“We’ve been taught that only cis people deserve comfort in their bodies”: Why gender-affirming care is for everyone

The right is waging war on surgeries and hormones for trans people – but what will you do when they come for your BBLs and testosterone pills? Daniella Parete Clarke investigates the hypocrisy, and consults experts on the lifesaving power of gender euphoria

Photo by Karollyne Videira Hubert on Unsplash

In the UK, the Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of “woman” refers to “biological sex”. In the US, Trump’s war on DEI has involved issuing orders intended to eradicate “gender ideology”. Online, conservative influencers and tradwives dominate social-media feeds, promoting mid-century values. Suffice to say, now is not a good time for trans rights. 

While it’s too soon to understand the long-term effects of these social and political shifts, it’s almost definite that the pushback on progress will make it harder for trans and non-binary people to access medical treatment. Despite being a life-saving measure, gender-affirming care is often misrepresented and misunderstood. 

What is gender-affirming care?

“When most people hear ‘gender-affirming care’, they picture hormones and surgeries for trans people,” Dr Syd Young, the physical therapist and founder of OutWellness, a wellness centre for the LGBTQ+ community, tells Sextras.

At its core, “gender-affirming care is about helping people feel at home in their bodies. The goal is alignment between someone’s gender identity and how they experience and present themselves in the world”.

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Young explains this can include medical treatments, such as hormones and surgeries, name and pronoun changes, and movement. “At OutWellness, we provide pre- and post-op physical therapy for top and bottom surgery, training that supports dysphoria management, and a space where folks can safely explore gendered movement and strength,” they say. “Access to fitness in an affirming environment can be just as critical as access to a doctor.”

But for Grace O’Connor, a therapist who specialises in transgender and non-binary individuals, understanding what gender-affirming care is means understanding what it isn’t. “There has been a tremendous focus on the transgender and non-binary communities recently, and with that focus comes an abundance of misinformation related to the care that youth and adults are receiving,” she says. She points to the right-wing media’s accusations that therapists are “handing out hormones like candy” to people who are “confused”, which they claim is leading to high rates of detransitioning. 

Spoiler alert: that’s not true. The reality is that this care is both difficult to access and deeply necessary. “Detransition rates remain low, at around 1%,” O’Connor clarifies. “Most of those who do detransition cite a lack of family support, problems at work, harassment and bullying as their reasons.” Regret rates for other major life decisions, such as having children and getting a tattoo, are significantly higher, O’Connor notes – 7% and 16.2%, respectively. 

Is gender-affirming care just for trans people?

Photo by Norbu GYACHUNG on Unsplash

So what’s with all the misinformation? The conservative wave sweeping politics and social platforms aims to emphasise the physical and psychological differences between men and women. Often these physical differences are not innate, and are instead constructed or highlighted surgically.

At a time when trans people are facing derision and rejection in their attempts to access life-saving care, the cosmetic-surgery industry is booming, with face and body alterations becoming more widespread and normalised than ever. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 26.2 million surgical, cosmetic and reconstructive procedures were performed in the United States in 2022.

You don’t have to be paying very close attention to see the irony; breast augmentations and BBLs are designed to feminise the body, while jaw reconstruction and abdominal etching can make male patients appear more masculine. And don’t even get us started on the flock of cis men flying to Turkey to get hair implants, or Kylie Jenner sharing her exact boob-job formula in her TikTok comments. 

So, what’s the difference between these procedures and gender-affirming care?

Well… nothing. [Read the full version of this story on our Substack]