belong to you, but taking care of your body is your responsibility and your responsibility alone, and if you fail in some way, you deserve the consequences.

[sensible-tips]

What's Happening Wednesday

Updated membership tiers and perks of becoming a SensibleTips for T Guys patron.

[my-midlife-crisis]

[genderqueerdykes]

we really need to stop associating facial and body hair with men. it's just hair. someone having a beard or body hair does not instantly make them a man. women, intersex, perisex, trans and cis all can naturally grow beards and body hair. men, intersex, perisex, trans and cis can all never grow facial or body hair, ever.

if a woman has a beard for whatever reason, it doesn't invalidate their womanhood or make them partially or wholly a man. if a man can't grow facial hair or refuses to, this doesn't make them any less of a man. trans and intersex women are not obligated to shave their faces constantly in order to be seen as women. trans and intersex men are not obligated to try to grow or make it look like they grow facial hair in order to be seen as men people deserve bodily autonomy when it comes to hair, especially if it just literally grows there against your will.

[uncanny-tranny]

You know, I'm not a cheerleader for cis people who get gender-affirming care (especially if it's "gender nonconforming," such as a cis guy who gets vaginoplasty) because I think cis people are superior or that they should be coddled, but rather, because I don't want people to respect my gender-related care simply because I'm trans. I want people to respect my bodily autonomy because... I'm a human person. It sometimes feels like people want you to prove that they should respect your bodily autonomy, and that's something I fundamentally despise.

I shouldn't need to be open about my transness in order to be respected because... that's not information you're inherently privileged to, nor are you entitled to somebody's transness/gender situation in general. I prefer that we start seeing gender care as something that isn't "for" one group of people when that's not how the world will work, y'know. There will always be people who seek specific care no matter what or who they are, because they're human people who can make decisions.

[b00knerd1o1]

American Politics is a Dumpster Fire.

[teawiththegods]

You're a woman and no one is going to call you a him, stop making trans people look stupid

“No one is going to call you a him”

Me thinking about all the people in my life who have referred to me using he/him pronouns and as “Dad” or “Uncle” 🤔

I’m not sure you know what the definition of “no one” is, hon, but that’s okay. I hope you heal from whatever is hurting you and Happy Pride! 🌈 💖