I'm a trans man and local trans activist, AMA

[Sideris]

Hi there, folks.

As the title says, I'm here to respond to questions in good nature.

For a bit of background information, I'm 30 years old, a trans activist out of necessity (being the first 'out' trans person in numerous spaces, which didn't have any rules or regulations before, but have since been commended for ease of process by some new trans members or trans members who have been referred by me), have been 'passing' for about three years, now.

If I should ever have to have my cervix removed, as my mother did, I would still prefer to be reffered to as a woman, not a person without a cervix.

I've experienced no negative side effects of testosterone. The increased smell, hair loss, facial hair, body hair, dropped voice et al were all things I was looking forwards to and continue to embrace.

Does increased smell mean you have more body odour or you have an increased sense of smell? Can’t decide if the latter would be awesome or terrible!

Crack on as a fella, that's fine, I'll call you what you want to be called, and I'll try my hardest to use the correct pronouns. Happy for you and your trans friends to use whichever bog you want.

I don't doubt that penis wielding, rapey trans-women exist, but it smacks of the Daily Mails very own asylum seekers being housed in 2milllion pound mansions and gobbling the queens swans! ie very rare

But surely a letter once every three years that pertains your anatomy and physiology isn't that big a deal? Come on, we've accepted you, it's all good 👍🏻 don't take the piss! Just get on with your life and when you get your smear letter, allow yourself a moment of indignation/annoyance/sadness ... and carry on with your day.

(I'm fat, I like to pretend I'm not (I'm on the cusp!) when the GP writes my BMI on medical notes I can't get the hump and insist the whole recording of BMI changes because it reminds me of the fact that I am fat. 🤷‍♂️)

It was brave to post

What's brave about it? Everyone has been very polite and no one twisted OP's arm. They came of their own volition. What exactly is brave about posting on an Internet forum when done entirely of ones own free will.

OP, I've read all your replies and there's something I'm not quite following.

I understand that you felt extremely unhappy when you were perceived as a woman, and that you're much happier now that you are perceived as a man. You've also said that being a man isn't about feelings or masculine-coded behaviours or clothing.

What is it that makes you a man, as opposed to being a woman with dysphoria which is alleviated by being perceived/treated 'as a man' by others?

@FabulouslyGlamorousReindeer “ Happy for you and your trans friends to use whichever bog you want.”

Respectfully, what about single sex wards? And female domestic violence refuges? Are you happy for OPs trans mates to identify into those spaces Willy Nilly?

”I reject the construct of sex, personally.”

But sex isn’t a construct- a theoretical idea. It’s a scientific fact. As you yourself acknowledged earlier in the thread Whereas gender absolutely is a construct.

Sorry I pressed post too soon, I’ll repeat with my finished post!

I reject the construct of sex, personally
That’s interesting, OP. Many of us here reject the construct of gender, but accept that sex is just a biological fact of being a species that uses meiosis to reproduce. How do you go about rejecting that as a construct? Do you not believe in sexual reproduction (asking genuinely, that could sound facetious)? I don’t understand how someone can consider sex to be a construct to reject, any more than other fundamental biological functions like breathing as a mechanism for respiration. Sex is a mechanism for reproduction. How do you ‘reject’ that?

People without a cervix'🤦🏼‍♀️
The word you are looking for is MEN
I'm not 'cis woman' I'm not 'a person with a cervix' I am a woman

If I should ever have to have my cervix removed, as my mother did, I would still prefer to be reffered to as a woman, not a person without a cervix.

This is exactly the point though, not everyone who is a woman also has a cervix. “Woman” and “person with a cervix” are two separate categories, used in different situations.

I never had issues being girly or feminine. I'm still feminine today. I felt I was a boy and I was being told to lie...

This is so interesting. I heard this before, that gender identity is different from gender roles. Of course, there are men with feminine traits and they are still men.

I've never had a strong feeling of identity about anything, personally. Not about nationality, ethnicity, gender, even age. They all seem externally imposed identities to my mind. I think this is something that I just have to accept is different for other people.

Thank you for taking the time to explain it. This kind of communication really does make a difference even though it may not seem like. I think deep down radical feminists and transpeople are natural allies if only we could find a common language.

All women should listen to op and take heed. We should buy ourselves our daughters portable toilets and if going swimming or the gym put our suits on underneath our clothes. The fact that she has said that men have been in women's toilets for ages is scary stuff. Where is the law to protect womens privacy? If a trans person wants the toilet they should go to their birth sex toilet. It's almost like a tran man is scared of using the male toilets and a trans women likes using the female toilets. We need to put our children first. Before people's preferences.

@thebluearsefly

9/10 I take absolutely no notice of who is in a toilet with me. If someone did catch my attention as behaving oddly, or in a sinister or odd manner I would deal with it (tell staff if it was a hospital or a refuge)

I'm not saying everyone should be comfortable with it, I think I was trying to labour the fact I'm not anti-trans - and therefore my point that changing things to suit a trans agenda, is even MORE valid 🤣🤣

Thank you for responding to so many questions OP.

Given sex self ID (and Sex being seen as a construct) do you think we should just scrap Sex as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act?

It means I'm now seen as either a man or a trans man in daily life, helping me function as a person and live a life.

What does being seen as a man or a trans man change other than pronouns?
Is it because people treat you differently when seen to be a man or tran or because your self worth is dictated by other people's thoughts about you.

*NOT changing things!! Sorry typo.

I'm not a Cis-woman, nor a cervix haver, I'm just a female/woman.

Do you think it’s fair that if the same abuse

Being disagreed with isn’t abuse.

I am interested to understand why you felt you had to change gender? Why did you feel you couldn't be yourself in your birth body? I don't really like the term 'tomboy' because that suggests girls should act in a certain way, when in fact they should just be allowed to be themselves. Yet you use it a couple of times. Did you feel being a girl meant you had to act in a particular so called 'feminine way'?

@FabulouslyGlamorousReindeer - I get that but your mentioning the daily mail (and therefore Reading between the lines / lies and or hysteria) is really unhelpful. It might be no issue for you who is in your toilet but it is an issue for many, many girls and women. See the girls who are missing school because they don’t want to use their “mixed sex” toilets now as just one example.

Also, stating that you don’t want men in your toilets is not “anti trans”

I think I understand where you are coming from but can we please stop pandering to the TRAs on a whole and having to prove we aren’t “transphobic” 24/7?

OP, you say you feel like a man... presumably like the men who define themselves biologically as a man, and have XY chromosomes, testes etc.

It is a biological aspect of sex differentiation (testosterone) that has made you feel like ‘you’.

So Trans doesn’t exist without a primary biological reference.

I understand that for you, gender is the way you identify and define yourself.

But how can you and other TRAs demand that women abandon biological sex as a reference for identity?

I identify strongly as ‘woman’ and ‘female’ but have resisted gender construct. It is the basis of much discrimination, and as a so-called Tomboy all my life is restrictive. I am female, not ‘feminine’.

You identify as ‘masculine’, fine.

But there is a part of the Venn diagram where your demands that we all identify according to gender has conflicting interests with my identity as biologically female.

You “reject the construct of sex”. Do you think that biological sex doesn’t exist?

Risks in referring to “people with a cervix” - this is convoluted and technical language. For any women with English as an additional language, poor literacy/understanding of biology or learning difficulties then it is more likely to exclude them. Cervical screening rates are at a 25 year low. Why does their health matter more than hurt feelings?

LESS than hurt feelings, obviously

Surely sex is as much a construct as gravity.

There's a difference between a socially created construct with which humans have made in order to structure their cultures. Eg time, money, gender

And language that we use to describe naturally occurring phenomena eg gravity, sex, the tide.
We have constructed the language with which we talk about these phenomena and there's an argument that our language can colour the way we experience these things, but that doesn't make it a social construct.

When it comes to sex and gender the difficulty is knowing how much is nature and how much is nurture as there's no ethical way to test it.

Feminism says 'we don't know why not just let people be who they want to be and play with whatever toys'

And trans ideology says 'no it's nature I have a boy brain because I like maths'

@QueenOfTheFae
I agree with previous posters, this should not be available. What should (in my view) be available, is a form you can fill out with clear and concise instructions stating that you understand the risk of not having "biological sex based" checks, and wish to no longer have them

This is a system that has killed trans men in the past. This is not a system that I support. It's your choice if you do, but I will not stand by medical negligence resulting in death.

sorry - what has? opting out of your biological-sex based checks? but that's what you want? you've said (I think) that you don't want a smear test letter?

GPs in my immediate area no longer automatically sends pap smear requests to anyone listed as female and none to those listed male (I'd requested a simple check box to be added for those exempt on the female side, included on the male side), for example.

surely anyone with a birth / biological sex female needs a smear? and your birth / biological sex needs to be held at your GP