Thread by @BellaRizinti

1/ It's Friday. I've seen another tweet this morning from a cis woman who claims she's scared of trans women and that they should "cut their dicks off".

There's too many cis people who have no idea what it means to be trans. People like this one, honestly they infuriate me.

2/ It isn't hard to read up on trans issues. It isn't hard to talk to trans people and get to know them. If you take the time to do this, you'll find out everything you need to know if you actually listen to them when they speak.

3/ I'm going to try and educate some cis folks here, with a few things I've learned from my trans friends.

First: USA based trans friends. I've learned that they pay for all of their transition surgeries. This means that they have work and save money for every step.

4/ To illustrate this. Imagine you're a minimum wage earner. You work, you have bills, you have to eat, buy clothes etc... and most have very little left over. Out of the little that is left, they have to save THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of $ for surgery. Plus their medication.

5/ Do you have any idea how long it can take just to earn enough to pay for top surgery? I think it's around $14k for that. Don't forget, medication and living expenses, rent etc... Do you think it's easy to save that kind of money? Have you ever tried to save when you don't

6/ earn a big salary? I have and it's damn near impossible. Then there are other factors. Surgery is a big deal. Bottom surgery comes with a year long recovery time. It's agony. There are sometimes complications and you're not always lucky enough to end up with everything working

7/ the way it should. Some are left suffering and never fully pain free. So these are huge decisions. It's not as easy as "I want it, so I get it" because things can go wrong. It can also take decades for them to save up enough to get surgery. DECADES in some cases.

8/ Decades. Like from 20 years old to 40+ years old before they have enough money saved. It's not like there's a trans surgery money tree that they can pick from. Then there are those who for whatever reason, can't have surgery. Medical reasons. Then there are those who opt

9/ out because this is such a terrifying choice. They are valid too! I may have left out some factors here and if I have I'm sorry.

Trans UK: We have the NHS so it's private in most cases. The thing with NHS is waiting lists and the procedure trans folks have to go through

10/ from the outset. Getting diagnosed with gender dysphoria, then the waiting list to get to the GIC and then the waiting list to get on HRT and then the waiting list and the referrals for surgeries and this again can take DECADES. There are no private gender reassignment

11/ clinics in the UK so if you can't wait for the NHS, you can save and travel abroad. This costs THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of £ and then there's the recovery time and meds and time off work (if they're lucky enough to have jobs because trans folks are discriminated against by

12/ employers, despite there being laws that are meant to stop this from happening. This also happens in the US too btw. There are many factors involved in GRS/SRS that make it damn hard 4 trans folks to fully transition.

13/ Trans people can't wake up on Monday, decide they want surgery and by Friday they're all done. It takes YEARS!

No one has their dicks chopped off you muppets. It's a reconstructive surgery! There is NO chopping off, it's reshaping. So stop with this insulting crap yeah?

14/ This isn't the first time I've written something like this and it pisses me off because I'm cis.... this really isn't my wheelhouse but when trans people try to educate others, YOU DON'T LISTEN TO THEM. It's like when they tell you, you don't believe them or you think they

15/ make things up. It's insulting and it's so very wrong. You shouldn't need a cis person to tell you this before you believe it. The best source of info on trans issues is trans people. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!! Why don't you people get that? So here I am

16/ AGAIN... a cis woman, who really has no business saying this kind of thing, saying it anyway (having left out a few things and skipped steps no doubt) because apparently to some cis people, I'm believable but trans folks are not.

Do you realise how wrong that is???

17/ To genuinely curious cis folks, a word of advice.... read. Collect information and then run it by a trans person because not everything online is accurate. Talk to trans people. They are the experts, in most cases they know more than most doctors because they have too.

18/ Please stop saying dumb shit like "chop your dick off". That's NOT how it works.

To my trans siblings, I'm so sorry that u have to deal with this crap from people. If anything I've said here is wrong, please tell me so that I can learn from it and better support you.

19/ The last thing in all this:

If a trans person hasn't had surgery, they are still valid.

Trans women are women.

Trans men are men.

Non Binary people are valid.

Have a good weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it. ❤️😘

Just to add, there are trans folks in every country all over the world. They ALL face similar challenges. Please be aware of this. None of them have it easy.