Before we start, a brief reminder that the medical interventions carried out on children and young people are novel and largely EXPERIMENTAL. There are many unknown risks and this is acknowledged, even as the experiments proceed. For example, the NHS: /2https://twitter.com/ystriya/status/1064112479746359296 …
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So in many cases, the iatrogenic effects of transing young people will only become known as sufficient numbers of trans people start suffering them and talking about their pain. This is a case in point. /3
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Aydian Dowling is a female-to-male trans person with a male appearance but female body. In this youtube episode, she takes up a topic that has hitherto been taboo or unknown amongst FTM women, and it appears to be a moment of discovery for many. 4/https://youtu.be/3QMaJdXSmHg
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5/ "8 out of 10 transmasculine people that I talk to do suffer from some form of this, and we don't talk about it enough." In other words, according to Dowling, 80% of FTM females experience testosterone-induced uterine pain. That is A LOT.
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6/ This is by the way an excellent and courageous public service video for which Aydian Dowling should be thanked. Dowling and a friend, Buck Angel, decided it was necessary to open up a discussion to inform other FTM people that this potentially dangerous effect exists.
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7/ So here's Buck Angel, an extremely masculine-looking FTM with a female body. Angel works in the sex industry, and therefore has many contacts with whom sex is a topic of discussion. So Dowling and Angel together seem to be good sources of information.https://youtu.be/66wIpfqIGKM
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8/ Back to Aydian: "The No.1 reason I'm getting a hysterectomy is: At the very peak, when I orgasm, I experience an extreme cramping feeling. More than just when I used to get menstrual cramping. So I'm orgasming, and I'm at what's supposed to be nature's beautiful pleasure..."
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9/ Aydian: "...and it literally feels like someone takes two knives and shoves them into here, and twists and turns them. And that goes on from between one minute to seven minutes."pic.twitter.com/FXv3aFejL9
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10/ "It's very disruptive to the sexual experience; it makes me feel like I don't want to engage sexually, because it's extremely painful. And it just makes me feel uncomfortable, as well as my partner, because she's trying to give me pleasure, and that always leads to pain"
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11/ "In 2011, 2012, I was suffering from these pains, but at that time it was just random cramping. As the years have gone on, my pain has elevated and dipped, and elevated and dipped, and it's gone like this for these 5, 6 years now."pic.twitter.com/Rw1cxGfTkR
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12/ "In the last 2 years, I could know exactly when I would have cramps, and that was at the peak of my orgasm. At first it wasn't that bad. It was just a little bit of pain, a little discomfort. But in the last two years, it's gotten more and more drastically painful"
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13/ "And in the beginning of this year, it's been excruciatingly painful, and it hasn't just lasted a couple of seconds to a minute or two, it's extended. It's extremely painful for about five minutes, and then it tapers down very slowly."
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14/ "So at least 2 to 3 hours after orgasm, I could still be in pain. So this leads to me only wanting to be sexually active at night, because then I fall asleep and I don't feel the pain." (...) "I'm a little more hesitant to initiate, because I know I'll end up in pain."
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15/ "So we as a family have decided it's about time I get a hysterectomy to solve this issue."
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16/ "Buck Angel was having the exact same problems. So he went and got all types of tests, nobody said that anything was wrong with him, all of his tests would come back great, and then one time, he was in a different country, and I don't want to say for sure but..."
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17/ "...I believe he had some type of eruption in his uterus and he had to be rushed to the hospital and get an emergency hysterectomy. When I heard that story from him, I feel like that was my message from the universe that I should get this."
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18/ "When I expressed to him that I was experienced the exact same pain, he got an overwhelmed feeling and he even got teary-eyed as he was talking to me that I NEED to get my hysterectomy, I need to take care of my body."
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19/ "He started talking to me about how many other men [sic] he's talked to about this issue. I had only opened up to 3, 4 trans friends and they all told me they had their own versions, some just random pain, some cramping hours or a day after an orgasm."
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20/ "Since Buck & I have opened up about this, a lot more people have shared that they also suffer, from bleeding, from just not feeling well in their reproductive area."
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21/ "A lot of transmen don't want to talk about this, because talking about reproductive health means you're not talking about a penis, you're talking about ovaries, a uterus, fallopian tubes, a cervix, a vaginal cavity. You're talking about female reproductive organs."
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22/ "And so to talk about that and also be confident in your masculinity and your identity as a male person or as a male-identified person can be really hard." (...) "I want to be proud about my masculinity and still be proud and OK with me being born into a female body."
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23/ "That's been a hard thing to do. (...) When I first started transitioning, I wanted to change a lot of things. And as I changed my secondary characteristics, that are male, my top surgery, I feel a lot more comfortable in my body and who I am."
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24/ "Just like Buck, I've gone to gynecologists, I've gotten ultrasounds and Pap smears, pelvic exams, I've gotten every test, and everything always comes back normal."
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25/ "But then I talk about this pain I have, which is at the very peak of my orgasm, then the doctor says, well, my muscle is atrophying, it's cramping down. And because it's not really fed right, it doesn't really have what it needs to cramp and release, cramp and release."
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26/ "So it just cramps and cramps and cramps harder, and then sloooooowwwwly releases. And I talked to some transmen about this, and they said they had a hysterectomy, and then everything was better."pic.twitter.com/5uU5Xrz7tE
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27/ "Granted, there is a small percentage of people who get a hysterectomy and could STILL experience cramping, but a majority of people I've spoken to have had their issues solved with a hysterectomy. So that's my story."
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28/ "I'm getting a lot of questions why I'm leaving my ovaries in. I don't really know any 75, 80-year-old transmen who've been taking hormones for 50,60 years. I started hormones when I was 22. So when I'm 70, I'll be taking hormones for almost 50 years. That's a lot of years."
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29/ "I don't know what my body's going to be when I'm 70. I don't know what type of health I'm going to be in. I don't know if I'll be able to continue my hormone therapy throughout my older age." /end of Aydian's video. Next, the responses.
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30/ "I feel like this is something guys should know about before they start T and it should be written on ;the consent form"pic.twitter.com/jcgH9pnuAL
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