Nurse who had to perform smears on TW?

My mother was invited for a smear after a hysterectomy. Her cervix had been removed so she phoned to say it wasn't needed. She was told that she did still need to attend and they did what I believe is called a 'vault smear' where they take cells from the end of the vagina. So a trans man who has had a hysterectomy as part of their gender reassignment may still need a smear afterwards - but they won't be invited for one if they are registered as male with their GP.

I imagine it's a good idea to have the health of your artificial 'vagina' checked regularly, given the bacteria/microflora that can reside in there. But pretending it is a smear test that is exactly the same as women have doesn't help anyone.They'd need to be checked for completely different things anyway.

AnyOldPrion it may well be that artificially created 'vaginas' need monitoring but it will not be cervical screening and will be specific to those who have undergone that type of surgery and not suitable or aimed at women.

drspouse your cervix is not always removed with a hysterectomy and you still need cervical screening. Your surgeon should tell you and you may have had a choice as to whether it was removed at the same time.

They may pass this off as joking

Those I’ve seen appeared to be deadly serious.

I realise TW don’t have a cervix, but I wonder whether a neovagina that is regularly penetrated by a penis might be affected by some of the viruses that can lead to cervical cancer such as HPV. So a smear test might not be the same, but it may be discovered at some point that regular testing of a neovagina might be necessary.

The other helpful point on that page is that transmen who have had a hysterectomy don't have a cervix. I haven't had one, so wouldn't have known exactly what is being removed. I imagine they will have this explained to them but IME it's easy to forget what doctors tell you.

TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain I thought that might be the case. There's definately a small subset of transwomen who very loudly try to convince everyone - and maybe themselves - that they are real women. So they claim to have smear tests, get PMT, period pains etc. just like real women.

They may pass this off as joking, but it shows up their deep insecurity about their self-identity even though they're now supposedly living their "authentic selves".

@2ndwavefeminist - I should have made it clear who I was replying to.

I seem to have had a post deleted for stating that humans cannot change sex.
I have over the past three months been made aware of the subject which is being discussed on this board, and have heard a new phrase which seems to be very fashionable amongst certain people:

"the sex which you were assigned at birth"

Is someone or maybe a group of people trying to rewrite the science of biology?

They probably ought to be swabbed occasionally.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695466/

Any risk of cancer should be communicated clearly Transpeaked that isn't what this discussion is about. Cervical checks/smears have a very specific purpose and only women have a cervix.

And information for males who have transitioned on how to look after themselves is wrong why? Yes, there needs to be clear information which doesn’t confuse cervical smears with examination of new-vagina tissues but if there is a risk of cancer for those with new-vaginas why is it ‘wrong’ to provide that information?

This is actually a thing in Canada. Sigh. Of course it is. Trans women and cervical cancer

Grumpygran how do they convince themselves they have periods, will be able to get pregnant, can lactate or any of the other weird convictions we've seen?

Definitely was a major peak trans moment for me (not the only one obviously, there's always another peak)

2ndwave I think I know the person you're talking about. Claims to go for smear tests. I suspect that they're not actually smears but infection swabs or routine checkups on the neovagina, but this person is trying to convince everyone that they're the same as smears.

This was very definitely a trans woman
Not a parody? Blimey 2ndWaveFeminist, that has to be a genuine mental health problem there. How has this person convinced themselves they have an actual cervix?

This was very definitely a trans woman, I remember thinking wtf and clicking on their profile. I remember thinking they were quite activist at the time however as that thread had been one of my peak trans moments they may not have been as activist as others but it wasn't a parody or plant profile.

On the cancer research 'cervix haters' twitter thread there was at least one transwoman saying they intended to go for smears after their gender reassignment surgery.
Although I wouldn't put that claim past any of the delusional "I'm getting my period!" TWs that we've all been reading about - as whatsthecomingoverthehillwarned, be careful of planted stories.

On the cancer research 'cervix haters' twitter thread there was at least one transwoman saying they intended to go for smears after their gender reassignment surgery.

I think that page is excellent. It also says clearly that males who transition still have the male (higher) risk of aortic aneurysm and that females retain the female (lower) risk.
And that although breast removal reduces the risk of breast cancer it doesn't eliminate it.
And that men who transition have a greater risk of breast cancer than other men.

 that the page is even necessary.
The page explains that if you are biologically a woman and change your CHI number to reflect your masculine gender then you will not be called for a smear. This is useful information so having the page makes sense.

As an aside, there's a GMC consultation that finishes tomorrow that is reviewing patient consent and is a good opportunity to outline concerns about women requesting female HCPs and potentially being seen by transwomen

www.gmc-uk.org/about/get-involved/consultations/review-of-our-consent-guidance

andyoldlabour

that the page is even necessary. People really do believe they change sex don't they?

You've got to watch out for deliberately planted stories which will then be used to discredit those for take it at face value. (Not that those who uncritically regurgitate stories about razor blades in posters or Women's Place being funded by right wing US evangelicals seem to care or have any shame when it's shown to be completely false.)