As a result, some parents now fear more teenagers will turn to online sites for hormone therapy without medical supervision, taking a dangerous shortcut to transitioning.
They cite a particular Reddit forum with almost 40,000 members around the world that is dedicated to providing advice to those hoping to attempt a “DIY” transition.
*Reddit declined to act on the “Trans DIY” forum despite numerous posts recommending the purchase of medication online. A spokesman said: “Reddit has strict site-wide policies that prohibit the soliciting or facilitating of any transaction or gift involving controlled substances. Our dedicated internal safety teams enforce our policies across the platform.”*
Yeah, no shit. It’s a fucking nightmare to get any form of medical care, so of course they’d look elsewhere.
Full disclosure: I’ve been on legally prescribed hormones from the age of 15
I have a fair few friends who’ve ordered DIY hormones. I can say, without a doubt, that for some of them this saved their life – they were actively suicidal until they started hormones, due to their dysphoria. They had been through therapy, and it didn’t change that, because you can’t change gender dysphoria with therapy. They were on the waiting list for the NHS gender clinics (by the way, said waiting list is WAY longer than three years – I’ve technically been on it for over four years, it’s far longer now!).
Obviously, the ideal situation is to go through a doctor, be that on the NHS or privately, but I won’t condemn anyone who can’t do that for any reason, be it financial, waiting lists, etc. Trans people have built up a wealth of community knowledge to do with DIY hormone replacement – we know how to do this as safely as possible, we know how to get our bloods checked (and there are various free or cheap services which do this), and we strive for harm reduction.
At the end of the day – yes, if at all possible, get your hormones from a doctor. But if not, I’d rather my mates were on grey market hormones than dead.
Transition, like abortions, will happen regardless of government restrictions and so access should be provided for whoever needs it to lower the risks of unsupervised treatment.
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No paywall link:
https://archive.ph/8twdS
As a result, some parents now fear more teenagers will turn to online sites for hormone therapy without medical supervision, taking a dangerous shortcut to transitioning.
They cite a particular Reddit forum with almost 40,000 members around the world that is dedicated to providing advice to those hoping to attempt a “DIY” transition.
*Reddit declined to act on the “Trans DIY” forum despite numerous posts recommending the purchase of medication online. A spokesman said: “Reddit has strict site-wide policies that prohibit the soliciting or facilitating of any transaction or gift involving controlled substances. Our dedicated internal safety teams enforce our policies across the platform.”*
Yeah, no shit. It’s a fucking nightmare to get any form of medical care, so of course they’d look elsewhere.
Full disclosure: I’ve been on legally prescribed hormones from the age of 15
I have a fair few friends who’ve ordered DIY hormones. I can say, without a doubt, that for some of them this saved their life – they were actively suicidal until they started hormones, due to their dysphoria. They had been through therapy, and it didn’t change that, because you can’t change gender dysphoria with therapy. They were on the waiting list for the NHS gender clinics (by the way, said waiting list is WAY longer than three years – I’ve technically been on it for over four years, it’s far longer now!).
Obviously, the ideal situation is to go through a doctor, be that on the NHS or privately, but I won’t condemn anyone who can’t do that for any reason, be it financial, waiting lists, etc. Trans people have built up a wealth of community knowledge to do with DIY hormone replacement – we know how to do this as safely as possible, we know how to get our bloods checked (and there are various free or cheap services which do this), and we strive for harm reduction.
At the end of the day – yes, if at all possible, get your hormones from a doctor. But if not, I’d rather my mates were on grey market hormones than dead.
Transition, like abortions, will happen regardless of government restrictions and so access should be provided for whoever needs it to lower the risks of unsupervised treatment.