1/15 or 'a thread'.
I can’t bring myself to type out the #cervicalcancer hashtag that’s trending this morning. How are we at the point where transphobic people are arguing over and trying to take ownership of who ‘gets’ #cervicalcancer?

2/15 It’s vile. Also, really fucking triggering for people who’ve actually had the disease. It’s upsetting, and I’ve had a cry over it, because how people can get possessive over cancer is beyond me. Yes, someone called Karen is triggered. I appreciate that’s hilarious.

3/15 Cancer either ends your life, or at the very least fucks it up for a little (or a long) while. The only 'trans issue' there is when it comes to #cervicalcancer are the barriers trans and non-binary people face when accessing their cervical screening appointments.

4/15 It’s not excluding females from the narrative, it’s including anyone at risk of this largely preventable disease. Nobody is denying that females can get #cervicalcancer, we’re simply saying that it’s not ONLY females who can get it.

5/15 Nobody is trying to erase the word ‘woman’ or ‘female’, we are just wanting to include anyone of any and every identity who has a cervix, and therefore would benefit from cervical screening. There are so many reasons why trans men don’t attend their appointments,

6/15 from it being physically uncomfortable because they’re taking testosterone to the fear/trauma of the process of an internal examination. It’s not easy, so how dare anyone make it harder and push anyone different to themselves towards the ‘less likely to attend’ group.

7/15 Lots of people are on here saying things like “yes only females get #cervicalcancer, I would know, I had it and had to have a hysterectomy”, well hysterectomy is removing at the very least your uterus (womb) and cervix (neck of the womb) which by this fucked up logic

8/15 would make you ‘not female’ post-surgery. I am truly sorry to anyone who has had or is living with cancer. It is so shit. But just because you have had cancer in your c**t, doesn’t mean you can be a c**t to other people.

9/15 If you have a cervix, you are at risk of #cervicalcancer. The majority of people assigned female at birth are happy with this label, identify as such and do not transition. Great. And our lives are easier for it. It is a privilege.

10/15 I am a cis, straight, white woman. And have benefited in life from ticking these boxes. If I were trans, queer and/or Black I would have come up against more barriers. That's a fact. My #cervicalcancer was caught early because I didn't have any hurdles to jump over.

11/15 I bled after penis-in-vagina sex, went to the doctors, got referred and that was that. I’m not saying that other people with the same labels as me don’t receive a later diagnosis, not at all. Every day I speak to people who have had referrals postponed,

12/15 have been told their gynae problem is probably nothing, have had their test results misplaced, but their cancer pathway isn’t being made HARDER because of their gender identity, race or sexuality.

13/15 I'm really lucky that I still feel like a woman despite having parts that 'make me a woman' removed. I do not feel less of a woman because I have less of a vagina. Because having a vagina isn't what defines me as a woman.

14/15 Sorry if it seems like I'm ending this thread on a comment about myself. I guess I am called Karen after all.

15/15 P.S. here are some resources on gynae cancer stuff for anyone who is trans, non-binary or intersex. If I’ve said anything inaccurate or it’s seemed like I’m trying to speak for you and your communities, that isn't my intention and I apologise. https://eveappeal.org.uk/gynaecological-cancers/tnbiinfo/