the way trans medicine is discussed, you’d be forgiven for thinking it really is a distinct, unique medical matter to be debated. in reality, everyone’s sex and gender are bound up in medicalization and the real distinctions are *social* (thread):

receipts: my book. seriously, I cover this in excruciatingly researched detail, so take a look. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/histories-of-the-transgender-child

tl;dr: the only thing “trans” in trans medicine is the transphobia and non-trans ppl’s fate is sealed with ours.

what kind of specifically “trans” healthcare do trans people access? hormones, blockers, and surgeries. only trans people need these, right? nope! the largest consumers of hormones, blockers and surgeries are cis ppl.

the actual medical procedures trans people access are indistinguishable from cis hormone therapy, blockers (which were developed for other cis applications first) and plastic surgeries.

techniques of vaginoplasty and phalloplasty were developed in WWI to treat wounded soldiers and then used to treat people born without parts of their genitals. genital surgery is performed without consent on intersex children routinely.

the basic concept that human sex and gender development is plastic enough to change in form was derived out of experiments on intersex and trans patients, but those procedures were then transferred to primarily treat cis people’s endocrine and sex conditions.

the only difference that makes medicine “trans” is that it’s gatekept. a trans woman needs 2 psychiatric letters to get an orchiectomy. a cis man only needs a vague diagnosis of “testicular pain.” a menopausal cis woman gets estrogen without a psychological evaluation.

the moral of the story: there’s nothing “experimental” about trans medicine; in fact, its distinctions in practice from cis medicine are entirely social differences—aka transphobia. we make social decisions about who we think deserve care, it’s not a scientific distinction.

this is why “irreversible damage” and “mutilation” are red herrings. the human body has a naturally observed, biological ability to change sex. it *normally* changes from childhood to puberty, to old age. we don’t consider hormones or surgeries problems when they change cis sex.

so next time someone conjures all the strawmen around what we apparently do not know about trans medicine, kindly remind them that they too are part of the same biosocial model of human sex diversity as trans people. the only distinction is social.

what this also importantly allows us to consider is that trans people are excellent *critics* of medicine. we have been so badly treated by doctors, we are the best allies alongside intersex folks for healthcare justice.

cis sex changes, normally, over the course of a lifetime, often with medical intervention. there is no appeal to natural difference to make vis-a-vis trans and intersex people. my book shows how long scientists and doctors have been troubled by their own conclusion of that.

quick checklist. have you ever:
a) grown inside a womb as a fetus?
b) gone through puberty?
c) aged?

congratulations, your sex has changed in form over time!

we are all made of the same stuff. cis, trans, intersex are variations.