Oregon children’s hospital offers ‘safe tucking’ guidance for boys

The Doernbecher Children's Hospital, which claims to be "Oregon’s top ranked children’s hospital," has a department dedicated to gender services, offering "a full range of services for transgender and gender-nonconforming children and teens."

These services include puberty specialists, "A safe, welcoming and gender-affirming environment," family support from psychiatrists and social workers, and comprehensive care including hormone therapy and mental health.

On their gender services page, the hospital includes a number of handouts, including one called "safe tucking." This is when a boy pushes his penis and testicles up, smashing and flattening them, the Daily Wire reports.

In a forum for Detransitioner Awareness held by Genspect on March 12, Robin, a man who had detransitioned after taking testosterone, spoke about "tucking" and how the effects of this caused him extreme medical difficulty, leading to the removal of a testicle and very nearly to castration. He had to stop doing it or risk losing sexual function entirely.

"Tucking is moving the penis, testicles, or both out of the way," the children's hospital in Oregon said. "This makes the genital area look smoother and flatter."

"Tucking can reduce any concerns you have about your body, how your clothes fit and how safe you feel in public. People of all genders can tuck," the handout explains.

"This information uses the words 'penis,' 'scrotum,' and 'testicles.' We know you may not use those terms or identify with them. We use them here to refer to body parts that people with tucking needs have, while understanding those words are not for everyone," the handout cautions.

The handout lays out in detail how boys can tuck their genitalia, including two methods — one requiring tape and one without.

It explains that the boys should "guide" their testicles into their inguinal canals. "This can feel strange at first, possibly even uncomfortable." The boy is then directed to "pull the penis back between your legs."

In regards to the taping method, the handout states: "This method is more secure. Your tuck is less likely to come undone. But you have a higher risk of skin irritation. It is also harder to use the bathroom, because you need to take off the tape and then reapply it."

The handout points those interested in clothing designed for tucking to two online stores, as well as Shebop, "a sex-positive shop in Portland."

"They sell gender-affirming clothing items as well as sex toys, videos and more. The shop is for people age 18 and older, but they offer appointments before or after hours for younger shoppers," the handout said.

They warn that tucking comes with risks, including the risk of skin irritation, cut off blood circulation, and broken skin in the case of tape tucking, and "urinary tract infections, problems with urine flow and twisting or inflammation in the testicles" overall. This is what happened to Robin, the detransitioned male.

The hospital stated that its gender services department works in cooperation with the OHSU [Oregon Health and Science University] Transgender Health Program.

They offer a number of other handouts, including information on chest binding, changing your name, and preserving your fertility.

In the chest binding handout, they once again point people towards Shebop, stating that the sex shop can fit you for a binder.

In the preserving your fertility handout, they note that taking "gender affirming hormone medications" can negatively affect a person’s fertility.

They offer other suggestions on building a family, including adoption, picking a partner that already has children themselves, or "choosing to be a parent with someone who is not your romantic partner. This might be a friend, relative or someone else. It is called 'intentional co-parenting.'"