If I knew the answer to that question, I would have figured out I was trans years before I actually did. It’s a tricky one, especially when your period is heavy and painful, as mine was.

Oddly enough, my friend has a relatively light period. Only lasts a couple days and has a light flow. That’s one thing that she thought was odd because she knows women who have absolutely awful periods but still aren’t as upset about having them.

Another thing about my period that I hated was that it would remind me I could conceivably get pregnant, and pregnancy has been abhorrent to me since I was old enough to realize it could happen to me someday. And I’m pretty sure that my fear and revulsion towards even the thought of pregnancy is because of dysphoria, although this revulsion has been with me for basically my whole life and doesn’t really feel tied to any feelings of gender.

She said she feels most like a woman while pregnant and really enjoys the experience, but hates the way that people are misogynistic to pregnant women in particular.

So yeah, who knows? Working out whether your period is bad because periods suck or because of dysphoria is extremely difficult, in my experience

I appreciate you sharing. I know it’s not something I can just find simple solutions to, but the only trans experiences that actually showed up in my initial google were part of a vice article, so this is very helpful.