Excellent article about butch lesbian with Gender Dysphoria

[ScoldsBridle]

Taken from Lesbian and Gay News - thought it was really interesting and could be a useful launchpad for a respectful discussion about the pros and cons of transitioning and the possibility of different approaches to living with a condition that doesn’t involve automatic affirmation-without-exploration. God how I wish we lived in a society where this conversation could be had - it’s just got to happen one day, surely?

Do you reckon that P*k N**s would have run such an article?

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/

Feck - stupid typo -have reported my own post and asked for correct spelling of dysphoria

I love that article and the way it is written. It is like a blast of fresh air .

That is a beautiful statement. I'm not lesbian, but she speaks right to my heart and articulates exactly the same emotions I went through:

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.

I hope Lauren finds Mumsnet.

Lauren is part of rad fem twitter as is her lovely wife. They are involved with LGB Alliance Ireland and they are both fantastic women. Probably quite a few women on here who are connected with them through twitter, some really interesting, intelligent threads have come from them on there. This is a great article and very brave to publish - putting yourself out there in such a way. I admire Lauren for doing this and helping to inform people of other options.

(Also her wood turning is pretty damn good)

This was my favourite bit - it is so positive.

I stand for trashing the old fashioned, regressive stereotypes that say “if you can drive a forklift and operate a lathe, you must be a man.” No. I stand for a celebration of the amazing diversity that women are. I stand for smashing the nonsense that is the gender binary. I stand for loving the skin you’re in, and embracing who you really are, not for altering healthy bodies with drugs and surgeries in an endless quest to become someone that, in the end, you biologically can never be.

Yes I love this article.

I also saw an interview with Keira Bell where she was asked, are you angry that you were misdiagnosed with gender dysphoria? And she answered no I was correctly diagnosed - I did have gender dysphoria, I just don't think I should have been medicalised for it as a teenager.

She's wonderful. Excellent tshirt, too.

My best friend at sixth form was and is a butch lesbian. She was wonderful just as she was. Breaks my heart to think nowadays she would be led to be soul searching as to whether she was really a man. She was a remarkable non conforming don't-give-a-shit "I like my legs hairy so fuck off" breath of fresh air as a woman. She could have turned herself into a rather ordinary man and lost everything about her that made her special and unique. Thank God we were young long enough ago that it didn't occur to us to question.

Love this, thank you for posting it.