Ask a trans person!

[MickMan]

Hey guys,

I have been with Stroheckers for about 5 years now. First with IM and starting in 2009 cream. The first few times I ordered from them, I got 3 months or 90 grams and following the directions of 1/4 tsp. After a few months I got a shipment in that was only one jar instead of two. I called and talked to Brett, who is now no longer there and he said they started shipping out only 2 months because everyone was complaining that there is too much meds. I thought it was fishy but just went along with it thinking they were ploying for more money.

With the new laws on meds in FL, I now have to see the doc every time I need a refill so I asked her to be sure to send in a script for 3 months, not the two they have been sending. When I got it in, it was the same amount and when I called Strocheckers, they said that they have not changed anything and that it was the same three month supply that I have been getting.

They gave me dates where the first 3 orders were 3 months apart and then it went to two, but there is no record of me calling in and now they are saying it is my fault. I am having issues with them and my doc now. I have a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon to be sure I am using the correct amount.

I am curious if anyone else is having issues with Strocheckers? Is anyone else on the cream and did the amount go down? Any input would be appreciated.

[The Oopster]

Originally Posted by MickMan

Hey guys,

I have been with Stroheckers for about 5 years now. First with IM and starting in 2009 cream. The first few times I ordered from them, I got 3 months or 90 grams and following the directions of 1/4 tsp. After a few months I got a shipment in that was only one jar instead of two. I called and talked to Brett, who is now no longer there and he said they started shipping out only 2 months because everyone was complaining that there is too much meds. I thought it was fishy but just went along with it thinking they were ploying for more money.

With the new laws on meds in FL, I now have to see the doc every time I need a refill so I asked her to be sure to send in a script for 3 months, not the two they have been sending. When I got it in, it was the same amount and when I called Strocheckers, they said that they have not changed anything and that it was the same three month supply that I have been getting.

They gave me dates where the first 3 orders were 3 months apart and then it went to two, but there is no record of me calling in and now they are saying it is my fault. I am having issues with them and my doc now. I have a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon to be sure I am using the correct amount.

I am curious if anyone else is having issues with Strocheckers? Is anyone else on the cream and did the amount go down? Any input would be appreciated.

Sorry I have never gotten my creme through them and have always had good experiences with them. However i do tend to use less of mine then prescribed so mine is always lasting way past the time to renew.

[MickMan]

Originally Posted by The Oopster

Sorry I have never gotten my creme through them and have always had good experiences with them. However i do tend to use less of mine then prescribed so mine is always lasting way past the time to renew.

Thanks man. Yeah until now I ahve had great experiences. Not sure whats going on.

[Logicaly]

I don't use the cream, but I do get my prescription through them as well. I haven't been using them that long, and have only had to refill once in the time I have been on T and for the most part, they have been good. The only issue I have had with them is when it came time for my refill they only sent me needles for injecting, not for drawing the T into the syringe. They promptly sent me more, which was great, and I have not otherwise had any issues. For me, with my current dosing level mine easily lasts for 3 months.

I wouldn't mind going with a local company, but honestly so far, this has worked for me, and its not too expensive either.

[MickMan]

Got it taken care of. I went to my doc and talkd to her about it and she said that there was indeed an issue with the cream. She gave me another script to take to a local compounding pharm that she recommended and I got 4 months for a savings of about 50 bucks off of what I was paying for 2 months and they put it in pre-measured syringe type dispensers.

Super great service and better price and LOCAL!!

Atkinsons Pharm on Kingsley Ave, in case anyone is interested. Talk to Kelly. He is a super nice guy.

[Martina]

What do you think of the glitter bombing of Dan Savage?

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Martina

What do you think of the glitter bombing of Dan Savage?

I thought it was a very sparkly moment.

That said, I don't know if he realizes that the very things that he doesn't like that happen against the GL community he may be very well doing to the trans community. Terms (at least for me) like "shemale" or "tranny" doesn't sit well with me. Granted it was 2003 in one piece in particular that he did this but I don't know if he's really acknowledged it or what he's done.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Martina

What do you think of the glitter bombing of Dan Savage?

Honestly, the whole "glitter bombing" thing is not something I really understand. I'm not really sure where it came from or why it seems so popular now. In many respects I feel like it detracts from the seriousness of the forms of discrimination that people are speaking out against. On the other hand, it attracts more attention to it, where people would have otherwise ignored it.

From everything I've read, Dan Savage is an unapologetic transphobe, and I think it's important to point out why since he's a popular public figure. A lot of people espouse similar beliefs to his on trans folks, while still claiming to be "trans allies," just as he does. Whether glitter bombing him will help raise awareness or not on why certain behaviours and statements are transphobic remains to be seen.

I liked this take on it, though: http://www.bilerico.com/2011/11/dan_..._transphob.php

Yesterday evening Dan Savage visited the University of Oregon campus in Eugene as a part of his tour filming his show Savage U for MTV. While the details are not entirely clear, apparently a representative from the "Dan Savage Welcoming Committee" rushed the stage to glitter bomb the celebrity sex columnist along with the statement "Dan Savage is a transphobe!"

As they turned tail, they added, "Glitterbomb courtesy of the Dan Savage Welcoming Committee," and just before they got out the door, "He's a racist and misogynist and a rape-apologist, too!" The operative then fled the scene.
--Statement by Dan Savage Welcoming Committee

Dan Savage has made it clear that he intends to be an ally to trans people, but he's certainly been a very inconsistent ally. Sometimes he apologizes for his transphobic actions, such as when he was criticized for saying that a Republican politician was trans as a way to insult him. Other times, he ridicules those who point out his transphobic actions, depicts them as over-sensitive, irrational, and so forth. He occasionally uses the power of his popularity to bring attention to important trans issues, but he refuses to listen to trans people when they tell him what he is doing is causing harm.

It's interesting to see the response to all this in a public glitter bombing. Savage has yet to release any statement on the matter, but it's likely to be pretty similar to his statement in an interview with David Badash last month.

"How do you disprove a charge like you're transphobic? I'm not afraid of trans people." Savage then goes into a mimicking voice, knowing not to say, "One of my friends is trans," but does say that he has a friend who is trans who comes to his house for Christmas. "We hang out all the time," Savage says. "I certainly have had a journey in the last 20 years--as have we all--on trans issues. When I started writing Savage Love 20 years ago, and you can yank quotes 15, 18 years ago and flat them up today and say, 'You know, that's transphobic,' I'd probably agree with you. 15 years ago I didn't know as much as I know now--nor did anybody."

The problem I see here is that an ally in any anti-oppression movement should not be focused on disproving the fact that they are influenced by prejudice. In doing so, he paints himself into an adversarial relationship with the trans activists who he tries to discredit in order to prove his worth. I would argue that it's probably impossible to avoid internalizing prejudicial messages. The best thing any ally can do is take responsibility for those influences and seek to be accountable for them. Yet Dan Savage is too busy dodging responsibility to actually internalize an understanding of what he is doing that is wrong.

Because while it was 8 years ago that he titled a column "Bad Tranny" where he admonished a trans woman for coming out, it was only two years ago that he used the term "shemale" to refer to trans women. Just one year ago, several weeks in succession, first when a caller discusses watching trans porn, he admits that he knows he shouldn't use either derogatory term, but declares that it's okay to do so when referencing porn and proceeds to joyfully sling around the word "tranny" ten times in about two minutes and tosses in "shemale" a few times for good measure. Then repeats his previous assertion that men who are attracted to trans women cannot be considered completely straight. A week later he verbally thrashes a trans person who got upset at being mispronouned. Then finally, he reassures a man who likes women with strap-ons that he is 100% straight as long as the cock that he's attracted to is attached to a woman - which apparently means he doesn't consider trans women to be women, or else he would have said the same thing to the guy who watches trans porn.

I have to wonder, with all that Dan Savage claims to have learned in the past 15 years, has he learned how to be less transphobic or has he only learned how to sound less transphobic while still putting out equally damaging statements?

I could go on, but his behavior has already been well documented by other bloggers, such as Masculine Toast, Bi Furious, Greta Christina, and FuckNoDanSavage. The bottom line is that when challenged on his various prejudicial influences, Dan Savage tells his critics to patiently wait for him while it gets better. This glitterbomb is one of many responses that demand, "Make it better."