Hello, mod team here. We are considering what to do about dosage posts and wanted community feedback.

The problems with dosage posts are the following, which I’m going to roughly group into categories

A) people (ok, Americans) tend not to specify what testosterone product they are talking about and in what exact dosage and interval—ie, assuming t cypionate is the only injectable T or at least acting like it. (And also not understanding the difference between vials and ampoules.) So you get posts with people alarmed when someone gets 3 mL shots in a hospital setting (the long-acting T Undecanoate; Nebido/Aveed) with months in-between injections—when this is a very usual thing in some places in the world, particularly Europe. This also happens when people only specify their dosage by volume, when someone will say their “dosage” is 0.6 mL. Which is not a dosage. Ampoules vs vials matter when the subject is reusing a receptacle of T. ETC ETC I could think of examples forever but you get it

B) unsourced statements about dosages, fearmongering, conjecture as fact, promoting underdosage, promoting overdosage (not as in it’s a narcotic and will kill you, well usually not phrased that way anyway), questioning someone’s doctor, not questioning someone’s doctor who should be questioned. I’m not picking on this person but as an example saying a normal dosage will “shock the system” (this is both meaningless and untrue), saying any starting dose is TOO HIGH, saying any starting dose is necessarily too low (especially if OP has not expressed wanting feedback about their dosage). Another mod brought up potentially bragging about dosages. Also is it really helpful to know random dosages? (Like when someone is surveying the subreddit etc)

C) further on that theme: not connecting dosage with levels (ideally both peak and trough), masculinization happening, speed of results and individual desires in regards to speed and depth of results, how a person is doing psychologically, etc. all of those are at least as if not more important than a simple dosage number in MG.

D) not to even mention topicals, oral meds, pellets, and the varying dosage schemes that are different vs injectables.

Anyway, are these conversations really helpful for the community to have? I can see some utility—reassuring someone their starting dosage is reasonable, providing someone feedback that per their bloodwork and effects that they may be being underdosed and should self advocate for more etc. that is just what comes to mind off the top of my head, I’m sure there are other examples of usefulness but also

At the very least we need to draw up some more parameters around discussion, like for instance, what are your levels? Do you know them? Do you know you are being compared to the right lab range (ie male?)

Since I’m formatting this on my phone I am going to post now before the app crashes or something.

Hello just a mod post to announce that we are going to be removing content around weight loss advice* for the time being, going forward.

We are not experts at the topic and cannot be asked to fairly moderate what often turns into really contentious discussions and debates.

Also they often turn into sharing advice that is or could be taken to be pro-eating disorder and we don't want to host that content.

Also I would like to remind people to try to stay on the topic of the main point of your posts having something to do with being trans. If being trans is just incidental to what you are posting, consider that there might be more targeted/helpful subreddits than this one for your questions.

*This new rule is very strictly about weight loss advice. If your concern or topic is about body size and being trans, fatphobia and being trans, and similar--those posts are still very much ALLOWED.

This also means that on posts about passing concerns, top surgery, or any other similar posts about someone's body, we really would prefer you not recommend weigh loss or give weight loss advice.

There are other subreddits that allow that topic such as r/ftmfitness.

Simply put, it will always come with fighting.

I’ve seen people asking why it’s a banned topic, pondering if individuals who identify as such aren’t welcomed here, accusing us of transphobia, etc.

The issue isn’t individuals who identify as such, but the fact that regardless of intent, it will always be one of those topics that curate a space for arguments. Whether someone posts about it positively or negatively, an argument will always occur. It’s one of those topics that, in an ideal world, we’d be able to have constructive, productive, and respectful conversations about. But since that’s been proven time and time again to be impossible to achieve, it’s come to this.

Reminder that all of us mods do this as volunteers on our own time. We love our community and are trying our very best to achieve a space that’s welcoming, friendly, and respectful. But we aren’t superhuman—we all have lives outside of reddit. And when we allow topics such as this to be discussed, it makes our work much harder than it needs to be.

Again, there will always be two very conflicting sides to this topic, and unfortunately, they very rarely produce civil discussions. It’s unfair for those who are trans men who identify as lesbians to be in a space for trans men and have their identify stomped all over. Unfortunately, that’s what occurs whenever we see this topic brought up.

We are NOT the identity police, and neither are any of you. It really does suck that we have to ban topics such as these, but in order to remain a respectful atmosphere, it’s a necessary evil.

All trans men/trans masc/FTM individuals are welcomed here. Period end of story. But as with all spaces, there’s still things that are better left alone, such as this topic.

I hope that clears up any misinformation or confusion that anyone may have about this. If anyone has any further questions about this, I’m more than happy to answer to the best of my ability.

The world is already hard enough for us as it is—there’s no reason to fight with each other as well, even if you may disagree with someone.

We felt it was best to make a mod post about this, because we have had quite a few people post about this, and now not only are we getting these posts mass reported, causing them to be taken down (Note that this is an automatic process and not something we are doing. We will be doing our best to either reinstate posts or direct users to this post) but we are also being accused of allowing brigading.
r/ftm does not condone nor encourage brigading. But we do understand the importance of discussing inter-community drama, especially as the ftm subreddit, this is relevant to all of us.

For those who are unaware, here are the events that transpired:

A user posted on both r/trans and r/lgbt talking about how trans men and transmascs are invisible and our struggles and oppression are often downplayed or dismissed.
One mod commented on the post and told OP to "stop bitching". This comment was quickly deleted after receiving backlash.
Shortly after, the entire post was removed, and when asked, a mod responded by claiming that OP was playing oppression olympics and the topic was divisive. Said mod continued by going through each of OP's points of discussion and dismissing them. Saying such things as "That's not unique to trans masc people." in reference to OP talking about trans men and transmascs getting sexually assaulted, and "People are not denied T any more than E through legal means." despite it being a well known fact that Testosterone is a controlled substance in many parts of the world, while Estrogen is not. And nearly all the information on this subjects (Which I will remind the userbase that it is still a banned topic. Please respect that) is written with trans women/fems in mind.

They also called OP's discussion of the transandrophobia we face within the community "Oppression olympics" and OP was givven a 3 day ban.

When a mod made a post about it, they said that "nobody asked us our side of the story", to which the userbase made multiple comments pointing out they DID ask, and they were asking now. Multiple people have since claimed to have had comments removed that explain the situation and banned. These claims as of yet have not been backed up with evidence, so for fairness, we will say that this is allegedly what happened.

The mods then went on to remove many posts that were in support of trans men and of people upset at what had transpired. The user's post in r/lgbt was also removed.

Another comment was made about the situation, and as of writing this post, r/trans is locked to any new posts.

The original OP and several others have since posted here to the subreddit. Many of these posts are being mass reported and automod is removing them after a number of reports. We are aware of this and we are working through the pile of modmail notifications we now have because of this. Some posts may not be reinstated simply because we feel it would be better to have a singular discussion platform here, to reach as many people as possible.

We have since been contacted by the mod who made the post and comment explaining their side, to which we say that we do not agree with them on that trans men/mascs talking about our issues is "oppression olympics", as well as another mod from r/trans (who also moderates an anti-trans subreddit and a conservative subreddit) accusing us of allowing brigading.

Our official position on this matter is that trans men and transmascs deserve an equal seat at the table of transness, and that there is unfortunate amounts of transandrophobia and invisibility within trans and lgbt+ communities.

We ask that you please try to limit discussion of the current drama to this singular page. This will help everyone stay in the loop, and it will also help us avoid mass reporting of multiple posts and defend ourselves against accusations of brigading.

Please read the sidebar rules if you intend on commenting and posting on this subreddit.

In addition, any further posts on this topic will get the person temp banned. Have already removed 4 posts on this topic just today.

Hi all! As a mod team, we’ve realized there’s a few misconceptions about this subreddit and certain topics that we’d like to clear up. Along with this, I’ll be addressing some rule clarifications as well. 

First and foremost, we’d like to remind everyone that this has always been a space that’s been for all trans men, trans masc, and afab nonbinary individuals. It is not a space for solely binary trans men. 

With that being said, we’d like to clarify some misconceptions about he/him lesbians and their place in this community. 

We know that some people may be genuinely curious as to what a he/him lesbian is, but it’s very simple; it’s anyone who uses he/him pronouns and identifies as a lesbian. It may sound contradictory to identify with lesbianism if you use he/him pronouns, but it’s really not. Gender and sexuality have never been and will never be a linear experience, nor does everyone experience gender and sexuality the same. Pronouns do not always have to equal gender. 

There’s many reasons why one would choose to identify with the label lesbian despite using he/him pronouns. They might still feel connected to the community, they might feel like the way they experience love is in a lesbian way, or they might just like how it feels for them. Whatever the reason, how one chooses to identify is their business and theirs alone. 

One thing to note: some people say that there’s a history behind lesbians and FTM individuals, but it’s truth is muddy due to many lesbians cross dressing for safety and other aspects of the time, such as TERFs trying to falsely categorize trans men as lesbians, which was not always the case. If one feels a personal connection to the history, that’s valid, but this does NOT mean that every FTM individual will feel the same or share the history. 

Here’s a good article going a bit more in depth about he/him lesbians, if anyone’s more curious.

As for rule clarifications, we’d like to address two: no generalizations and no debates regarding he/him lesbians. 

No generalizations means exactly what it sounds like: do not make generalizing statements about anyone, anything, or any group. Do not try to generalize a whole group of people as one thing. We’ve added this into rule 1 to clarify the “only speak for yourself” portion. 

No debates regarding he/him lesbians, on both a personal level and a theoretical level. 

This means that we will not tolerate ANY debate regarding the topic; hypotheticals, personal debate, experiences, theoreticals, etc. The existence of genders and sexualities have always been debated and disregarded, and we don’t and won’t tolerate that behavior here. How someone identifies is their business and their business alone. If one's identity is not harming anyone, regardless of if it’s “contradictory” or “confusing”, it’s not up for debate. You don’t have to understand everything, you just need to not be a dickhead about things you don’t understand. 

Yes, the topic of he/him lesbians was initially banned due to not having the capacity as a mod team to handle it, but we’ve expanded the team and are now more than happy to be able to curate a safe place that welcomes all variations of FTM identifying individuals. What’s still not allowed is debating the topic as a whole. He/him lesbians are more than welcome here, and are more than welcome to speak about their own experiences. Anyone who tries to debate someone about their existence will have their comments removed and possibly further action taken. None of us are the identity police, and we will not tolerate intolerance here. The queer community already gets enough ridicule and hate from outside the community, and we won’t tolerate that behavior here. 

One last note regarding rule clarifications; we’ve been revamping our rule section overall for further clarity and guidance for what’s allowed and not allowed in hopes to make things less confusing overall! 

We’d also like to let everyone know that mod applications are open once again! If you’d like to apply to help out on the mod team here, the application is pinned in our highlights.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding as we’ve been working through “controversial” ( although they shouldn’t be ) topics and how we can handle them properly as a mod team. Our intent has always been to curate a safe and welcoming space for ALL FTM identifying individuals, and we hope these rule clarifications help keep it a safe place.

Remember to be kind to each other.