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emotrophywife

grace byron

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Critic, reporter, and novelist. Words in The New Yorker, Nation, GQ, Granta, Bookforum, Vogue, and elsewhere. Debut

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Today I have a big feature on @verge where I spoke with a bunch of trans teens and families about how they are feeling after the closure of so many pedatric trans clinics. So often we hear from those trying to take their rights or trans adults but rarely trans kids themselves. It’s a long read with a lot of voices I spent six months reporting. I hope you take the time to read and share. Many thanks to my editor @knguyen and all those who spoke to me. It is an intensely terrifying time for trans youth, but it is all the more rewarding and important to listen to them.

I wrote about @vegetasackvillewest and the incredible new novel she wrote All Us Saints and how it subverts the trans killer mythology for @thebafflermag

Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 made many trans Americans worry about whether their access to healthcare would be taken from them. Nearly 18 months later, as Trump continues to dismantle rights for minorities of all kinds and for trans people in particular, that fear is worse than ever.

Against this backdrop, some trans people have been forced to find hormones outside official channels, turning to online forums for help securing estrogen or testosterone. Recent reports detail trans people ordering drugs from countries like Taiwan and China.

It’s not the first time trans people have been forced to seek healthcare underground, smuggling hormones across state lines or locating sympathetic doctors in the face of a repressive government. In fact, the history of do-it-yourself hormone replacement therapy stretches back decades. That history can be traced through zines, documentaries, and contemporary interviews with trans women.

Statistics about current DIY HRT use are sparse; few want to admit to engaging in what is technically an illegal form of healthcare. But a 2015 study of 433 trans people by the Trans PULSE Project found that a tenth were using hormones obtained through friends or the internet. Self-administering hormones does seem, however, to be a more common practice among trans women since estrogen is not a controlled substance like testosterone. But as the Trump administration makes it more and more difficult to transition legally, DIY hormone use may become more widespread. Read more from Grace Byron at the link in our bio.

For the @nationmag I wrote about the history of trans DIY healthcare, the balls barn and clinic for orchiectomies run by a trans woman named Eilís, and wven chatted about one of her more famous patients Bryn Kelly, and of course I spoke with @gpjulesss for some great context and theory. Thank you to my editor Jack and link in stories.

gorgeous photos by @ryanpfluger

Episode 50: With Grace Byron! @emotrophywife

An impeccable chat right here! Grace was chill af. All her answers came so simply and assuredly. That type of ease and depth only comes from a long, heavy love affair with books. And gd these are some good books! Having read and enjoyed Grace’s writing for a while, it is so great to hear the details of her influence. Lit overrated book takes too. Gotta love it.

U already kno but Grace is a writer! Her work has appeared in all the heavy hitting outlets. She is currently the book columnist at Defector and her fire debut novel Herculine is available at a McNally/Twisted Spine near you! Go get that shit!

Thank you so much, Grace, for making it out. This was so great.
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#readersofinstagram #peterbooksnyc #booksonthestreet #whatareyoureading #streetinterviews

some angels of mine

Grace Byron doesn’t think plastic surgery is (always) bad.

This week, we’re talking to critic, reporter, and novelist Grace Byron. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Nation, GQ, Granta, Bookforum, Vogue, and elsewhere. Herculine is her debut novel.

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I have some big news which is that I am now a books columnist at @defectormedia and my first review is ip now, on Ben Lerner, autofiction, masculinity in crisis, and Philip Roth. So grateful to the genius @brandyljensen and at a time when books coverage is declining and trans women do not get to have columns… A gift. More soon.

I am in the @newyorkermag newsletter today talking about the Supreme Court’s decision on conversion therapy bans. It’s personal— as a survivor these rulings are personal. It’s a short piece also touching on the recent Kansas driver ID laws and the forced detransition of trans inmates. Many thanks to @carolinemimbsnyce and @tyfogs

beautiful must see show by Martine/ trip to LA/ reporting

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