This page contains stories, articles and blogs by people who transitioned and later detransitioned, or are in the process of detransitioning. The stories are varied; some from men, some from women, some who experience regret, some who don’t. We include the testimonies of people of all walks of life and at any age. They are the part of the story which is hidden and denied by transgender activists and support groups and they all deserve to be heard.

Detransition Studies

A nuanced look into youth journeys of gender transition and detransition (2023)

Annie Pullen et al

“This article presents the perspectives of youths who have detransitioned or discontinued a transition regarding their experiences and feelings on their journey from transition to detransition.”

Read the full article here

Transition Regret and Detransition: Meanings and Uncertainties (2023)

Sarah C. J. Jorgensen

“In this essay, I discuss emerging clinical and research issues related to transition regret and detransition with the aim of arming clinicians with the latest information so they can support patients navigating the challenges of regret and detransition.”

Read  the full paper here

Breastfeeding grief after chest masculinisation mastectomy and detransition: A case report with lessons about unanticipated harm (2023)

Karleen D. Gribble, Susan Bewley, Hannah G. Dahlen

“To the best of our knowledge, this report presents the first published case of a woman who had chest masculinisation surgery to affirm a gender identity as a trans man, but who later detransitioned, became pregnant and grieved her inability to breastfeed.”

Read the full study here

Continuation of Gender-affirming Hormones Among Transgender Adolescents and Adults (2022)

Christina M Roberts et al

“Our results suggest that >70% of TGD individuals who start gender-affirming hormones will continue use beyond 4 years, with higher continuation rates in transfeminine individuals. Patients who start hormones, with their parents’ assistance, before age 18 years have higher continuation rates than adults.”

Read the full study here

Care of Transgender Patients: A General Practice Quality Improvement Approach (2022)

Isabel Boyd, Thomas Hackett, Susan Bewley

“Given the findings of long waits, high rates of medical complexity, and some undesired treatment outcomes (including a fifth of patients stopping hormones of whom more than half cited regret or detransition experiences), this small but population-based quality improvement approach should be replicated and expanded upon at scale.”

“Thus, the detransition rate found in this population is novel and questions may be raised about the phenomenon of overdiagnosis, overtreatment, or iatrogenic harm as found in other medical fields.”

Read the full paper here

Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned: A Survey of 100 Detransitioners (2021)

Lisa Littman

“Some were harmed by transition and detransitioned because they concluded that their gender dysphoria was caused by trauma, a mental health condition, internalized homophobia, or misogyny—conditions that are not likely to be resolved with transition.These findings highlight the complexity of gender dysphoria and suggest that, in some cases, failure to explore co-morbidities and the context in which the gender dysphoria emerged can lead to misdiagnosis, missed diagnoses, and inappropriate gender transition.”

Read the full study here

Detransition-Related Needs and Support: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey (2021)

Elie Vandenbussche

“The results showed important psychological needs in relation to gender dysphoria, comorbid conditions, feelings of regret and internalized homophobic and sexist prejudices. It was also found that many detransitioners need medical support notably in relation to stopping/changing hormone therapy, surgery/treatment complications and reversal interventions. Additionally, the results indicated the need for hearing about other detransitioners’ experiences and meeting each other.”

Read the full study results here

Access to care and frequency of detransition among a cohort discharged by a UK national adult gender identity clinic: retrospective case-note review (2021)

R. Hall, L. Mitchell, J. Sachdeva

“Service users may have unmet needs. Neurodevelopmental disorders or ACEs suggest complexity requiring consideration during the assessment process. Managing mental ill health and substance misuse during treatment needs optimising. Detransitioning might be more frequent than previously reported.”

Read the full study here

A Typology of Gender Detransition and Its Implications for Healthcare Providers (2021)

Pablo Exposito-Campos

“When facing a person who decides to detransition, clinicians must always adopt a non-judgmental, compassionate stance. Detransitioning can be as difficult as transitioning due to societal lack of understanding, social isolation, fear, shame, trauma, and the paucity of answers and resources for those who take that path. Even when the person has only undergone a social transition, going back to living according to one’s birth sex can be troublesome”

Read the full paper here

Letter to the Editor: Regret after Gender-affirmation Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prevalence (2021)

Pablo Exposito-Campos, Roberto D’Angelo

“Bustos et al aimed to measure the prevalence of regret following gender-affirmation surgery. Given the significant rise in young people seeking medical intervention for gender dysphoria, which can include surgery, outcome studies that accurately assess regret are of increasing importance. In this letter, we argue that the conclusions of their systematic review and meta-analysis are questionable due to limitations in their methods and shortcomings of the studies selected.”
 
 

Debate: The pressing need for research and services for gender desisters/detransitioners (2020)

Catherine Butler, Anna Hutchinson

“Research with populations who desist and detransition is in its infancy, and little is known about how best to work with this growing population. While there is increasing recognition of the need for support for those who require it, there are still no clear guidelines on how to do this work. We are at an important juncture where our evidence base is based on previous cohorts that may not be applicable to the current population of desisters and detransitioners; it is prudent to consider their needs alongside those who go on to identify as trans for life.”

Read the full paper here

Debate: Reality check – Detransitioner’s testimonies require us to rethink gender dysphoria (2020)

Kirsty Entwistle

“Anecdotal reports by detransitioners suggest greater openness to psychological formulation based interventions to make sense of the factors that prompted and maintained their GD that may have been more challenging prior to detransition. These include external factors such as ‘bingeing’ on videos by transgender YouTubers; misinformation on GD and medical transition; being bullied and being socially isolated.”

Read the full paper here

Female Detransition and Reidentification: Survey Results and Interpretation (2016)

Crashchaoscats

“This survey was created for anyone female/AFAB who formerly self-described as transgender. This includes women who transitioned, whether socially and/or medically, and subsequently detransitioned, as well as individuals who still identify as nonbinary or genderfluid, but have desisted from medical or social transition.”

Read the full survey results here

 

Writings and Articles

Sallie Baxendale: Doctors have failed detransitioners

PITT: Detransitioner Viewpoint: On my Relationship with my Parents

PITT: Learning from the Detransitioners

New York Post: Why Detransitioned Teens Regret Changing Genders

TullipR: The Gender Dysphoria Trap

TullipR: Lost Boys

Corinna Cohn: What I wish I’d known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery

Sinead Watson: The detransitioners: “The problems I thought I’d solved were all still there”

Allie: I was allowed to transition at 18 without question – but I regretted it

Grace Lidinsky-Smith: There’s No Standard for Care When it Comes to Trans Medicine

TullipR: Lost Boys – Speaking up for Detrans Males

Lauren Black: Gloves off: I’m going to talk about how dysphoria, plus the gingerbread model, plus pornography, leads to the creation of who I call ‘porn addled robot people’

J D Robertson: Detrans Youth Stories they Didn’t Want You to Hear, in 60 Minutes, or Less

Keira Bell: My Story

Detrans Voices: Detrans Story: Laura

Hormone Hangover: Top Surgery Regret

Keira Bell: ‘I couldn’t sit by while so many others made the same mistake’

Keira Bell: NHS gender clinic ‘should have challenged me more’ over transition

Sinead Watson: Transition and detransition: a conversation between sisters

Sam, Nele and Ellie transitioned as young women, living as ‘men’ before realizing they’d made a mistake:

Laura Dodsworth: The Detransitioners

Charlie Evans: A Journey from Trans* to T*RF

Thomasin Pick: Living in trans bubble increased my social anxiety

Aleksa Lundberg: “I am a gay feminine man with a female body”

Carey Callahan: The Game Plan for When Transition Hasn’t Worked Out

Thomasin Pick: One Year Out – My Story

Nicole Jones: Overcoming Gender Dysphoria

Exit Sign: Out of Place and Time

Lisa Marchiano: The ranks of detransitioners are growing. We need to understand why

Helen Joyce: Speaking up for female eunuchs

BBC News: Bath Spa University ‘blocks transgender research’

Websites, Blogs and Support Groups

Reddit r/detrans

Post trans – a collection of detransition stories of female detransitioners and desisters

Support Post Trans on Patreon here

The Detransition Advocacy Network

Lost in Transition

Detransition Info Sweden

Pique Resilience Project

GCCAN – Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network

Detrans Voices

Life Detransitions

Detrans Canada

Redress Alert

TullipR – Detrans Man

Broadcasts, Podcasts and Videos

Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast: Ritchie’s Detransition: The Myth of Adult Invulnerability

The Critic Magazine: The Detransitioners – interview with James Caspian and Laura Dodsworth

Jordan Peterson: Detransition: The Wounds That Won’t Heal; Chloe Cole 

Venus Rising with TullipR: What the Gender Industry won’t Tell You

Post Trans Booklet

Detrans Stories – Benjamin Boyce

Genspect Detrans Awareness Day Webinar

Sinead Watson: Ramblings of a Detransitioned Woman

Standing for Women: Biological Woman’s Hour –  interview with Keira Bell

 

BBC: NHS gender clinic ‘should have challenged me more’ over transition – interview with Keira Bell

Sky News: Transgender Ruling: Clinic Defends Transgender Treatment – interview with Keira Bell

BBC Newsnight: Detransitioning – Reversing a Gender Transition

The Detransitioners – She2He2She and He2She2He

BBC World Service radio broadcasts available here

Detransition: The Elephant in the Room

 

The Trans Train: Swedish Documentary

The Trans Train (2)

The Trans Train (3) Link here

Transgender Regret: Dutch documentary, with subtitles by PeachYogurt

On Transition, Activism and Therapy, with Carey Callahan

60 Minutes Australia: Who am I?

Sky News: ‘Hundreds’ of young trans people seeking help to return to original sex

Charlie Evans: Sky News interview

 

Elle Palmer

If you’re a girl who hated puberty this is for you

Why I transitioned and detransitioned

Blaire White

Interview with Elle Palmer

Pique Resilience Project

Listen to their Danger Ramen podcasts here.

What do detransitioned women think of social media?

Q & A

Chiara interviewed by Benjamin Boyce

GNC Centric

Follow on Twitter at and support on Patreon here

Social Media: from Transitioning with Queer Cult Twitter to Detransition with Gender Critical Tumblr

Tavistock: Former Clinicians Call it Conversion Therapy – My Response

Coercion and Abuse in the Gender ID Community: Interview with Benjamin Boyce

Martin Rei

My Detransition: How it Happened

hayitsmatthew

Detransition (forreal this time y’all)

 

Voices

This Soft Space

“But a wave of voices is rising, and helping tremendously.” A documentation of videos and writing by the young women whose words are amongst the most powerful on the subject of transition and the journey back to womanhood: Maria Catt, Kat, Max, and the blogs CrashChaosCats and GuideOnRagingStars.

Watch and read here

Detransition – An FtM Journeys Home – In Her Own Words

“I’m 30 years of age. I don’t blame anyone else for my idiocy. I just wish I would have learned to love myself before completely turning my life upside down with all of this.”

Read the full post here

Advice for Parents of Teen Girls and Girl-Children Who Think They’re Trans

“In closing, this trend is going to have a devastating impact on today’s youth about 10 years down the road. These things are not very well studied, and we are/were their guinea pigs. Be a role model, be a mentor, but most of all, don’t be afraid to be a parent. Don’t allow yourself to be bullied into this. This is your child’s health that is being played with, and your child’s health is not a game – it is life or death.”

Read the full post here

Maria Catt: The Adult Baby Story

“A lot of my anger at the people who were cheerleaders for my transition is their enthusiasm for all these limits I was placing on my life- the black hole of time and money and energy transitioning is- revealed that they didn’t think I had much value. They didn’t say anything like, “What you could do with that time and money and energy if you directed it towards a goal beyond changing your body is so profound that this pursuit seems like a massive waste of what you are capable of.”

Read the full post here

Third Way Trans

“I then worked through a lot of trauma in therapy and discovered that I could be comfortable with presenting male after all, and that it was good to let go of the need of be seen as female. Much to my surprise it was possible to become okay with being seen as male, because it does not limit me from being who I am. I wish I could have saved myself all of this trouble and worked through these issues psychologically and I am concerned that the psychological community does not present this possibility.”

See the blog here

CRASHCHAOSCATS

“I’m always going to wonder what might have been. What would my body be like now if I’d never done t? I devalued my own body, I became dissatisfied with it, I convinced myself that it wasn’t enough, didn’t speak clearly enough about what I was”

Read the full blog post here

This Soft Space

“Took me until I was 30 to realize I was a lesbian. Took me another 8 years and a trip through postmodern gender/queer theory, including a time identifying as transgender, to finally make peace with my body, my sex, and my orientation – not to mention my place in the world.”

See the blog here

Guide On Raging Stars

“The memories keep coming. Remembering who I was before I was a “boy” and then a “man”. Things I felt I couldn’t think about before because it would remind me that I was born female. In trying to solve my identity problems I think now that I only compounded them, became a man with no past. So much of my childhood makes no sense without the context of girlhood, so those memories were forgotten–not blocked out, just ignored. It’s no wonder that I’ve felt so lost and unlike myself for so long.”

See the blog here

Hot Flanks: No Trick, No Secret

“I latched onto the idea that I had never been able to connect with my peers or make friends because I couldn’t relate to other people as a woman, because I was a man! There were answers to what I was dealing with and with Modern Medical Technology could correct this very simple birth-defect that I had recently diagnosed myself with. My discomfort with my body would be eased and the world would suddenly know how to relate to me!”

Read the full blog post here

The Re-Transing Of Male Miriam

“Feminine = female, because the alternative of being a man who displays femininity as a man is too horrible to contemplate. Like the friend who told me that going into the men’s restroom would be demeaning to me. I can already see from reactions of my customers that I’m more socially acceptable as a man who’s tryin reel hard to be a women rather than as some weirdo dude with a feminine self-expression.”

Read the full blog post here

Sex Change Regret

A website for people who regret gender reassignment surgery

Blood and Visions: Reconciling With Being Female

Booklet available from Autotomous Womyn’s Press

Redress Alert

http://redressalert.tumblr.com/

Sex Change Info

“Regarding the outcome of reassignment surgery Dr. Charles Ihlenfeld said, “80% should not do it” and for the remaining 20%, he says it will not be a lifelong solution but rather a temporary “reprieve.” In other words, do not expect long term success.”

Read the blog here

4thWaveNow: In Praise of Gatekeepers: An Interview With A Former Teen Client Of Transactive Gender Centre

“I think the idea of someone being able to get transitional surgery underage is concerning—in the state of Oregon, you can’t get a tattoo underage even with parental consent, but you can be permanently sterilized at 15 without any parental input. This is built off the law that minors 15 and older can consent to their own medical and dental diagnosis and treatment, up to and including surgery, but it seems to me that these kinds of surgeries are things that can wait until someone is at least 18.”

Read the full interview here

Sex Change Surgery: What Bruce Jenner, Diane Sawyer and You Should Know

Walt Heyer, the Witherspoon Istitute Public Discourse

“It is intellectually dishonest to ignore the facts that surgery never has been a medically necessary procedure for treating gender dysphoria and that taking cross-gender hormones can be harmful.”

Read the full article here.

Mistaken Identity

David Batty, the Guardian

“It’s taken eight years finally to get to grips with myself and the reality of my situation. I know I will never be anything other than a transsexual. As long as I live, I will never be a real woman – no matter how well I pass. Unless you really come to terms with this, the transsexual lifestyle can be unbearably hard. If we throw away our support by burying ourselves in ‘normal society’, it can also become unbearably lonely. So my message is, proceed with caution.”

Read the full article here.

Transgender Regret is Real Even if the Media Tell You Otherwise

Walt Heyer, the Federalist

“The media cover-up of regret and suicides isn’t a new phenomenon; it was in play 36 years ago. In 1979 Dr. Charles Ihlenfeld, who worked alongside the famous Dr. Harry Benjamin for six years administering hormone therapy to some 500 transgenders, spoke to an audience in New York about his experience: “There is too much unhappiness among people who have had the surgery. Too many of them end as suicides.”

Read the full article here.