You don’t have to be certain you’re transgender in order to go on hormones. In fact, Kaylee adds, going on hormones is ‘probably the best way to actually tell if you’re trans anyways.’

You might have heard that testosterone comes with bad side effects— but you’ll rarely hear them mentioned here. YouTube and Insta gurus are about fun, and increased risks of various cancers and prophylactic hysterectomy are certainly not that. The most common side effect of testosterone that gurus talk about is the one that burnishes their trans bona fides: pain. The pain is acknowledged—even conveyed with relish. Like a barefoot dash across fiery coals, braving the agony of an intra-muscular injection proves you’ve moved beyond playing dress-up. You really are ‘trans.’ And you’re not messing around.