Draft:Detransition

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Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or gender transition, whether by social, legal, or medical means. Some individuals detransition on a temporary basis, for a multitude of reasons (including current lack of family support or lived experiences of transphobia); others detransition on a permanent basis, also for a multitude of reasons.

Desistance is a related term used to describe the cessation of transgender identity or gender dysphoria and has a higher occurrence.

Academic research into detransition is underdeveloped, and professional interest in the phenomenon has been met with contention. As such, reports about detransition tend to be significantly skewed towards transphobes, including TERFs, who often times pitch false narratives about transition and overestimate the detransition rate.

Occurence

Detransition is generally indicated by studies to be rare, and usually not because the detransitioner no longer identifies as trans (contrary to the narrative pushed by transphobes). For example, this study based on patient assessment reports in the United Kingdom finds that only 16 out of 3,398 (0.47%) experienced regret or detransition, and stated this result was "consistent with previous research". Furthermore, a survey by the National Centre for Transgender Equality found that only 8% of American respondents had detransitioned, and only 5% of those (0.4% of the total sample) did so because "they realised that gender transition was not for them."

Most motives for detransitioning commonly include financial barriers to transition, discomfort with sexual characteristics during or after transition, pressure from family, sexual assault, nonaffirming school environments, social rejection in transition, harassment by TERFs or transphobes, depression, difficulties becoming employed, or suicidality due to transition, with the vast majority stating detransition was in part due to external factors; another highly cited factor was "it was just too hard for me."

Transphobes often claim figures such as 80% desistence rates among young people. However, studies supporting these statistics have been heavily criticised scientifically. Furthermore, some findings have indicated that gender dysphoria persisting into puberty is likely to be permanent, whilst one study has found that children making cognitive statements (e.g. "I am a boy" or "I am a girl") are less likely to desist than those making affective statements (e.g. "I feel like a boy", "I feel like a girl", "I wish I were a boy" or "I wish I were a girl"), which undermines the argument that it is impossible to tell apart children who are likely to desist from those who are not, and possibly supports the criticism of some studies that have been accused of conflating trans children with gender non-conforming children that express symptoms of Gender Dysphoria for other reasons. In short, the narrative often pushed by transphobes that children are being led down a path they are likely to regret is very much a moral panic.

Communities

Detransition communities are generally extremely transphobic, consisting mostly of TERFs who never even thought about transitioning and they wonder why they are getting silenced. They believe it is since due to detransphobia, but they are too stupid to understand that it's actually their communities who hate on transgender people. They have different tactics to justify their transphobia, such as misinterpeting scientific data for their puposes, which is often cherry-picked to fit their agenda and gaslighting transgender people and try to blame it on the transgender community.

Detransition communities are also known to spread misinformation, propaganda, transphobia, pseudoscience, and other horrible stuff. They are also known to promote conversion therapy and alternative treatments to gender dysphoria.

/r/actual_detrans

An exception to the majority of detransition communities, r/actual_detrans is a community that doesn't allow any bigotry and TERFs to pass by. Because of that, TERFs were screaming all the way on r/GenderCritical r/detrans.

/r/detrans

In theory a community for detransitioners, desisters, and questioning their gender identity, but in reality a spin-off of a TERF subreddit r/GenderCritical with only a little bit more focus on detransitioning. Actually, only 1/5th of the community is consisted of real detransitioners, with most being TERFs and pure transphobes. The community has been known to scare people away from other detransition communities.

/r/gender_detox

A rather inactive community similar to r/detrans which promotes detransition, all the while spouting TERF rhetoric.