I Am a Autistic Transgender Person. I Know What is Best for Myself.
When I was first starting my Medium blog, long before I had banished the hellhole that is Twitter from my phone, JK Rowling published a lovely rant named “Terf Wars.” I attempted to debunk the entire thing in one Medium post, but soon got so frustrated and dejected I scrapped the whole thing. And yet now, four years later, one paragraph still lingers in my mind.
“. . .I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. (…)The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.” (Emphasis mine)
Not only is this incredibly untrue as a concept — the thought that “girls” are lining up to masculinize themselves in insane numbers — but the emphases she decides to put on neurodivergent transgender people is. . .interesting. Very interesting.
I am an autistic transgender person. I am not “unwell” enough to receive benefits from the government, as I can technically hold down a full time job. I don’t mask very well, and very rarely try to act…
