dandelion

I should say, as a trans woman, my experiences are pretty much the same as yours. In some sense I still don't "know" that I'm a trans person, but it seems like my desire to be a woman and my comfort with steps I have taken to become a woman indicate I'm probably trans.

Considering you were raised Catholic, it's hardly surprising you would struggle to conceive of yourself as or accept being trans.

Reading and watching certain things when I was at your point really helped me:

• Gender Dysphoria Bible
• Transition Channel videos
• Whipping Girl by Julia Serano
• Yes, You Are Trans Enough by Mia Violet

I also personally found it helpful to read science articles about trans people, as it grounded my sense that something is happening biologically and that it's not just "social contagion" or anything like that. To that end:

• Joshua Safer's "Evidence supporting the biologic nature of gender identity" (DOI)
• Joshua Safer's "Etiology of Gender Identity" (DOI)
• the collective research of Daphna Joel and Dick Swaab for the current scientific theories of "brain-sex" (which likely plays a role in gender identity and gender dysphoria):
  • Joel & Swaab, 2019, "The Complex Relationships between Sex and the Brain", (DOI)
  • Joel, 2015, "Sex beyond the genetalia: The human brain mosaic", (DOI)
  • Swaab, 2008, "A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity", (DOI)
  • Swaab, 2000, "Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus", (DOI)
  • Swaab, 1995, "A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality", (DOI)

Reading Swaab's work in particular was eye-opening, since trans women whose brains were autopsied were found to have structures in their brain that were like cis women and not like cis men, even without ever undergoing hormone therapy. While the picture that emerges with later research did not point to something as simple as "male" and "female" brains, it is particularly grounding to me to have empirical evidence like this that lends credibility to our experiences. It really is more accurate to say trans women have a "female brain" than to say trans women have a "mental illness" as though the gender identity were due to delusions or psychosis.

If reading scientific literature is challenging, the famous neuroendocrinologist, Robert Sapolsky, has some talks that summarize the situation:

• Neuro-biology of trans-sexuality: Prof. Robert Sapolsky
• Robert Sapolsky: Brain Gender

Other scientific research that I found helpful early in transition is the empirical evidence that transitioning is actually effective for alleviating gender dysphoria and improving clinical outcomes with very low regret rates. This Cornell University systematic literature review summarizes research done on the effects of transition on well-being, and links to 51 different studies that collectively indicate that gender-affirming care improves the well-being of trans people:

What We Know Project, Cornell University, “What Does the Scholarly Research Say about the Effect of Gender Transition on Transgender Well-Being?”, 2018.

It’s not unusual to start (or stop) feeling dysphoria about things that weren’t a problem previously

This, I didn't have bottom dysphoria until I started to transition. Then I realized looking back that I had bottom dysphoria all along, lol.

Link to the executive order: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/

This article uses the gender-neutral "trans people" as though this impacts all trans people equally - but I'm curious whether trans men (and transmasc enbies) turn to sex work in similar numbers as trans women (and transfems)?

It would also be interesting to know what other relevant factors are, like educational attainment and other markers of economic class. It's telling that racial minorities are more represented.

It seems to me that this might just be about sex work more broadly, which is something people in poverty turn to for survival (usually women, but I know of gay men who have turned to sex work for survival, too). This is often the left-wing justification for a program of universal basic income, as it might give lots of people, but women especially, freedom from this kind of exploitative survival work.

the leftists seem to be good with guns, it's the liberals and progressives who have trouble with them

(to be fair, the left is dead in America)

huh, I'm definitely not finding that anywhere ...

Yes, I do think people pay more attention to transfems for various reasons (mostly misogyny and anti-gay stigma), and like you I know more transfems than transmascs.

However, my primary care physician told me that I was their first trans woman patient, and he told me he has several trans men patients.

The local trans groups are mostly transfems, some transmascs show up but they are far fewer in number. I am not sure why, but trans men just aren't as active, at least in my local trans community. I have sometimes wondered like you whether this is because they find it easier to pass and fit in with cis people, so they need the support groups and trans community less, and maybe it becomes a risk to associate with the trans community because it could out them?

All that said, I figure since the causes of gender dysphoria are biological I expect the numbers to be the same, so I wasn't surprised to see they are the same.

Using crypto as the main currency would require too much of most people. Let's not forget how many people who need to use currency but who are illiterate, who have trouble using websites or phones, etc. Crypto is not accessible to large segments of the population, and in that sense it is impractical and clearly not better than other currencies.

Let's also not forget that crypto was specifically designed to prevent monetary policies from being able to influence the currency. Not only is crypto impractical for much of the population, but the government will have fewer tools to stabilize the value of the currency. It's a nightmare on many fronts.

Literally any currency would be more likely and "better" than crypto. The alternative to crypto is not trading gold, but using other major currencies, like Euros. It's unclear if the U.S. dollar collapses what currency will replace it, but I suspect that will be determined by geopolitical dominance more than anything else.

Yes, they might find a way to force crypto to be used in a case like that - but I think that would be a logistical nightmare and they would probably have to setup some kind of system to make it feasible.

I do suspect the currency of whatever geopolitical entity demands the most economic power in the vacuum left by the U.S. collapsing will become the new global currency, but it's also possible that this hypothetical world become more economically isolated, such that there is no single accepted global currency.

But yeah, Euro or Yuan would be my guess as well.

Ah, I think you may have missed my point - I am responding to the claim that both parties are equally bad. While I can understand if you are primed to expect my points to be accompanied by a liberal attitude that voting is the main form of political action, let me clarify for you that this is not what I'm saying.

Obviously middle-class Americans have a tendency to think voting is the most significant political action that can be taken, maybe if they are really into politics they might make different consumer choices (avoiding Chick-fil-a, refusing plastic straws, etc.), and even more extreme people might participate in a peaceful protest.

Brick throwing on the other hand is something people who have nothing left to lose do, desperate acts from those who are barely surviving poverty, who are being harassed, jailed, raped, and killed by the police, and so on. Brick throwing isn't done to carve out civil rights, it is survival.

To that end, Democrats who might advocate for and uphold civil rights have a pacifying and stabilizing effect in so far as some of those pressures that result in marginalized groups throwing bricks are alleviated. The GOP on the other hand seems to care little about stability, they are unskillful tyrants in that sense.

Ultimately all I am saying is that elections do have consequences, which is so obvious it should not have to be said. My statements do not imply elections are the only political events that matter.

Certainly in this one regard 😅