Article about trans rights activism

[AnyOldPrion]

harryjosiegiles.medium.com/trans-in-the-uk-what-the-hell-are-we-going-to-do-73fef741cef6

I haven’t read all of this, but was interested to see an attempt at a different approach. The first section is rather aligned with anarchistic thought, and I don’t agree, obviously, with the idea of trans children being medicalised, however there is suggestion that the way forward might be to move away from the battle on “trans rights” and towards creating trans-centred facilities. This aligns with what many on these boards have pointed out: if all the effort and money being put into the “trans rights” campaign had been put into creating safe spaces for trans people, the job would probably be close to complete by now.

The second section is deeply dispiriting. Instead of recognition that the reason for the objections and growing number of voices is a justified movement based upon the very obvious conflict between women’s rights and the rights of men who would prefer to be seen as women, it goes straight ahead with the idea that the “problem” is all based on transphobia. That section is also way too long (hence I didn’t finish reading).

Thought though, that it was interesting to see a different, possibly more healthy approach, based on what trans people might actually need and not entirely focused on trying to get women’s rights for men.

Well, I tried to read to the end but barely got past the beginning.
In my region, women who are suffering from PCOS, and have excessive facial hair, cannot get electrolysis via the NHS. Women who are no longer able to have sex due to the horrors their body has gone through during childbirth no longer get corrective surgery as a matter of routine. My friend has been unable to work for 12 months, and barely able to walk as she’s awaiting a hip replacement and the list is 2 years. They are all suffering psychologically as a result of their illnesses.
People who want cosmetic surgery to alter their appearance in order to present as if they were the opposite sex need to realise that doctors are supposed to abide by their oath - first do no harm. It is never ok to perform surgery on otherwise perfect bodies to alleviate psychological distress. In my experience as a SENCo, children can wait up to 2 years to see a speech therapist because they cant talk. And here’s someone bleating on about the pitch of their voice?
Children should never be given either drugs or medical interventions to alleviate gender dysphoria.
The whole tone of the piece is aggressive - anything that doesn’t align to trans demands equates to transphobia.

I thought there was some suggestion they should learn to do electrolysis themselves. Does it need a medic at all to do that? I agree that and voice-training should not be provided on the health service, but if they want that stuff, then creating their own network to do it might be a way forward, just as women created things that women needed and public funding (unfortunately with strings attached, as we are finding out to our cost) only came later.