LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Estrogen: A trip report” by cube_flipper


Listen Later

I'd like to say thanks to Anna Magpie – who offers literature review as a service – for her help reviewing the section on neuroendocrinology.

The following post discusses my personal experience of the phenomenology of feminising hormone therapy. It will also touch upon my own experience of gender dysphoria.

I wish to be clear that I do not believe that someone should have to demonstrate that they experience gender dysphoria – however one might even define that – as a prerequisite for taking hormones. At smoothbrains.net, we hold as self-evident the right to put whatever one likes inside one's body; and this of course includes hormones, be they androgens, estrogens, or exotic xenohormones as yet uninvented.

I have gender dysphoria. I find labels overly reifying; I feel reluctant to call myself transgender, per se: when prompted to state my gender identity or preferred pronouns, I fold my hands [...]

---

Outline:

(03:56) What does estrogen do?

(12:34) What does estrogen feel like?

(13:38) Gustatory perception

(14:41) Olfactory perception

(15:24) Somatic perception

(16:41) Visual perception

(18:13) Motor output

(19:48) Emotional modulation

(21:24) Attentional modulation

(23:30) How does estrogen work?

(24:27) Estrogen is like the opposite of ketamine

(29:33) Estrogen is like being on a mild dose of psychedelics all the time

(32:10) Estrogen loosens the bodymind

(33:40) Estrogen downregulates autistic sensory sensitivity issues

(37:32) Estrogen can produce a psychological shift from autistic to schizotypal

(45:02) Commentary

(47:57) Phenomenology of gender dysphoria

(50:23) References

---

First published:

June 15th, 2025

Source:

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mDMnyqt52CrFskXLc/estrogen-a-trip-report

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

---

Images from the article:

Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

LessWrong (30+ Karma)By LessWrong


More shows like LessWrong (30+ Karma)

View all
Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,469 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,395 Listeners

The Peter Attia Drive by Peter Attia, MD

The Peter Attia Drive

7,953 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,142 Listeners

ManifoldOne by Steve Hsu

ManifoldOne

89 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, The Center for Humane Technology

Your Undivided Attention

1,472 Listeners

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg by All-In Podcast, LLC

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg

9,207 Listeners

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) by Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

88 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

417 Listeners

Hard Fork by The New York Times

Hard Fork

5,461 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,321 Listeners

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis by PHD Ventures

Moonshots with Peter Diamandis

482 Listeners

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

121 Listeners

Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast by swyx + Alessio

Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

75 Listeners

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley by BG2Pod

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley

461 Listeners