so I found out something from a trans woman on tiktok who had bottom surgery 3 weeks ago!
know how TERFs when it comes to transfem bottom surgery are like ‘they have to dilate it constantly!!!!’ and use that as a reason why it’s Bad and Not Like A Real Vagina?
that is only for the first year, while it’s healing, and gets less as the year goes on too.
after a year they only have to dilate once every week or so. so yeah another example of TERFs not knowing what the fuck they’re talking about lmao
my understanding is it functions pretty much like a cis woman’s vagina would after that, if maybe slightly dryer (which…some of us are dryer than average too so )
Yeah so after a year of recovery you pretty much have to dilate only once a month IF you aren’t having penetrative sex
Depending which surgery you opt for you can get wet and it varies from person to person whether additional lube is needed
And like I’ve seen plenty of post op pictures after a year of recovery. And they look no different from other vulvas (some still have scars but eh who cares)
Thanks for the addition! ❤️
I knew TERFs were bullshitting or exaggerating like they always do but it’s good to know the truth for sure regardless. It’s also interesting to me as well to see how transition works so it was a nice vid to pop up on my fyp!
Research on transgender health and wellness after gender affirming surgeries can be helpful for transgender people who want to learn more about what their options for medically transitioning are.
Knowing the potential outcome of these interventions can help inform and guide the decisions of people who are considering getting these surgeries— and it can also help inform cisgender healthcare providers too.
As someone who had bottom surgery myself (I had ALT phalloplasty) I took a deep dive into the current research on the procedure before making my decision, and while the research was helpful, talking to people who had the surgery I was planning to have equally important.
That being said, if anyone is considering getting peritoneal flap vaginoplasty, this new study should have interesting results and is worth reading!
There isn’t enough knowledge out there about this topic, especially given the relative newness of the peritoneal pull-through procedure as a vaginoplasty option.
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Here is the primary author’s Twitter summary of the study:
“Retrospective review of 199 peritoneal flap vaginoplasty patients
⏲️Median time to orgasm = 6 months
Any smoking history = correlated with less orgasm recovery
Among those with minimum one-year follow up (89%):
Orgasm pre-op not significantly correlated with orgasm post-op
Rate of post-op orgasm was 86%, however,
Not all anorgasmic patients were attempting to orgasm
Patients continue to become newly orgasmic past one year
Interventions for anorgasmia post-surgery include:
Pelvic floor physical therapy for scars, hypersensitivity, or dilation difficulty
Testosterone rx (orchiectomy is hormone intervention!)
Sex therapist with ️⚧️ competency
❤️Trauma informed care
We examined a rudimentary outcome (orgasm: yes/no). There is so much more to learn about the sexual health of transgender women and nonbinary people after surgery! It is a privilege to work for this community under the mentorship of Dr. Zhao and Dr. Bluebond-Langner at NYU Langone”
(It costs $31.50 to purchase access to the full article, but if you are in school you can request that the research librarians help you gain access to a copy of the full text of the study)
Here’s my (bad) diagram of what my body looks like.
I’m post-op from ALT phalloplasty with scrotoplasty and glansplasty without vaginectomy or urethral lengthening.
Things that the drawing doesn’t really show very well:
If you’re standing directly in front of me, you can’t see the scrotum behind my penis shaft unless I lift up my penis or move it to the side.
If you’re standing directly in front of me and I’m holding my penis up or to the side, you’d only see my scrotum, you can’t see my clitoris/vagina while looking at me from the front.
You can only see the original bits if you look up between my legs when I’m standing, or if I spread my legs while I’m laying down.
The labia majora are gone, they were turned into the scrotum.
The labia minora were used to cover the area where the majora used to be so it looks like they’re gone because they were flattened out and don’t stick out. It’s hard to explain this one.
I don’t know where my urethra is but it is in the same place as where it was when I was pre-op so I have to sit to pee, I’ve just never bothered looking for it. I might try using an STP at some point. So no, I can’t pee through the penis or ejaculate through it.
It took several months, but I have some level of sensation in about 90% of my penis now. It feels like a bigger less-sensitive clitoris to me.
After I get the pump erectile implant in June, I’ll be able to have an erection with my penis which will make it easier to top and penetrate my partner during sex, and my vagina still works like it used to, so I can also bottom and be vaginally penetrated if I want to.
I colored the donor site and the split thickness skin graft site in as one red square because I have hypertrophic scarring that makes it hard to find the line between the two since they were touching even before the scar growth so I just drew it as one block, but technically there are two different things happening on the same thigh.
I’ve gotten a few questions about how I can have a penis and a vagina, so hopefully this drawing helps answer that question by showing the gist of the set-up.
On March 18,2019, I had my mtf, gender affirmation surgery. On the 23rd, they finally took the packing out of … uh … ME.
I was so excited for this to happen, because comfort, basic needs, and other reasons…
When the doctor began removing the dressing, it was this searing, hypersensitive “stuff was stuck and dried in place” kind of moment. Like, white hot, worst pain of my life, don’t go into the light little Fia instant.
I screamed. I cried. I thought something was wrong.
All the while, my doctor’s is asking me to talk about what I was feeling. And I couldn’t. It was too intense.
Physically, what I felt was a kind of burning and ripping. Like I had to poop and pee and fart at the same time, but maybe was actually bleeding internally. When I explained it to the nurses in the Room (who have had children), they said I had just described birth, if birth only took 5 minutes.
My doctor said that my newjina looks beautiful. Nurses nodded in agreement. I’m glad he’s excited about it, and feels so positive. But he was upset, too, because I was In so much pain.
When it was done, it was done. I sat – or rather I lay there in bed, thinking about this for a while; why did I scream? Why was it so painful?
And I started thinking, there was 35 years of hurt coming out of me. Every nasty thing anyone ever called me when I was a child. The molestation. The incessant bullying.
Every time I was excluded, or “othered.”
My mother’s beatings. The rape…
Every little bit of pain and agony I have ever endured my entire life up until that moment purged out of me.
Was RIPPED out of me in one fell swoop, once and for all.
Now, I feel peaceful. Lighter, and in a way, unburdened.
I feel real.
When I explain to folks that this surgery was a life saving procedure, not a status thing, or a fun cosmetic whim like a new piercing, I mean exactly what I say:
Post surgery musings 3; Our Sad, Broken Healthcare System
Hullo!!!
As you know, I’m 5 months out since my gender affirmation surgery. Healing has been slow and a bit uncomfortable, but wonderful overall.
Regarding some of that uncomfortableness, my surgeon set up a revision procedure to tweak things a bit, and to help with overall comfort and aesthetics. I had that on July 30th.
So now, it’s been 2 weeks since my revision and all is well. I expect to be back living my best life around August the 19th.
~~~
I wanted to share a thing. So, I love my Surgeon. In fact, my wife teases me by referring to him as my “boyfriend.” Between him, his assistant (that is now a good friend of mine), my physical therapist, AND the night nurse from my time in the hospital, I now have QUITE the crew going. These folks have been amazing, and I owe my life to them, literally.
The hospital however. Jeeze. So you’ll recall when they thought I was hiding a pregnancy? Wehhhhlllllll this last time, when I went in for pre-surgery testing, they asked me about the HYSTERECTOMY I had back in March, and how I was doing.
A hysterectomy. Really, though?
I find it TERRIFYING that the hospital – a GOOD highly RESPECTED hospital - people in whose hands I entrust MY LIFE to, can’t seem to agree what a person is there to do, and/or get done. What if I was going in for an appendectomy, and they did a lobotomy? For real, how incompetent are hospitals!? We pay through the nose for quality healthcare, shouldn’t they be better at it?
I considered correcting them, but at this point, I just don’t have the energy. So instead, I said “I’m doing well,” feel “mostly healed” and how I’m looking forward to “getting all this ‘hoo-hah’ business behind me, once and for all.”
The doctor (a lady one) then commented; “I bet you’re excited to not have to deal with menopause, am I right?”
“Sure,” I said.
In a way, this was very validating for me, as they CLEARLY believe me to have been assigned female at birth. Why not roll with it? And ultimately, is it really THAT far off the road from what actually happened?
*facepalm*
And folks wonder why I simply do NOT trust the healthcare system.
These kind of administrative f@#k-ups are PRECISELY how people end up dead on a table and why malpractice is a thing. How is this still an issue in 2019?!
Last night’s opening of Gabinetto Segreto at the FANTABULOUS Vanderelli Room in Columbus, OH., was AWESOME! It was so great to participate in such a beautifully body positive environment. The art was top notch and wonderfully cheeky! The performances, the music! AHH! SO GOOD.
If you are near or in or adjacent to CBUS – Go see it!
If you missed the opening, you can always check the website and swing by or come to the closing reception on August 31st, 7-10.
This show was a bit braver than I’ve been since transitioning. I’ve made a commitment to be visible and to fully embrace authenticity as a life path… The paintings were typical of what I usually show, but the sculptural piece, “Trigger Warning,” was very much outside my comfort zone. That USUALLy means it’s important, and that I need to do the thing. That said, I’m glad I was able to work through my personal discomfort to make the statement.
In essence, “Trigger Warning” is a comment on how people obsess over trans people’s genitals, and how we are fetishized, targeted, and otherwise singled out, and “othered.”
The “Guy Parts” were cast of me within a week of surgery, so showing them was also a type of eulogy for the boy. To that point, I now feel some good closure with my old life/body as I step ever forward into my truth.
I figured I’d check in, especially as I approach 3 weeks post op…
I’m good and getting better, though I still cannot sit up for too long. Leaning, reclining - STANDING, no problem. Sitting? Not so much. My hope is that I can drive myself to my next dr. appointment.
Recently, I was in front of a full length mirror, and experienced a moment of true congruence. That is, I saw MY body reflected back at me, not HIS. I was so overcome by this realization, I cried.
Mentally, being back on my HRT after being off it for 2+ weeks has reset my head again, (Something about being on HRT turns off my bipolar disorder… No one can tell me why) - and I’m back to free falling within the eye of the storm.
Environmentally, the cabin fever going on is REALLY getting to me. Yesterday, I wandered out in my jammies and slippers to get the mail and I thought; “Yasss, freedom!”
All of that has changed since coming out; since claiming myself for myself, as myself. If I could gift such a thing to the world, I totally would.
I feel at peace with my body for the first time EVER - even with all the bruises, swelling, imperfections, and such that are part of the healing process…
Spending so much time alone has put me into a reflective, broody kind of mood; I come from a lifetime of being kept at a distance and never understanding why. Of one sided relationships and fair weather friends. Of feeling alone in a crowded room. Of people speaking AROUND me, not to me.
Letting myself be loved, accepting grace - to borrow an expression, has been SO HARD.
Even now, trust remains a foreign language, but I’m forever working at it… learning the vocabulary.
Recovery is really rough. I feel so weak and incapable of doing pretty much anything. Thankfully, I have some awesome friends who have been keeping an eye on me…
It takes - on average, 3 months to be considered fully healed. I’m a third of the way there. Even still, with all that had to be done, it can take up to a full YEAR for the body to be back at 100%.
What does this new NSFW ban mean for trans content on Tumblr?
Lee says:
Adult content will no longer be allowed on Tumblr, and @staff says that includes photos that show “real-life human genitals” or “female-presenting nipples”.
Moving past the nonsense idea that there’s such a thing as a “female-presenting nipple” in the first place, @staff says they will still allow pictures of said “exposed female-presenting nipples in connection with […] health-related situations, such as post-mastectomy or gender confirmation surgery.”
However, it seems likely the ban will be enforced haphazardly so a lot of informational content will be deemed “adult content” and deleted, so transition blogs where people document their bodies and medical transitions will certainly be affected by this.
This means visual resources on surgery results and hormone changes, among other things, will be deleted:
The ban on pictures of “real-life human genitals” will likely include…
Note- we won’t be deleting our blog, and our resources will continue to be available minus said pictorial links.
Not all nudity is pornography (although how this negatively impacts vulnerable sex workers is another topic)- these pictures can be undeniably “not safe for work” but they are still primarily informational and not sexual. It’s both disappointing and frustrating to find that these resources will be deleted.
I personally have found looking through pictures that people have posted of post-lower surgery results very helpful to see in the research phase of my decision about lower surgery, and I’ve posted pictures of my pre-top surgery chest in posts that compare it with my post-op chest, and Tumblr has already flagged those pics.
This policy will take effect on December 17, 2018 which is very soon, so I would advise you to do your Tumblr research on the above topics now if you want to see pictures before they’re deleted.
FYI, there’s 1 week left until this policy takes effect!
Hey guys, so its been a long time coming but I’m finally on the journey for top surgery.
I don’t know the exact cost yet but I know it’s between 8k and 15k, which is a really big gap.
Whilst I could easily save this much up - I have bills, rent and meds to pay for, I also need to pay to eat, which is absolute bull (jk)
anyway, the point of this post is that I started a gofundme for my top surgery. I don’t want to pressure anyone to donate, but if y'all could share this around that’d be nice?
I don’t expect to meet my goal of 5k, but even 1k would help tbh. it’s a lot of money, I know, and if you donate feel free to message me and I will send you a picture of my pets as a thankyou.
not read the article but the whole thing about trans bucket being name dropped is so bad :( we need safe spaces, there are down sides to visibility!
i’ve heard that they’ve since got NYT to remove the namedrop and will be checking their security before putting the website back up again, so fingers crossed all is well
NYT phallo article disclosed info about trans bucket leading to a huge influx of white nationalist traffic resulting in the creator(s) of trans bucket deciding to take the site down until further notice.
I’ll post about it more tomorrow
I’m literally still so upset with this. But here’s what happened:
For context, the New York Times recently published an article about a trans man named Ben’s phalloplasty journey with ALT phallo under Dr. Rachel Bluebond-Langer & Zhao. The article was written by a non-binary theythem author that is presumably not seeking phallo.
Here is what the article did well: Gave in-depth descriptions of phalloplasty, scrotoplasty, urethroplasty, and glansplasty; discussed the history of phalloplasty starting with Lawrence Dillon Francis (the first trans man to get phallo); mentioned the customizable nature of phalloplasty
Now here’s what the article did WRONG:
in a time of rising transphobic violence and especially transphobic legislature restricting access to transgender biomedical care, the article went out of its way to describe phalloplasty as a half-baked dangerous procedure with “high complication rates” (what do complications mean exactly) that is essentially only worthwhile if you would rather die that not get this surgery.
The language around post op penises was often callous and disrespectful.
The article named specific inter community resources (Transbucket, phallo Facebook groups) as well as naming surgeons outside of Ben’s specific practitioner. TRANSBUCKET had to be taken down as a result of a huge influx of white nationalist web traffic with no restoration date in site.
The article even quoted RBL saying basically “well phalloplasty uniquely kinda sucks and in other contexts we wouldn’t accept such complication rates but it’s for transgenders so whatever”. Which, what the fuck kind of attitude is that for a popular surgeon??? Fuck all the ppl who have had phallo with you I guess.
Made the correct assertion that the small patient sample Pool makes it difficult to come to consensus on overall all best practices. BUT did go into any description whatsoever about the extensive research being done by surgeons around the world to improve safety. (Assuming there even is a One True Best Practice). Basically didnt discuss at all how various surgeons /researchers are actively trying (and succeeding) in optimizing their methods
Glossed over the fact that phallo has like a 96/97% satisfaction
Gave a really graphic description of urethroplasty for shock value (“slicing open the underside of the penis”) without mentioning that this technique is unique to Dr RBL’s ALT urethroplasty only.
& the biggest thing: DID NOT EVEN DISCUSS THE INSANE BARRIERS TO ACCESS!!!!! Getting phallo is an unfortunately expensive, time consuming, and heavily involved surgery from prepping for surgery to recovering from surgery and beyond. Somehow this was actively ignored instead choosing to briefly mention “more demand = more new inexperienced surgeons” (who are trained by the very experienced surgeons btw)
HOW the FUCK are you, as a non-binary journalist & trans contributor/subject going to back handedly dunk on phallo the entire article IN THIS CURRENT CLIMATE and also COMPLETELY IGNORE HOW DIFFICULT PHALLO ACCESS CAN BE. Trans ppl across the US are having their rights restricted for medical transition, RvW is eroding people right to privacy & bodily autonomy yet the focus was “uhhhh phalloplasty kinda shitty but I guess if you’d rather die it’s worth it”.
Are you fucking kidding???? The same climate that the UK bottom surgery crisis left phalloplasty patients without care for nearly 2 years & effectively pushed back the over 5 year waitlist for the single (1) phallo team for the entire region?
The same time many states are actively putting forward legislature that makes biomedical transition increasing illegal for minors and potentially even ADULTS????
What the fuck is wrong with the both of you????? How as a non-binary/trans journalist could you even for a second think this was ok?????? I literally hope they rot in hell.
I’m starting to actually look into bottom surgery, which is a little terrifying to me. My bottom dysphoria has gotten pretty bad, and a metoidioplasty may be in my future to help relieve that. It’s amazing how much better my overall quality of life has become since top surgery, and I really wish I could just stop there… but I’m starting to think that a meta might really give me some relief down the line.
I’ve vaguely toyed with the idea of phalloplasty, but I don’t think I could handle it - the stages, the cost, and most of all the creation of a new body part and use of an erectile device… I don’t think phallo is for me, although it would be amazing to have a larger penis.
I think that the two things I need most are the ability to pee standing up without some kind of aid, and to have my penis be fully external and free. The meta appeals to me because it is less invasive and uses what I’ve already got. Additionally, I don’t want a vaginectomy, which is an option with meta.
The fact that I’m actually writing this stuff down is a big step for me - I’ve been avoiding these thoughts and this research for a long time now. I’d love to hear from any followers who have had a metoidioplasty if you want to share some advice etc.
