𝙎𝙊𝙈𝙀 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝘽𝙇𝙀𝙈𝙎 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝙄𝙉𝙎𝙐𝙇𝙏
(a thread)
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- reinforces toxic masculinity that says high testosterone is essential to manhood

- reinforces intersexist/transphobic rhetoric that says t is The Male Hormone (everyone has it)

- hurts pre-t transmascs https://twitter.com/urbanbohemian/status/1317102217145495554

ON THE TOXIC MASCULINITY

since testosterone is seen as essential to manhood and what makes a man, a lot of gender roles assigned to men are assumed to be inherent to testosterone.

when we say men don't have low t we are telling them they don't conform to their gender roles

We are telling them they aren't really men, that they're shameful for having low testosterone.

This not only gender non-conformity in men and those that like being more 'feminine', but we are insulting femininity itself. Along with the people most associated with that; women.

This rhetoric has specifically lead a lot of cis (non-trans) men - that have HEALTHY levels of testosterone that naturally fluctuate - to obsess over their t levels to the point they hurt themselves and their natural ability to create their own t.

ON THE INTERSEXISM

A lot of people, from this previous assumption of testosterone = masculinity = manhood (and how it works ''the other way''), use this to deny the autonomy, identities, and even rights of both intersex people and transgender people.

When intersex people are discovered to have uncommon levels of hormones, for their coercively assigned gender (or CAGAB) at birth, they are forced to undergo medical intervention and hormone replace therapy at young ages to go through the common puberty for their CAGAB.

This can be extremely traumatising for intersex people, especially since they don't have much say when it comes to their bodies because they're coerced into hrt because otherwise their bodies won't be accepted.

This is especially hard for intersex people that are trans/nb.

ON THE TRANSPHOBIA

This idea that testosterone = manhood, which leads to people policing the levels of t in themselves & others they don't see as having the right amount;

it leads up into hurting all trans people, over a supposed disconnect, between our bodies and who we are.

We get policed over having either too much of it or not enough, told we aren't really the genders we are. We are CONSTANTLY under the scrutiny and attack from 'transvestigators' that try to find secondary sex characterists they think are inherently tied to the sex ''we aren't''

And yes, it is ultimately saying because of our levels of hormones and the changes they've made to us in puberty, that after that we can never be the genders we say we are. That we even shouldn't have autonomy over our bodies and healthcare to help us because of this idea.

ON TRANSMASCS IN SPECIFIC

(in reference to transmascs (assigned female at birth trans/nonbinary ppl) who ARE gonna go on t)

This insult is pushing all of us that aren't on t yet - but want and have to be bc of our genders - under the bus and saying we aren't who we say we are

This really breaks our hearts to see, especially since we already deal with so much stigma in specific to wanting higher t levels and their changes.

There's fearmongering about trans women ''brainwashing our daughters'' into having ''IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE'' done to us.