Standard HRT treatment for trans women includes a testosterone blocker, usually spironolactone, and synthetic estrogen, called estradiol, which is also prescribed to cis women with hormone deficiencies and to alleviate menopause symptoms. Testosterone is by far the more powerful sex hormone, so the testosterone blocker is definitely needed; otherwise the excess estrogen would simply be swallowed by its counterpart. This is why trans women take two forms of medication for HRT while trans men just have the testosterone injections.
The effects that T blockers have on trans women are astounding. Dosing typically starts small and expands over the first nine months to a year, but when the medical regime is in full effect, trans women’s T levels are typically quite lower than cis women’s. The Olympic committee now requires a full year of testing T levels below 10 ng/dL before trans women are allowed to compete as female.
Without the advantage of testosterone on building muscle, trans women are stripped of any advantages they may have had as a result of once having higher testosterone levels. Yet, sadly, the assumption that trans women have said advantages is so pervasive that very little scientific research has been done to look into it. What’s presented as common sense, in fact, has very little factual basis in science for a crowd that likes to preach biological essentialism.
No, Female Trans Athletes Do Not Have Unfair Advantages | Katelyn Burns for The Establishment
(via gaywrites)
I understand why this post was written but actually more and more studies are showing and trans women themselves report from experience that testosterone blockers are NOT necessary for transition because estrogen isn’t ‘swallowed by it’s counterpart’, that’s not how hormones work.
The body actually responds to the presense of a lot of estrogen by going “that’s a lot of hormones in me! Guess I should make less hormones. Lets lower my testosterone production” so taking estrogen slowly lowers testosterone levels all on it’s own.
Transition without blockers is possible, it’s just slower but it’s a choice more and more trans women are pushing for because the side effects of hormone blockers are so tough.
Trans women also don’t need these below-cis-woman testosterone levels to have good transition results. They’re being pushed to take a lot of blockers by doctors who are obessed with the idea that trans women need to be ultra feminine 50s housewives.
(Also trans women shouldn’t have to proof that they don’t have a biological advantage. They compete against cis women who are tall or muscular, lean or slender. They all have biological advantages that other women don’t. ALL athletes play on their biological advantages. Only trans women are put on the spot to prove that they’re weak enough to compete and that’s just plain old transphobia.)
