Y'know, the optics of this post are really bad.

You take an issue that affects people who developed differently than you personally, and use it as a launchpad to criticize the BBC mostly about tangential issues. Look--you have plenty of opportunities to criticize them. Why choose THIS of all things, where you're diverting attention from a serious problem suffered by many people who just happened to not develop like you?

Now, if you wanted to call out the BBC for not mentioning the additional difficulty of trans men who also suffer from endometriosis (the "only (cis) women get that" mistake) that'd be fair. If you wanted to point out that hysterectomy is not sufficient to cure endometriosis, so many transitioned trans men can still suffer (though removing ovaries helps considerably...still not a 100% cure!), also fair. That's important to know, trans-supporting, and is legitimately a failing on the BBC's part. Just saying "AFAB" instead of "women" doesn't cut it. It's weird, medical-sounding terminology that therefore reduces empathy where more is needed, and it totally doesn't get at the trans part of the issue anyway. They could spare a sentence or two to do it justice. You could spare more.

But you're not part of the group they're talking about, and your modest level of empathy is disturbing. ("It's a real problem I hope they get better and now let's talk about how bad the BBC is" is not a very compelling display of empathy. "I don't know much about it and I want to bash the BBC again in ways I'm familiar with instead of finding out more" isn't either.)

It's antics like this that make some trans-supportive people really question how deeply self-styled trans advocates care about the issues, or whether at this point it's just about the battle. It's antics like this that can make cis women wonder whether trans women actually care about women's issues broadly, or only the issues shared by cis and trans women.

Compassion first. Amplify serious issues when they're called out; bring more attention to them, not less. Endometriosis deserves our attention. It's serious, it's underappreciated, and it affects many individuals who developed as female. Including some trans men. If you want to bash them for missing the trans men part (while recognizing the value of their drawing attention to the issue at all), I'm all in.

But done this way--I'm out. I'm standing with the sufferers. Kudos to the BBC for raising the issue. It's important. (Shame on them for not sparing a few words to raise awareness of the issue as it affects trans men.)

I'll say it again: Kudos to the BBC for raising the issue. Endometriosis is an important health issue.