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Unbiased Trans Information?

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@Bolletje is it true that a bio male who has full gender reassignment surgery (ie penis removal and the surgical creation of a vagina) must practice an ongoing manual process (lifetime?) to keep the surgically created vaginal opening from closing since the body will always attempt to correct what it sees as an deviation from its normal functioning? It's not the same thing of course, but I know that pierced earring holes will close and repair if not kept open.
 
Bolletje said:
That’s why medicine operates on the principle of informed consent: as a physician you’re obligated to inform your patient of the pros and cons of a treatment, and the patient has to give their consent for treatment to start, before it can actually happen.
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A physician can't provide the information needed for informed consent if the testing hasn't been done.

Hopefully within 10 years or so there will be enough information on the effects of the combination of puberty blockers in childhood, followed by early-adult transition, then living onwards into adulthood (a few years beyond physical maturity at 23-25-ish).

Until then, it's hard to be comfortable with the unrestricted use of medical means to interfere with one of the largest periods of change and development in human life (I'd put it at third after prenatal development and infancy).
 
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I think the idea of this thread is very good and has potential for being very helpful. In order for people to accept something they know little to nothing about and that they themselves do not experience, it is important not only for unbiased information to be available out there but also for such people to be able to ask questions and get information. Autism acceptance for example would never have advanced to where it is today compared to decades ago if unbiased info wasn't available and NTs were shunned, mislabeled, castigated and even bullied for asking questions about autism and autistic people.

One question I've had for a long time: Is it likely due to the fact that society in previous generations adopted norms based on rigid gender stereotypes that most bio males who become trans females seem to adopt the stereotypical gender norms in how they choose to present themselves (e.g. dress, makeup, hairstyles, etc)? Thankfully today most of society acknowledges and supports the fact that rigid gender stereotypes of the past were harmful. Examples: Women are not defined by what they look like, what they wear (ie "feminine" clothing), if they wear makeup ("feminine") or not, nor are they defined by their body shape or appearance (there are many bio females who do not have noticeably protruding breasts). Is it because society is still influenced by outdated and rigid gender stereotypes that bio men who transition to women most often seem to choose to emulate the stereotypically "feminine"? I read something at one point in which is was argued that a key reason is fetishism, but I assumed that argument was biased (ie anti-trans) so I didn't give it much credence.
 
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Magna said:
@Bolletje is it true that a bio male who has full gender reassignment surgery (ie penis removal and the surgical creation of a vagina) must practice an ongoing manual process (lifetime?) to keep the surgically created vaginal opening from closing since the body will always attempt to correct what it sees as an deviation from its normal functioning? It's not the same thing of course, but I know that pierced earring holes will close and repair if not kept open.
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Yes, after vaginoplasty one will have to practice dilation to maintain depth and width. The frequency is high initially and decreases over the first year, but it will have to be done for the remainder of their life.
This process is often described as painful and unpleasant at first -it is also a wholly unfamiliar feeling to get used to, and being tense makes the act more painful- but it gradually becomes easier and less taxing in most cases.
 
Hypnalis said:
A physician can't provide the information needed for informed consent if the testing hasn't been done.

Hopefully within 10 years or so there will be enough information on the effects of the combination of puberty blockers in childhood, followed by early-adult transition, then living onwards into adulthood (a few years beyond physical maturity at 23-25-ish).

Until then, it's hard to be comfortable with the unrestricted use of medical means to interfere with one of the largest periods of change and development in human life (I'd put it at third after prenatal development and infancy).
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Trans healthcare has been studied for decades, including many patients who received intervention early and continued well into adulthood.

Puberty blockers have been in use for trans kids since the 90s (and were in use for cis kids before that).

There are already plenty of people who have lived the scenario you have put forth, and the evidence points to relatively low risks of negative outcomes in the short term, or later in life.

There's really no reason to perpetuate the myth that any of this is particularly new or in early experimental stages.
 
Bolletje said:
I realize there are plenty of stories out there about “buyer’s remorse”, so to speak. It’s good to keep in mind that those stories are the reason transitioning is such a lengthy process and the waiting lists for gender reaffirming surgery are so long in most countries practicing Western medicine (I emphasize western here because I am not an expert on how things are done world wide).

Before being trans was something that could be discussed openly with a physician, before we had these multidisciplinary teams to help trans people work through the entire process, people were left to their own devices. Which meant that people would sometimes just travel abroad specifically for surgery. I’ve had several patients that traveled to Thailand in the 80’s or 90’s to get gender reaffirming surgery because they couldn’t get that here. In this situation, when you can just order a surgery a surgery without the lengthy process of assessments and counseling, and an added language barrier, being informed thoroughly and understanding the ins and outs of the surgery becomes more of a problem. I feel like many of the stories we hear these days about people that got the surgery and regret it afterwards stem from situations like these, where a trans person shops for an operation abroad (sometimes under sketchy circumstances) rather than a full transition care process, because the full transition care process wasn’t available to them (for whatever reason).

You can be sure your sister won’t be operated on unless her healthcare team feels like this is what she really wants.
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Thank you! All of your posts were very informative and reassuring.

As long as no one gets upset about it, it doesn't bother me, but if we're going to be picky puberty blockers are not actually within the scope of this topic. I agree that it's interesting, but my sister is in her 30s and did not start transitioning in puberty.
 
Recently I have watched a video about Detrans awareness, comes to show most people don't know about side effects involved, especially those transitioning as kids.

The detrans community all say they wish their doctors [US] and parents would have explained the side effects to the child, some of them are unable to be reversed and will be there for life, and once your structure as a man develops, turning back to a woman for example is practically impossible through stopping the treatment after the growing age and viceversa. People tend to socialize in gendered groups, and they have lost their friends or given them up by trying to start anew in a place nobody knew their former self.

As with PCOS hormonal issues [which I'm struggling with and am on hormonal treatment] many psychologists are aware of what their patients are going through. Meeting a psychologist who was not an activist allowed one detrans individual to know they were having mental issues instead of being transgender, and some realized they gave themselves dysphoria by hormonal treatment instead of what they thought, that it would fix their issues.

Two of the people in that video were on the spectrum. One of them has gotten early age arthritis and it's incurable. Some have bladder dysfunctions. They were going through menopause at 13, describing the same T sweats which are painful to me.

Psychologists and parents must be very cautious and seek to inform the child and make better assessments to detect what is going on, maybe even wait for procedures which cannot be reversed. Kids are hard-headed sometimes, they said, but you shouldn't give up on them, even if such a serious discussion would endanger the parent child relationship. Taking each side-effect and explaining it in a way the child understands. The ability to repair the parent-child relationship is important while providing the child with all the available information and care possible could have a great impact on a better future for the individual.
 
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Hypnalis said:
A physician can't provide the information needed for informed consent if the testing hasn't been done.

Hopefully within 10 years or so there will be enough information on the effects of the combination of puberty blockers in childhood, followed by early-adult transition, then living onwards into adulthood (a few years beyond physical maturity at 23-25-ish).

Until then, it's hard to be comfortable with the unrestricted use of medical means to interfere with one of the largest periods of change and development in human life (I'd put it at third after prenatal development and infancy).
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Partisanship and extremist view comes oftentimes with an inability to think outside the narrative of the said set of beliefs. If you try to reason with something like an extremist view, in terms of science, you will be met with something else, even opposite. I have given partisanship up in favor of the ability to reason untied by sets of beliefs.

Good on you for displaying an interest in untied judgement of the medical field with positive criticism.
 
Fino said:
If you're okay with in this thread, that might end up being informative to others, as well. She has had minor things done, like hair removal with lasers of some sort, I believe, but she is considering more drastic surgery, which is when I started being a little more concerned. I've heard claims from Christians that patients are often not well informed when they do undergo these procedures so I'm worried about any long-term, unintended consequences if she does go through with anything like that.
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My suggestion would be ask multiple doctors, ask for the side effect files and try to see if she's exposed to some risk due to genetic factors that make it worse for her, if she's willing to have some permanent risks for the rest of her life if it's important to her to outweigh such medical problems. Make a list of pros and cons.

Also do your own research, find studies and be cautious of doctors rushing her through with these procedures or offering additional ones. If they seem they're advertising their stuff or have 2 in 1s, don't go back. If she is unsure, wait. Get her to talk to psychologists as well to identify if anything is going on or she is really trans.

Discuss all available procedures and alternatives to permanent stuff.
 
All-Rounder said:
Two of the people in that video were on the spectrum. One of them has gotten early age arthritis and it's incurable. Some have bladder dysfunctions. They were going through menopause at 13, describing the same T sweats which are painful to me.
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The following is not my opinion. (I am not in a position atm, to take a strong view.):
I have heard that autism can drastically confuse the issue in regard to gender dysphoria and may be responsible for decisions that could cause regret down the line.

What I can say with confidence is that I myself had difficulty determining my sexual identity for much of my life.
I didn't even realise that I was allowed to be confused.
It was a different time back then. :cool:
 
Rodafina said:
A community with a specific purpose and shared experiences is not the best source for unbiased information. The information may be relevant and the voices are important, but they are also biased.
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Is it not always a good idea to hear both sides of the story?
 
Rodafina said:
A community with a specific purpose and shared experiences is not the best source for unbiased information. The information may be relevant and the voices are important, but they are also biased.
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It is important to know personal experiences as well in addition to the resources which are typically written by biased humans\professionals.

You would listen to the positive cases right? then you will want to listen to the negative cases too in making a decision without assuming it won't happen to you. That's what the detrans expected and they criticize the assumption that 'its very rare it isn't successful, detrans cases are rare.' It's not as rare as they say and it happens.

Whole information which op is looking for must contain both sides. The negatives can't be overlooked when making informed decisions.
 
All-Rounder said:
It is important to know personal experiences as well in addition to the resources which are typically written by biased humans\professionals.
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I am a little confused about how a person with a bad experience is biased in this particular case.
If it was bad for them, it was bad for them, I would have thought. :cool:

I may be missing something, here. :koala:
 
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