TRANS HEALTH MANIFESTO

I insisted on Tramadol second time around, but several of my friends also struggled post-CS because only paracetamol was offered. It's the idea of it that not offering decent pain relief after such a major procedure is acceptable. I know that drugs can cross into breastmilk so care has to be taken, but I can't think of any other major surgery where adequate pain relief is witheld.

ThanksEmpress I have shared and liked.

Gosh. We actually had a conversation about gender at home last night, in front of four teenagers (not all mine), without anyone humphing out of the room because Your Generation Just Don't Understand.

DH (IT) was grumbling about trying to sort out the balls-up someone had made of an appointments system which now asks the client to put in both their sex and their gender. Apparently almost nobody just fills it in as M, M or F, F. Some people only fill in one box (and if that's the gender one, it could mean 'I think this is the polite word' or 'I, like, totally believe my gender is more pertinent to my records than my sex'), some write unhelpful screeds in the gender box. And then the software has a hissy fit and falls over.

I mentioned that for my work, the current rule is 'If it's biological, use sex; if psychology, consider using gender, but check with author.'

We had a mild discussion about the importance of collecting sex-based data for medicine, and a brief foray into the original meaning of the term 'hysteria' and the question of whether to allow 'gender' in a study of Guatemalan multiple murderers (genuine topic, we decided that despite this being a psychological study, their declared gender identity was probably not what was meant). None of the teenagers slammed out of the room. Progress?

This seems like a good place to share the

launch statement, Facebook & Twitter links for Woman's Place UK.

HI, I have spent the last three days reading most of the Trans comment pages here on MN including the Olympics/sports megathreads. Phew!

I am utterly shocked and horrified and feel like I am living in an alternate reality, but also glad to find so many like-minded souls and real open discussion about the state of affairs we find ourselves in, and have just signed up to get involved and put my name to the campaign so to speak, in any way I can.

I reached peak trans a few months ago and reached the peak of the peak when reading about the Hyde Park assaults, but like many others felt/feel silenced about discussing my concerns and fears out of fear of being accused of some 'hate speech' BS.

Any recommendations of other pages to follow or sites to join welcomed, sorry to hijack this thread, it seemed like the most current and apt.

Yes, you will only get people who are pro women. And I do think that could be effective. Given how many journalists monitor mumsnet.

I'd be absolutely gobsmacked if any of them came on.

Me too, unfortunately.

I know Julia Long was prepared to though, & I bet Janice Turner would.

They also only give you paracetamol post-Caesarian (major abdominal surgery) once your spinal/GA wears off.

Not the case for everyone. I had morphine and I know of quite a few other women given various painkillers. But I agree with the general point that women are expected to endure pain often without painkillers (as in labour, most noticeably!) And we certainly don't get hair removal assistance from the state, in spite of the strong social expectation that women remove body hair..

I'd be absolutely gobsmacked if any of them came on.

It's Justine Greening now though. MN said on this thread that they were trying to get her and people have been bumping it.

I think we should have Maria Miller on for a webchat. I think lots of us have questions we'd like her to answer.

So much agree with this. Mumsnet, we would love this....

Though it's very interesting that the NHS consultation has got them rattled... I wonder what they know - or think they know - about the responses received so far?

Well, that's a load of ignorant, ill-informed nonsense, isn't it?

The anaesthetic for hair removal is, I presume, for men who have their bollocks lasered in order to use the skin as a "neo-vagina" and minimise the risk of internal hair growth.

probably a stupid question

free anonymous blood tests - what for?

So true husky

Being a woman means having a uterine biopsy and, as that degree of pain is a fairly normal thing for women to endure, there is no suggestion of pain relief. It's almost as if womanhood means more than just dressing up and feeling like it. It's as if it has some physical implications too.

I didn't have anaesthetic when I had my Gynaefix coil fitted way back when, apart from some local anaesthetic in my cervix before they dilated it. The Gynaefix is a string of copper beads held in place with a knot that is pushed into the wall of your uterus with what looks like a giant crochet needle - unaesthetised. They also only give you paracetamol post-Caesarian (major abdominal surgery) once your spinal/GA wears off. I guess if you've lived your whole life as a man, you are not used to having to tolerate very painful procedures (and periods) and being expected to take it on the chin. There are plenty of hairy women too. I don't hear them asking for LA for hair removal, probably becaise we have to sort out and pay for our own.

Not sure which made me laugh more: The fact we're supposed to take a Tumblr "manifesto" as if it were written by an adult, or that the tough-guy trans revolutionaries are demanding local anaesthetic to wax their legs..

badbadhusky

It was their smug, patronising tone that wound me up. Not a single clue about feminism, yet pontificating bossily about it. And betraying their ignorance with every word. I don't know how Jenni Murray kept from laughing out loud.

Jenni Murray is worth ten IWs and far better suited to representing women's interests and concerns. That interview alone was sufficient to demonstrate IW's manifest unsuitability. Does make you wonder whether trans should be required to sit a mandatory feminist theory/women's studies module (akin to a citizenship test) before they allowed to wade in on women's issues. That way, they might avoid some of the more embarrassing blunders like IW's.

And the same India Willoughby who said Jenni Murray was a dinosaur and could do with a makeover.

And they say it's not regressive...

Would that be India Willoughby who reckoned s/he could do a better job of womanning than Jenni Murray and therefore ought to be presenting Woman's Hour in her place? And who somewhat missed that point that not all little girls dreamed of being princesses and not all women want societal pressure to 'look their best'?

Talk about mansplaining femininity...

I just had a flashback to that ghastly India Willoughby castigating women for having body hair on Woman's Hour - you know, the interview that brought TRA hellfire and damnation raining down on Jenni Murray.

We demand resources for hair removal anywhere on our bodies, and the option of local anesthetic during these procedures.

And yet when it's just women that are socially pressured and shamed into removing hair from an early age (there's a thread on MN right now about a 7-year-old girl with hairy legs), well, those bitches can pay for it themselves!

(That entire manifesto is utterly batshit.)

The author had also written a piece for the conversation on the problems of self-identification. Her position on gender appears to be pretty much the same as mine.

It bet she's had all sorts of shit in academic feminism though.

That Aeon essay is very good.