*Clap*
Hey pals, how are you doing?
I thought I would talk to you a bit about transitioning
and some advice and
things that I have done in the past and things that might
help you regarding gender, and transitioning, and all that kind of stuff.
I want to do a bit of a series where I talk about specific things,
this week being: how to begin transitioning.
I know when I first realized I was trans it was
really scary to think about the next steps because I didn't really know
anyone else who was trans,
I didn't know if it was even possible to transition at
some point in my life,
and I didn't think that I would be able to get there but
after doing some research and figuring things out and talking to people.
I kind of found out that there was a way to get through things which is the kind of
purpose of this video -
to just point you in the right direction or just give you
some advice on where to go.
Not all trans people choose to take hormones or have
surgery some people are fine just by telling people that maybe their pronouns
change, or that their identity is different,
or that they want to go by a
different name, or get the gender marker changed.
If you're new around here my
name is Leo, I'm 23, I am a trans guy from the UK, and I started my medical
transition when I was 17.
I know that it's not that easy for everyone else and
everyone starts at different points in their lives but that was my experience.
I had Top surgery and started testosterone in the year of 2012 I had my first stage
of metoidioplasty in March two years ago.
and
I am... I want to say two months post hysterectomy?
The first thing I would do
is research.
Think about what you want out of your transition, where you see
yourself in five years time, whether or not you want hormones, or surgeries, or
what kind of surgeries,
a lot of people think there's just one surgery where you
go in and you come out with a beard and a penis, or a vagina and breasts and
that's not the case.
If you are interested in going on hormones it's important to look at the
pros and cons,
usually when you speak to a doctor about it they'll go through the
side-effects and positives and negatives about the hormone itself.
When it comes to testosterone, a lot of people just think about the facial hair,
The body hair, muscle growth, your voice deepening, but they don't really think or talk
about the genital growth or the potential to lose hair,
there are some
risks that involve your heart and your blood and all that kind of stuff.
I don't know the ins and outs of it, but they're there so that's why it's important to do
your own research and figure out whether or not it is something that you want, or
something that you need to think more about.
There are also hormone blockers
that you can get where it kind of puts a pause on puberty if you're not quite
sure whether or not you want hormones or anything in the future,
but you want
things to stop.
For some people they can be really beneficial but for some others
it might not seem very useful, depending on how old you are and how far through
puberty you are.
Some trans men use puberty blockers to stop the growth of
breasts or to stop periods from happening.
Different people want
different things out of what they're taking and it's not always going to be
the best option for you, so do your research.
When it comes to surgery,
it's important that you do a lot of research on the type of surgeon that you're gonna see.
For some people depending on where you are or your financial situation,
it's not always easy to get someone that you like but
it's good to know what's around and you're not going to lose anything by
doing extra research.
For example with top surgery,
some surgeons follow the
pectoral muscle to do double incisions, some people follow the rib lines,
some people do straight lines, some people do a line across the whole chest,
it just depends on who you go and see and what kind of technique you prefer.
Do your research, really have a long think about what it is you want and need out
of your transition medical wise.
My next step, would be talking to a professional
about the way that you feel.
In the UK you can speak to your GP about how
you're feeling, and they should refer you to the nearest gender clinic in your area.
It might be useful to do some research on whether nearest gender
clinic is and take that information with you to your GP, so that they know where
to go rather than saying "I'll look into this" and then send you away and leave
you waiting for weeks without an answer.
The nearest gender clinic to
me is about an hour away, so they're not always going to be right on your
doorstep, and sometimes they can be quite tricky to get to.
If you're under 18
there's a clinic in London that a lot of young people go to, that can provide
support before you're 18,
otherwise a lot of other clinics ask you to wait until
you're 18 which isn't great for everyone but just thought I'd let you know.
Otherwise if you're not ready to talk to a doctor about it then maybe talking to
a teacher or a youth worker about how you feel might help,
they might have some
resources or information that they can give you, and it might just take away
some of the shame fear that you've got inside of you
because it's totally normal to have that.
Facebook is really good for trans
support groups and obviously not everyone's gonna have the same views
which is a bit of a shame sometimes but you can probably find someone in there
who will be similar to you and want to help you so have a look online.
I'd also
recommend following or surrounding yourself with people who are going
through similar things on social media, so whether that is following blogs or
people who are going through their medical transitions and documenting it,
I just find that watching people going through something similar to me makes me
feel less alone and like it's not a bad thing to be who I am.
When I first came out,
I told people that I knew would be supportive or more supportive than other
people might be,
which I know isn't easy for everyone you'd never really know how
people are gonna react when you come out especially if you haven't spoken to them
about it before,
but I did my best to kind of... figure out how people felt about
trans people and then tell them from that moment.
I told my friends and my
little brother and my nanny I think they were the first group of people I told.
Thankfully, they were all really supportive.
My brother was five at the time,
and he switched to calling me his 'brother' straightaway, and calling me by
'Leo', so when people say that kids don't know what's going on
they're pretty adaptable, and I think he was the easiest person to tell,
if you don't have anyone to tell in person there's no shame in telling someone
online that you're trans even if it's on your blog or something anonymously.
Another step in moving forward if you want to do this,
is to tell people about your name or pronouns that you want to be used around you,
for some people it matters more than others,
for me mattered a lot and I felt like
hearing my old name was really difficult and uncomfortable,
so I told my family
that this is the name I wanted to use, and these are the pronouns that I want
to use,
and in the beginning people were abit like: "this is weird I feel
embarrassed to use these around people." and even new people I met I would
introduce myself as my old name because I didn't feel confident enough that they
would believe me.
Obviously people are going to slip up sometimes but don't
feel guilty for correcting people.
It's also worth telling people when and where
you want your pronouns to be used,
this is also important to note if you're
supporting someone who is trans asking them where they feel comfortable using
their pronouns just avoids dangerous situations.
Some people might not be out
in front of the parents, so asking them beforehand if you're going to their
house it might make them feel a bit but if you kind of are aware that maybe
using the wrong pronouns in front of their parents is going to make an
awkward or dangerous situation.
Another part of taking action is to make
appointments with endocrinologist or clinics or your GP or surgeons or
anything like that.
A lot of the time if you're finding endocrinologist or
surgeons online they'll have their email or their phone number some people have
live chats, so you can have a consultation on their website.
I would recommend
writing out a list of questions before you go to any appointments so that you
are prepared and know what to ask because sometimes when they're in those
situations you might just freeze up or totally forget or just be really excited
about what's going on,
that nothing is coming to your head,
so write things down,
don't be afraid to take a list of questions with you to whoever you're
seing, so that you are prepared.
Those are my
tips for how to start medically transitioning and I hope it helped.
I hope everyone's doing well I hope you have a great day, and a great week, and a great
month, and a great everything, and I'll speak to you soon,
bye.
I just realized that I forgot to thank my patrons for supporting me on patreon
I want to thank Sol, Mark, Bex and Oliver, for supporting me on patreon.
You're the best! Thanks so much, I appreciate your support so much, more than you can imagine.