Saturday, May 21, 2016

My Period and Me: A Trans Guy's Guide to Menstruation — Everyday Feminism

My Period and Me: A Trans Guy's Guide to Menstruation — Everyday Feminism
"I’m doing the cramp wiggle at my desk chair right now.
You know, the seat acrobatics you do when you’ve got cramps, but you’re too lazy to get up and get Advil, and it hasn’t gotten bad enough yet that you’ve got to lie on the ground with your butt up in the air.
It’s funny. 
When I initially began writing this article, I hadn’t had anything resembling a period in months. 
And then my doctor switched my birth control on me, and my reproductive organs took full advantage of the slight change in hormones. 
My body really, really wants to menstruate, y’all.
Oh. 
This might be a good time to mention that I’m a dude – one with a uterus. 
A very, very excitable uterus.
I actually did okay when the Great Body Part Mechanic in the Sky was handing out body parts. 
I have broad shoulders; fat settles on my belly instead of my thighs; and I have narrow hips. 
I’m built like a little bull (or refrigerator).
So although I don’t take testosterone, my body looks male in many ways that are important to me.
Unfortunately, there’s still my reproductive system.
When I got my period – at eleven – I discovered that my female hormones were just about as excited about menstruation as they could possibly be.
I used to think that this was something I’d just have to deal with, like my small hands and long eyelashes. 
But then, my psychiatrist prescribed me birth control pills.
She had correctly identified that I’m least stable in the weeks before and after my period. 
So I got to take BC for “continuous suppression of periods.”
I mostly get to forget that I can have periods. 
But I can’t pretend that I’m going to be able to avoid it permanently. 
Every once in a while,
I have a full blown period attack.
So that’s my life. 
My period is going to period whenever it gets the chance..."

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