BBC: Trans man says he locked himself away over period

[RoyalCorgi]

I love and value the BBC. But in what sense is this a news story? Not only is it not news (ie it is about as consequential as reporting 'Middle-aged woman says she struggles with the remote control'), it is also exceptionally stupid.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704pngr33yo

A super absorbent night pad would sort that out!

Pretty sure you can use a tampon and mooncup with any sort of underwear, and I'm pretty sure you could find male pants that accommodate pads.

Yeah, it's raised my awareness. I already knew about Modibodi and, in the last ten minutes, have found two other brands that do period pants with packer pouches, absorbed the idea of using normal period products with non-period packing pants, learned the strengths & weaknesses of different kinds of fake dicks, what they cost and how to use them, and added STP (stand to pee) to my acronym vocabulary.

This knowledge is totally useless to me. I got it from a simple Google query, just as anyone else could - so the only 'awareness' I've gained from the article is that people like Jay-Harley would rather complain about things that might happen (but haven't) than spend 30 seconds googling for answers to their imaginary problems.

Awareness of STP fake dick products: +100%
Awareness of whiny trans feebleness: +1% (was already high)
Am I grateful? No.

I think the dysphoria/dysmorphia that trans people feel is awful and I can't understand why we are not treating it as a serious MH issue.

All of the oppression the person is complaining of is coming from herself. I don't think there was a single comment about anyone else saying anything to her or giving a fuck about what she was wearing, how long her hair was or her voice. I'm sure she'd have said if she had experienced 'transphobia', perhaps a bit of light misgendering even. I want to feel sorry for her, she's clearly got issues. She desperately need quality therapy. Affirmation from other people isn't helping enough. She's constantly struggling with the fact she's female.

But the tw got to plug her business. So, thanks for that Beeb.

He said he had to put on a "fake deeper voice and pretend to be a lad just to go to the shop".

What? Either the trans person or the journalist (or both) is extremely confused about what trans is supposed to mean. (Or as a PP said, the journalist is on a sunlight mission...)

The rest of it is the same old same old, "wahhh! As a trans person I've invented a non-existent problem that could be easily solved in 2 seconds if I gave it any thought, and also, wahhh! about the problems I've brought on myself by claiming impossible things are possible and saying everyone else has to believe them too! I'm such a victim of society's non-existent "strict gender binary"!"

Anyone who reads this is going to be going "But... just do xy and z surely?"

A super absorbent night pad would sort that out!

Absolutely. You'd think someone who uses pads (which they must be, because they're talking about it only working with some styles of pants) would have experience of how stuffing an 8-inch long wodge of absorbent material into your keks makes it pretty hard to look like you DON'T have a penis.

One of the many non problems in the world, standard mens briefs can easily take a sanitary towel, many men including my dp wear briefs, dp says they are far more comfortable than boxers

And by the way standard sports briefs are designed to take a box so can accommodate a prosthesis no issue! Sports direct sell them, problem solved

no. this is a complete non story. Complete and utter piffle designed purely to advertise breast binders.

It is pathetic. Really.

But i also think maybe this person has a severe mental health issue and needs support. Not unthinking acquiescence to the delusion.

If a woman says something she's wrong. If a trans person says the exact same thing, they are right. It's translogical

MakeYourOwnMusicStartYourOwnDance

All it's "raising awareness" of is how trans-identifying people (I'm sure not all, but at least a good proportion of the ones featured in BBC articles) are making up problems that don't exist and pretending to have some unique monopoly on victimhood, in a way that is coming across as ridiculous.

You only need the slightest amount of critical thinking ability to see that this person could easily solve these issues, and that they have been induced into this way of thinking by repeatedly being told that they're the most marginalised, oppressed demographic ever and are constantly being made "unsafe" by other people having a understanding of material reality - when that is simply not true.

This person is also logically inconsistent as has been pointed out. They're a "trans man" who is terribly distressed by "having" to wear women's underwear (except they don't) but yet is also put out at "having" to put on a male voice (except they don't)? Why doesn't their female voice distress them but women's pants do?

What is it that you think awareness should be being raised about? Do you think this article is doing a good job of it?

I think we should complain to the BBC that they're obviously prejudiced against trans people. The reports seem determined to make them look very unsympathetic. I'm really struggling to connect with, 'I was upset about my periods (with you so far) and it's someone else's fault because... something about pants?' 😑

Another classic from last week: Welsh puberty blocker ban unlawful - Plaid MS - BBC News

Gwion is upset about the ban on puberty blockers despite not having actually taken them, but thinks they might have helped. Looking at the photo, BBC Wales actually got Gwion into the studio for this dazzling insight.

As I understand it, puberty blockers are particularly unhelpful for females who want to pass as men, as they stop growth, making trans men even smaller and less convincingly male.

If only investment had been made into mental health support, perhaps people wouldn’t end up like this. So sad.

Although even if it were available, individuals would have to accept that they have a mental health problem and be willing to accept that support.

The BBC should have more pressing priorities than dissecting the mental health issues of individuals. There's no gap in the market. Only women have periods and the feminine hygiene market place is adequately catered for.There are male incontinence pads if these aren't suitable.

This is what I was thinking. If you tried to get a trans person to accept mental health support then surely they would just say that they don't have any MH issues because as far as they're concerned they don't. Although they may just do it to have a bit more evidence of their trauma and oppression 🙄

I remember one time, long long ago at work we had an undergraduate doing work experience. Pleasant enough and conscientious, but never took a biscuit at tea break. The one day my (pleasant, supportive, non misogynist) colleague who she was working directly with had a rant - did we notice the way she'd eke out a low fat yogurt a tiny half spoonful at a time, had we realised she went running at lunch break, he couldn't stand the way anorexics try to control everyone.

It transpired that when she was at school a girl with anorexia stayed with his family as a lodger, and over several years disrupted everyone's lives having health crises and throwing wobblies and he still found it very triggering.

People who use their own mental health conditions to try to manipulate other people don't win friends.

Maybe that's a sad reflection on the human condition, maybe it's a sign that we care more about nurturing the person than about nurturing the disease.

I am sure there are very many trans people who seek, accept and welcome MH support. The person in this article does not represent all trans people. Most are trying to get on with their lives.

Oh definitely. The difference is that the trans people who do seek support aren't the same as the ones who do articles like this. I'd imagine that for many trans people it probably annoys them just as much as everyone else seeing these idiots doing articles like that one.

Obviously this man is really struggling with gender dysphoria. He's not harming anyone. Why on earth does this post exist? Simply to mock him?

It should be an article about gender dysphoria then.

Has menstruated in the past and says menstruation is possible in the future, so is biologically female and therefore is not a man and never can be, because humans cannot change sex.

And anyway, why is the BBC whanging on about this person, prominently, on its News site.

It's not news, it's propaganda.

My colleague's experience, the experience of the family of his anorexia lodger, the experiences of families of several other anorexic people I am related to or acquainted with, suggest that people struggling with dysphoria do considerable harm to those around them, and that empowering themselves to be coercive and controlling is deliberate,

I really don't see weight dysphoria and gender dysphoria as any different in this respect. I don't want to mock, but I don't want to fawn or to enable either.

and that empowering themselves to be coercive and controlling is deliberate

Anorexia is a very serious mental illness. If you think the behaviour of someone with a serious mental illness is deliberate then you are mistaken.