Transcription of the comic with some image IDs under the read more!
Page 1: An image of a trans man with long dark hair and glasses. Text reads: "I'm afraid of testosterone!" Why "tenderizing" HRT/surgery harms + spreads misinformation about transitioning. By @mueritos AKA Matteo, a latine gay transmasc.
Page 2: text reads: What is tenderizing? There is a common trend among white trans people in the community to view transness through a specific lens. "Gremlin boy" or "soft e-boy" are perfect examples, as they equate a person's gender to an aesthetic because yt trans people don't have a racial or ethnic relationship with their gender. Tenderizing can also look like de-sexualizing trans people, having a naive perspective about HRT, or shunning certain parts of the medical transitioning as gross or unnatural (bottom growth, phallo/medioplasty, sexual health, fertility, etc). Tenderizing the medical transitioning process spreads fear about the process, as we are now seeing waves of trans people who seem to refuse to do their own research about medical transitioning. Commonly known changes from HRT, like bottom growth, body hair, or odor changes are now seen as less commonly known in the community because the trans people who have taken up the majority of the conversation (yt trans people) focus on changes like voice change or fat redistribution. In turn, not acknowledging the entire transition process by the dominant trans culture causes younger and less educated trans people to become fearful of transitioning, as they suddenly realize that it is not just a magic hormone, but a drug that induces a full scale second puberty. End text. Image of a phone saying: “will HRT make me fat? Can I avoid body hair completely? Why go on HRT if you look cis? Can you show me your penis?”
Page 3: text reads: How does this “fear” look like? We've seen a shift in the way cis and trans people talk about medical transitioning, largely because social media has allowed for more visibility of trans people, and in turn, more entitlement to each and every facet of our lives. While people have always asked invasive questions, younger trans people who are uneducated (and who are largely the dominant trans culture) present a specific naivety and invasiveness when it comes to questions and comments, especially online. Many of these are based in misinformation and in the naivety of transitioning may sound like this:“I’m not bashing, but I don’t understand why people like bottom growth… I’m terrified of it.” Yikes! “I’m so scared for bottom growth” “I’m trans and I hate my body parts” didn’t have to announce it… “Sorry but they really scare me, no offense to women or trans men (image of the pleading emoji)” This one is in relation to cis gay men hating vaginas = misogyny and transphobia.
Other examples I've seen:
"I've heard bottom growth is EXTREMELY painful" "I don't want bottom growth because it looks weird/gross" "Ass hair? NVM I don't want HRT" "Body hair is gross" "I dont want HRT because it'll make me angry/apathetic.” "Oh no I'm afraid of insert unavoidable change of HRT] is there any way around it?" "Trans pregnancy sounds scary/awful"
Page 4: text reads: Fear of bodies and discomfort. I get it, when you're trans, anything that makes you think of your body may be anxiety inducing, but projecting this fear onto other trans people perpetuates the idea that trans bodies are abnormal, in constant suffering, or unloveable. There is nothing gross about trans puberty, about trans surgeries, or about HRT. These are life saving procedures and their changes mean a lot to many of us; what you may fear may give another trans person euphoria. In western cultures, there is a huge fear of the body. We do everything we can to keep ourselves clean, not smelly, we don't talk about shitting, pissing, or sex; but trans bodies are held to a level of shame unequal to that of cis people. If you're a trans person that suffers from dysphoria, that is okay, but if you subscribe to ideologies like transmed/western ideas of the body that cause you pathologize the body, you need to find healthy ways to cope with said dysphoria instead of wallowing and projecting it. These ideologies, in turn, glorify HRT and creates unrealistic expectations for these already vulnerable trans people when/if they transition. HRT and surgery can and do make our life better, but believing they will solely improve the self image of yourself is not realistic. Trans people, just like anyone else, need to unlearn fatphobia, ableism, misogyny, transmisogyny, transphobia, racism, etc. Simply put, if you're considering HRT or surgery (or if you're cis), you MUST unpack why you feel fearful/disgust of certain bodies, especially trans bodies. WHY are you so afraid of looking visibly trans? Why do you feel the need to tell the trans people in your life or the trans people online you're afraid to look like them?
Page 5: text reads: Educate and education… I personally find it odd that there's a new generation of trans people with accessible ways to educate themselves about HRT and surgery, yet are extremely fearful of said procedures. You cannot live your life expecting that hrt/surgery will NOT cause some degree of pain or discomfort. Elder trans people have gone through experimental/back alley procedures to transition, and now we have extremely safe ways to transition with loads of education, yet transphobic ideologies and naivety around transitioning has created a generation of trans people who are grossed out by HRT/surgery. This does not mean that younger generations are "soft", we are simply just experiencing a period of "tenderizing" and glorifying HRT/surgery that unfortunately shrouds the realistic journey of medical transitioning. What can you do? Do the research yourself. Talk to trans people who have transitioned and keep an open mind. Ask questions and be sure the other person is okay with sharing. Read studies on transitioning. Find resources and doctors online. There are COUNTLESS video vlogs of people talking about their changes on HRT and the process of surgery. Find forums by and for trans people. Look at pictures of results, surgeries, etc. Allow yourself to be more in tune with your body, like experimenting with clothing, sex, masturbation, and practice self love, like finding hobbies or creating trans positive relationships. Again, trans knowledge IS accessible, and you need to make sure you diversify the way you learn, but to also internalize the compassion and knowledge you obtain. I have personally seen an increase in the lack of knowledge about HRT/surgery by younger or pre-transition trans people. I am quite concerned with it, as I feel relying on social media for information is teaching these groups to disregard trans knowledge that is accessible outside of tiktok or instagram. You cannot expect strangers online to educate you about transness, that responsibility is solely on you.
Page 6: text reads: How to stop “tenderizing”? Firstly, stop the de-sexualization of trans people. Trans people have sex, trans people enjoy having sex, and trans people can be healthy and sexually active. Trans people can want to get pregnant, trans people can enjoy kink, trans people can be sex workers, etc and etc. The de-sexualization of trans bodies is largely due to preventing the fetishization of our bodies by cisgender people, but it causes lack of information in terms of trans sexual health. De-sexualization does not mean fetishization, it means allowing trans people to reclaim our sexualities, and to not treat trans people as sex-less beings. Did you know you can be on birth control and on HRT? Did you know that HRT doesnt stop you from getting pregnant/impregnating people? HRT can cause bottom growth, which many find adds onto their sex lives, but HRT can also cause dryness/vaginal atrophy that can make intercourse uncomfortable? Did you know applying lubricant or using estrogen cream in your vagina can help with these issues? Did you know that trans people can have sex with trans people or cis people? The list goes on! Stopping de-sexualization must be done to the whole of the community. A lot of you sound fucking weird and ignorant when you do not want kink at pride or find commonly accepted sexual habits done by queer adults as gross. You are not trying to make the community "look good", you're appealing to oppressors and forcing queers to assimilate to white supremacist cisheteronormativity. End text. Picture of a cartoonish face saying “Some of us like having sex!!!”
Page 7: text reads: How to stop “tenderizing”? Check your transmisogyny. There is a BLATANT disregard for trans women and trans femmes in the younger trans masc community. I have seen constant attacks against trans femmes who are simply existing online or who have asked for other trans people to keep them in mind in trans spaces. Another aspect of "tenderizing" the trans experience includes being vicious andmicro-aggressive toward trans women, all because tenderizing the trans experience means being biologically essentialist. Basically, various folks who internalize tenderizing ideas about transness view transness like this "vagina = good and penis = bad". Not only is this wildly transphobic, it is terfy and has been use in combination with racism toward trans women, especially because BIPOC women have different ideas about what womanhood means to their specific culture. Just like how you wouldn't compliment a trans man by calling him a "cute soft boy", you shouldn't talk to every trans women like they're a "dommy mommy" or tell them to "step on you." One, this is over-sexualization and removes and all sexual determination from the trans woman, but two, it shows that you only care about the trans women who look "female" enough for YOU. Further, disregarding trans women or calling them transphobes when they call out the rest of the community on their transmisogyny shows more about how you view transness (again, "vagina = good and penis = bad), and less about how you're protecting other trans people from lateral harm. There can be more things said about this, but it is much better to actively follow and listen to trans women to learn more on how you can unlearn transmisogyny.
Page 8: text reads: Concluding thoughts… I would like to say that all of these ideas are based upon my own experiences. I have been educating trans people since 2017. I have also been openly trans online since then, and I have confronted and seen many of these situations throughout the years. Social media created a hyper visibility of trans people, but at the same time, it makes people feel like they are entitled to every single aspect of our lives. This isn't to say that education and community knowledge shouldn't be shared, this is saying that boundaries exist, and like with every marginalized person, they are not your guides into their worlds, even if you ARE part of their worlds. This post is to hopefully generate discussion, and with that, I hope you as the reader can leave this with a little more understanding toward this topic, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments below. End text. Image of the author with a speech bubble that encapsulates the text accompanied by a smaller image of the author saying “thanks for reading!”
Page 9: A screenshot of @mueritos patreon with text and a doodle of the artist advertising “WIPs! Videos! Requests! NSFW!!! Shop discounts! Seasonal awards! And more…!”
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