I suspect the “unsafe” part of DIY is more the fact that unless you’re buying pharmaceuticals, some DIY vials are compounded in an unregulated facility sometimes without typical lab equipment and safety best practices in place, for example you are probably aware of the debates among homebrewers about sterilization requirements and when or whether to use syringe filters, etc. - a lot of DIY vials are probably safe more because of the preservatives used than the safe sterilization and filtration practices that are kept.
Regardless, there is a question of the alternative - if no Rx is possible and the alternative is to go without HRT, the risks of DIY are probably justified by the clinical benefits of being on HRT, and the reality is that many, many trans people use DIY HRT without incident, and DIY vials are occasionally tested for safety, so the community has some informal “self-regulation” happening as well.
content warning: suicide
What I find so disturbing is how often the fears from cis folks about DIY don’t translate to demands for increased access to HRT, but instead usually become moral judgements on the trans person for taking risks by using DIY, as if that were categorically unreasonable and as if it were better to just suffer from the wrong sex hormones in your body.
This just exposes the common bias and ignorance about what it’s like to have the wrong sex hormones in your body, and the way being trans is seen as a matter of “self expression” and about “living authentically” rather than as a serious medical condition that they themselves would be unlikely to cope with or survive if they were put under the same circumstances (like David Reimer, or like Alan Turing, both of whom killed themselves when forced to live on cross-sex hormones - hardly surprising then to hear 40% of trans folks have attempted suicide before).
I suspect the “unsafe” part of DIY is more the fact that unless you’re buying pharmaceuticals, some DIY vials are compounded in an unregulated facility sometimes without typical lab equipment and safety best practices in place, for example you are probably aware of the debates among homebrewers about sterilization requirements and when or whether to use syringe filters, etc. - a lot of DIY vials are probably safe more because of the preservatives used than the safe sterilization and filtration practices that are kept.
Regardless, there is a question of the alternative - if no Rx is possible and the alternative is to go without HRT, the risks of DIY are probably justified by the clinical benefits of being on HRT, and the reality is that many, many trans people use DIY HRT without incident, and DIY vials are occasionally tested for safety, so the community has some informal “self-regulation” happening as well.
content warning: suicide
What I find so disturbing is how often the fears from cis folks about DIY don’t translate to demands for increased access to HRT, but instead usually become moral judgements on the trans person for taking risks by using DIY, as if that were categorically unreasonable and as if it were better to just suffer from the wrong sex hormones in your body.
This just exposes the common bias and ignorance about what it’s like to have the wrong sex hormones in your body, and the way being trans is seen as a matter of “self expression” and about “living authentically” rather than as a serious medical condition that they themselves would be unlikely to cope with or survive if they were put under the same circumstances (like David Reimer, or like Alan Turing, both of whom killed themselves when forced to live on cross-sex hormones - hardly surprising then to hear 40% of trans folks have attempted suicide before).