My thanks to the kind subscriber for the cleaned-up audio. The full episode is here, but my bit is below. I had five minutes so my anxiety at not being able to get across the urgency of the situation took over at some points.
I wanted to highlight one moment that illustrates why more people need to do some joined-up thinking on this matter
“One explanation of why I think it's harmful. You may have seen in Scotland recently, there was someone who was elected to the SNP, and he became famous for attacking a woman while carrying a walker. And I have noticed a lot of young men with walkers who have a trans identity and I asked someone about this, I said, Is this something to do with… I couldn't figure it out…is it a disability benefits thing? What's going on here? Is it a fashion statement that these people are using walkers? And I found that, no, the reason that a lot of these young men have walkers is that they have osteoporosis from taking estrogen.”
Here’s what Osteoporosis actually does: Osteoporosis literally means ‘porous bone’. It is a condition where bones become thin and lose their strength, as they become less dense and their quality is reduced. This can lead to broken bones, which cause pain, disability, and make everyday activities extremely difficult.
As for the connection to puberty blockers and estrogen, the Royal Osteoporosis Society says the following:
"Undergoing gender confirmation can increase your risk of osteoporosis and broken bones.
Surgical treatment for gender dysphoria removes the natural source of sex hormones and will result in osteoporosis unless hormone therapy, sometimes called cross-sex hormone treatment, is taken. If the level of these hormones is inadequate, the risk of osteoporosis will be increased.
To help maintain your bone strength, your hormone replacement treatment (testosterone for trans men and oestrogen for trans women) will be monitored carefully and may be continued long-term. If your hormone replacement is stopped or your levels of replacement become too low, your doctor may need to reassess your bone health.
Your individual risk of fracture will depend on your particular pattern of hormone replacement alongside any other general risk factors for osteoporosis you may have"
The BMJ: "Close examination of existing studies indicates that use of puberty blockers in transgender young people commonly results in loss of bone mineral density"
Studies indicate that the risk might be greater for transwomen (men) than for transmen (women), making this one of the few occasions where gender identity ideology means a worse deal for men.
"Recent data from transgender men (female to male) and women (male to female) receiving hormone therapy have shown an increase in bone mineral density (BMD) after 12 months of treatment [10]. Another study on long-term testosterone therapy reported larger cortical bone size in trans men compared with natal females [11]. Conversely, trans women receiving estrogen therapy may lose lean mass in association with androgen deprivation, which over time can lead to smaller bones [12] and higher prevalence of low bone mass [13, 14].
Here’s the (ex) SNP chap I describe in the interview.
(Here’s what nearly happened until women complained. The SNP are quite something, aren’t they? Feminist to her fingertips, apparently.)
But anyway, notice the walker. Perhaps it’s his aggressive behaviour, mixed with osteoporosis, that has led to the need for it? After all, osteoporosis would make it far riskier to be throwing himself about like this, even while doing so towards a woman half his size, which seems to be his preference.
Even if I’m off with my guess, this man certainly needs help, physical and mental. But is it helping him to tell him he’s a real woman? Is it helping to give him access to women’s spaces? Is it helping him to force others to play along? Are cross-sex hormones helping this man, presuming he’s even taking them?
Most of all, why are women the ones who have to deal with the fallout?
No cerebral palsy as far as I know. I'm the lucky lucky woman who has to get the bus with him on a regular basis. Him glaring at my dino badge me glaring at his trans stickers on mobility scooter. Wings over Scotland have an extensive blog post about this bloke. Only moved up from Liverpool a few years ago. Says God told him to transition. Not a mental health condition at all...
At the risk of seeming unkind, I think the walkers could be needed by some due to osteoporosis, but people with this condition, don't usually move so quickly. I have noticed a proliferation of sunflower lanyards amongst TRAs and gender ideologists too. I think that sometimes this may be due to actually having a hidden disability, but I think that some of these people also self identify into disability and victimhood, as well as it being a tool to gain sympathy i.e. nasty terfs protesting at poor disabled transfolx who just want to be accepted and pee.