Reflections on Trans Arguments

[LimeFinch]

I've noticed a lot of general discourse about trans people that is based on misinformation, some of it dangerous, most of it born out of ignorance, so here's a handy reference to counter some of the claims I've seen.

Trans People are extremist! That's wot I done heard!
Transgender extremism doesn't exist - it's just a right-wing talking point used to discredit legitimate healthcare and equality efforts.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-un-view-trans-rights-much-needed-common-sense
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/11/hilary-cass-trans-children-review
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/02/gender-critical-beliefs-under-the-microscope

Puberty Blockers are Dangerous! My total lack of medical knowledge says so!
Puberty blockers are often lifesaving interventions. They're prescribed only after long assessments involving NHS gender clinics, parents, and specialists. They are fully reversible and shown to reduce the risk of suicide in young people with persistent gender dysphoria.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/gender-dysphoria/treatment
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/tonic-psh-consultation-analysis-report.pdf
https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj.q1638.short
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/interim-service-specification-specialist-gender-dysphoria-services-consultation-response
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/news-events/news/rcpch-responds-publication-final-report-cass-review

I Heard They're Changing Kids' Genitalia!
No people under 18 are getting genital surgery in the UK. NHS policy and private clinics alike restrict this to adults.
Indeed, more cisgender teens receive breast reduction surgery on the NHS than trans teens receive chest masculinisation surgery. The procedures follow similar approval processes, yet only one group is routinely scrutinised.
https://pure.johnshopkins.edu/en/publications/breast-surgery-in-adolescents-cisgender-breast-reduction-versus-t
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/10/revealed-thousands-of-trans-surgeries-carried-out-by-nhs/

They're in Women's Sports! I read it on teh internets!
There are only a small number of openly trans athletes competing at a professional level in the world, and none are dominating their fields.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/61346517
https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/sport/athletics/65051900

But, but, but, Women's Sports! No men!
Sex-segregated sports were historically introduced to exclude women, not because men were being beaten. The idea that it was about fairness is a myth.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/13/how-the-fa-banned-womens-football-in-1921-and-tried-to-justify-it
https://research.birmingham.ac.uk/en/publications/health-gender-and-inequality-in-sport-a-historical-perspective

Ok, but Trans-women are Stronger. That ain't Fair!
There is no consistent biological advantage for trans women in elite sport. Oestrogen therapy significantly reduces muscle mass, strength and performance over time. Regulations often require minimum hormone levels and transition periods before competing.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/15/865
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/59312313

Trans-Women are Men!!!!!! Any fule knowe that!
Identity is personal. “Man”, “woman”, “boy”, and “girl” are social roles - that’s gender. Not to be confused with biological sex - male and female. No trans woman claims to be biologically female, and no trans man claims to be biologically male. That’s another right-wing straw man argument.
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/interim-update-practical-implications-uk-supreme-court-judgment
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/lgbtq-hubs/trans-hub/the-truth-about-trans

Trans History is Different to Women's History
The idea that trans women have a “separate history” to cis women echoes the same tactics once used to exclude Black women and disabled women from womanhood.
https://blog.bham.ac.uk/socialsciencesbirmingham/2024/03/08/international-womens-day-trans-women-cannot-be-left-behind/
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/trans-and-disability-justice-how-are-our-struggles-linked
Tall women, Black women, trans women - these are all adjectives describing different types of women. Every woman’s experience of womanhood is unique. If you exclude trans women from being women, what condition are you using to define womanhood? There isn’t one necessary condition. So trans women cannot be excluded from womanhood on this basis.

Trans-Women are Men in Dresses! I read it in the Daily Mail!
Crossdressing is not the same as being trans. Many cis men crossdress and are not trans.
https://fiorry.co/glossary/crossdresser/

But Anybody can be Trans in an Instant! I'm scared!
The risk of coming out as trans due to internalised homophobia and sexism is a real thing but is not as common as many would have you believe. That’s why the NHS has a structured care pathway with long waiting times and assessments. No one can simply walk in and access hormones or surgery. Many people are left in limbo for years unless they are in crisis or suicidal.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/referral-pathway-for-children-and-young-peoples-gender-services-community-and-hospital-paediatric-services/
https://transactual.org.uk/trans-lives-21/

Organisations are Convincing Kids They're Trans! Think of the Children!
No one is trying to “convince” people they’re trans. If you feel deep discomfort with the sex you were assigned at birth, you might be trans - but that’s for you to explore, not for anyone else to decide. The queer community is generally very good at spotting people who are dealing with internalised issues - no one wants anyone to transition unless it’s truly needed. This whole “kids being convinced” thing is another empty scare story.
https://transactual.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/inclusive-healthcare/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/referral-pathway-for-children-and-young-peoples-gender-services-community-and-hospital-paediatric-services/

Now, I'm very aware of the MN reputation for shutting down the threads - and removing the accounts - of anyone who doesn't go along with the anti-trans-hate-cult, but for the short time this thread remains up it's worth taking some time to actually look at the links, to think about the status of trans-women in the current society, and consider how this judgement - and the subsequent interpretation of the same by those who are a little hard of thinking - might reflect on us as self-assumed rational, reasonable human beings.

Someone who doesn't understand you don't need to quote the OP 800+ posts into a thread is perhaps not best-placed to be telling others what to think

I think Manfreglory forgot which thread they were on when they posted above instead of the one they'd started - they seem to have deserted the latter without addressing any of the well-reasoned arguments on it. That may be partly because they find it hard to defend their extended analogy to support their point, as many of the replies there show. I mean, even in the above, I assume the intent is to denigrate by suggesting we're incapable of well-reasoned arguments ourselves, but actually it works quite well in reverse - we DO welcome genuinely thoughtful engagement from "the other side", and it's so unusual, we ARE kind of starved of it. Sad, then, that the brief chunk of rare 😁 steak Manfreglory offered us there has now been utterly shredded, with no fresh meat to replace it.

😀

In relation to the point about more cisgender teens are getting breast reduction surgery than chest masculinisation surgery.

This is conflating two different issues, I’m failing to see the relevance. I’m sure many who require breast reduction surgery are for true physical health reasons!

Friend in her late 20s wanted a breast reduction on the NHS due to back pain. Not trans. Was refused it on the grounds that it was 'wasn't necessary' despite suffering considerably

She went private. It solved her back problems.

This is awful!! She should’ve been able to get this on the NHS.

Similarly I suffer from hirutism from PCOS which causes excessive hair growth on my face and ingrown hairs all over my legs but GPs refuse to do anything about it as they say it’s cosmetic.. despite it really affecting my life and sometimes leading to infection which I’ve had to be on antibiotics for… had to pay out thousands privately to get treatment. Not right!!

Welcome to 'equality'.

If you're a common or garden woman, you can jolly well get to the back of the queue with your demands for breast reduction, sterilisation or HRT hormones. Your pain / ever increasing family is insignificant compared to trans issues.

Women come last. As usual.

It's a real 'so what ' isn't it?

Like 'cis' kids being given puberty blockers for precocious puberty, so that makes it okto give them to kids who believe they are trans (they are given for a limited time, at a younger age and stopped ASAP for precocious puberty, after which the child will experience puberty. 'Puberty blocked' 'trans' teens will never go through puberty).

AFAIK, you can still breast feed after breast reduction surgery.

Not so if they've been lopped off entirely.

Quite.
They are two completely different processes imo with entirely different treatment motivations and rationales. To use in an argument or points about trans doesn’t quite make sense to me…

Well-reasoned arguments - I wish!

if anyone came here and made genuinely well-reasoned arguments for why transwomen’s wish to access women’s spaces, sports & services should trump women’s need for those things we’d all love to hear it. The truth is, those arguments just don’t exist.

@LimeFinch, @Manfreglory etc, prove me wrong?