So yes - it can feel like a gut punch every time another institution falls. It's really scary and I'd love a weekend free of it! But it isn't the end and we fight on.
(Motivational speech for myself over, now time to drink coffee and read John Le Carré in the garden)
We could have all given up and gone home after the Supreme Court ruling last yr and everything that's happened since with trans youth healthcare.
But we haven't! We're still here. We have allies and people who care about us.
We've shown allyship too to our friends in other related causes.
It is pretty terrifying to be a trans person in the UK in 2026 and see institutions you trusted slip away.
But, I hold on to:
-100,000 women signing @nionwomen.bsky.social pledge
- 1000s of trans folk and allies at last yr protest and pride marches
- the hard work Good Law Project are doing
Ooh, thank you! I hadn't seen that before. I'm slowly going through your "trans man a day" series and going to share with friends as it's just so awesome!
I LOVE that you have done a whole series on trans guys too! I have felt very invisible the past year so it is refreshing (and really interesting) to read about fellow brothers on the journey.
Stephen Whittle was the first trans man I ever knew about! As a uni student I watched the channel 4 documentary about his medical transition and his story gave me the hope that I could transition too, one day, and still have a partner and family and job. The power of visibility! 🏳️⚧️
UK trans people and friends - last few spaces left for our free workshop in Birmingham on Friday evening - please share! Thank you all - these workspaces are a bright spark in a dark world
I'm honestly not sure how optimistic I can be - but you guys have done amazing work and even if the new guide is as awful as some of us fear, the hope you have brought through the year has kept me going. Thank you ❤️
Yes, you're absolutely right. It was horrible guidance for so many of us, including gender non conforming cis people, and I hope (but don't expect) it will be changed in the new edition of the code.
Ahhh another fun afternoon of "working while my brain is a bin fire" due to the EHRC guidance... I'd really like to know what's going to be done to me in just over a month's time (if, as reports suggest, the guidance is laid before Parliament in May) but even more, I'd really like it to all go away!
It really is! Thank you for recognising it impacts trans men too as many people seem to have forgotten us ❤️
He wouldn't. This is a common misconception. The draft guidance suggested trans men would be banned from both the men's and women's if we are too masculine looking - so we are screwed unless there's gender neutral options.
"‘What’s in a name?’ As a Hungarian trans man, I can tell you: Everything I can’t have"
transwrites.world/whats-in-a-n...
And trans men still don't get adequate health care, cos (as with cis women) doctors don't listen to us or trust us to know our bodies. Menopause and gyno related care isn't inclusive of trans men.
So, it's complex. We benefit - but we also really don't, and I don't think apologising helps!
For example: I know that (esp as a white, cis passing, middle management man) I ger automatically listened to in meetings and feel safe when I walk home at night.
But also I have experience of:
- being followed home
- being harmed by men
- being shamed for my appearance..
Really interesting topic.
It's important that trans men (like all men) recognise and try to challenge our male privilege. But also important that the wider discourse doesn't forget trans men massively impacted by misogyny too e.g. with health care and lack of control over our bodies.
I read a cool blog recently which discussed sexed dysphoria vs gender dysphoria, and it was pretty helpful. I'm a trans guy but all my dysphoria is about my body, I don't really think about my gender cos it's conceptual and wibbly wobbly timey wimey and gives my autistic brain a headache!
This is more than three-quarters of the way there! Just on the offchance I have any followers with decent incomes: if you'd spend £5 on a pint tonight, could you swing £5 to a trans woman building a safe home in the UK after seeking asylum from Jordan? Thank you!
A Robin perched on a branch, its beak full of food and other material.
To reduce disease, we all need to make some urgent but simple changes to how we feed our garden birds.
See our website for the latest guidance: brnw.ch/21x1t4w
Definitely! It is not normal working in these times. Trying to be an EDI adviser when all around us is like it is... it's wild.
And it's Supreme Court ruling anniversary next week which is making me feel all kinds of personal ick as well as the deep ick at the world.
My quote for these sorts of times is from His Last Bow, as Holmes and Watson talk together quietly on the eve of war.
"Stand with me here upon the terrace, for it may be the last quiet talk that we shall ever have..."
The image of the two friends reminiscing by the moonlit sea is very moving.
Front cover of "Dark Side of the Moon" by Gérard J Degroot. It has a blue cover with a male Astronaut.
This book is excellent and helping me articulate some of what I'm feeling! Highly recommend.
Sun streaming down from a blue cloudless sky onto trees in a small garden
Some blue sky for BlueSky!
The world is very heavy and strange: how weird that I can sit here and just read, while a rocket orbits the moon and war rages and diversity is once again a dirty word.
Everything feels out of time, out of orbit. And yet, I am here, sun on my skin, trans and happy.
Anyway: something positive in a negative world - trans friends (and friends of trans people) - can you help us spread the word? Next Monday, Liverpool, free, good times, a good cause, and better than doomscrolling and feeling helpful. We'd love to see you there.
Thank you!
- protein, vit D and weights to help with osteoporosis and build strength
- Kegels can help but also consider muscle tightness - if it's over tight kegels make it worse! Yoga positions which stretch and glute strength work to overcome tight hips and pelvic floor.
- don't suffer in silence!
TL;DR:
- trans men, sorry lads but we getting menopause too
- front hole/vag dryness is grim but you can treat with topical Estrogen inside and E45 round your outside bits
- brain fog is also grim. Try magnesium and choline containing foods (eggs, omega 3 supps) to help (contd.)
capcbristol.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2024/10/18/n...
Can anyone recommend trans man friendly menopause info?
