(This post is probably going to get me cancelled 😕)
Captions of "Estrogen is magic!", "Estrogen is pixie dust!" "Estrogen is crack!", followed by a side by side pre-transition photo of a man with facial hair and a post-transition photo of a long haired woman with makeup are so incredibly common on Reddit r/transtimelines that it is almost the norm, yet it masks something incredibly important; Estrogen is not a magic pill.
I hate how misleading such captions are. If you look at most of the pre/post-transition photos posted, there are usually the following key differences:
- Short vs long hairstyle;
- No makeup vs a full face of makeup;
- Obviously male vs Definitively female attire;
- Way better posing and expression for the post-transition photo;
- Original face shape vs Post-FFS face shape
How are ANY of these changes due to starting on a regimen of Estrogen? (Answer: NONE!) So why are the photos being labelled as such? Being able to look female is more than just the bodily changes brought about by taking Estrogen. Many other factors play a part in helping to be recognised as female.
To be fair, I can understand the euphoria one feels when transwomen compare their current post-transition selves with the man they once were. Being on a regimen of Estrogen (and anti-androgens to keep the T-levels down) does help many, many transwomen feel better about themselves, gradually bring about subtle feminising changes to the body, reduce gender dysphoria and feel optimistic about life. So it is natural to want to show the outcome of an amazing journey, especially if the pre/post-transition photos are so starkly different (and also for the dopamine rush that Reddit upvotes and Instagram likes bring). I did feel a sense of optimism when I saw how my body has changed over a short 6-month period, knowing that there are more changes to come. But I can assure you that after 1 year of HRT, the reflection I see in the mirror is still that of a unkempt long-ish haired man with a subtle beard shadow.
So far, the transition photos that I find most useful are shots taken of a person in the same position, month on month, showing the bodily changes over time due to continuous intake of Estrogen. It takes a bit of discipline to take such photos over time, but the almost clinical documentation helps to capture the subtle, but truly magical changes. The gradual fat distribution helps to make the body look more feminine, even if the subject's post-puberty skeletal structure is broader than typical cis-women, gives other transwomen who just started their transition hope of what is to come.
Estrogen's use in HRT is one of the means we take to achieve our end goal; to help us come closer to becoming the woman we feel so deeply to be, so that we can eventually let out the inner woman we have painfully suppressed for so many years. So transwomen, do continue to share with the world your amazing transformation journey on social media. But please, please try not to mislabel your photos and call Estrogen a magic pill, when the the changes aren't primarily due to Estrogen. Hopium is a terrible drug, and baby-trans are awfully susceptible to it.
