January 18, 2023

"Unfortunately, some people who discuss their detransition on social media are met with suspicion, blame, mockery, harassment, or even threats..."

"... from within the LGBTQ communities in which they previously found refuge. Some trans-rights advocates have likened detransitioners to the ex-gay movement or described them as anti-trans grifters. In fact, many detransitioners continue to live gender-nonconforming and queer lives. No one benefits from the anger and suspicion that gender-care issues currently inspire. Detransitioners who face social rejection, coupled with shame and isolation, may come to view anti-trans activists as their only allies—even when those activists portray them negatively, as damaged goods rather than as human beings who have survived medical trauma."

From "Take Detransitioners Seriously/Some people reverse their gender transition. Understanding their experience is crucial" by "trans academics" Leo Valdes and Kinnon MacKinnon (The Atlantic).

Meanwhile, clinicians who receive threats of violence for assisting trans youth are vulnerable to developing myopic positions and overly optimistic clinical practices that ignore detransitioners’ accounts.... [R]eearchers don’t yet have enough data to know whether today’s patients will detransition at higher or lower rates than the patients who were approved for treatment in decades past.... Researchers in the Netherlands found that only 2 percent of trans young people discontinued gender-affirming hormones within about four years of going on puberty blockers.... Even if the 2 percent figure holds, the absolute number of detransitioners is likely to increase dramatically as more trans and nonbinary people elect medical and surgical treatments. Will the LGBTQ community support or shun these people?... Upholding the dignity and diversity of trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming populations should not be at odds with a data-informed medical approach that seeks to maximize positive outcomes for all....

46 comments:

gspencer said...

"Some trans-rights advocates have likened detransitioners to the ex-gay movement or described them as anti-trans grifters."

Cults are alike in this. Ask those who have left Islam after recognizing its stupidity and cruelty. Ditto with ex-Scientologists.

rhhardin said...

Then there's intuition to deal with.

n.n said...

Trans: A state or process of divergence. Johns Hopkins established the naivety of the science of personal affirmation through medical, surgical, and/or psychiatric corruption. The observed progressive instability is why it is plausible to distinguish between homosexuals, bisexuals, and others in the transgender spectrum.

madAsHell said...

"trans academics"

You can't fix stupid.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

But we the HIVE say you cannot change back. Once you change your sex you are stuck with the immutable identifiers of your new sex and that's that. Full stop. No going back. No not even chicks are allowed to change their minds this time. THE HIVE HAS SPOKEN!

Wince said...

Detransitioners who face social rejection, coupled with shame and isolation, may come to view anti-trans activists as their only allies — even when those activists portray them negatively, as damaged goods rather than as human beings who have survived medical trauma."

The medical establishment that has profited from this trendy practice is the group that is most likely to portray "detransitioners" as "damaged" people "rather than as human beings who have survived medical trauma," at least once malpractice lawsuits are filed.

Ann Althouse said...

"trans academics"

A confusing term. I assumed it means that the authors are themselves transgender, but it could mean that transgenderism is their field of academic research. And it doesn't exclude the idea that they began as something other than academics but then came to understand themselves as academics. Obviously, it doesn't mean that last thing — no one is born an academic — but it's better for terms not to generate static or humorous distractions.

Jake said...

Do alcoholics shun recovering alcoholics?

Yancey Ward said...

This is the result of society indulging the whims of the mentally ill. There is no difference in kind of a boy believing he is a girl than in him believing he is a cat.

Mike Sylwester said...

People should be allowed to speak their minds about this topic:

* People who think they were born with the wrong sex

* People who want to transition or have transitioned

* People who have transitioned but then regretted it

* People who have their own opinions about the issue.

There is no good reason why some people are being shouted down -- are being "cancelled".

MB said...

Cults are alike in this.

My thought, too. There's a purity test where you must believe and say only the allowed things.

gahrie said...

Emperors don't like kids pointing out that they're wearing no clothes. Their enablers don't either.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

And here in a nice compact nutshell is the heart of the problem with MY truth vs. objective TRUTH and MY science vs. objective SCIENCE.

n.n said...

There is no good reason why some people are being shouted down -- are being "cancelled".

A twilight faith. An ethical religion. A politically congruent ideology. Secular gods and goddesses to aid and abet.

n.n said...

Once you change your sex you are stuck with the immutable identifiers of your new sex and that's that.

Sex cannot be changed, other than through mutagenic processes. However, gender (i.e. sex-correlated attributes) can be simulated, stimulated through medical, surgical, psychiatric corruption. Mengele, eat your heart out.

Rabel said...

"I assumed it means that the authors are themselves transgender..."

Good call.

Mark said...

Reminds me of how Chuck is treated here for leaving the Republican plantation.

Jupiter said...

"No one benefits from the anger and suspicion that gender-care issues currently inspire."

Oh, really? The Atlantic seems to be getting some clicks from it.

"... as damaged goods rather than as human beings who have survived medical trauma."

False dichotomy. You think a chick with her tits cut off isn't damaged goods? I would say she was a survivor of medical atrocity, not trauma. Medical crimes. She's a victim of a serial mutilator.

Darcy said...


"Trans rights" advocates can never accept detransitioners because their whole lie is exposed by it. And the medical community getting rich off of pushing this extreme surgery is very, very powerful and cannot afford to be exposed either.

Our culture has allowed this tragedy. Critical thinkers have been outnumbered by the emotional thinkers (mostly women). I said what I said.

Darcy said...

Dang. Yancey said it better.

Michael K said...

The reason why the founder of the Johns Hopkins sex change clinic closed it 30 years ago was because about a quarter of his patients requested return to their previous gender. The suicide rates for gender dysphoria and for transsexuals is about the same. It is a mental illness. The social pressure to conform to this delusion is evil.

tim maguire said...

Greater societal acceptance has done nothing to reduce the anger of the trans lobby. It's time for us to look into other explanations.

Jake said...Do alcoholics shun recovering alcoholics?

When I got sober, my old drinking buddies were like ex-girlfriends. We tried to maintain our friendship, but it didn't last because we no longer had anything in common.

MikeD said...

" no one is born an academic", nor is anyone born gay or of a wrong gender! Both are the product of either mental illness or brainwashing.

JaimeRoberto said...

"Unfortunately, some people who discuss their detransition on social media are met with suspicion, blame, mockery, harassment, or even threats from within the LGBTQ communities..."

Are the threats really from the LGBTQ community? Or are the just from really loud people within the T "community"?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

I was told that we are to worship LTBQRSTXYZ - or there will be penalties.

alanc709 said...

I thought the left considered gender to be something fluid, so shouldn't detransitioning be expected, since gender is never a fixed concept? That the left reacts this way, tells you they are only interested in the social disruption caused by championing the LGBTQ fad.

John henry said...

Are they met with suspicion etc from the LGBTQ community or from the T community?

I'd bet 90%is from the latter

I am a big LGBTQ fan. (let's get Biden to quit.)

John Henry

Jim at said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
takirks said...

The fact that so many "transitioners" choose to "detransition" would tend to indicate that the problems with gender dysphoria likely don't actually originate in the genitalia, but in the head.

That being the case, I'd submit that there should be some pretty extraordinary evidence on offer before we start paying for the surgery for these people, or encouraging them to undergo irreversible surgical procedures. Once you chop off someone's bits, there's really no going back with the current state of the art. And, until that's true, the idea of casually undertaking these things ought to run right up against the tenets of the Hippocratic Oath.

An oath that seems to be more and more disregarded in the medical community, these days.

madAsHell said...

Is there a trans-ignoramus? Does it involve a lobotomy?

ccscientist said...

It is common for older men to have low T. My friend at 66 had about zero T. It did not make him a girl, just tired all the time.
Most of those who currently call themselves trans would, if left alone, settle on being gay/lesbian. A man who dresses as a woman and still wants sex with women is not well. Few of these get surgery.

Yancey Ward said...

Lefty Mark,

Chuck gets treated like a pile of dogshit because he espouses the same kinds of politics that you do.

gahrie said...

Reminds me of how Chuck is treated here for leaving the Republican plantation.

We don't care that he left. We object to the fact that he won't admit that he left.

Mark said...

"the LGBTQ communities"

Try to keep up, Valdes and MacKinnon. "LGBTQ" is offensive and anti-LGB. LGB and T are the antithesis of each other.

n.n said...

Levine, seeking personal affirmation, said its established science. Hopkins and decades of past, present, and progressive physical evidence deny his fluid consensus. At least wait until the boys and girls evolve past their age of doubt and rebellion, and are capable of offering informed consent.

n.n said...

Deny thy sex, decorrelate thy gender, call me maybe, her, him, and I will no longer be a woman.

Deny thy science, judge me a "burden", label me a technical term of art, socially distanced, and I will no longer be a sweet miracle.

Deny my humanity, call me a Jew, cite my privilege, allege I didn't, I did, and I will no longer be...

Spooky progressions.

n.n said...

The judgments, the labels, the suspicion, the virtuous denunciations also target survivors of planned parenthood, few that they may be.

Josephbleau said...

"trans academics
A confusing term. I assumed it means that the authors are themselves transgender, but it could mean that transgenderism is their field of academic research.”

Trans academics could be those who are beyond traditional, or cis academics. They are a new and different type of academic from the usual.

MadisonMan said...

Are there people on Social Media who aren't harassed for things they do?
Is there a reason why trans or de-trans people should get a pass?
Don't want to be harassed? Get off Social Media.

Mike Sylwester said...

gahrie at 3:28 PM
We don't care that he [Chuck] left. We object to the fact that he won't admit that he left.

I liked Chuck's comments, and I am sorry that he left.

Biff said...

"[P]eople who discuss their detransition on social media are met with suspicion, blame, mockery, harassment, or even threats from within the LGBTQ communities in which they previously found refuge."

No doubt.

Of course, pretty much anyone who posts anything on social media is met sooner or later with suspicion, blame, mockery, harassment, or even threats from within the communities in which they previously found refuge.

Kevin said...

What's the saying again?

Once you trade your penis for a crack, you can never go back?

Lurker21 said...

On the internet you can be whatever you want.

Try it out there for a few years before you decide on hormones and surgery.

Big Mike said...

The harassment and threats show that the members of the LGBTQ community are the true deplorables in American society.

There should always be room for people to say "This isn't working for me and I effing QUIT."

phantommut said...

"no one is born an academic"

I don't think anyone is born "trans" either. Doesn't mean that trans isn't integral to a person's identity (Ms. Althouse, I do not think you would ever renounce being academic), but only fools think that experience, perceptions, desires (innate, learned, inculcated, whatever) don't form the matrix of ourselves.

This onanistic obsession on roots of identity is tiresome and sad. I'd say more, but I'm tired and sad.

TrespassersW said...

Welcome to the Hotel California.