Hello little buns, it is Stef and welcome back to my home. I wanted to bring you yet another educational video
on some gender conversations, some gender talkin',
some stuff to do with genders and stuff.
So um I get a lot of questions about HRT, right.
That's why I do hormone update videos, what HRT is.
What is it? That's what I get. What is HRT? Y'know, what is it?
And it's not usually from people that watch my videos,
but from people that know me in real life.
I'm like oh, my HRT blah blah blah, and they're like what's that?
So I want to tell you, I want to tell you what HRT is.
And I want to give you some facts about it, answer some other smaller questions about it.
Because there's some misconceptions about HRT.
I guess the most important thing is to know what HRT stands for.
So it means hormone replacement therapy, that's what HRT means.
I know hormone replacement therapy can be used with some older people,
in regards to balancing hormonal things in cisgender people,
but I'm specifically talking about hormone replacement therapy in the context of transgender people.
So hormone replacement therapy is essentially where you replace the hormones that your body is producing with hormones that suit your gender.
So, for example, me, my body has always produced testosterone because I was assigned male at birth.
And so that that basically caused all my problems, is this testosterone. I had testosterone poisoning some people like to say.
And what I've done to correct that is to undergo HRT. Not every transgender person wants to undergo HRT or has to.
It can be very, very hard and a very, very difficult process in a lot of places to get hormones, even in Canada.
It took me several months, which is not that long for a lot of people. Some people go years waiting for these hormones,
and it's a very long arduous process, and it's a very exciting thing when you get them.
So it's something that a lot of trans people look forward to, definitely. But it's important to note that not every transgender person wants to undergo hormone replacement therapy.
So in the context of a M to F transgender person, like myself, so that's assigned male at birth, transitioning into female
Or I don't know, there's better ways to say that, but that's how I'm gonna say it right now.
In the context of me, what it has done for me is it has allowed my body to feminize itself. I've only been on HRT for about four months,
The effects are not extreme yet. They're still coming, they're small things that have happened, things that make me feel a lot better about myself.
But the changes are more than just those small physical changes that you notice at first.
I cannot describe to you the improvement of my mental health since I have been on HRT. Everything about my life has improved.
And while I do feel like I am more of a target now that I am publicly transitioning, I also feel a lot better about myself.
So while I know that I am in more danger, I also know that I am a happier person. And I'm willing to accept that risk because there's no other option for me.
For me, there was no option but undergoing HRT. That is what was going to save me, that is the medical treatment for my medical issue
which is my trans experience. Some people see HRT in a transgender context as optional or as like, a cosmetic thing and it's not the case.
Trans people have dramatic improvements in their mental health under HRT 99% of the time.
It is a huge thing, it's such a helpful thing for a lot of us and I think it's really important to shift the gaze of HRT
from how you grow boobs into this is what makes me happy, this is how I am happy.
This is what has made my life improve, right. Because a lot of people, especially cisgender people see HRT as how you change your body, and that' s not what it is.
That's not the only thing it is. Yes, of course HRT is going to widen my hips, it's going to make my skin softer, it's going to reduce hair
growth, it's going to make me grow boobs. It's going to do all those great things. But it also does things underneath the skin
it also changes your sex drive, it, over years, as an MTF individual, you can have full-body orgasms, which is not something that cisgender men
are usually able to have. It's a very dramatic change. Hormones are extremely powerful, and beyond the body itself, beyond just the skin and what's under the skin
it affects your mind in such a wonderful way. I cannot, I can't even remember who I was before this. It's like whoever I was before this, I was a mess.
And I didn't, it's not like I didn't have my life together, it was like in my head I was a mess. I had no idea what I was doing, I had no direction, I had nothing
I had nothing to look forward to in my life. Except, except for one day I might be like this. And I realized, being like that meant that I was transgender.
So it's not, it's such a complicated thing. But I hope that has cleared some things up for you. A question I get a lot from cisgender people
on my transition update videos is for example, let's say, okay, I'm a cisgender girl and I have small breasts
can I take estrogen to grow my breasts? And the answer is no because what I'm undergoing with HRT is the puberty that you've already experienced.
So every transgender is going to experience a different level of breast growth, right. I have more breast tissue than some people that have been on HRT for years
Just becasue it's not in their chemistry, it's not in their DNA to have breasts. Right, it's complicated. It's very dependent upon genetics, so if you're a cisgender girl that's already completed
puberty, and you're thinking, oh my breasts are small than I'd like them to be, I wonder if I could take estrogen to grow them. Not the kind of estrogen that I'm taking.
I know there are some cis girls that are on birth control, and I know some of them experienced breast growth there,
but I don't know the details on that, it's a much smaller dose of estrogen. I just know it's never been prescribed to a cis girl to grow their breasts before and I know that it probably wouldn't work
because you're body's already producing more estrogen than mine's intaking, right. I hope that makes sense, I think it does.
And again in the context of men, I see a lot of trans male youtubers that get questions from guy like, you're so buff, can I take testosterone
to make me buff? And it's like no, because your balls are already making you buff, alright?
And trans guys usually have to work really hard to grow their muscles, it's not just a testosterone shot.
It's like bulking and eating, and working out a lot. It's a lot of work for these trans men to grow, it's not as simple as taking testosterone shots. It's not as simple
for me to grow breasts as taking a pill, actually it is, actually it is. But the point is, HRT is essentially, in a transgender context, creating puberty for us.
That's what it's doing. It's making us undergo puberty again, and if you've already undergone puberty, you can't really do it again with the same hormone
and expect different results, does that make sense? I also want to dispel the notion, I've seen this question once or twice and it's really baffled me.
And it's the question of, can HRT change your genitals. And like, it does alter your genitals, but it's not gonna turn your penis into a vagina
Just, so that's clear, like it can't literally invert and transform your body. I don't know. I wish it could, but that's not possible.
I've been all over the place but I really feel like I hit all the bases. I hope that's been helpful to you. If you know anybody that's had this question, please
feel free to share this with them so that they might learn a little bit about HRT and what it's all about. I'm gonna head out now, but I hope you learned something.
I hope you enjoyed this, I will see you again very, very soon, and until next time, just be yourself, be cool, it's all good, don't worry about it
And I love you so much, bye!