"Transwomen have periods"

[FairfaxAikman]

A woke bloke I know posted this on FB.
Do I call it out or should I avoid wasting my energy?
I'm so bloody angry because it's based on a false understanding of how the menstrual cycle works but some of his female friends are so out of touch with their own biology they are, in addition to calling themselves cis, saying "wow, I didn't know that ".
However not sure I can face another pile on.

One of the TRAs I know literally believes his body developed wrongly so that his body responds in a special and different way to a man taking female hormones

Why is this not seriously recognised medically as a delusion needing treatment. It is delusional to truly believe you can have periods without any female biology, and they truly do.

Fairfax I understood it to be dangerous. Cant recall where I read this now, but there were serious implications for female hormones on the male body.

I think your reply was perfect OP. I'm going to borrow parts of it if I may?

Truth I haven't read any studies but my parents are both in medical fields and I refuse to believe there is no long term side-effects from this "treatment". I personally don't believe it's even been properly tested.

Sky go ahead. I did go back and add one line after the bit about Transwomen having a steady dose to say that women's hormones are in a state of constant flux.

Re: FairfaxAikman 's reply:

YEAH! SCIENCE, BITCH!

Your response is amazing and better than I would have written, which would be oh fuck off, no they can’t.

Jesus - two responses from a woman 🙄

• How would you explain women who take contraception, like the injection or coil etc that stop bleeding, but still get bloating, pain, PMT etc? "No bleeding, no period" is nonsense! Just sounds really closed minded IMO.

Also, my periods are horrendous due to Endometriosis, and I get pain down my legs, pain radiating from my lower back upwards, and my stomach. This happens ALL the time, not just during my period and gets worse before bleeding. So, just equating periods to bleeding is just silly.
The hormones taken by a trans person changes the body in a multitude of ways (of which I know fairly little) but it would make sense that the body would begin to mimic things like periods, regardless of bleeding and regardless of the amount of other hormones.*

Shedding of the uterine lining is a necessary but not sufficient condition for having a period. Otherwise what you’re having is ‘bloating and cramps’. If she wants to claim that bloating and cramps + oestrogen/progesterone = ‘period’, then many of us would have been having periods throughout pregnancy.

I'll just leave this here......

And I’m sure her periods are horrendous if she has endometriosis, but that’s caused by the presence of endometrium outside the uterus. Someone without a female reproductive system could not have endometriosis. I wouldn’t claim to have endometriosis at times when I’ve had bad period pain, just because the pain was bad and hormones were involved somewhere.

Draft response:

Well for starters you obviously have no idea how these methods of contraception work.
The contraceptive injection prevents ovulation, not necessarily periods.
In those that do become ammenorrheic there is no period. Mood swings and weight gains are known side effects and not the same as PMT.
IUDs also aren’t designed to prevent bleeding but to kill the sperm. Periods still happen.
Endometriosis is when the endometrium grows outside the uterus so of course you are going to get pain at those sites.
Someone without a female reproductive system could not have endometriosis.
The hormones taken by trans people are the same as those taken by men undergoing treatment for certain cancers, I’ve yet to see any of them claiming to have periods.
If you want to argue that bloating and cramps + oestrogen/progesterone = ‘period’, then you are in for a shock of you ever get pregnant!
From the NHS website: “A period is the part of the menstrual cycle when a woman bleeds from her vagina for a few days.” No bleeding, no period.
An objective science-based approach is not closed minded.

Good response. I would add in something about how the menstrual cycle is so poorly known about by so many people when it’s this amazing/horrible/significant thing our bodies do, but because they’re female bodies it’s considered trivial and instead we have the pop-culture idea that periods are just about being sore and moody. So you feel really strongly that it’s important to point out how this complex, fascinating process actually works, when someone like the OP is so sadly misinformed. Which you’re sure he’ll appreciate! Otherwise it would sound a bit like he’s mansplaining periods to women, and you’re sure he wouldn’t want THAT../

So the word 'period' (in the context of menstruation) is also now being redefined, as well as 'man, woman, male, female etc'.

'A period is what anyone identifies as being a period'. Anything else is just 'closed minded'.

The lengths of batshit that people will go to in order to collect their virtue cookies is just unbelievable!

I don't understand what she is saying to be honest. Does she mean that because she has pain with her endometriosis she has a constant period? What?

I would also state that no, in fact it does not make sense for them to mimic things like periods. Because periods are a result of a complex interaction between female reproductive organs and a number of hormones.

Excellent responses.

It's ridiculous when people try and claim specifically female occurrences happening or not happening , means that men can be included also in that occurrence

Ie, just because a woman cant get pregnant due to hysterectomy then pregnancy cant be used to define woman hood and that why men can be included because not all women get pregnant either

Its bull shit.

Yes, there really is this quite misogynistic idea that being on your period is all about eating ice cream and listening to sad girly music in your Pyjamas whilst clutching a hot water bottle, isn't there. The 'bleeding' part isn't really mentioned because, eeeewwww gross.

Whereas the reality for most women is that they just carry on with their lives whilst on their period with their preferred method of sanitary protection, because they have no choice but to just get on with it.

Better?

• Well for starters you obviously have no idea how these methods of contraception work. The contraceptive injection prevents ovulation, not necessarily periods. In those that do become ammenorrheic there is no period. Mood swings and weight gains are known side effects and not the same as PMT. IUDs also aren’t designed to prevent bleeding but to kill the sperm. Periods still happen. Endometriosis is when the endometrium grows outside the uterus so of course you are going to get pain at those sites. Someone without a female reproductive system could not have endometriosis. Periods are a result of a complex interaction between female reproductive organs and a number of hormones. The hormones taken by trans people are the same as those taken by men undergoing treatment for certain cancers, I’ve yet to see any of them claiming to have periods. If you want to argue that bloating and cramps + oestrogen/progesterone = ‘period’, then you are in for a shock of you ever get pregnant! From the NHS website: “A period is the part of the menstrual cycle when a woman bleeds from her vagina for a few days.” No bleeding, no period. An objective science-based approach is not closed minded. It’s actually quite depressing that so many women are so out of touch with how the, frankly amazing, female body works that periods have been reduced to a pop culture meme of being moody and bloated and in need of ice cream.*

Might change that to "misogynistic pop culture meme"

Go for it!!!

And await the exclusionary and mean responses

Brilliant response.

"What is all this “assigned at birth” stuff? I’m picturing a team of doctors peering closely at a newborn, discussing it among themselves, then proclaiming a random sex to the child." Makes me think of Queenie in Blackadder - It's a boy without a winkie!!!!

Edit : Nursie not Queenie :-)

I'm also aghast at the morality of an ideology that would rather validate the fantasy of a biological male than suggest they may actually be seriously ill.

Loving your responses Fairfax, educating the delusional in a measured & polite manner.