Question about transmen?

[redalex261]

One thing I have wondered about since looking into the explosion in gender transition is pregnant transmen. There are various things I just don't get.

1. Do they have to stop taking their male hormones/start taking oestrogen to get pregnant?
2. Are there difficulties in getting pregnant, is there a need for fertility treatment?
3. Is the baby's heath affected?
4. Is there a higher incidence of miscarriage?

And finally (most puzzlingly)

1. How can they bear being pregnant and giving birth?

If, as they say, they are so uncomfortable/repelled by their female body surely the experience of pregnancy would be utterly horrifying, let alone the turmoil of an actual birth experience. After all its the ultimate expression of femaleness.

Also, is it a bit of a cheek to say "oh, NHS, provide me with lifelong expensive gender affirming care" then "oh, NHS, provide me with fertility treatment cos my gender affirming care compromised my fertility".

Wouldn't doctors ask any questions about the incongruence of this situation?

All fair questions and have wondered myself how anyone wants to go through pregnancy and childbirth as a trans man as it's the ultimate female experience?
At a bit of a loss to why you'd ask on here though as it's not usually tne target audience for anyone who is trans.
You'll just end up with a load of non trans saying why it's rubbish etc.

Well it's either a huge mental health condition or a popular form of body extreme decoration.

The former means the nhs would provide based on disability, transgender and being female, (I'm guessing there) and the latter based on being female.

There's a documentary about a trans man giving birth - Seahorse.

For FtM people with a GRC, such cases would be interesting to be tried as fraud. As well as those who facilitate it such as medical professionals who help engineer a pregnancy. At the very least it's unethical. And either way the taxpayer is funding it.

There's a documentary about a woman giving birth - Seahorse.

Fixed it for you.

For FtM people with a GRC, such cases would be interesting to be tried as fraud.

For that to happen we'd need a definition of 'living as a man'. Although the GRA requires people to 'live as' the opposite sex, there's no definition of what that actually entails apart from changing their name and title on their utility bills.

Interesting questions I dont have the answers though I did think myself that surely someone who rejects their female body would not want to be pregnant.

Also we seem to take lightly the idea of chopping bits off, swapping hormones, swapping sex, swapping back. The medical implications are enormous and a lot is experimental because we dont have data on future implications and are we examining and studying what is happening now. Women given male hormones are having problems with bone density deterioration at a young age for example.

I and others I know do not seek medical attention on the nhs for things other than dior emergencies any more so it seems odd that you can get 'treatment' to alter healthy bodies.

There are many post menopausal women like me who need some form of hrt to manage vaginal and vulval atrophy and infections, soreness, broken skin and dryness, as well as women with a terribly debilitating and little publicised genital condition called Lichen Schlerosis which can become cancerous and needs to be monitored and hrt is prescribed for this condition.
Some are worried who will get the hrt if in short supply as their condition is not very fashionable.

Yes. But as the Maternity leave Bill for Ministers showed, only women can give birth. And it's the same for regular employees:

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3242/regulation/16

From what I've seen, some transmen do stop taking testosterone to get pregnant, but others fall pregnant unexpectedly. It is stated that it doesn't necessarily make you unable to become pregnant.

Testosterone can cause birth defects, so its not recommended for use during pregnancy. No idea how long it takes to leave your system to reduce that risk - I suspect no research has been done. I've not seen any research into the increased risk of miscarriage or indeed birth abnormalities. Such research would probably be considered transphobic.

Another risk is transfer (especially if testosterone is used topically) onto babies post birth. There have been cases of babies suffering precocious virilisation dues to cross-contamination from their fathers. This included a 2-year old presenting as Tanner stage 3 (typically age 13).

https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-endocrinologia-diabetes-nutricion-english-ed--413-articulo-potential-consequences-in-children-testosterone-S2530018017300768

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4851765-this-is-outrageous-medical-paper-argues-that-wanting-healthy-undeformed-babies-should-be-queered

Sharron Davies has talked very movingly about the terrible things that happened to the East European athletes who were unwittingly given testosterone. These young women only took it briefly (while preparing to compete in the Olympics) and yet many years later it was still causing them to have miscarriages, stillbirths and babies born with tragic life-limiting conditions.

We simply don't know enough yet about the irreversible damage that can happen to women who take testosterone. Or the damage it can cause to any children that they conceive.

It's horribly irresponsible of the NHS and the media to promote the idea that transmen having babies is normal or, even worse, something to be celebrated.

If someone is going to bring a whole new life into the world then the focus should be entirely on the wellbeing of the new life, not the whims of the parent.