HRT (hormone replacement therapy)

Hormone replacement therapy is the most common element of gender-affirming care: estrogen (usually with an anti-androgen) for trans feminine people, testosterone for trans masculine people. Over time it shifts secondary sex characteristics toward the person’s gender identity — fat distribution, skin, body hair; testosterone also deepens the voice.

Worth knowing up front: changes are measured in months and years, not weeks; different changes are reversible to different degrees — voice change and effects on fertility can be lasting, which is why fertility-preservation options belong in the conversation with a doctor before starting. And hormones change the body’s characteristics only: they do not change sexual orientation, and they do not swap out anyone’s personality.

The terminology itself is shifting: the newer name is gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), since “replacement” originally described menopausal hormone supplementation — but “HRT” has stuck through sheer habit.

A safety note grounded in the Chinese context this site serves: because regular channels on the mainland are limited, some people self-medicate with gray-market hormones. If that is your situation, this is said without judgment — push for legitimate medical care and regular blood work wherever possible, rather than carrying the risk alone. In Chinese, HRT is jisu tidai zhiliao (激素替代治疗); community shorthand is simply “吃药” (“taking meds”).

Register note: formal and community contexts alike; in community speech people just say “HRT.”

Common misuse: calling HRT “sex-change drugs.” There is no pill that “changes sex,” and taking or not taking hormones does not define who counts as trans.