I just want to say that I was on the fence about Lemmy but reading this very interesting thread about changes to the human body being explained by reference to sci-fi confirmed for me that this is a cool place that I will enjoy visiting. Thank you.
Comment on Why does it seem like women are more wont to make noise in sexual situations while men don't?
HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 7 months agoOh goddess does the temperature tolerance change. Turns out the fat distribution matters a lot for that!
Also yeah there's a line in the first altered carbon book about how for men, skin is armor, and for women, a sensory organ, and it's a little exaggerated, but it's pointing at a real thing.
Re personality: that's harder to judge, because you have so much going on. It's a major change in your life, you're altering how you and the world interact with each other, so it would be hard to avoid your personality going through a rock to mud transition and shifting, but I think there's definitely some shift towards social responsibility, yeah. Obviously there isn't an exact measurement, but I think it's pretty common.
Boinkage@lemmy.world 6 months ago
HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 6 months ago
Glad I could help! Enjoy your time here!
CapeWearingAeroplane@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
I’ve never heard about women’s skin being generally more sensitive, that’s really interesting! I always thought the difference in temperature tolerance had to do with women having a thicker sub-skin fat layer (might not be the correct English term for “underhudsfett”). Have you noticed any other physiological changes that you think can be attributed to the transition?
Sorry if I’m a bit direct, I just think the biology of the human body is fascinating, and I’ve never really before thought of the insight that we can get from people that have experienced “both sides” of the spectrum, so to speak.
HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social 7 months ago
Pelvic tilt is a pretty obvious one, part of why women have shapelier asses and also reduces height a little bit. Emotions definitely feel more accessible, although I have heard that trans guys also get some of that sometimes so that might have more to do with dissociating less, but I also get some urge to cry at stuff like... Last night I was watching a movie with my girlfriend and characters were talking about people they'd lost, and it was an effort not to cry.
You can ask me literally anything you actually want to know about without losing points with me. Just be sure you want to know. There's a pretty good chance I'll answer and if you didn't want to know you might have regrets.
CapeWearingAeroplane@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Cool! I didn’t know about the pelvic tilt either, and it’s interesting to hear that both mtf and ftm transitioners (is that the right term?) have similar experiences regarding emotional accessibility. And thanks for opening for questions, I’m going to fire off a couple right away:
Have you experienced any change in sleep patterns?
Any significant change in appetite? If yes, how? Both regarding amounts, and what kind of food you “crave”?
I’m assuming you don’t menstruate, but do you have any kind of hormonal “cycle” that would be similar? If so, how is it?
PS. It’s veery late in my time zone, so I have to sleep now, but I appreciate any answers I get, and I’m looking forward to reading them :)
zynlyn@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Different transfem here, but I can say that I’ve had a big change in sleep patterns. I’m a much lighter sleeper now and wake up a lot easier and earlier than I used to. It was a fast and persistent change
My sense of smell is much better now, and that was also a very fast change. I enjoy food more as a result, and have a wider palette. No special cravings, though.
You asked earlier about mental changes - for me that was profound. I’m much calmer and happier now, and feel emotions ‘flowing’ and processing better than before. I used to struggle with anxiety and anger, but now I’m generally more balanced and when I do feel difficult emotion it’s easier to make sense of it and move forward. Before I would often have a sense of what I call emotional “heat” where I knew I was having a strong emotional reaction and felt a drive to act on it, but I would struggle to understand of articulate exactly what I was feeling. Now, in similar conditions I don’t feel such a big impulsive motivation and it’s easier to think through and express the nuance of my emotional experience. This was the change I wanted the very most from HRT and it’s been wonderful to experience.
Of course, everyone is unique and has different receptors, responses, etc. I started from having exceptionally high T levels, and now have typical cis female T and E levels.
Can_you_change_your_username@kbin.social 7 months ago
There's no common language name for the fat layer under the skin in English, the medical term is most often used which is subcutaneous fat.
CapeWearingAeroplane@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Y’all need more combined words! Why can’t we just call it “underskinsfat” or “subskinsfat” and be rid of the problem? I much miss the option in the English language of just plugging together whatever words I need in order to create a word that gets the point across. I hope the devs will add that in a future update.
Without that option you can’t get words like “ashstuck” to describe the specific situation where someone is stuck somewhere because flights are cancelled due to ash in the atmosphere, typically from a volcanic eruption.
livus@kbin.social 7 months ago
The only difference I was aware of with skin is that the collagen fibres are arranged in a different pattern and women's has less elasticity because of it.