Question about trans women cycles

It's depressing that the OP's work colleague is buying into her boyfriend's nonsense, to the extent that she is willing to share the details in the workplace.

OP perhaps needs to point out to her colleague that she is dating a man and could get pregnant, and is not exclusively a lesbian, either.

She's talking nonsense. How can a trans mtf have a cycle. They can't. They don't have a menstrual cycle. I would have to correct her, ask her what she means.

trying to express solidarity

I your friend broke their leg, would you get crutches and start hobbling around and looking for sympathy to 'express solidarity'?

It is expressing derision and hatred.

I've seen it. Unadulterated mockery and very offensive.

OK. Put yourself in their shoes, metaphorically speaking. Imagine feeling that you’re a woman trapped in a man’s body. Would you deem yourself mentally ill and seek therapy, or would you live as your true self?

I think they're trying to express solidarity,

Pretending to be in pain when talking to someone who is actually in pain is the exact opposite of solidarity. It’s the exact opposite of empathy. I can’t believe this even needs saying. It’s narcissism and, yes, oneupmanship.

And you would easily recognise this if it wasn’t specifically female pain being mocked and dismissed in this way. If you were punched in the balls you wouldn’t appreciate a woman saying “I know exactly how you feel, it happened to me last week.”

Yes this is bollocks but appears to be quite a prevalent delusion. My neighbour goes on and on about her periods and how she can't wait to go through the menopause so she stops getting PMT. She's recently started mentioning hot flushes and how she can't wait to not be worried about an unwanted pregnancy.

She is very obviously a fully intact man (the clingy clothes around the crotch area and full beard make this extremely clear). It's insane.

You say you've never seen this attitude anywhere but in the first page of this thread there is a post claiming trans women are 'one upping' about period pain and another saying they are 'gaslighting women that they have it worse', so which is why I said it. I think they're trying to express solidarity, and they've possibly done it clumsily but they weren't saying they endure worse than periods.

If you're referring to people taking about trans women's involvement in women's issues etc, yes on Twitter I have certainly seen people bemoaning that trans women only care about trans issues and not women's problems, but then when trans women do talk about things affecting other women they're shouted down as creepy and wrong and 'Oh, I'd never do/say that, it just shows you're not a woman'.

There is no cycle. Only women with a uterus, ovaries and a cervix can experience a menstrual cycle. We have four stages actually. Follicular, ovulation, luteal and menstrual.

Our ovaries produce a great deal of these hormones. Other parts of the body such as the adrenal glands also produce these but think of the ovaries as holding the reigns calling the shots! None of this happens without these two organs.

In the follicular phase we have just finished our last period. Our body is gradually increasing estrogen and FSH to grow an egg follicle. The estrogen gives us energy and slowly raises our sex drive, then we ovulate causing a burst of testosterone! Yes women produce this too.

Actually did you know that ovulation is the only time women produce this hormone? If you are taking hormonal birth control then you never produce this (assuming the birth control is doing its job correctly) and you completely miss out on it. There are actually growing theories that this is why many women on hormonal birth control experience depression, low sex drive and fatigue.

Ovulation is the shortest stage. The egg is typically only available for 24-48 hours tops but the boost in hormones last for quite awhile as this tells the body “GET READY TO MAKE A BABY! GO GO GO!” and your body begins to produce a lot of progesterone telling your uterus to make a nice comfy thick lining of blood if that baby sticks they have a nice soft lining full of nutrients to make its home. After about a week and a half roughly depending on the lady the uterus will take no that no baby is happening and your progesterone will take a nose dive. This nose dive in your hormones is what causes PMS and moodiness.

So unless your friend’s trans lady is getting a very sophisticated and personalized round of hormones I highly doubt they are feeling anything like this. Typically they are just taking a flat dose of estrogen and completely missing out on these other complicated factors. They are certainly not experiencing cramps. That requires a uterus.

Did you know you can actually watch your cycle happen before you witness the symptoms? I do something called natural family planning and I can know 24 hours before a mood swing hits and predict my periods before they happen!

Here I’m happy to over share. 😂😂😂 I take my basal body temperature every morning with a special thermometer. When my estrogen is high my temp is low because estrogen lowers your body temp at night! When progesterone is high your body temp spikes. This usually happens around ovulation. As you can see the counting temps with numbers gain after I ovulate.

I usually experience what my husband calls “mini PMS” when I ovulate. I also have ovulation pain for about 12 hours.

You say you've never seen this attitude anywhere but in the first page of this thread there is a post claiming trans women are 'one upping' about period pain and another saying they are 'gaslighting women that they have it worse', so which is why I said it. I think they're trying to express solidarity, and they've possibly done it clumsily but they weren't saying they endure worse than periods.

If you're referring to people taking about trans women's involvement in women's issues etc, yes on Twitter I have certainly seen people bemoaning that trans women only care about trans issues and not women's problems, but then when trans women do talk about things affecting other women they're shouted down as creepy and wrong and 'Oh, I'd never do/say that, it just shows you're not a woman'.

The amount of transphobia on here is appalling. How would you feel if your child was a trans woman and this was the way people spoke about her?

So many of you are referring to this trans woman as ‘he’.

If your offspring was a trans woman, would you really refuse to use ‘she’?

OK. Put yourself in their shoes, metaphorically speaking. Imagine feeling that you’re a woman trapped in a man’s body. Would you deem yourself mentally ill and seek therapy, or would you live as your true self?