Everything You Want to Know About Bottom Growth (But Were Too Afraid to Ask)
When I was 19, I was out drinking and the mum of one of my school friends saw me at the bar. She’d not seen me since before I came out as trans, and she’d had a few drinks already.
“When you go on hormones, what exactly will happen to your clitoris?”
Not the question I wanted to be asked when I was trying to order my next triple vodka orange, and definitely not by my friend’s mum. I can’t fault her curiosity; the way hormone replacement therapy (HRT) affects people’s bodies is interesting! But that just wasn’t the right time or place.
But this isn’t a bar. This is Sex Tonic: In ConteXXXt — the right time and place for all your questions.
First though, a note on language. How trans people talk about our bodies can vary a lot depending on individual preferences. For this article, I’m going to be using a mix of scientific terms like clitoris and vulva, but also some slang terms used in the trans community when they seem relevant.
So, what is bottom growth?
Back in the womb, our genitals start out the same. There’s no real difference between a clitoris and a penis. It’s hormones that turn them into either a penis or a vagina. So, what happens when you change up the hormones in your body when you’re older?
For people assigned female at birth (AFAB) who take testosterone HRT (which is a mouthful, so usually gets shortened to T), the biggest change is the clitoris and clitoral hood start growing.
The fancy scientific term for that is clitoral hypertrophy, but you’re more likely to hear it called bottom growth. You might also hear the result of bottom growth called a t-dick.
When does bottom growth happen?
For a lot of people, bottom growth is one of the first changes to happen after they start taking T. I swear it started for me after about a week, but it can take up to three months. In most cases, it’ll reach its maximum size in a year.
All of this depends on an individual’s dosage and routine, though. There’s no one size fits all… Literally.
How big can it get?
Research around bottom growth is very limited, but one study suggests an average visible growth of 2.5cm to 4cm. Another study suggested a total mean length of 4.6cm after a year on T. So most of us end up with between half an inch and just under two inches of growth. That’s an average, though: sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less. Just like with cisgender men’s dicks, t-dick size varies.
Does it hurt?
That seems to depend on who you ask. Some people find it a little painful at first, but the pain isn’t permanent. Personally, I wouldn’t describe it as painful, but I would say there’s a fair bit of discomfort. The clitoris goes from (for most people) being hidden away under the clitoral hood to being out and on show. Having it rub against your underwear all day every day when you’re still adjusting doesn’t feel great, I can tell you that.
How does bottom growth affect sex?
Bottom growth doesn’t just change how your clitoris looks. Most people will find that as their body changes, so does what they enjoy in the bedroom. How we experience sensation changes, but what exactly that means is yet another thing that varies from person to person.
Sometimes, the clitoris becoming less covered by the clitoral hood and more sensitive means that direct stimulation becomes uncomfortable. In these cases, it can feel better to focus on the surrounding areas of the clitoral hood and vulva – even after bottom growth, a lot of the clitoris is still internal, after all!
For others, this increased sensitivity makes it easier for them to orgasm. Either way, the changes likely mean that the toys and techniques they enjoyed before might not do it for them in the same way.
Some people get on (and get off!) better treating it like a small penis than a clitoris: stroke it between the thumb and forefinger as if jerking it off. T-dicks don’t just look more phallic than a pre-T clitoris, they often work more like a penis too.
Because of that, people on T might start to like oral sex with a little more ‘sucking off’ instead of just ‘eating out’ after bottom growth. Everyone’s body and tastes are different, and everyone has to learn how bottom growth changes what they like.
For a good number of people, T can cause vaginal dryness, but this can easily be fixed with lube or with topical treatments if it causes problems. Even when there’s no penetration, lube can make masturbation or sex with a t-dick feel better and prevent potential irritation.
Trans men and transmascs’ bodies don’t often get presented as sexual – let alone sexy – so it’s not a surprise that the average person doesn’t know much about bottom growth. And, sure, it’s not the kind of thing you can ask a stranger or someone you don't really know about. But our genitals are just as much a fact of life as anyone else’s, even if you didn’t learn about them in sex ed!
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