because this whole system of gatekeeping is one of the biggest factors pressuring trans people into being a very specific TYPE of trans, because if we cannot prove that we are this exact kind of trans and that our experience is precisely this one, then transition steps are categorically withheld, even those we want and need.
there is societal pressure for this too, of course, but this is much easier to navigate than being pushed into this kind of pattern, ESPECIALLY in a context of THERAPY.
and the thing that makes me so furious is that the gatekeepers, the therapists, the doctors, the psychiatrists, the people doing the assessments, they have no fucking clue that they are doing this. they swear tooth and nail that they don't influence anyone. not exerting any kind of pressure.
and they refuse to see that their role AS GATEKEEPERS is the very thing that creates this dynamic and this pressure.
it's a test that you have to pass. you have to prove that you're really trans.