I used to be when I was insecure. Then I grew up and stopped being a bootlicker. Some people never have to self-reflect or even want to. They're happy to get there's
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026
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i adhere to a far looser definition of dysphoria and assumed i was transmed because of that
praise satan that i'm not
That seems wild that people would accuse you of being a transmed for having a looser definition of dysphoria. Usually transmeds have tighter definitions to exclude others.
oh no i wasn't accused, i assumed that i was.
Late to this party/honeypot, but here's my 2¢. I am not a transmedicalist and never have been. That said, I think I may have some insight as to why people are.
In speaking with other trans folks, I get the sense that some folks care immensely about gender presentation and how they are received by others while not caring so much about changing their bodies. Other folks are less concerned with gender presentation, but are deeply concerned with their body being "wrong." Personally, I care about both, but my dysphoria almost always stems from my body rather than from things related to presentation or even other folks' reactions. I have always had a deep sense that my body was wrong and have dreamed of "fixing" it. FFS and HRT have been godsends to me and I am super looking forward to getting bottom surgery as that's kind of the big remaining pain point for me and bringing my body closer into alignment with my internal experience is really important to me.
In short, my experience and personal needs could be pretty-well addressed by transmedicalism (or at least some imaginary version of it that is informed-consent based). If I were narcissistic enough to hold my own experiences and feelings up as a metric by which to measure other trans folks and lacked any empathy, I can see how I might espouse some version of transmedicalism.
Anyway, that's my best guess- that transmedicalists come from a place of being pretty body-focused internally and then lack the insight or humility to understand that other people experience gender/sex/transness in ways that are different, but still fucking valid.
We all believe stupid things at some point in our lives. As @ada@piefed.blahaj.zone implied, sometimes the thing that is needed isn't to root out wrongthink, but to have folks in community where they can see a different point of view and hopefully grow, or at least come to understand others' point of view.
Anyway, that's my best guess- that transmedicalists come from a place of being pretty body-focused internally and then lack the insight or humility to understand that other people experience gender/sex/transness in ways that are different, but still fucking valid.
This was my exact journey
To be clear, anyone promoting transmedicalism will cop an instant ban, so it will be hard to find answers to this question
Way to ruin the honeypot
@ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone Like what they said. I did make this to hear opinions but was also hoping it would draw some out of hiding who hadn't been banned yet. I was reading threads on Reddit before posting this and was unsettled by how many transmeds there are on that platform and was concerned about how many might be on Lemmy.
I've got no interest in baiting trans folk and looking for excuses to ban them.
Gatekeeping isn't welcome, but a transmed who interacts with this space whilst keeping their opinions to themself has a chance of moving away from that mindset. And even if they don't, as long as they're not pushing their beliefs on others, they're not doing harm to anyone but themself.
There will absolutely be transmeds here. They are in every space. Hell, I used to hold vague transmed beliefs myself when I first transitioned. But that was because that was all I knew. Being in community shifted my perspective. I want folk to have that opportunity.
Fair enough I wasn't thinking about people who have an open mind or are willing to change. More thinking of the kind of person who says I'm hurting trans people because I like and keep my natal genitals, or because I use xenogender lables (demongender by the way). I guess when they keep their mouths shut they aren't much of a problem and maybe more people are willing to change than I've previously thought.
That person can fuck off, and I'll ban them the second they try and tell you your own truth!
I guess when they keep their mouths shut they aren't much of a problem and maybe more people are willing to change than I've previously thought
I'll be honest, I don't know how common people changing their opinions on this is. All I know is that when I first transitioned, I went from someone who held vague transmed views, but mostly kept them to herself, to understanding that my own experience is not magically more correct, true or valid than anyone else's.
I'd imagine its pretty common. How often do we all read internalized transphobia spirals on this community? How often did it start there for many of us... I was once there years ago.
5 years ago, I was straight-up transphobic. Like, literally unexplainably scared of trans people. I grew up in a super conservative town, and while I wasn't conservative, I had never been exposed to trans people and the concept was entirely new. Mind you - that time I wore a dress out and was nearly strangled to death for it didn't do me any favors in asking questions either...
But 5 years ago I met my first trans friend. She had finally gotten away from conservative parents heading into college herself and was starting to socially transition. We argued. My arguments... Calling them transmedicalist would be giving me too much credit, I was straight-up transphobic. But I was as careful as I could be and wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and try to learn if maybe this stuff was legit. That night, as anyone following the scientific method would do - I went to acour research trying to prove myself wrong... I didn't want to hurt my friend and wanted to understand. That night, I learned "oh..." - theres plenty of evidence that suggests brain sex can be different from body sex. I was wrong. I apologized the next morning and became an ally. I often ended up leading things in uni, and despite not understanding much I'd always put pronouns in my username to signal a safe space the best I could.
Eventually I get a girlfriend, who herself is trans. With her, I learned more... But she's my ex for a reason and part of that had to do with how cagey she was about everything and anything so admittedly didn't learn much. But in that relationship I did eventually realize there was no way in hell I was a man. I started identifying non-binary, and well... She'd still call me her "boyfriend" and such, further ruining any chance of my questioning myself further. But in helping her with her parents, I figured they may be responsive to the same stuff I was years before and started searching for research. 22 peer-reviewed journals. All backing the existence of trans people, several backing that gender was absolutely not binary.
Eventually we broke up over some seriously traumatic issues, and I spent a long time recovering from that. Somewhere along the line I read a post on a trans community talking about brain sex by a biologist. This gave me even more insight on the whole non-binary stuff, because it elaborated on the research I had already read. Gender markers in the brain tend to lean toward the gender one identifies as - I knew this already (which already gives precedent for other genders given these markers are individual points of data that could hypothetically be plotted multi-dimensionally together - not a line). But what I didnt understand was that not only is that the case, but there are more than 2 ways lots of these markers can trend, implying the markers themselves can be more than a line. Suffice to say, gender is incredibly diverse based on what we know scientifically.
A transmedicalist who claims to follow science and is a bigot or doesn't accept multiple genders... Isn't very scientific in their shit themselves.
As for what people choose to label themselves as - idgaf. You do you. There's very clear evidence supporting your existence scientifically. If you choose to find a label that works for you - well its nobody else's place to figure you out, particularly in a place with so little research but very much has enough to support you - in this way, my modern line of thought aligns very well with lots of the other positive stuff in this thread. I hope for the day everyone can be better understood by everyone <3
And nowawadays I identify as a woman, so well, journey goes on. But that's how I got to "geez, its REALLY stupid to claim transmedicalism. You really gotta ignore what research has been done, which is ironically not all that medical a way of doing things, to come to these opinions..."
Sincerely, A rambling transfem who hopefully got her journey of understanding across without accidentally insulting anyone.
I was when I was more ignorant of the trans experience. I read about the process for transition as an outsider and read from resources not written by the community. They talked about it in terms of justifying taking steps, essentially gate keeping the process. Get a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, social transition for a specific period of time, then puberty blockers, more time, then hormones, then maybe surgery, etc.
After actually learning FROM trans people rather than ABOUT them all of that fell away. The same applies to my experience learning about autism and ADHD. There is a good reason for the phrase "nothing about us without us".
from what i heared ican give you assumptions.
i believe it stems from a deep existential insecurity. if a doctor gives them a diagnosis, that's a great excuse to transition: they dont want to .. it's a medical neccessity.
if a lot of people then 'self diagnose' and are taken as valid by society, that erodes this institutionalized legitimacy. suddenly people think they transitioned, because they wanted to. now all the burden of making decisions falls back to themselves.
on the other hand (or also?), they fear to be ridiculed. they fear 'unfounded' trans people will be a whole in the defense, when the backlash comes.
it's fear, i guess?
edit: i just realised i wrote this was about trans transmedicalist specifically. i think the structure remains in cis transmedicalists as well: trans people choosing to transition means cis people can not identify their gender and their anatomy that easily anymore. it shows them the contingence of their own identity. scary stuff, tbh; but something one can deal with, as proven by the existence of trans people. ;)
Because I was misled once.
I'm not a transmed but can say that certain organizations cannot provide gender affirming care without following a policy that requires a dysphoria diagnosis first. It allows doctors to cover their assess in case something stupid happens
Not a 🏳️⚧️⚕, but I believe you’ll find the perspectives you're seeking !medicine@lemmy.world !medicine@lemmy.ca !medicine@mander.xyz !askscience@lemmy.world !ask@piefed.social !asklemmy@lemmy.world etc..