Being transgender isn’t a choice and it isn’t something we have to repent for. It’s just a neurological variation.

elissa23Trans

Being transgender isn’t a choice and it isn’t something we have to repent for. It’s just a neurological variation.

The world health organization (WHO) recently removed transsexuality or transgenderism from its list of mental illnesses. Being transsexual or transgender is no longer considered to be a mental illness.

We live in 2019, yet there is still far too much transphobia in the world. Trans people in the usa are still treated like sexual deviants both by governmental instances and by cisgender citizens. Being transgender is not a trend or a hype. Being transgender is a medical condition, just like diabetis is a medical condition. A person’s body produces the wrong ratios of sex hormones in the case of a trans person. In the case of diabetis a person’s body produces the wrong ratios of insulin. Being a diabetic is not considered a mental illness, so why would you consider being transgender or transsexual a mental illness? It’s just a condition in which a person’s body doesn’t produce the right amount of certain sex hormones, how is that different from other chemical imbalances? If you are in favor of considering trans people mentally ill, would you also consider people with a vitamin deficiency mentally ill for producing too little of a certain chemical compound in their bodies?

You see how irrational it is to consider trans people mentally ill?

There is still far too much transphobia in the world and its based on irrational assumptions about trans people and our minds and bodies.

The only study that we have about suicide rates in the trans population dates from 16 years back and was conducted between 1970 and 2003. There are no recent studies that have reassessed the suicide rates in the trans community. While the circumstances have significantly changed in the 16 years since the Swedish study got published. Surgical techniques have improved, acceptance has improved after Caitlyn Jenner came out and made trans people more visible and better understood. The WHO no longer considers trans people mentally ill, the miss universe Canada pageant, owned by Donald Trump, no longer disqualifies trans women from competing as a beauty competitor after Jenna Talackova and her women’s rights advocate Gloria Alred made international headlines in 2012. Lots of factors are no longer applicable since 2003. Yet, no new studies are conducted to reasses the quality of life of trans individuals nowadays.

Bigots are still basing themselves on outdated studies.

Another argument that some love to make is <<giving kids hormones>>. Kids are not given hormones. Kids are at best given puberty blockers with reversible effects. Kids are not given sex hormones before the age of 16. Irreversible surgeries do not take place before the age of 18 has been reached.

To debunk yet another argument, the argument that hormones given to trans people cause cancer and side-effects: back in the day we used Ethinylestradiol. Nowadays we use bio-identical Estradiol to treat trans women. Meanwhile cisgender women still swallow birth control pills that contain Ethinylestradiol, which is far more harmful to the liver than Estradiol. Cisgender women who swallow birth control that contains Ethinylestradiol, are 33 times more at risk of developing a blood clot than trans women who swallow a moderate dose of bio-identical Estradiol daily. There goes your cancer argument. With the suppression of testosterone, the occurence of prostate cancer and testicular cancer in trans women decrease significantly. The rate of breast cancer remains near that of a natal male who does not take estrogen. Hormones do not carry serious health risks in trans women. The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

Surgical techniques have become better and better too. Neovaginas nowadays don’t look like what they looked 20 years ago. Neovaginas nowadays can manage to keep their own PH balance stable and with newer techniques like the peritoneal pull through, self-lubrication is possible. Orgasmic functions usually are preserved because the nerves of the penile glans are refashioned into a clitoris. Gynecologists sometimes do not notice the difference between neovaginas and cisgender vaginas until closer examination with a speculum reveals the absence of ruggae.

Post-transition quality of life increases significantly in trans people.

Trans people are individuals worthy of love and respect. They could be your neighbours, your teachers, your doctors or your lovers without you knowing it. Many trans women successfully build up new lives post-transition and remain stealth ( keeping their previous lives a secret ).

It doesn’t cost you anything to be supportive of trans people. We are not abnormal. We are a naturally occuring variation of neurological structures. Trans women have brain structures that are more closely aligned to cisgender women’s brain structures. Trans men have brain structures that are more closely aligned to cisgender men’s brain structures. We are already the sex we identify as, on a neurological level, before we even popped our first hormone pill or had our first surgery. Read doctor Swaab’s work.

A marriage between a trans woman and a cis man is recognised as a heterosexual marriage in the vast majority of the world. Even Iran recognises the transition of trans people.

There is no need to be transphobic. Transphobia is based on irrational assumptions that have long been debunked.

In London scientists will soon start working on research to implant uteri ( wombs ) in trans women. Trans women will one day be able to carry our own babies and produce female amounts of estrogen without exogenous addition.

Trans women are for the vast majority of our phenotype and genotype women after we transitioned.

For the people who love to brag about the fact that our chromosomes don’t change. The Y chromosome contains a lot of genes that are unuseful. Our chromosomes carry 20 000 genes and our hormones can switch those genes on or off. When our hormonal balance is altered, these genes are turned on or off. So when a trans woman starts estrogen replacement therapy, a lot of her male genes on the Y chromosome are switched off and a lot of female genes on the X chromosome are switched on.

Biology is fascinating, isn’t it?

For those people who love to say that biology doesn’t care about our feelings, I have one thing to say: appearently it does :-)

Being transgender isn’t a choice and it isn’t something we have to repent for. It’s just a neurological variation.
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