This was an eye-opening read. I’m sorry you have to cope with so much pain and lasting damage. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope these devices get restricted to limited medical use under physician supervision.
This is a great article!! I've been thinking lately about how binding forces people to pursue surgery because of the discomfort. Once they latch onto the idea that they need a flat chest, and their options are bind every day until they die or get surgery, the path to surgery becomes the obvious goal.
This actually made me get out all my sports bras and binders to see the difference they make in terms of how flat they make my chest and how natural each one looks (or not). I haven't worn a sports bra or binder in 10 years (free-boobin' yeahhh!) and only wear a sports bra when I work out, but as you know, my idea of binding was wearing a loose loose loose garment at least 3 sizes bigger than recommended so it's got the same snug fit as a sports bra. I tried binding tightly once and couldn't continue. After free-boobin' for a decade... I can't even stand the binders that are loose. They're too thick and feel cumbersome even though they aren't tight. I'd last 5 minutes. It's worse than wearing a wetsuit. I can't even stand wearing a super thin ultra-stretchy sports bra!! I still have a Frog Bra and oh my lord I cannot even get it on and I'm 100lbs lighter than I was when I was wearing it.
Oh and to people who say you don't count as a detransitioner because all you did was bind... that pisses me off lol you actually lived as a male and blended in as a male, in another country nonetheless... that's lived experience, you don't need hormones or surgery to have that experience. And it doesn't matter how long it lasted.
A large chunk of these new FTMs who have had surgery and are on hormones don't pass at all and despite their body modifications and self-perception, they've never experienced being treated as a male. They have a "trans identity" but no experience being treated as a male, so what is there to detransition from?? Some people just love to dismiss other people's experiences and that's too bad. You're a strong voice in this community and it just shows that those people are likely in this for the wrong reasons, otherwise they'd see you as an ally.
This is an excellent article. I’ve followed the gender issue since 2016, wondering when logical and truthful voices would start to turn the narrative. You are a great writer about transgender, autism, detransition, parents. I absolutely disagree with anyone who says or implies you should make space for people that were “more harmed” than you. You were harmed, you are a detransitioner, and you give hope to others every day with your brave, incredibly articulate writing. Thank you!!
Second, my son had pectus excavatum, a condition where the ribs grow with a caved in appearance. His case was fairly mild but he was monitored through his entire teen years with doctors, radiographs, and CT scans to evaluate whether he would need corrective surgery, a major and painful procedure. The thought that girls are undergoing the pain of binding and these permanent changes with no medical attention is horrifying. This is the first article I’ve read that put together the significance of breast binding, its long term medical side effects, and the importance of it being classified as a medical intervention for both transitioners and detransitioners. I hope your article makes it to the FDA and HHS.
Third, I watched the whole press conference with Kennedy and his team and was glad I was alone to do so. I cried with sorrow it has taken this long to try to stop the damage to children, young women and men who’ve been deceived, I clapped fervently for truth being spoken, I cried with joy at reality being supported. The strength of the bittersweet emotions while watching the press conference surprised me, but I left it with much hope. Your work adds to that hope. You are a voice for many.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comment, and thank you for following this issue for so long. It’s not uncommon for girls with the same condition as your son to also bind their breasts and I can only imagine how much that further compounds the damage
That some medical professionals claim otherwise is shameful. I have read "information" advising mothers who want to breastfeed and continue to bind that this can be happen, but it cannot.
Maia, this is a very important article. As I read, I considered sharing it with my trans-identified daughter, who has been using a binder for years. She is very active online, and very attuned to 'medical' articles, but clearly she has never come across anything credible about the risks of chest binding. In the end I chose not to share it with her, because it might feed into ideation about mastectomy as a solution . . .
Thanks for your reflection and I think your intuition on this is good. My articles are very clearly taking a side which is another reason they’re unsuitable for these youth. They’re also long articles for a generation primed to consume blurbs. Also, check your DMs.
Thanks for documenting the physical harms of this practice. I would add that at a wider social level, girls and women are inducted into wearing bras which bind around the ribs. I hated them from the first moment my mom made me put on a "training bra" (nothing to hold up yet, just the social demand that budding nipples must be concealed.) I was happy to quit wearing them when I went to college. But years later, when i took up running, I started looking around for a pap strap (as athletic support) and could not find a bra that didn't bind, which is especially noticeable when you run, and your lungs expand. We're socialized into an expectation of wearing uncomfortable garments. I'm not saying this is anywhere near as serious of a harm, but there's a continuum from baseline female socialization practices.
This is a really important read. I shared it to my Facebook feed and I’m hoping some folks will actually take in all that you’ve shared. As a GC, I’ve gotta say FU to those GC folks who would tell you you’re not a “real” detransitioner. That is some really harmful BS and I’m so sorry you have been subjected to that on top of everything you went through at the hands of the trans cult. Keep speaking your truth! We’re with you!
Hi Maia - two questions - 1) is this a post you WOULD suggest we share with our trans identifying young women/adolescents, especially if we know they have been binding for some time? 2) what is the source of photos showing binding harm so we can verify for ourselves? Thanks.
Two of the photos are from Reddit and the other is from Tasmania women’s network I believe. In terms of bringing them up, I’d say that too takes a certain strategy and an understanding of where the youth is at because you certainly don’t want to unwittingly show them the thing that makes them more desirous of an immediate top surgery. Different youth respond in different ways
This piece is probably way too long for an adolescent and they are very unlikely to read it. Maybe searching through Reddit for posts could be better since they probably already use those platforms
As a side note (but related): wearing a bra is also breast binding, and also sucks -- although practically speaking, it is often necessary and unavoidable, and the best well-fitted bras are somewhat comfortable to wear (or so says the advertising). What every actual woman knows is that bras suck, and the first thing a woman does when she gets home and closes the door behind her, is whip that thing off. The only people who actually enjoy wearing bras in private are AGPs.
Binding is about seriously flattening the breasts for indefinite periods of time. In the case of gender dysphoria it’s about flattening them so much you appear to have a flat chest under clothing. That is not even remotely the same as temporarily compressing them slightly to provide support during high intensity physical activity. Or wearing a properly fitting supportive bra. Binding breasts and wearing a bra are not even remotely comparable. If you’ve never bound your breasts for a whole day or more, it could be easy to not understand how vastly different these are. But they truly are not even comparable experiences lol
I’m sorry, I wasn’t comparing them. I get that it is a whole other beast. But if even wearing a normal bra is uncomfortable and confining, I can’t even imagine how a breast binder would feel.
This was an eye-opening read. I’m sorry you have to cope with so much pain and lasting damage. Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope these devices get restricted to limited medical use under physician supervision.
I agree!
This is a great article!! I've been thinking lately about how binding forces people to pursue surgery because of the discomfort. Once they latch onto the idea that they need a flat chest, and their options are bind every day until they die or get surgery, the path to surgery becomes the obvious goal.
This actually made me get out all my sports bras and binders to see the difference they make in terms of how flat they make my chest and how natural each one looks (or not). I haven't worn a sports bra or binder in 10 years (free-boobin' yeahhh!) and only wear a sports bra when I work out, but as you know, my idea of binding was wearing a loose loose loose garment at least 3 sizes bigger than recommended so it's got the same snug fit as a sports bra. I tried binding tightly once and couldn't continue. After free-boobin' for a decade... I can't even stand the binders that are loose. They're too thick and feel cumbersome even though they aren't tight. I'd last 5 minutes. It's worse than wearing a wetsuit. I can't even stand wearing a super thin ultra-stretchy sports bra!! I still have a Frog Bra and oh my lord I cannot even get it on and I'm 100lbs lighter than I was when I was wearing it.
Oh and to people who say you don't count as a detransitioner because all you did was bind... that pisses me off lol you actually lived as a male and blended in as a male, in another country nonetheless... that's lived experience, you don't need hormones or surgery to have that experience. And it doesn't matter how long it lasted.
A large chunk of these new FTMs who have had surgery and are on hormones don't pass at all and despite their body modifications and self-perception, they've never experienced being treated as a male. They have a "trans identity" but no experience being treated as a male, so what is there to detransition from?? Some people just love to dismiss other people's experiences and that's too bad. You're a strong voice in this community and it just shows that those people are likely in this for the wrong reasons, otherwise they'd see you as an ally.
This is a very helpful and interesting little blurb. Thanks for your reflections!
This is an excellent article. I’ve followed the gender issue since 2016, wondering when logical and truthful voices would start to turn the narrative. You are a great writer about transgender, autism, detransition, parents. I absolutely disagree with anyone who says or implies you should make space for people that were “more harmed” than you. You were harmed, you are a detransitioner, and you give hope to others every day with your brave, incredibly articulate writing. Thank you!!
Second, my son had pectus excavatum, a condition where the ribs grow with a caved in appearance. His case was fairly mild but he was monitored through his entire teen years with doctors, radiographs, and CT scans to evaluate whether he would need corrective surgery, a major and painful procedure. The thought that girls are undergoing the pain of binding and these permanent changes with no medical attention is horrifying. This is the first article I’ve read that put together the significance of breast binding, its long term medical side effects, and the importance of it being classified as a medical intervention for both transitioners and detransitioners. I hope your article makes it to the FDA and HHS.
Third, I watched the whole press conference with Kennedy and his team and was glad I was alone to do so. I cried with sorrow it has taken this long to try to stop the damage to children, young women and men who’ve been deceived, I clapped fervently for truth being spoken, I cried with joy at reality being supported. The strength of the bittersweet emotions while watching the press conference surprised me, but I left it with much hope. Your work adds to that hope. You are a voice for many.
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful comment, and thank you for following this issue for so long. It’s not uncommon for girls with the same condition as your son to also bind their breasts and I can only imagine how much that further compounds the damage
So sorry. Thank you for sharing💙
Thanks for reading
As you correctly point out, there is absolutely no way for girls and women to "safely" bind their breasts as I wrote about here: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/chest-binding-a-modern-day-version
That some medical professionals claim otherwise is shameful. I have read "information" advising mothers who want to breastfeed and continue to bind that this can be happen, but it cannot.
Maia, this is a very important article. As I read, I considered sharing it with my trans-identified daughter, who has been using a binder for years. She is very active online, and very attuned to 'medical' articles, but clearly she has never come across anything credible about the risks of chest binding. In the end I chose not to share it with her, because it might feed into ideation about mastectomy as a solution . . .
Thanks for your reflection and I think your intuition on this is good. My articles are very clearly taking a side which is another reason they’re unsuitable for these youth. They’re also long articles for a generation primed to consume blurbs. Also, check your DMs.
Thank you for posting this! It’s frustrating to see so many people saying that binders are just a piece of clothing
Thanks for documenting the physical harms of this practice. I would add that at a wider social level, girls and women are inducted into wearing bras which bind around the ribs. I hated them from the first moment my mom made me put on a "training bra" (nothing to hold up yet, just the social demand that budding nipples must be concealed.) I was happy to quit wearing them when I went to college. But years later, when i took up running, I started looking around for a pap strap (as athletic support) and could not find a bra that didn't bind, which is especially noticeable when you run, and your lungs expand. We're socialized into an expectation of wearing uncomfortable garments. I'm not saying this is anywhere near as serious of a harm, but there's a continuum from baseline female socialization practices.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You bring up an interesting and important point here.
This is a really important read. I shared it to my Facebook feed and I’m hoping some folks will actually take in all that you’ve shared. As a GC, I’ve gotta say FU to those GC folks who would tell you you’re not a “real” detransitioner. That is some really harmful BS and I’m so sorry you have been subjected to that on top of everything you went through at the hands of the trans cult. Keep speaking your truth! We’re with you!
Thank you!
At 39 mins in - Cass mentions girls having access to a nurse in order to learn how to bind safely.
I'm surprised that Cass has got on biard with advocating breast binders for girls, and have no idea of what she thinks 'safe' would look like.
https://youtu.be/N15Nul9dEO8?si=gQXvP4T7BElqVO7Z
Breast binding reminds me of the Chinese practice of foot binding and the use of corsets in western societies. All of them constrict, limit, deform.
Hi Maia - two questions - 1) is this a post you WOULD suggest we share with our trans identifying young women/adolescents, especially if we know they have been binding for some time? 2) what is the source of photos showing binding harm so we can verify for ourselves? Thanks.
Two of the photos are from Reddit and the other is from Tasmania women’s network I believe. In terms of bringing them up, I’d say that too takes a certain strategy and an understanding of where the youth is at because you certainly don’t want to unwittingly show them the thing that makes them more desirous of an immediate top surgery. Different youth respond in different ways
This piece is probably way too long for an adolescent and they are very unlikely to read it. Maybe searching through Reddit for posts could be better since they probably already use those platforms
You are so brave!! Thank you for sharing and educating!!
As a side note (but related): wearing a bra is also breast binding, and also sucks -- although practically speaking, it is often necessary and unavoidable, and the best well-fitted bras are somewhat comfortable to wear (or so says the advertising). What every actual woman knows is that bras suck, and the first thing a woman does when she gets home and closes the door behind her, is whip that thing off. The only people who actually enjoy wearing bras in private are AGPs.
Binding is about seriously flattening the breasts for indefinite periods of time. In the case of gender dysphoria it’s about flattening them so much you appear to have a flat chest under clothing. That is not even remotely the same as temporarily compressing them slightly to provide support during high intensity physical activity. Or wearing a properly fitting supportive bra. Binding breasts and wearing a bra are not even remotely comparable. If you’ve never bound your breasts for a whole day or more, it could be easy to not understand how vastly different these are. But they truly are not even comparable experiences lol
I’m sorry, I wasn’t comparing them. I get that it is a whole other beast. But if even wearing a normal bra is uncomfortable and confining, I can’t even imagine how a breast binder would feel.
As someone who used to wear binders and now wears properly fitting sports bras, there’s a huge difference.
Yeah. For f—ing real!