#reverse gender dysphoria and regretting transitioning

[cellophobia]

hi everyone i am losing my mind but im being really strong and toughies about it.........

[yourbutcboyfriend]

The Complex Journey from MtF to MtM: Navigating the Spectrum of Gender Identity

Gender is a deeply personal, evolving, and sometimes bewildering aspect of who we are. It’s not a simple binary, nor is it a linear path, as many once assumed. Over the last few decades, society has slowly opened its mind to the idea that gender is not determined solely by biological sex. The rise of trans and non-binary visibility has brought us closer to understanding how intricate this terrain is. Yet, the transition from MtF (Male to Female) to MtM (Male to Male) unveils a layer of complexity that isn’t often discussed, demonstrating that our relationship with gender can shift throughout life in ways that defy expectation.

This unique journey—moving from identifying as male, then female, and back to male—challenges the oversimplified narratives around transition and prompts a deeper exploration into what it means to live in the constantly shifting landscape of gender. It is a reflection of both personal discovery and the broader truth that gender is an ongoing conversation between the body, mind, and society.

Understanding Gender Identity: The Evolution of Self

For many, the initial step of transitioning from Male to Female can be rooted in the deep-seated recognition that the gender assigned at birth doesn’t align with how one feels inside. This misalignment, often called gender dysphoria, can manifest in various ways—discomfort with one’s body, the social expectations tied to that gender, or a desire to express identity in a way that reflects how one truly feels. The decision to transition, whether through hormones, surgeries, or social changes, is often a profoundly freeing one. For many trans women, finally living in alignment with their inner self brings relief and joy.

But for others, this step may not be the endpoint. It’s crucial to understand that the transition to female, while powerful, may only reveal part of the larger truth of a person’s identity. Over time, some individuals discover that while certain aspects of femininity resonated with them, the completeness of the female identity doesn’t fully capture who they are. This is where the journey from MtF to MtM begins.

This second transition can feel bewildering, even to the person experiencing it. After investing so much emotional and physical energy into becoming who they thought they were, grappling with the idea that their gender might be something else entirely can lead to feelings of confusion, doubt, and fear. “Did I make a mistake?” they may wonder. However, this is often less about regret and more about the natural evolution of identity. Gender is not static; it can shift and adapt as one grows and uncovers more about their own truths.

The Journey Back to Masculinity

Transitioning from MtF to MtM isn’t merely “going back” to the identity one was assigned at birth. It’s important to recognize that the journey through femininity has shaped and transformed the individual. In many ways, this second transition is about redefining masculinity, integrating the lessons learned from living as female, and embracing a version of masculinity that may feel more fluid, nuanced, and less constrained by societal expectations.

For some, the journey back to masculinity may involve physically detransitioning, stopping hormone therapy, or even undergoing procedures to reverse previous surgeries. For others, it’s more of an internal shift—a change in how they relate to their gender, present themselves, or feel in their own skin. The experience of dysphoria might return but in a new form, or it might disappear altogether as they find peace in this newfound understanding of their gender.

The fear of being misunderstood or judged can weigh heavily on individuals navigating this second transition. There’s a stigma attached to detransitioning, especially in a society that still clings to binary notions of gender. It’s common to fear being seen as someone who was “wrong” about their identity or who is “confused.” However, the truth is far more complex. Gender identity, for many, is a process of discovery that can unfold over a lifetime.

Society's Role in Shaping Gender Identity

Our relationship with gender is not formed in isolation. Society’s rules, expectations, and stereotypes about what it means to be male or female are ever-present, and navigating these norms while forging one’s own path can be immensely challenging. From childhood, many of us are bombarded with rigid ideas of what boys and girls are supposed to be, which leaves little room for personal exploration. Those who do not fit neatly into these categories can experience rejection, discrimination, and confusion about where they belong.

For someone transitioning from MtF to MtM, the external pressures can be particularly disorienting. The support systems that may have been built during their first transition might not fully understand the nuances of this next step. Friends, family, and even the broader LGBTQ+ community may have difficulty understanding or accepting why someone would return to a male identity. Unfortunately, this can lead to feelings of isolation, as though the individual no longer fits in with the trans community, nor with the cisgender world.

However, it’s vital that we recognize gender for what it is: fluid, diverse, and highly individual. For some, masculinity and femininity exist simultaneously, in tandem, or in flux. For others, these experiences are more separate and distinct. No two journeys are the same, and no one’s experience of gender is more valid than another’s.

A Reflection on the Perplexity of Gender

My own experience has shown me that gender is as much about feeling as it is about labels. Growing up, I assumed gender was a box that you fit into—a predetermined role to be played. But as I’ve come to understand more about myself and the people around me, I realize gender is less like a box and more like an ocean—expansive, sometimes stormy, but always deep. It’s something you swim through, navigate, and sometimes get lost in.

The journey from MtF to MtM exemplifies this idea. It reminds us that gender is not a static destination; it’s a lifelong journey of self-discovery. We each have the right to explore, define, and redefine who we are, free from judgment or fear of being wrong. Gender, in all its complexity, is not meant to be a burden but a means of expression—a way to be more ourselves than we ever thought possible.

In a world where gender often feels binary and fixed, those who transition between and within it are the ones showing us that it’s anything but. Gender is an evolving conversation with the self, one that can change, grow, and deepen over time. And for those navigating the journey from MtF to MtM, this truth resonates profoundly: who you are is not about choosing sides, but about embracing the totality of your experience.

[tirfpikachu]

it's 100% okay to regret your transition, especially physical transition.

it's okay to acknowledge you did something you regret.

it's okay to finally accept that transitioning socially, being on hrt and/or getting surgeries made things worse, not better, or was just you repressing your authentic self. it's okay to admit it didn't improve your life, and instead made it harder. it's okay to say it wasn't the right treatment for you. it's okay to say it was the wrong life for you.

you are NOT a bigot. you are not a failure. you aren't. you were failed by the healthcare system, and the lgbt community over-praised you. it all needs reform to prevent things like this from happening, to prevent suffering from reverse dysphoria and years lost living in the wrong lifestyle, living an inauthentic life. it was the wrong road for you, personally. and we can all learn from your story. you are not a lesser woman or man for what you went through. your body can look like whatever, you're STILL just as much of a woman or man as anyone else. you still belong among your sisters or brothers. you still belong in the lgbt community, or the gnc community, or the world in general. you're not broken. you're NOT broken. you're not ugly, you're not lesser, you're not a mistake. it was a mistake, but YOU are not a mistake. you went on a wild journey, a difficult journey, and you were sick with dysphoria, and you did what you thought was best to cure it. it did not work. it made things worse. and that's okay, i promise.

you don't need to identify with gender now either. you can be post-gender without being trans or nonbinary. you can say fuck you to gender and still be cis, still be non-trans. no one gets to tell you who you are. you should still have a voice on dysphoria-related issues. you are not some kind of bigoted monster. you existing is no threat to the trans community, or to anyone. you do not deserve to be weaponized by conservatives either, you are so much more than a political pawn.

you are still YOU. the real you. the authentic you.

we are like salamanders, you and i. and though our bodies can't be reverted as easily as theirs, though some tails won't grow back, we're still the same beings we were before it all. we took the wrong road for us, and it was painful, but we learned from it. like lesbians dating men for years, like patients trying different meds and getting screwed over by undereducated doctors. it's not an insult to anyone. anyone feeling insulted is selfish and self-centered. we as a society should care about ALL dysphoric people, including reverse dysphoric people, and including healed dysphoric people as well. dysphoria is a highly complex thing, especially if you're female/ofab, especially if you're gay/bi, and especially if you have comorbid disorders. as with sexualities, it can be hard to figure out who and what you really are and want to be. people being over-eager to affirm you in your identity can lock you into a box you may not belong in. identities are personal. disorders are also very personal, dysphoria included. and being gnc can be complex too. it can be hard to figure out what's best for you.

the way the lgbt community is handling things is wrong.

the way the healthcare industry is handling dysphoria is wrong.

gnc people and dysphoric people are not getting all the information they deserve both within the healthcare system and within their lgbt/gnc communities. we as gnc and dysphoric people deserved better. and your story matters. my story matters too. we matter.

[nerdygaymormon]

Given all the misinformation and political rhetoric, here's an article about gender-affirming care for minors written by Dr. Turban, who is director of the gender psychiatry program at the University of California, San Francisco

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Prepuberty - no medical or surgical interventions, but social transition may happen. One benefit for trans children who socially transition is their levels of anxiety and depression are similar to cisgender children

Attempts to force transgender people to be cisgender have been labeled unethical

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Puberty blockers are the earliest medical intervention that will be considered. Puberty blockers allow for a temporary pause of puberty, which can be especially helpful for adolescents who are having negative psychological reactions to the way their bodies are developing.

An adolescent must first undergo a comprehensive biopsychosocial mental health evaluation prior to starting puberty blockers. Consent is required from their legal guardian and the adolescent must assent to the treatment. If an individual is experiencing gender dysphoria, studies show that puberty blockers lead to improved mental health outcomes

As with all drugs, puberty blockers carry known side effects, such as falling behind on bone density (sex hormones are needed to mineralize bones). Adolescents on puberty blockers should have their bone density monitored during treatment, and pursue paths to improve bone health, such as exercise. In later adolescence, the body should have access to sex hormones, either from coming off of puberty blockers or by starting gender-affirming hormones.

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In later adolescence, transgender youth may be candidates for gender-affirming hormone treatment (for example, estrogen or testosterone) to create puberty changes that align with their gender identities.

A comprehensive mental health biopsychosocial evaluation must be conducted prior to initiation of these treatments. Part of this evaluation includes fertility counseling and consideration of fertility preservation.

Unlike with puberty blockers where the effects are reversible, several of the physical changes that occur from hormone therapy are not reversible, for example, voice changes from testosterone.

Studies link access to gender-affirming hormones with improved mental health for teens with gender dysphoria.

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Most all gender-affirming surgeries are not considered until adulthood, with top surgery for trans masc & nonbinary adolescents being the primary exception. The other exception to gender-affirming surgeries being offered only to adults are situations like a 17-year-old who has graduated from high school getting surgery in the summer to avoid needing to take time off from college to recover.

Surgery is a major decision, and requires agreement from a mental health provider, a medical provider, and the surgeon. Regret rates for having gender-affirming surgeries are remarkably low.

[algea0fcatz]

Socially transitioning from being a trans man to nonbinary is one of the most isolating experiences ever.

I almost feel like no one believes my identity, people just simply think I’ve detransitioned because ever since I came out again I’ve been more comfortable being feminine. I don’t even try to be masculine anymore unless I go through my random times of extreme dysphoria. My distant family doesn’t know I identify as nonbinary so I still get letters saying “uncle” and it makes me feel guilty(if I met up with them again they would be confused and most definitely assumed I detransitioned) . Should I have just not come out at all? I don’t feel wrong with feminine or masculine pronouns/terms but sometimes I think to myself.. “what if I detransitioned and became a girl again” but then I would be in hell. I would put too many limits on myself and also I was on testosterone for a few months. The changes aren’t too visible but I could switch my voice to be more masculine if I did a quick warm up and pass as a kinda man easily. And my voice randomly gets deep too when I don’t want it to that gives me reverse dysphoria. It also doesn’t help I got diagnosed with pcos recently even though it doesn’t really socially affect me. Which makes me think about what I’m feeling,,, internalized transphobia or regret? Both? I hate this. I just want to dress feminine, be freely nonbinary and not feel any shame with it. I feel like when I first came out as a trans man it put a heavy expectation on me and limited me. If I detransitioned it would feel the exact same… I hate everything why can’t I just choose a side and make it easier for everyone. I wish i could word this better but I’m so tired. I hate when people say things like identity are a choice—> if it was I would choose not to be in a situation like this but no I actually acknowledge how I feel and how I should explore myself.

UGHHHHHHH fucking hate everything

I don’t feel feminine enough and I don’t feel masculine enough, I wish I could just pick a binary gender so I wouldn’t have to explain myself to anyone.

But then I remember I don’t owe anyone a explanation

But still

I could never be a proper woman

I could never be a proper man

If anyone experiences something similar to this please reblog or give advice

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Bernard Lane

Published: Mar 25, 2024

The dramatic growth of gender medicine clinics around the world would have been unthinkable without the promise of puberty blockers. Children born in the wrong body could simply pause the wrong puberty. And if their self-declared transgender identity proved wrong, it was a simple matter of unpausing natural development. Or so we were told. But now, England’s National Health Service (NHS) has announced an end to puberty blockers as a routine treatment for young people who are distressed about their gender, arguing that the balance between the benefits and harms of this medical intervention cannot be known because the evidence base for blockers is too weak and uncertain.

The impact of England’s decision has been reflected in recent editorials in The New York Post and The Times of London. The Post calls puberty blockers “deadly junk science,” while The Times has declared them “a medical scandal of the first order, a reckless exercise in 21st-century quackery,” explaining:

The case for puberty blockers was that they allowed troubled children to pause while coming to terms with their gender identity. These hormone inhibitors were characterised as an on-off switch that could be flicked with impunity. This was a startling example of medical arrogance.

Gender clinics from Stockholm to San Francisco, from Florence to Melbourne, have been running an uncontrolled experiment on children, while cloaked in the mantle of human rights and denouncing any critics as hateful bigots. It will take time to understand the implications of this experiment. Even those gender clinicians who sold blockers as safe have generally acknowledged one dangerous side-effect: low bone density. Hormone-suppressed teenagers are unlikely to get full benefit of the surge in bone mass that comes with puberty; as a result, they may be prematurely exposed to the brittle bones and fractures normally seen in the elderly. And there is another lesser known but potentially more profound risk: the effects of blockers on the brain.

The NHS decision to ban blockers rested heavily on a 2022 interim report by paediatrician Hilary Cass, who has led an independent review of gender dysphoria care. In her report, she writes,

It is known that adolescence is a period of significant changes in brain structure, function and connectivity. Animal research suggests that this development is partially driven by the [natural] pubertal sex hormones, but it is unclear whether the same is true in humans. If pubertal sex hormones are essential to these brain maturation processes, this raises a secondary question of whether there is a critical time window for the processes to take place, or whether catch up is possible when [cross-sex] oestrogen or testosterone is introduced later.

This question is not new. In 2006, Dutch clinicians, who had pioneered the off-label use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria—these drugs had previously been used for other, distinct conditions—stated that, “It is not clear yet how pubertal suppression will influence brain development."  

There was talk of a study to elucidate this, but it was never carried out. Despite this, by 2016, a key Dutch clinician was claiming that puberty blockers were “completely reversible.”  

And this was the slogan picked up by gender clinics around the world as they adopted the puberty blocker-driven “Dutch protocol” for paediatric gender transition. A crucial unknown had been memory-holed.

Puberty blockers came to be seen as a low risk, no regrets option in the popular press, too.  In 2015, men’s fashion magazine GQ ran a transgender zeitgeist article, featuring former Olympic athlete Bruce-turned-Caitlyn Jenner, “a beautiful, stylish lady.” The article cites Jenner’s fellow ex-Olympian, the gymnast-turned-doctor Michelle Telfer, who explains to readers that the onset of puberty intensifies the distress of gender dysphoria:

At that point we can start someone on puberty blockers. They don’t stop growth generally, or your brain from maturing emotionally and cognitively, they just stop the sexual characteristics from developing.

Dr Telfer is an adolescent medicine physician. In 2012, she took charge of the gender clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne (RCH) which, under her direction, went from 18 new referrals in her first year to 821 in 2021. What were young patients at her clinic told about blockers and the brain? It is unclear. Neither the hospital nor Dr Telfer, who is now chief of medicine at RCH, have responded to my emails asking them to clarify this.

In 2022, however, the hospital did acknowledge that the effects of pubertal suppression on the brain are unknown, though it did so not in a public statement correcting the record, but in a gender clinic newsletter, which it sent out to patients and families alerting them to future recruitment of subjects for a new study of the effects of blockers on the brain. The newsletter states:

During adolescence, the brain changes considerably. However, it is unclear whether the hormonal changes of puberty help to promote these changes or if this development occurs independent of our hormones. Related to this, we do not know whether using puberty blockers affects development of the brain.

It is unclear, however, whether this new study will be robust or whether it will be yet another “gender-affirming” study whose weak design makes it impossible to deduce any clear findings. It is also unclear whether the consent information the clinic provides to its patients and their parents today provides a candid acknowledgement of the cognitive unknowns associated with blockers.  

The clinic’s gender dysphoria treatment guidelines were initially issued in 2018 by Dr Telfer and her RCH gender clinic colleagues. The Lancet lauded them as the first such guidelines specifically for children and adolescents. They include the claim that puberty suppression allows the young patient “time to develop emotionally and cognitively prior to making decisions on gender-affirming hormone use which [has] some irreversible effects.” That reassuring statement remains in the current iteration (version 1.4) of the RCH guidelines.

(The statement is also found in the hospital’s 2019 guide to fertility preservation for cancer and gender patients, accompanied by jarringly activist language that defies the normal understanding of biology. For example, the hospital advises “men”—meaning, females who identify as male—“to use contraception if they have a male partner” and states that “According to [government] Medicare data, >60 men give birth per year in Australia.”)

More relevant is the fact that administration of early puberty blockers followed by cross-sex hormones is likely to lead to sterilisation, sexual dysfunction, and lifelong status as a medical patient with symptoms that may puzzle mainstream doctors. Yet our popular culture has been bombarded with the largely unchallenged story that puberty blockers may save lives and that, if not, they have the virtue of being reversible. By uncritically repeating this and other contentious claims, Australia’s public broadcaster, the ABC, has served as an unpaid publicist for the gender clinics. For example, the popular ABC programme Australian Story recently featured an emotive profile of Dr Telfer, in which she repeats a claim she made on another high-profile ABC platform, Four Corners:

Puberty blockers are reversible. The only risk is that it can affect your bone density.

Such a claim would surprise anyone familiar with the state of the evidence base. 

Few researchers know the scientific literature better than Mikael Landén, a psychiatrist affiliated with Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and the University of Gothenburg. Earlier this month, the journal Acta Paediatrica published his signed editorial under the title “Puberty suppression of children with gender dysphoria: Urgent call for research.” In it, Landén makes the point that,

Unfortunately, the discourse surrounding the use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoria is often framed as a political human rights issue rather than as a medical issue. There is a prevailing assertion that puberty blockers are lifesaving, fully reversible, and always safe. Even though that would place gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists [GnRHa or puberty blockers] in a unique and unlikely category—there are no other known drugs that simultaneously meet these criteria—any effort to shed light on the balance between the benefits and risks of [this] treatment is misconstrued as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

The same journal issue also features a paper by neuropsychologist Sallie Baxendale on the scientific literature dealing with hormone suppression and the brain.

Baxendale’s paper had previously been rejected by three other journals—not because of any fault with the science, but because anonymous reviewers were uncomfortable with its findings, which suggest that there is little evidence to support the benefits of puberty blockers. Baxendale, who holds a chair in neuropsychology at University College London, elsewhere relates her surprise at the politicised reactions her paper provoked:

the most astonishing response I received was from a reviewer who was concerned that I appeared to be approaching the topic from a ‘bias’ of heavy caution. This reviewer argued that lots of things needed to be sorted out before a clear case for the ‘riskiness’ of puberty blockers could be made, even circumstantially. Indeed, they appeared to be advocating for a default position of assuming medical treatments are safe, until proven otherwise.

Professor Baxendale was also unsettled by the paucity of convincing scientific literature on the benefits of puberty blockers:

I was surprised at just how little, and how low quality, the evidence was in this field. I was also concerned that clinicians working in gender medicine continue to describe the impacts of puberty blockers as ‘completely physically reversible’, when it is clear that we just don’t know whether this is the case, at least with respect to the cognitive impact.

These are observations that should give any serious gender clinic pause.

Professor Baxendale is particularly concerned that not enough is known about the neurological effects of puberty blockers for children and their parents to make an informed decision about their pros and cons. She writes:

Vague hints from poor quality studies are insufficient to allow people considering these [hormone suppression] treatments to make an informed decision regarding the possible impact on their neuropsychological function. Critical questions remain unanswered regarding the nature, extent and permanence of any arrested development of cognitive function that may be associated with pharmacological blocking of puberty. If cognitive development ‘catches up’ following the discontinuation of puberty suppression, how long does this take and is the recovery complete? While there is some evidence that indicates pubertal suppression may impact cognitive function, there is no evidence to date to support the oft-cited assertion that the effects of puberty blockers are fully reversible. Indeed, the only study to date that has addressed this in sheep suggests that this is not the case.

These concerns are shared by Professor Landén, who was the corresponding author for the paper describing Sweden’s systematic review of the evidence for the benefits of hormonal treatment for gender dysphoria. In that paper, Landén writes:

Against the background of almost non-existent longterm data, we conclude that GnRHa [or puberty blocker] treatment in children with gender dysphoria should be considered experimental treatment rather than standard procedure. This is to say that treatment should only be administered in the context of a clinical trial under informed consent.

As Landén has pointed out, it cannot be considered “anti-trans” to scrutinise the evidence base for puberty blockers. Far from a risk-free way to pause an unwanted puberty, these drugs are a potentially hazardous treatment promoted by politicised medical societies and ideologically driven lobby groups. We should heed his warning:   

Insisting that [puberty blocker] treatment should not be evaluated using the same rigorous criteria as other medical treatments will ultimately harm patients with gender dysphoria. The view that conducting a thorough assessment of the impacts and potential side effects of [puberty blocker] treatment is offensive, obstructs individuals with gender dysphoria from accessing treatment supported by the level of evidence expected for any other patient group. Instead, the ethical imperative to safeguard our youth demands nothing less than a concerted effort to shed light on potential cognitive and other side effects of [puberty blockers]. The outcome of such research might demonstrate significant benefits with negligible risks, or conversely, that the risks outweigh the benefits. These are empirical questions that require careful investigation. Regardless of the outcome of such investigations, it is essential to ensure that the treatment of children with gender dysphoria maintains the same standard of evidence as any other medical treatment for children. Settling for anything less would amount to discrimination based on ideology.

[wisdomfish]

"Our sex is an integral part of God’s good design, not an accident that can be changed at will."

Serious Medical Risks and Unknowns in Gender-Affirming Care

The HHS review also documents serious risks associated with puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and gender-related surgeries in youth. These interventions aren’t minor or easily reversible and can have permanent, life-altering effects. The report says, “The risks of pediatric medical transition include infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”

A child put on blockers and cross-sex hormones may lose future fertility, experience sexual dysfunction, and develop weaker bones, among other harms. These are sobering risks to impose on vulnerable young people—especially when long-term outcomes (fertility, fractures, cognitive development, and so on) remain largely unstudied​.

This embrace of early gender transitions for minors in the United States is increasingly at odds with trends in Europe. The HHS report notes that several countries have recently reversed course after reviewing the evidence. For example, the United Kingdom has banned the routine use of puberty blockers, and Sweden and Finland have likewise tightened access to hormones and now prioritize therapeutic counseling. In many countries, health authorities now recommend “psychosocial approaches, rather than hormonal or surgical interventions, as the primary treatment” for adolescents with gender dysphoria​.

[bullshit-usa]

all of you transphobic detrans just have a huge skill issue when talking about the effects of HRT well if these persons desisted, fine, do it, it's the same shit a late transition trans person does, you didn't see anyone who started HRT at 30 or 40 complaining that HRT should be banned because it didn't reverse the damage they get in their bodies

Just grow up and mature yourself, we shouldn't sacrifice the great majority which are fine with their results just because a tiny minority of this tiniy minority felt damaged

If detrans are not trans, then they are part of the majority who are not trans. So it sounds like there’s more opportunity for more people to be detrans than there are people to be “legitimately trans” - which is something I don’t believe. I don’t believe you can change your sex. I only recognize the delusion and its effects.

“A huge skill issue when talking about the effects of HRT.” I know you don’t mean what this actually means. I don’t think detrans people struggle to talk about the effects of HRT, I would say most of them can write well enough to have their thoughts be understood. I can’t say the same for you though. What are you trying to say here?

I have seen and heard from many detrans people in their 30s and 40s. I don’t understand why exactly when they started abusing synthetic hormones really matter.

Also thanks for recognizing that HRT harms people with the whole “you don’t see anyone who started HRT in their 30s or 40s complaining about that HRT should be banned because it didn’t reverse the damage they get in their bodies.” The “it” in the last part of the sentence is confusing, which is why I assumed you likely had a Freudian slip.

If you seriously meant “it” as in HRT, who has ever said their bodies were damaged prior to taking HRT? How were they damaged? Puberty? But why you compound that with them being in their 30s or 40s? Isn’t puberty more relevant to people who are younger?

“Just grow up and mature yourself” you are 15. The true great majority are “cis” people and to y’all detrans people are “cis.” That puts more at risk of being wrongly diagnosed with gender dysphoria and regretting their choices. Don’t isolate variables and then isolate a smaller variable when the smaller variable is truly part of the majority that you isolated.

[theinhumanpsyche]

(tldr cause it got kinda long; we have no idea what causes gender dysphoria, but transition as a treatment method for it has lower regret rates than the average regret rate for surgeries.)

It's impossible to really say what the true cause of being trans is without already having the reference point of a society without the concept of a gender divide to be able to determine whether it's mostly social or biological, though even then there's the possibility of different root causes for different people. However, the source, at least for most, is definitely not homosexuality, as shown by the wide range of sexualities trans people have, just like cis people (I mean hell, one of the main scapegoats transphobes use is literally just trans women attracted to women existing).

More important than the why behind it though is the first question about whether it's real. Yes. It very much is. Hrt (the stuff that basically puts you through your preferred gender's puberty as the short explanation) has about the same regret rate as most surgeries (12% for hrt and 14% for surgeries), but is much more easily reversible (though there may still be some lasting side effects like with any medical treatment), but even further beyond that, full on gender affirming surgery has a regret rate at around 1% (again, compared to an average of about 14%). And that's just on the regret rates of the actual medical treatments for gender dysphoria, not even getting into things like the drastically lower suicide rates and better mental health and everything.

Lady Gaga winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Die With A Smile” at the 67th GRAMMY Awards

[crowdedstrangers]

i think really if i think about it. almost every non medical effect of testosterone doesn’t bother me at all. like okay looking at old videos of myself singing it sucks that my vocal range is fucking non existent anymore but. well i think that im only really bothered by the medical problems and nom cosmetic effects now. like i dont hate my voice for being masculine but i do hate that it hurts to talk most of the time. and also that sometimes when i talk i feel like my voice is someone else’s but i think thats also mostly because of depersonalization and id probably feel the same way if i hadnt transitioned. so well what im saying is i am still negatively affected by the changes i got from testosterone but not because of reverse dysphoria or whatever. like its not because i feel like i dont look or sound womanly enough.. because to myself i dont perceive like my voice or hair or any of the cosmetic changes as manly or anything i just feel like myself but different. and with other people i still sometimes struggle with not knowing how im perceived because im still scared of making other women uncomfortable in bathrooms and such but outside of that i really couldnt care less about what sex people perceive me as.. especially because if im being honest i still get “““dysphoria””” around being perceived as female so. whatever. i think almost everything i regret about hrt is medical shit like. i am scared that i might lose an ovary. and then the only non medical thing that i hate is my adams apple. i dont know if ill ever be comfortable with that. because its really an ocd and sensory thing just as much as it is an insecurity thing… even before testosterone i had sort of intrusive thoughts about things touching my adams apple like how i cant let things touch my diaphragm/sternum/xiphoid area. and of course there is also the element of me just thinking it looks fucking weird… but having a reason to hate it outside of cosmetic reasons makes it really hard to get over. all of this to say… its been almost a year now and i think im still getting better every day. ive also been thinking recently that i really need to write a paper about gender and transitioning. like idk if it would be more political theory or memoir-like in structure but i think it would be really helpful for myself and also i have so many thoughts and opinions that i would like to share… so maybe ill try to start that over winter break…

[genderkoolaid]

the reason a lot of transmascs experience some level of regret/depression after medical transitioning is, imo, the exact reverse of the reason TERFs think we transition in the first place.

TERF beliefs are generally that transmascs dysphoria is actually a natural uncomfortableness with how misogynistic society defines women, and that our transition is an attempt to conform to the idea that being nonfeminine means you aren't a "real" woman, instead of realizing that we only hate ourselves because society tells us women like us shouldn't exist, and actually radical feminism is the real liberation.

but for example: when i first starting on T, every change was 100% pure joy. i was so ecstatic, everything was amazing and wonderful. i truly loved everything.

but then the longer I was on it, the more transandrophobia I encountered because I was on T. I started feeling more and more ashamed of having hair on my arms, my thin facial hair, my "tranny voice". Things that made me really excited before starting making me a little bit uncomfortable because of how society treated it. It was literally like Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria but exactly the opposite.

Now this wasn't and isn't as strong as the gender euphoria T has brought me, and it hasn't caused me a lot of real "oh no do I regret this" distress because I have been able to immediately recognize that I am only uncomfortable because of how people started treating me differently. But especially for transmascs without support systems, without understanding our own internalized transphobia, can very easily feel a lot of trauma associated with transitioning because of the way that society treats trans men. when every change of your body is met with mockery and scorn and disgust, its natural to get affected.

and this is why its so fucked up when other trans people share stuff about how "soo many trans men are gonna regret T because they're all stupid little girls who think T is gonna make them sexy yaoi boys, since they all have no idea what it's like to really be men and just fetishize gayness!" because you are literally the reason. People mock and shame trans men, they make spaces hostile for anyone with a testosterone-dominant body, they act hostile to trans men and our experiences constantly. and then when trans men internalize that disgust and blame ourselves for how other people treat us because of our transition, those same people turn around and use that as a way to further mock us.

[ukrfeminism]

2 minute read

Scotland’s only clinic that helps people change gender has invited those who have reversed surgery because they were unhappy to explain how they feel they were failed by the service.

It has emerged that the Sandyford clinic in Glasgow has contacted aggrieved former patients after a woman who regretted undergoing surgery was approached by staff who wanted to learn from her “poor experience”.

Sinead Watson, who had a full mastectomy and took testosterone for years, said that the Sandyford gender service had left her a message earlier this month. She said: “They were very specific. It was about what they could have done to prevent what had happened.”

Watson, 31, says when she turned to the Sandyford at the age of 24 she was struggling with a range of mental health problems including depression, anxiety and alcohol abuse.

She says these other issues were ignored but within months she was taking irreversible cross-sex hormones. Years later her voice remains deep and she has to shave.

Watson is among those who have called for the Sandyford’s young gender service to close after NHS England decided to wind up the equivalent clinic known as the Gender Identity Development Service in London. It is set to shut after an official review raised concerns about gender dysphoria being treated in isolation from other mental health issues.

Watson said: “Scotland is going to have to listen. What they have been doing at Gender Identity Development Service, it is happening up here as well.”

The Scottish government has commissioned the NHS to draw up standards for gender identity services for children and adults in Scotland for the first time.

Watson said she was keen to help inform these: “This should have happened years ago. There is absolutely no excuse why we have been offering cross-sex hormones to women with a history of depression and anxiety and eating disorders. I am glad it is starting.”

For Women Scotland, a female rights campaign group, said: “While we welcome the Scottish government starting to address the issues at Sandyford the planned review is simply just not good enough, especially when it will take some 16 months to conclude.

“In light of the findings from the Cass report [into gender identity services for children and young people] that the similar service in London is to be closed down as not a safe or viable treatment centre there is no reason why distressed children in Scotland should receive poorer NHS treatment.

“Cutting waiting times should not come at the expense of proper care, and it is clear that if the Scottish government and the Scottish NHS do not take immediate action to focus on holistic treatment and mental health instead of affirming medical transition then they are liable for gross medical negligence.”

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “As is the case across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, we encourage feedback from patients with experience so that we can continue to develop our services. The Sandyford clinic will continue to offer a range of gender services in line with national frameworks.”

NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland said that it had been commissioned to draw up standards for child and adult gender services this week.

Details of what this will cover have yet to be released.

[j-vin]

This is for people who experience(d) Detransitioning

Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or gender transition, whether by social, legal, or medical means.

Aprox. 5% of people from the trans community regreted transition. Most of the reasons are the stress and pressure they got from people around them, or that transition didn't help their gender dysphoria.

Unfortunately, most of them get missunderstood and lose support from the LGBTQ+ Community. So here's my word:

As a trans person, I can understand the pain of discovering yourself and realising who you are. I can't imagine the dissapointment and the struggle you are going through (especially if you've done medical transition). I'm going to respect your decissions, because, trust me, it's okay to be confused! As long as you don't try to detransition other trans people, you're valid, no matter what some people may say!

I know, I may not be the best at motivating, but I hope you got what I wanted to say and that I was not a waste of time! Oh, and don't forget: Be who you are!

[verashalurks]

hey! i haven't interacted with you much on here but i genuinely would like to know what exactly about the beliefs of TERFS do you agree with? (sorry if ur being hounded about this we just wanna make everybody comfortable)

Trans women aren’t “real” women

By real women, I mean biological women. Trans women aren’t biological women ofc so they’ll never understand what it’s actually like to be a woman. Though they can be women societally, if they present as a women, they I’ll view them as a woman. They’ll be treated like a woman by society. It’s okay for trans women to not be real women, that’s why they’re trans.

Trans women cannot compete in women’s sports

They’re literally taking spots for women. Women’s sports are specifically for women, and some trans women are invading that.

Gender dysphoria diagnosis needed for medical transition

Ok, this one one is probably the biggest one. A lot of women are just cutting off their tiddies without figuring out what the problem is and they haven’t tried therapy. And there are so many de-transitioners who regret getting surgery and I feel bad for them. This has a lifelong affect and people think they could just chop off their go on hormones/surgery and it will all be reversable but it’s not. This is like doctors being okay with their patients taking medicine that they haven’t gotten a prescription for.

[gayowlsntitans]

No its a small portion that youre mad at cause you live such a sad life you cant handle other people simply existing.YOU have undermined freedom of speech by claiming the hate you post against them is fre speech, and then whining when you get called out for it. Freedom of speech is against the goverment,not from other people disagreeing with you.Scientific truth for years now has been on our side,its shwon trans women/men exist, that trans women are women, that their brains work the same as cis women. Why else would a majority of medical establisments be in support of us? No its not because they were forced to, they "bowed down" its because they know science and you dont, but you keep trying to act smart like you do. Wheres your dignity to Imane Khelif,Caster Semenya and the teen athletes you harass and accuse of being trans because they dont look "womanly" enough to you? You`re the ones killing trans people,not us killing you, the ones causing ireeversible damage, not HRT or transitioning which has been proven to be safe and effective considering less than 1-8% regret it and its reversible.

In 2022 more people favored protecting trans people from discrimination,And 46% favor making it illegal for health care professionals to provide someone younger than 18 with medical care for a gender transition (31% oppose).

You have not been defamed or fired for questioning it, yourre defamed for spreading lies and bigotry youve been told to harassing trans people over them existing leading to you getting fired and blasted, pronouns and arguing they exist.Youre the ones, way more than trans people harassing and threatening us then the other way around.Trans women get raped to, im sorry your so briandead you cant see that but they do, no penises would be in a womens restroom if trans women were there, just women. We talk about the far right bigots like you that have repeatedly call for their deaths, get the proud boys to a drag storytime or just an area where a trans person is to beat them up and kill them for being trans. Thats what you do.Youre the ones wanting women to become tradwives that actively takes away their rights, wants them to be housewives and stay at home like its the 50s again. Thats you taking away womens rights, now us. YOU taking away abortion rights, healthcare, its you. Its us wanting to just exist like humans should and live our lives! Everthing in this is about terfs, and everyone already knows how crazy you are with your ad hominem attacks,false equivalence and circular arguments. Thats why Rowling was called out and "cancelled" as you say. Because people learn how crazy she and all of you are and pointed out in her comments daily,protested her,because we know how big a danger she is and we know to call it out. Any sane person sees through the craziness you lot bring and call it out , thats why Trumps anti trans laws have been getting blocked and ignored because you`re clowns and we all know it.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Lisa Selin Davis

Published: Apr 15, 2024

A thoughtful, comprehensive review just released in Britain points to a way out of the political impasse over youth gender treatments.

The toxicity of the culture war over youth gender medicine is well known to most of us. What’s less well understood is how that poisonous climate affects the very cohort being argued about — and those who care for them.

An exhaustive, level-headed 388-page report, commissioned by the National Health Service in England and released last week, warns: “Polarisation and stifling of debate do nothing to help the young people caught in the middle of a stormy social discourse.”

The Cass Review, led by Dr. Hilary Cass, examines the events and evidence (or lack thereof) that led to the closing of the UK’s only public youth gender clinic, the Gender Identity Development Services. GIDS opened in 1989 and at first served only 10 clients per year, mostly males who received psychological therapy; few medically transitioned. By 2016, GIDS was seeing nearly 1,800 clients a year, and multiple concerned clinicians there were blowing the whistle about the poor quality of the care. For years, their complaints mostly fell on deaf ears.

This document allows them to be heard. It is exceptional in many ways, including its scope. Cass spoke to many different and competing stakeholders, including disagreeing clinicians, “transgender adults who are leading positive and successful lives,” and “people who have detransitioned, some of whom deeply regret their earlier decisions.”

Cass reaches back into the history of youth gender medicine, formalized in the late 1990s in the Netherlands. She observes that the entire practice is “based on a single Dutch study which suggested that puberty blockers may improve psychological wellbeing for a narrowly defined group of children with gender incongruence.”

Recent scrutiny of the Dutch research revealed that the methodology was too flawed to support that conclusion. The Dutch approach involved something different from what has become the norm in the United States and was the norm at GIDS for a time. The Dutch doctors and psychologists offered youths extensive evaluation over long periods of time, discouraged social transition before puberty, and limited interventions to a carefully selected cohort who’d suffered from lifelong gender dysphoria, didn’t have other serious mental health issues, and lived in supportive families.

In America, this approach became denigrated as “gatekeeping,” and we veered toward a model known as “affirming.” We shifted from treating gender dysphoria to affirming a trans identity, letting a child’s feelings lead the way, and allowing social transition at any age. Here, manifesting one’s gender identity separate from natal sex was eventually seen as a civil right, rather than as a series of psychological and medical interventions — a model that influenced GIDS. But science doesn’t work that way. “Although some think the clinical approach should be based on a social justice model,” writes Cass, the National Health Service “works in an evidence-based way.”

That social justice / civil rights framing has made it harder to reckon with what Cass calls the “exponential rise” in adolescent patients starting around 2014, and a reversal in the sex ratio. Once it was mostly natal males who transitioned, but now it is mostly natal females, many of whom had no history of gender distress but did suffer from other mental health issues.

As for the evidence about how to treat these patients and others who havesought care, Cass concludes: “The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.” Individual studies may make claims about the efficacy of social transition, puberty blockers, or hormones, but they are too biased and low quality to draw conclusions from.

The National Health Service had already recently declared that puberty blockers would no longer be used for young people with gender dysphoria, “because there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness.” The Cass Review confirms this, noting that “bone density is compromised during puberty suppression” and that doctors don’t know enough about the effects on “psychological or psychosocial wellbeing, cognitive development, cardio-metabolic risk, or fertility.” No evidence proved that blockers provided “time to think,” as many proponents of affirmation claim, but there is “concern that they may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development.”

As for the claim that these interventions prevent suicide, Cass reports that “the evidence found did not support this conclusion.”

Perhaps most important, Cass notes that “clinicians have told us they are unable to determine with any certainty which children and young people will go on to have an enduring trans identity.” That is, in contrast to the affirmative model’s claim that “children know themselves,” the few high-quality studies we have suggest that gender dysphoria in kids most often resolves during puberty, as they develop and mature and gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between gender and sexuality. Many grow up to be gay.

These findings fly in the face of claims by activist groups that the science is settled and that gender-affirming care is “evidence-based” and “lifesaving.” But the findings also don’t negate the fact that some young people are deeply grateful to have transitioned.

Cass isn’t calling for a complete ban on youth gender interventions, like the bans many Republican states have enacted. Nor is she arguing for removing barriers to these interventions and making them more accessible without parental knowledge or consent, as many Democrats advocate. Her recommendation is to expand services but root them in holistic psychological care, making sure all other mental health issues are attended to. She is suggesting the end of the specialized gender clinic model, where gender dysphoria is viewed as the root of all distress.

Without that broader approach to treatment, she says, directly addressing the thousands of youths distressed about their gender, “you are not getting the wider support you need in managing any mental health problems, arranging fertility preservation, getting help with any challenges relating to neurodiversity, or even getting counselling to work through questions and issues you may have.”

The Cass Review offers 32 recommendations, including exercising “extreme caution” when prescribing cross-sex hormones to those 16 and younger and having provisions for people considering detransition. Cass calls for long-term follow-up of those who have transitioned or sought care and a commitment to lifelong care for both those who transition and those who detransition. In contrast, Democrats have blocked attempts to pass detransition care bills and amendments that would require insurers to cover reconstructive surgeries, hormone treatments, and other assistance for detransitioners who want to live as their natal sex again, in whatever way is possible after permanent changes. Detransitioners are often left with nowhere to go to attend to their bodies or their minds — as the case used to be for trans people (and may be the case again).

Increasingly, some providers are so intimidated by the noise around this issue that they don’t want to attend to kids with gender issues at all. But these young people, as Cass says, “must have the same standards of care as everyone else.”

In America, the main problem with the issue of how best to treat kids with gender distress is that it has become intertwined with politics. Some who object to the affirmative model or question it fear the personal and professional repercussions of being cast as a bigot. Some who support the affirmative model in red states that are criminalizing the care fear being jailed. “There are few other areas of healthcare where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views, where people are vilified on social media, and where name-calling echoes the worst bullying behaviour,” Cass writes. “This must stop.”

As someone writing a book about the youth gender culture war, I couldn’t agree more. Polarization, the stifling of debate, and invective-flinging have left many families ill informed, making decisions in the dark and often based on fears of suicide that are unsupported by evidence. How can there truly be informed consent when there is so little unambiguous information, when there are more unknowns than knowns? And what do we do in the face of uncertainty? Argue and legislate, or gather data? It doesn’t help when our federal government contributes to the faux certainty, declaring that gender-affirming care is “suicide prevention” or “well-established medical practice” — arguments the Cass Review eviscerates.

For much of Europe, our government’s digging in on these treatments rather than investigating them more fully is just another way America has gone astray. Countries such as Finland and Sweden have analyzed the evidence and crafted more cautious guidelines, with psychological support as the baseline intervention.

We, too, need new, evidence-based guidelines. We need follow-up from all youth who transitioned, those who detransitioned, and those who desisted — meaning they stopped identifying as transgender without medically transitioning. We need to speak with multiple and competing stakeholders, and we need Democrats and Republicans to listen to those who’ve been helped and those who’ve been hurt; we need bipartisanship, not polarization. We need to push past politics and create an environment where robust scientific debate is not only tolerated but celebrated.

The National Health Service itself applauded Cass’s work, writing that it “will not just shape the future of health care in this country for children and young people experiencing gender distress but will be of major international importance and significance.” Let’s use the report to call for a ceasefire in the American gender culture war. We need our own Cass Review.