[–]StrawberryEggz
Hrt quite litteraly alters your biology
How specifically? Im no scientist and nobody told me.
You get shorter, your feet shrink. Your tendon elasticity changes. Your muscles change structure. Your skin gets softer and more smooth. Your hair changes. Your eyes change and more often eye sight gets worse for those of us who already wear glasses. Uhmmmmm Your body fat moves to places to mimic that of cis women, like hips, central stomach, cheeks and under the chin, thighs and butt. Your nails change. Like, quite literally, other then whats between your legs, you're a female... oh I forgot boobies too. Lol
My eyesights gonna get worse? Damn TwT
It gives you better perception of color too tho
Don't forget that your crotch starts smelling like vag
Yup! My cis missus wasn't sure if my smell was from her, or from another woman. Needless to say it's almost caused us to break up... until she realized it was me.
Vaginas do not have a distinct or strong smell. If they do then that woman’s PH balance is off and needs to go to a gyno. I can never ‘smell’ my vagina.
You're wrong... Respectfully, of course.
I'm a 46YO, polyamerous, lesbian slut. I've been face-deep in more vulvas than you've had holidays. I've even been gifted a few "first times", and I can 100% assure you... They have a smell.
I will also stress that they didn't smell BAD. They just had a distinct smell.
100% of this happened to me. But you seem to forgotten the periods as well. Yes it is now known that trans women get periods. Of course we don't have menstrual flow, because we don't have the anatomy for it, but we do get everything else. I even have it in my medical file that I have PMDD.
So... As someone who has gone through every single one of these changes... does anyone have any questions for me?
It's impossible to get periods as an mtf person.
Period is when the ovum falls in the form of hemorrhage when it doesn't get fertilized by a spermatozoon. So to have a period you need to have ovaries which produce the ovums pretty much. This is a simplified version of course.
I'll take "Tell me you don't know what a period is, without telling me you don't know what a period is." for 100 points.
It’s not a period where you bleed every month, just the hormones fluctuating in a monthlong cycle that can cause some cramping in the intestines. Everyone has the hormones that cause a menstrual cycle, and they can still cause some light symptoms in people without a uterus because of the rise and fall of hormones like LH and FSH and a sudden drop in natural estrogen and testosterone at the end of the month. So while many don’t feel cramping, lots of trans women still experience a cycle that can leave them feeling stronger, fatigued, emotional, happy, etc at different times according to that *period* of time
Trans women on HRT don’t actually have fluctuating LH and FSH. Levels are consistently low. The reason why is because LH and FSH in people with testicles triggers sperm and testosterone production so when trans women go on feminising HRT their pituitary gland is suppressed from producing it to counter sperm and T production. I believe the only exception is trans women who’ve had a bilateral orchiectomy.
Woman who have had overies removed or a hysterectomy still get a period they just dont bleed or release an egg. All the other symptoms are there. If you have the hormones you have the cycle.Plus there are more to a cycle then just menziees there are the other 3 phases of a cycle too. Like tbh can we talk about how vivacious, horny and wet ovulation week is like :3!!
Also the soft tissue around the stomach also causes period poops.
HRT alters the properties of your biochemistry, and as such, the behaviour of the human body; A transfeminine person has “female” body fluids, muscles, bones, vital organs, hair, eyes, etc.
Even if they still have the genetics and sex organs of someone Assigned Male at Birth, HRT makes those genetics and organs act the way they would if a biological female had them. If a trans woman has testicles and a penis, those organs would simply behave the way they would if a biological woman naturally had them, because as far as the body’s signalling systems are concerned, a biological woman does have them. Likewise, a trans woman who doesn’t have ovaries or a uterus would have their body simply act like the body of a biological woman who doesn’t have ovaries or a uterus, because; again, as far as the body’s signalling systems are concerned; they are a biological woman who, for whatever reason, doesn’t have ovaries or a uterus.
If a transfem still has a “masculine skeletal structure” due to only starting HRT in adulthood, that’s because their body experienced masculine puberty before HRT shut that down and made the body start experiencing feminine puberty instead. This isn’t because puberty is a deciding factor in biological sex, it’s because puberty is an additive process in the body; it doesn’t “remove things”, the closest it gets to “getting rid of stuff” is rearranging things or changing the body’s priorities.
It’s like how people with gigantism don’t suddenly shrink down to a more average height once whatever’s wrong with their pituitary gland is fixed, they just stop getting taller; the thing being impacted isn’t the structures of the body, it’s the processes in the body that decide those structures.
It introduces multiple intersex/DSD conditions into your body such that you become phenotypically of the new sex. Your chromosomes, as of now, are unchanging. But your outward markers for sex such as far distribution, height/weight, hair, and so on do change.
"Boy" isn't a biological thing, that's a gender. "Male" is more accurate but even that can be shady and it very much depends on the specific field of science you're looking into, even the different branches of biology.
WARNING: Massive oversimplifications ahead. But not even that much. I am not a medical professional but after reading papers and talking with many for years, this is what I have concluded is the simplest way to describe the extremely complex "biological sex on hrt" topic.
To simplify it A LOT, after the first few months of fetal development, there's very little the Y chromosome actually does. The vast majority of the body's functions and cell encoding is in the X chromosome (otherwise women wouldn't survive) and the other non-sexual chromosomes of the body.
Most of the Y chromosome code is two things:
- the SRY gene, which during the fetal phase tells the otherwise neutral/feminine cells to go "nuh uh", kickstarting the reaction the other way, causing the production of testosterone, which finishes the job of turning the fetus male. Note that, again, the instructions for either development are still in the X chromosome. The SRY gene just kickstarts the factory the other way.
- very few extra instructions, which do have a few uses well into adulthood but for the most part the only major thing is regulating the production of sperm (for which a good chunk of the instructions is still in the X chromosome either way).
Both of these functions are irrelevant to the way the body does things, as that is regulated mainly by which of the two hormones you have in abundance and which in lower amounts. HRT alters exactly that, the body simply goes "ight bet" and does that instead. Estrogen is not some magical boob-growing juice, it's just telling the body "hey this is a woman's body now" (the same way a cis woman's estrogen would to her body) and the cells just begin to use the different instructions encoded in, again, the same exact X chromosome.
Similarly testosterone is not some magical beard-growing juice, it tells the body "this is a man's body" and the body acts accordingly, which is also why despite some of the instructions for male sexual differentiation are in the Y chromosome, trans men can still see some minor levels of bottom growth (cause again, some of the instructions are still in the X chromosome!).
Obviously, the body can only do so much, because you already developed a specific set of sexual organs all the way back when the SRY gene kickstarted the fetus one way (or the other if the SRY gene was absent), and it kinda has to fight the organs it has (which is why HRT is forever), but outside of that it really does just straight up do the exact same things a cis person's body would.
It's why "should we still use the terms biological male/female in medical contexts" is even a question to begin with, in recent years, cause when you've been on HRT - either type really - for so long, most medical aspects become nigh identical to a cis person with those same hormones, because the body has aligned that way, and the only real "your medical amab" things are almost entirely relegated to genitalia and reproduction.
So, TL;DR "boy" isn't a biological term, "male" is, and even that depends on how you define "male" biologically. This definition, and the definition of "biological sex" in general, shifts not only between branches of science, biology, medicine etc. etc., but also between people. But there's plenty of research that seems to show that after long enough on HRT, whatever biological measurement you're trying to measure aligns with the hormones, reaching pretty much the same level as a cis person with the same hormones.
[–]Andra_Ingensbarn
I have a PhD and am a high school science teacher. “Biological gender” doesn’t have a definition in science. Biological sex is a whole lot more complicated than we teach in compulsory education anywhere in the world. Hormones affect how we think, feel, act, and look. All sorts of overlapping factors affect your hormones and how your body reacts to them. Humans have tried to force a binary label onto what is really a matrix of interacting factors.
You are what you say you are.
I wish i could get the people in my life to understand that hormones are that important. I’m intersex “AFAB”, technically labeled as female but I have several small deviations and my hormones have much higher androgen levels. I’ve always thought and felt and acted like a guy, much to the annoyance of my family for not picking up in the subtleties of womanhood, but when I got rested and told them that they don’t really understand
and definitely don’t understand why I’d want to try and transition to look more like a man too. They don’t think hormones are significant enough as if I was born with more obvious physical differences.
The deciding factor for phenotypic development is what hormones are present during prenatal development. If there's no testosterone present for fetuses with an XY Chromosome Pair, they are going to develop a female phenotype, aka primary sexual characteristics. Likewise for fetuses with an XX Chromosome pair developing a male phenotype if there is testosterone present. Both of these can happen with gene defects. The one gene "deciding" what phenotype you'll get is one commonly found on the XY Chromosome that causes your reproductive organs to produce small gametrs, aka sperm, and testosterone instead of large gametes, aka egg cells, and estrogen. Everything* else is a result of hormones. There is almost no information on the Y chromosome that isn't on the X chromosome. (iirc it does contain some genes important for sperm function, but that only affects fertility)
Secondary sexual characteristics don't develop until puberty, which is, as well, decided by the hormones in your body. A plethora of bodily functions change depending on the sexual hormone predominant, even late after puberty. Fat distribution, metabolism, skin softness...
Where do you draw the line? What's a boy, what's a girl, in that light? Someone with XY/XX chromosomes? Someone with male/female reproductive organs? Someone who has undergone male/female puberty? I'm using male/female in terms of sex here - gender identity not even taken into account.
In my opinion, a hormone replacement therapy changes your biological sex. Obviously it's going to make you infertile (most of the time) , it's not going to change your chromosomes or the way your primary sexual characteristics have grown, nor is it going to reverse what the opposing hormone has made in permanent changes.
But for most intents and purposes, your body functions like that of the sex your hormones are from, albeit "abnormally".
I am no expert on this! There is unfortunately no easy answer here, advanced biology is a little more complicated than basic biology.
[–]RainbowPhoenix1080
Sex is a polythetic category characterized by a collection of traits.
It's not defined solely by your chromosomes because not everyone assigned male at birth has XY chromosomes and not everyone assigned female at birth has XX chromosomes.
It's not defined solely by your ability to produce gametes because some people can't produce gametes.
It's not defined solely by your hormones because some people assigned male at birth are naturally low in testosterone and some people assigned female at birth are naturally high in testosterone.
It's not defined solely by your genitalia because some people have ambiguous genitalia.
Sex is a constellation of these traits.
If you are on HRT for long enough, you are hormonally and medically female. It also gives you female secondary sex traits.
If you get bottom surgery, then your genitalia are female.
This is all to say that yes, trans women can be female.
[–]SammSandwich
Hot take, I believe that transgender people are actually intersex. We know the brain anatomy is more similar to their gender, and brain anatomy is biology and it's a variation in sex characteristics, so intersex. By biological classification your body fits more into female than male. The sex is more than just genitals.
I agree with you! There's mounting evidence to support a genetic cause.
The issue I have with this take is it’s getting dangerously close to bioessentialism, especially with the point on brain anatomy. By making the claim that there is a female brain and a male brain, it leaves a huge grey area for nonbinary people and other intersex people.
We can’t stop explaining to uninformed people there’s a biological cause just because cis people MIGHT discriminate against nonbinary people. Let’s get the general population onside with the science first and then ensure nobody under the trans umbrella is discriminated against, including nonbinary and gender fluid folks.
There’s no good evidence of differences between men’s brains and women’s brains though, my point is that using unsupported evidence like that perpetuates the sex/gender binary, which is not a good thing.
Also, I’m not saying this because cis people might discriminate against nonbinary people, I’m saying cis people and binary trans people are promoting falsehoods that hurt nonbinary and intersex people.
I do not support the idea of sex as a binary and I don't think original my statement implied that. To say there is no good evidence of differences between male brains and female brains is inaccurate. The differences are few but they do exist. I believe sex is a bimodal spectrum, with male and female being the two extremes, and I believe that while most people generally fall near one or the other, almost no one is 100% male or female by every biological measure. There are biological factors behind being trans, cause everything that happens in the brain and body is biological including thoughts and feelings and your perception of self. Claiming all trans people are intersex doesn't harm non-binary and intersex people. It doesn't imply that they are any less not male, female, man, or woman. I'm simply saying that transgender people also don't fit within the sex binary and I believe that time will prove that theory correct
There seems to be a "trans brain" that has it's own quirks as well. Improved spatial reasoning and synesthesia are very common.
[–]Pixelated_Princess49
- Sex is not a single variable. It's a cluster of characteristics: chromosomes, gonads, hormone levels, secondary sex characteristics, internal reproductive anatomy, and external genitalia. These don't always align even in people who've never taken any medical intervention (as intersex variations show).
- Hormones: Yes, definitively changed. Hormone levels are a biological parameter, and HRT shifts them substantially, often into the typical range of the target gender.
- Secondary sex characteristics: Yes, changed, fat redistribution, breast development or reduction, body/facial hair, skin texture, .... These are biological traits.
- External genitalia: Can be changed surgically and the results are functionally and anatomically sophisticated.
- Plasma proteome adaptations during feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapy, blood changes brought on via HRT - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04023-9
If you medically transition, you change primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Sex is a bimodal distribution model. You might have leaned more "male" before medical transitioning, but as soon as you grow literal boobs, it should be obvious that you are no longer leaning more "male", but more "female".
[–]Id_like_to_be_a_tree
I’m a trans woman. At this point in my transition, I have female primary and secondary sex characteristics. That means that biologically, my phenotype is female. When I do a blood test, my hormone levels are within normal ranges for cis gendered women. So biologically, I’m female from an endocrine perspective as well. What about genotype?
I’ve never had my chromosomes tested, but there are plenty of examples of cis men with xx chromosomes and cis women with xy. So chromosomes, while immutable, are not really that definitive of an indicator for biological sex. So yes, transition does change your biology to align more closely with your gender identity.
[–]ChickenSpaceProgram
i don't see why it matters. it's not even relevant medically, whether i'm considered biologically male or biologically female, i'm going to tell any doctors for whom the information is relevant that i'm trans; since i transitioned, my biology doesn't match that of a cisgender man nor a cisgender woman completely. quite honestly i think boiling my body down to strictly "biological male" or "biological female" is not helpful, it is neither.
what is relevant is gender; what someone tells you they are, what they want to be called, and how they express that gender. and in that respect i'm a demigirl.
[–]SkyFallenNerolin
sorry if i Trigger you with this. I dont mean to.
First of all, yes. They Problem is, you can really Change biology. Your Bones and DNA cant BE Changed. Thats a Problem for many trans People.
But second, you DNA dont really Matter. Sure, a "Male" Body have x and y chromosomes. But some cis female Bodys also have a XY Duo where the y chromosome never got activated in the process of creating AS a Baby. So the chromosome Part IS a stupid Thing.
So, in the end its Just the Bones Part and that transfems cant give Birth at the Moment or Transmasc dont get fems pregnant are the Problems, but can Change in the future. (With Bones i mean you have a mascular or feminine bone structure which cant Change at the Moment.)
But Look how far WE came.HRT, surgery, laser,...
This Last Problem will also but Just a little Cat jump and will Change Out Life.
