I believe it's a medical condition
What made you feel your identity was valid enough to start HRT?
I see questions like the above somewhat frequently and I don't feel I spend that much time reading trans stuff on Reddit. I do it intermittently because I'm not trans, so it's not something I'm all THAT strongly interested in.
And I wish someone would start a project gathering some kind of actual medical data on the trans population because I believe this is a MEDICAL issue.
I have this piece cross posted to r/GenevieveFiles and retitled "A discussion of biological sex" with a comment by me saying My belief is it's a medical issue and should be treated as such.
So after you conclude you are trans based on hand wavy metrics like "How do you FEEL about your GENDER IDENTITY?" and talking with other people who followed equally murky processes, you finally decide to get HRT or you get the green light medically and get prescribed HRT, and then you take blood draws to get hard numbers for hormone levels.
This is backwards. This is the exact opposite of what I did.
I got medical testing showing I have abnormally elevated salt levels in my sweat, not high enough to be "classical CF" but definitely abnormal. That plus a lifelong history of chronic health issues typical for the condition got a CF specialist to label it "atypical CF."
And NOW I am able to use metrics like fingernail condition to track health progress, as noted elsewhere on this site.
So the single most important medical question this population has is "Do I actually NEED HRT?" and it's enormously controversial and is under siege politically by people uncomfortable with the question to a degree that sounds to me like denial a la some of my posts elsewhere:
I believe some of the biggest political threats are people who wonder if they are trans (or maybe someone close to them), are absolutely TERRIFIED at even asking the question given the current hand wavy, unreliable, unscientific means for trying to answer the question and the significant consequences physically for taking HRT and the significant social stuff involved in the social transition and are causing other people problems in their desperate attempts to swear to themselves "I'm NOT trans." and also shut down any questions in the minds of other people before it can be asked mentally at all.
I was 35 years old when I was diagnosed with atypical CF, a genetic disorder. I called my mother to tell her of my diagnosis.
My mother grew up in Nazi Germany and at the time that I called her to tell her of my diagnosis, she had been suffering for years with a terrible sinus issue doctors weren't taking seriously and weren't treating agressively enough.
So when I said I was newly diagnosed with a genetic disorder that is best known for causing respiratory issues (sinuses are part of the upper respiratory tract), she very uncharacteristically screamed hysterically into the phone at me "That's NOT what's wrong with ME!!!!"
This was the only time in my life when I felt the cold evil hand of Nazi Germany reach into my life and tap me on the shoulder though I was well aware many of my relatives were significantly affected by that ugly history and carried mental and emotional scars, including having nightmares about Nazis as a dream symbol of bad stuff in their lives (which I don't do).
People who feel deeply deeply threatened by something are known to just scream "That's not real!!!!" and LA LA LA not listening to anything and everything that is an argument to the contrary.
My mother spent my entire childhood telling me I wouldn't be so sick if only I ate my vegetables and after I was diagnosed DENIED that I was a sickly child. It's the most crazy thing I ever saw her do.
Because defective people in her childhood got sent to concentration camps and never heard from again.
So I just mostly avoided discussing it with her. I didn't need her to "agree" I have CF. I have medical testing saying I do and medical opinions from medical professionals and that information was incredibly empowering and helped me get healthier.
So I have firsthand experience with something similar to what the trans community is dealing with and I wish someone would start gathering medical data on this population and develop medical testing for determining who needs HRT for medical reasons.
And I also would like to see an app or a set of observable metrics such that blood work once on HRT isn't an absolute necessity or is less needed.
But FIRST let's figure out how to reliably determine who needs HRT based on medical testing and put this whole political drama BS behind us.
"Political" also being a word kind of meaning "social crap but involving an exercise of power" the way I talk about me being open about not being straight as a political position.