For over a decade, I thought I had a male brain in a female body. In other words, I considered myself š³ļøāā§ļø transgender.
Now, Iāve quit my gender transition, and have decided to go on a health and weight loss journey. Iāve lost over 40 pounds and Iām close to my goal weight.
With every pound Iāve lost, I become even more shocked that I managed to bind my chest for as long as I did.
The measures I took as an adolescent to ācorrectā this gender incongruence have destroyed my upper body- both in form and in function.
I have a nerve injury, horribly flared ribs, damaged breast tissue, no positive sensation in the area, weakened skin, decreased lung capacity, severe left side back and neck painā¦. Just to name a few.
Shapewear can hide quite a few of these things. But there are certain things that even multiple layers of shapewear canāt hide.
None of the trans adults guiding me and other known minors online about how to bind our breasts in secret, told us that any of this could happen to us. The most they said was to not bind with an ace bandage specifically, because then you can crack a rib. Everything else, the said, was safe if you do it no more than 10-12 hours a day. Years later, that number changed to eight hours.
Why? Because theyāre making it up as they go along.
What they did not warn me or my peers about was that all breast binding done for a gender affirming purpose is inherently unsafe, and even more so when it is done by someone whose upper body (breasts, lungs, heart, ribs, spine etc) are still actively growing.
Because the trans community is still overwhelmingly buying into the notion that things like breast binding can be done safely for months or years at a time, without any evidence supporting their claim, kids are still getting hurt.
If the blatant lies that were told to me as a 12 year old girl in 2011/2012 werenāt continually peddled by online & irl trans communities, I would have nothing to speak out about.
But truthfully, breast binding is one of those practices that everyone still thinks is ok to lie about the harms of.
Parents are still buying their daughters breast binders thinking that they are āsafe and reversibleā or that these medical devices used for post surgical recovery are somehow ājust pieces of clothing.ā This includes parents who are already concerned about the medical harms of gender transition, but think that breast binding is a good compromise. It is NOT. It is actively hurting your growing kids.
Gender clinics promote these practices as being safe.
Schools still give out these dangerous medical devices to children without their parentsā knowledge. These are all big problems.
Take my story as a cautionary tale. Using multiple layers of shapewear, I might look ānormal.ā
Underneath it all, my left scapula aches before sending tingling sensations and then numbness down my left arm, whenever I stand or walk too long, or whenever I use a small shoulder bag. Iām almost 27, and I need a neck brace just to sleep. I cannot take deep breaths without pain. My ribs constantly feel like theyāre hooking onto things underneath me when Iām lying on my side. That is in fact a very painful experience. There is no positive sensation in my chest and the entire area is deformed.
Gender affirming breast binding is NEVER harmless, nor does it cause damage which is easily reversible, or which is reversible at all. Most of this damage is not āa broken rib that will heal on its own.
It is done with no end in sight, and not under the strict supervision of a doctor monitoring the patient (as they would be in the case where a maximum of six weeks of binding is the post surgical recovery protocol).
Itās time that we all take the harms of gender affirming breast binding seriously. Not one study has shown that it can be done safely.
REPOST to raise awareness