Kabir Mann had an irregular cycle since he began menstruating as a teenager. At first, he was fine with it, but as he prepared to start hormone replacement therapy (HRT), he began to worry about any issues the irregularities may cause. So he saw a gynecologist, who diagnosed him with polycystic ovarian disorder (PCOS) and told him he had a higher-than-normal level of testosterone.The hardest part about that moment, he told LGBTQ Nation, was having to talk about his period at all. Its the only time he remembers speaking about it with anyone. I wanted to hide it so badly despite the pain because I was afraid that if I discussed it, then people would never address me as a man. Related As a trans male teacher, I am uniquely poised to teach boys to respect women My masculinity differs from that of my cis male colleagues. Thats a good thing. Growing up in Indias capital city of Delhi, Mann experienced constant dysphoria around his period. Even the word menstruation or any conversation surrounding it has always felt like a nightmare for me, the 30-year-old said. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today But everything changed when he joined an NGO that provided him with sex education and helped him feel more empowered in his identity. I started taking sessions on menstrual health and management. By now Ive done sessions with men, women, and girls, and Ive spoken about it so many times that now I dont feel so alienated. On top of that, HRT felt like a blessing. Since I took the first dose, my menstruation stopped, but having said that, missing a dosage does bring it back.While he is happy to be done menstruating, he no longer sees the act as something that eradicates ones manhood.I dont want menstruation back in my life but there are many transmen and transmasculine people who dont want to alter their bodies, and they see their gender identity and their bodies as separate, and thats wonderful too, he said.But in Southeast Asia, where identifying as any part of the LGBTQ+ community poses enormous challenges, menstruation for trans men is more than a matter of shame or dysphoria. The hostile environment toward trans people means unfriendly public washrooms and a lack of access to queer-affirmative healthcare, which leads to trans masc folks facing numerous medical issues. Vihaan grew up in a village in Indias central Maharashtra, where he could never freely express his gender identity. Menstruation made his experience all the more distressing.He long struggled with the pain and discomfort, he told LGBTQ Nation. By the time he reached college and started passing as a boy, his dysphoria around menstruation deepened. I wouldnt use the washroom in the college, so I would drink less water and fall sick often with urinary tract infection, especially while I was menstruating, he remembered. If that werent enough, his degree in social work required him to be out in the field a lot, where he faced the difficulty of finding a public washroom where he didnt have to disclose his identity to the caretaker before entering. Vihaan who now works as an independent consultant in LGBTQ+ awareness and advocacy in Bangalore began HRT at the age of 25. Now 29, he said one of the biggest reliefs of the treatment was that it stopped his menstruation. It makes me very happy and at peace to know that I dont menstruate anymore, but because Ive not had a hysterectomy done and its only through HRT, I do get the menstrual pain every month.While India and neighboring nations continue to battle towards equality and justice for the LGBTQ+ community, countries like the US are now eroding the freedom transgender people fought so hard for.Ale Pedraza Buenahora, a New York-based photojournalist, launched the Repro Masculinity project a collection of interviews with trans masculine and nonbinary people on reproductive health and community care due to their own experience with menstruation. My need to do this project began from my own debilitating experience with menstruation, where I felt the need to speak to other trans masc. people about their journeys and experiences because a lot of the information around it is nowhere to be found. We go to the doctors, and doctors have no idea how to deal with us, and so a lot of the gender-affirming medical interventions we do with our bodies are us figuring out amongst ourselves.Buenahora took testosterone to stall their menstruation, but it didnt work for them. However, they add, There are many trans masc people who started taking testosterone to deal with PCOS, endometriosis or menstrual pain and kept increasing their dosage as, for them, it felt that they were getting closer to their gender identity and ended up transitioning.Jesse Lovegood, a queer-affirmative therapist based in San Francisco who specializes in PTSD and trauma and works with transgender people, articulates how menstruation for many transmen and queer people is a blatant reminder of how their bodies arent shaped in the way that they wanted them to be. They share an astute insight into how the only gender-neutral washroom in public institutions is often reserved for disabled people. The mens washrooms dont even have a trash can, where if someone wants to change their pad or tampon in peace, they cant do it because there is no facility to discard it, they add.Dr Ayden Scheim, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia, has done research around transgender people in India and Canada and shared that creating a gender neutral washroom for trans people can also benefit people who need to use the toilet with a different-gender caregiver or who need privacy for health or religious reasons.In our research with transmasculine people in India, we found that 38% had avoided public washrooms in the previous year because they were worried about being mistreated, he told LGBTQ Nation. In earlier research among trans people in Canada, we found that 57% had ever avoided public washrooms for the same reason. So avoiding washrooms is a very common experience among trans people. Physically, this can lead to urinary tract infections, incontinence, and bladder and kidney problems. Transmasculine people can also experience significant anxiety about using or needing to use the washroom in public and may avoid going out or limit their activities because they are unable to count on access to a safe washroom.Lovegood recalls how their menstruation, coupled with endometriosis, was their greatest source of dysphoria even before they knew what dysphoria meant. I was on birth control pills from 14-24, and thats when I largely skipped my menstrual cycle, but then I was diagnosed with oral migraine which restricts people from having a birth control pill as it increases the chance of a stroke, so finally, I had to get a hysterectomy done.While it often takes years to get diagnosed with endometriosis, Jesse believes it became easier for them once they went to a gender clinic specializing in trans health care. Both Lovegood and Buenahora strongly believe in the power of community in helping queer people understand their bodies better, especially in todays increasingly anti-trans political climate.Despite the challenges, many trans men and transmasculine people are slowly reclaiming agency over their menstrual experiences by creating affirming spaces and narratives that center their realities.Through peer-led education, art, community storytelling, and support groups, they are fostering acceptance within themselves and others. For some, this means learning to separate menstruation from femininity, while for others it involves redefining what masculinity looks like in their bodies. These men teach us that its critical to expand the discourse on menstruation and normalize it as something experienced by folks of all genders. As Vihaan expressed, there needs to be greater public media awareness, like campaigns and advertisements for menstrual care that include trans men. These small steps will allow trans men to begin having dignity in menstruation and can help society as a whole redefine masculinity.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.