Getting Started

There are so many ways to have a trans body, or to exist as trans in the world, and figuring out how to get what we want and need can be overwhelming.

Medical affirmation is a bit different to social affirmation, because we are required to interact with the medical system, including nurses, doctors, and surgeons. TransHub supports an informed consent/affirmation enablement of gender affirming medical care that is individualised and recognises trans people as experts of our own bodies and experiences, and in which you are able to work in partnership with your GP, rather than being led through a series of compulsory steps.

No matter what forms of medical affirmation you have or don’t have, do or don’t want, or even if you’re unsure what might be for you, you deserve to feel respected and safe by health professionals.

Medical affirmation will look different for every trans person. For some people this will involve hormone blockers, or taking either masculinising hormones like testosterone, or feminising hormones like estrogen and progesterone. It is important to remember that hormones don’t have a gender, only people have those.

Some trans people will want affirmative surgeries. These may include chest or breast surgery, facial surgery, tracheal shaves, or genital surgeries, including genital reconfiguration surgery (GRS), hysterectomies, or orchiectomies. Don’t worry if these sound like big words, we explain what each of these are in detail.

Many trans people have also experienced medical gatekeeping, which is a form of control and can feel like having to jump through hoops to receive care. Everyone deserves health care that is affirmative and rights-based, and this means being able to find the doctor for you.

We’ve also pulled together My Health, a section that covers many other health topics that are not specifically related to how we might affirm our gender but are still super important to know about, particularly since it can be hard to find inclusive health information.

Part of good healthcare is preventative screening, including breast/chest screening, and cervical screening. These can be confronting for everyone, but we have some useful advice for how to feel in control and affirmed during these screening tests. Check in about substance use, mental health and body image, and regular sexual health testing.

For anyone who is sexually active, regular testing for STIs and HIV, is a routine way to look after ourselves. There’s also information about what unhealthy relationships might look like (as opposed to healthy ones), and some information about sexual assault and coercion and domestic and family violence, including how to figure out if it’s happening to you, and what your options are if it is.

The ways our trans bodies interact with our fertility, contraception and sexuality are also included in this section, as is some information about what pregnancy might look like for trans people. You can also read about menstruation, and safe ways to deal with and stop it from happening, if that’s what you need.

Head to our dedicated sections on social or legal gender affirmation, as well.

For any clinicians or medical professionals reading this, you can find out more in our Clinicians Section.