This Week in Barrel Scraping: 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 Thinks Hormones Cause Cancer
WTF is going on with 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰?
by Alyssa Steinsiek
Internationally renowned pop-dance princess Claire Elise Boucher, better known professionally as 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰, has been sounding off about Trans Shit™️ on Twitter recently. I don’t know who asked, but like most celebrities these days, up to and including Orenthal James Simpson, 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 has thoughts she needs to share about the transes.
Joy.
I guess we can slap an endocrinology residency on 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰’ CV, since she’s declared herself an expert on hormone therapy treatment for transgender people. Or, no, wait… she just said hormones, didn’t she? Breaking news: your endocrine system is trying to kill you! Hey, just so we’re clear, carcinogens are cancer-causing substances like asbestos, the chemical additives found in cigarettes, and even ultraviolet rays.
I could expend a lot of words and energy explaining why sex hormones—messenger chemicals that tell your body what to do and when to do it, naturally produced by your precious, precious glands—obviously aren’t carcinogenic in nature, but I don’t need to, because 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 got community notes’d!
Oh, man, that is embarrassing. Look, like any unhappy adult, there are social faux pas from my past that jolt me awake at night when I’m trying to fall asleep, but at least I’ve never experienced the personal death knell that is being so deeply wrong that I get a Twitter community note dropped on me.
The note links out to two resources that very helpfully explain why hormones, even when they’re taken exogenously, are not carcinogenic. Frankly, I’m surprised that Elon Musk’s Twitter even allows transphobic medical disinformation to get corrected, considering… well, you know. And, I mean… well, you know.
It’s worth pointing out that 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰’ Tweet is part of a discussion anti-trans activists are having about a video shared by infamous transphobic Twitter account, Libs of TikTok. The video is a short, simple primer on the idea that you can pursue top surgery without hormones if you just happen to want a flat chest without the effects that testosterone might have on your body.
I guess any conversation about bodily autonomy among consenting adults scares Libs of TikTok account owner and stochastic terrorist Chaya Raichik. I don’t know why, really, considering Raichik is the one inspiring danger for others; a year ago her targeted harassment and false claims resulted in death threats and a bomb threat at Boston Children’s Hospital. Just last week, her tweets about a patient discharged from the Oregon Health & Science University clinic for being abusive to staff members resulted in yet another bomb threat being levied against a hospital.
Let’s hope 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 doesn’t make a habit of wading into conversations involving Raichik.
But it isn’t the only time she’s brought up Trans Shit™️ recently!
𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰 sat down with Wired writer Steven Levy just the other day for a very long interview in which, among many, many other things, she touched on her public snafu with former boyfriend Elon Musk regarding his declared hatred of pronouns.
Her explanation for Musk’s years-long public affair with transphobia is that he was… upset about infertility?
I almost believe that a man with ten freaking children might take umbrage at the idea of anybody who isn’t popping out kids by the baker’s dozen, but I suspect the truth of Musk’s transphobic crusade—which include such hits as reversing Twitter's stance against misgendering and promotion of vile Matt Walsh documentary What is a Woman—is that he just has an axe to grind.
The fact that his kid cut him out of her life and changed her last name to disassociate from him when she transitioned suggests that he probably isn’t particularly pleasant to be around if you’re trans.
Calling Musk out for his transphobia back in 2020 was nice, but 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔢𝔰, if I can give you some advice? Start learning from trans folks about our lives and experiences, or stop talking about us entirely. We really don’t need an army of dream-pop bubblegum stans gumming up the works when it comes to public opinion on the transgender community. Thanks!
Alyssa Steinsiek is a professional writer and video games nerd who hails from Appalachia but lives, laughs, loves in Minneapolis.