Transgender Men with Endometriosis Study: Call for participants

Who I am and how I became interested in the topic

My name is Cheryl Eder and I am currently a PhD psychology student at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. I am currently doing a study on the experiences of transgender men living with endometriosis. I started researching endometriosis as part of my endometriosis diagnosis and my wanting to know more about how to live with this disease. As I reached out and started to join support groups and networks, I became aware of how others’ stories of endometriosis were similar to mine in that there were major diagnostic delays, and reports of pain and other symptoms often being normalised and not taken seriously. I became aware from social media posts that transgender people and men have endometriosis, although in most of the information I had read they referred to endometriosis being a women’s disease. This struck me as I read these posts as I felt that these voices seemed to have been excluded and may need to be heard.

Who is eligible to participate? What’s your contact information?

If you identify as a transgender male, have been diagnosed with endometriosis, are eighteen or older and you are interested in being a participant please make contact with Cheryl Eder cje@live.co.za

Why is this research important to the endo community?

There is a need for marginalised groups, such as transgender men who have endometriosis to be able to share their experiences and the need for further research in this area. In this study I aim to share voices that are missing in research. Although there are a few studies on transgender men with endometriosis, there are currently no studies that explore what it is like for transgender men to live with this disease. In this study I aim to explore transgender men’s experience of living with endometriosis, their experience with healthcare for this disease, their experience of psychosocial support and their experiences of their integration into the endometriosis community.