Binding
Flattening the chest, usually with a purpose-made binder.
Binding is flattening the chest, most often with a purpose-made compression garment called a binder. It is used by trans men, transmasculine and nonbinary people, and by some people who are not trans at all.
It is a presentation practice rather than a medical one, and for many people it is the single most effective thing available for dysphoria that no amount of clothing choice addresses.
It has real physical limits, and the guidance on them comes from health organisations and trans health services rather than from a glossary. What belongs here is the word and the fact that the guidance exists and is worth finding.
Two things are worth saying plainly anyway, because they are about consent rather than medicine: never bind someone else's chest for them without being asked, and never ask someone whether they are binding.
Binding is a presentation practice, not a medical treatment
It gets discussed as though it were a medical intervention that someone has been prescribed, which both overstates it and invites unsolicited advice.
It is also not a substitute for surgery or a step toward it. Plenty of people bind indefinitely and want nothing further, and plenty never bind at all.
Saying it well
Say this
- I bind most days.
- A binder, not a bandage.
- Binding helps more than anything else I have tried.
- Ask your local trans health service about the limits.
Not this
- Do you bind?
- You should not do that
- Can I see?
- Just wear a sports bra
Questions people actually ask
What is binding?
Flattening the chest, usually with a purpose-made compression garment called a binder.
Who binds?
Trans men, transmasculine and nonbinary people, and some people who are not trans.
Is binding safe?
There is established guidance on limits, and it comes from health organisations and trans health services rather than from a glossary.
Is it rude to ask someone if they bind?
Yes. It is a question about their body that they did not invite.