Article by Lauren Black

[CeriBlack]

My wife wrote this and I'm so freaking proud of her!

Just leaving it here.
Xx

lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/03/lauren-black-i-am-a-butch-lesbian-i-live-with-gender-dysphoria-i-do-not-believe-my-deep-discomfort-with-my-female-body-means-that-i-should-take-steps-to-change-it/

Great, and really important, article.

The affirmation model, the rush to the nuclear option first, is not good for individuals like me, who live with dysphoria. It closes down my options. I am less able, not more, to seek help for my distress, as the only help now widely available would, I believe, be damaging to my health and my life. The side effects of testosterone on women include, and may not be limited to – painful orgasm, vaginal atrophy, clitoromegaly, suicidal tendencies, violence, panic attacks, rage, jaundice, severe allergic reaction, nausea, vomiting, liver failure, cancer, kidney or urinary problems, infection of the injection site, stroke, or heart attack. Learning to love the skin I’m in sounds like a much better option to me.

''I meet the criteria, set out in the DSM 5, for medical transition. That is, if I went to a gender clinic and told them how I feel, and about my experiences, they would prescribe me testosterone and a double mastectomy. I choose not to transition. Instead, I am learning to love the skin I’m in. I have my own struggles with that skin, with my female body. Those struggles are not because my female body is wrong, but because my negative thinking around my body and my sexuality, which started in childhood, was not explored through therapy soon enough. I do not think it is in my interest to treat a condition that is in my head by making changes to my body. Psychiatry does not have a good history in this regard.''

Thats such a powerful statement.

Thank you Lauren, for writing such a powerful article, and thank you Ceri, for sharing it.

That brought a few tears to my peepers. It is such a powerful piece of writing, and absolutely reflects how medicine and psychiatry is practised in every single arena except for the treatment of gender dysphoria. It is crazy.

What a powerful piece.

Fantastic article, thank you.

A fantastic article. I can see why you are so proud of your wife.

Powerful read. I can see why you're feeling proud and hope she is too.

Wonderful and inspiring piece.

Great article, wishing you both well.

That is lovely. It brought tears to my eyes as I look at my gender non confirming children.

What an excellent article. I feel so sorry for the young lesbians coming to terms with their sexual orientation under the current climate of insanity.

I've been sitting here thinking about how different things would be today if instead of this person Stonewall had done the job we entrusted to them, and sent out women like Lauren to talk to school girls about learning to love the only body they will ever have, and why being butch is aspirational.

Great article. Well done to both of you

I cried a bit at that too
I agree so much with all of what she says. It's bad enough that society's gender stereotyping is still harming women, saying 'you can't do this' 'you can't be that'
It's even worse that my own profession are colluding with this and encouraging women to harm themselves physically to be who other people say they should be.

If only Keira Bell could have heard this alternative message before being encouraged to change her body irreversibly. I hope that other young women like her are protected from harm and get to hear more voices like Lauren's. How proud you must be to be married to her.

thank you for sharing - so powerful and such an important message to share

Brilliant piece. I hope this will be read by young lesbians who may be considering transition so they can see there's many ways to be a woman. Thank god the message is starting to get out.

Amazing article.

Wonderful piece from an excellent new web site. I really enjoyed reading abour lovely wife.

I hope to read many more of these to see the true diversity of lived Lesbian expereience.

I read this yesterday linked to on Twitter, well done OP for circulating it widely and to Lauren for having the courage to tell her powerful and inspiring story.

I'm an older butch-ish lesbian and I was thrilled and moved to read this article. Thank you, Lauren. I've posted it on my FB account and within a couple of hours have had three heartfelt responses from other butch lesbians who all want to say thank fuck that you've spoken out and wondering when people will realise that the real gay conversion is transing the butch dykes away. As one of them said, is she (in her late 30s) the last of the breed? Will she have to watch all those young women who might have followed in her footsteps to become fierce, strong, bold butch lesbians get transed out of existence? Will she, she wonders, spend the next 20 years resisting pressure to come out as trans and then, in her retirement, watch lesbianism being rediscovered as the next new and brave and stunning thing and have to endure 20-somethings behaving as if they've invented it?

OP

I read this from a link of twitter and I thought it was very powerful. Lauren, thank you for sharing. Thank you for your honesty.

Good luck to you both.

Excellent article. Thank you to you and your wife.

I stand for loving the skin you`re in.
Couldnt have said it any better. Excellent post.