"That Pudge"

[Contravene]

Okay, I need to give a fair warning. The following could be very triggering and mentions certain body parts that are usually associated with being female. The conversation that leads me to ask this question was very triggering for me so I don't want it to affect anyone else negatively.

I recently was having a conversation with a friend about transitioning. We looked up some pictures and I had her guess which guys were trans and which were cis since she claimed that she had good "trans radar". Generally, it was impossible for her to tell the difference between trans and cis guys but neither of us put too much stock into our little game anyway.

However... (and this is the final trigger warning, proceed with caution.)

My friend mentioned that she noticed how cis women and a lot of trans guys apparently have a pudge in their lower stomach because it's their uterus pushing against that area of their stomach.

Is that for real? It's severely freaking me out. Don't pull any punches if it is, it's okay to tell me, I'll just have to deal with my freaking out over it but to me it sounded kind of crazy.

[Mr.X]

A pudge because the uterus is pushing against a certain area? I'm no doctor, but that seems highly unlikely. The uterus is a small organ, which tends to weigh less than 100 grams. It's hard to imagine something that small being able to create a bulge, especially because the stomach area has muscles over it.

Also, even if it were true, which I still highly doubt, most transguys have that silly organ removed, so no pudge would be there then.

However, women do tend to have pudges because of fat deposition that is different from men. Is that what she meant?

[captains]

100% incorrect. Your friend is one of many people who read a post floating around (tumblr mostly) claiming that the uterus causes a small bulge in the lower abdomen. While the post itself had positive intentions and was genuinely rather than maliciously uninformed, it is factually inaccurate. The uterus is a very small organ and your anterior abdominal wall holds everything in nicely. It in no way causes a bulge. Any "pooching" there would be from one's intestines, which do push forward ever-so-slightly, or from a small deposition of fat. I'm not a doctor, but I am a medical student.

[November Fox]

Don´t worry, it´s BS.

It´s more related to someone´s own physique. I know CIS guys who have the "pudge" you speak of.

[Martine A.]

Sounds like something very wrong. Look up anatomy of the uterus on google images, sideways. Pictures I found show it far from the belly. Also the lower one.

A guy with some belly is just a skinny guy. Many cis men I meet every day have bellies that look hurtful to carry.

[FTMax]

The pudge is just fat. My friend had a hysto recently and his uterus only weighed a few ounces. Very small. Not enough to cause any kind of pudge, UNLESS you have some kind of condition where things are swelling. The pudge you're speaking of is just fat.

[invisiblemonsters]

i don't think it's one of those "clocking" things, that's ridiculous. i have a little "pudge" but the rest of my body is hairy and masculine shaped (no real hips, etc that stick out and give that obvious "feminine" shape) and you wouldn't be able to tell nothing from that. i think she's just trying to make stuff up like some other people have about other weird things that makes them seem like they can "clock" someone who is trans. my brothers friend once said he could tell i was trans (he knew i was because he knew me before i transitioned) because of my philtrum (the divot on your upper lip) being shown??? but there's plenty of cis guys who have a defined philtrum, more so than me. it's one of those things people make up and try to make us self conscious about it or try to pick us out of a crowd because there has to be some "Tell" that we are trans and can't just pass as cis, etc. it's ridiculous. even your body shape doesn't give it a way because there's tall cis girls, short cis men, men with hips and a butt, etc. people just wanna try to say anything to figure out they can just "tell' especially when they find out you're trans. it's like they look at you more and try to figure out the ways to have figured out you were trans which is harmful and they'll do it to people and be like "oh they're trans because of this" and it's just a mess.

[Kylo]

Pretty sure the only time the uterus is 'visible' is when there's a well-developed baby in it.

There are other tells in the region, though.  Like the shape of the skin around the navel being different in men/women due to fat distribution. On T there shouldn't be much feminine mode fat distribution though.

[Deborah]

Pudge rhymes with fudge for a reason.  You get one from eating too much of the other.


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