Interesting read! Long post ahead (but, for once, it's NOT about myself this time ;-) )
"Detransition" is often used so broadly, like McKinnon says. First of all, I think there's a really important distinction between transitioning socially (names, pronouns, style) and then going back, and having done medical treatments that may be more or less reversible/irreversible.
Then, obviously, you can detransition for different reasons, more or less internal/external.
In Sweden, there's the pretty famous case of Johan Jenny Ehrenberg, head of a left-wing media company. They began transitioning MtF in the eighties and the whole thing was super public; they appeared in both theirs and other magazines, on talk shows, etc. Then, they went back to "cis man". It became some sort of established truth in people's eyes that the whole thing had been nothing but a publicity stunt, but I thought all along that it did NOT seem like that at the time. It seemed honest, everything that J.J.E. wrote.
Waaaaay later, they began expressing some regrets about their DEtransition. They talked about both how trans care in the eighties was extremely binary, and the huge amount of hate and threats they received. "Maybe", they said, "if things had been different, I wouldn't have back-pedaled all the way to 'regular man' ". Even later, in their old age and with a cancer diagnosis that made it uncertain how many years they had left, they came out as non-binary, and added the name Jenny (which they had once used as a woman) to their birth name Johan, became "Johan Jenny".
It used to be the case that medical transition was seen as a package deal, no exceptions; if you do some things, you gotta do them all. People who transitioned during that time are, sometimes, happy with some of their treatments but regret, e.g., being pressured into having bottom surgery.
In Sweden (similar story in many other European countries) you had to be sterilized, and you were not allowed to save any eggs/sperm, in order to transition, up until 2013. Being forcibly sterilized is obviously a tragedy for everyone, and people might regret their transition and wish they had stayed in the closet for THAT reason. (I write this hypothetically, I don't personally know anyone forcibly sterilized who say they regret transitioning at all bc it came with sterilization attached. But might be some cases.)
Even fairly recently, some people went to clinicians with fairly conservative views on gender, and were pressured into either abandoning the whole idea of transitioning OR conform to conservative gender roles and present that way. I know some people just pretended to be these perfect men/women, planning all along to change that later. But others internalized more or less of that pressure. Later on, still happy with their bodies, they would, e.g., re-identify as non-binary or more fluid identity-wise, not as "man" or "woman".
Perhaps the opposite thing are people who really want to be the other gender than the one they've hitherto been identified with - but find that they can't, really, at least not socially, and then they'd rather backtrack. I saw some anti-trans people a while ago posting a news story about a middle-aged man, now once again identifying as such, who had begun a medical transition process and then back-pedaled.
"Concerned" anti-trans people: "This is so problematic, there should be more research before we let people do this".
The actual guy in the news story: "I realized I can never be a woman. I just felt like something in-between, and then I thought I'd rather go back."
Is this best described as regretting transition ... or as regretting how LATE he had a go at it? At an age where he's destined to LOOK "in-between", with all the consequences this might entail both socially and for his self-image?
And then you've got people who just regret the whole thing, it just wasn't right for them. Obviously the goal should be that this group remains small. But people in the debate sometimes seem to think that even ONE such person remains unacceptable, and a reason to shut down all trans care. Which is absolutely bizarre standards for trans care, standards applied NOWHERE else in medicine. All treatments have their regretters.
For some people, it's like suffering closeted trans people means NOTHING, but a single confused cis person who transitioned even though it was wrong for them has INFINITE negative value. They will also talk as if these confused cis people had zero agency in seeking out trans care, almost as if they were victims of coercive care. Which is both disingenuous and patronizing.
I always love your long and thoughtful engagement, Sofia! I will reply back very soon when I have more time to offer something that can possibly match your enthusiasm (and length), lol!
Interesting read! Long post ahead (but, for once, it's NOT about myself this time ;-) )
"Detransition" is often used so broadly, like McKinnon says. First of all, I think there's a really important distinction between transitioning socially (names, pronouns, style) and then going back, and having done medical treatments that may be more or less reversible/irreversible.
Then, obviously, you can detransition for different reasons, more or less internal/external.
In Sweden, there's the pretty famous case of Johan Jenny Ehrenberg, head of a left-wing media company. They began transitioning MtF in the eighties and the whole thing was super public; they appeared in both theirs and other magazines, on talk shows, etc. Then, they went back to "cis man". It became some sort of established truth in people's eyes that the whole thing had been nothing but a publicity stunt, but I thought all along that it did NOT seem like that at the time. It seemed honest, everything that J.J.E. wrote.
Waaaaay later, they began expressing some regrets about their DEtransition. They talked about both how trans care in the eighties was extremely binary, and the huge amount of hate and threats they received. "Maybe", they said, "if things had been different, I wouldn't have back-pedaled all the way to 'regular man' ". Even later, in their old age and with a cancer diagnosis that made it uncertain how many years they had left, they came out as non-binary, and added the name Jenny (which they had once used as a woman) to their birth name Johan, became "Johan Jenny".
It used to be the case that medical transition was seen as a package deal, no exceptions; if you do some things, you gotta do them all. People who transitioned during that time are, sometimes, happy with some of their treatments but regret, e.g., being pressured into having bottom surgery.
In Sweden (similar story in many other European countries) you had to be sterilized, and you were not allowed to save any eggs/sperm, in order to transition, up until 2013. Being forcibly sterilized is obviously a tragedy for everyone, and people might regret their transition and wish they had stayed in the closet for THAT reason. (I write this hypothetically, I don't personally know anyone forcibly sterilized who say they regret transitioning at all bc it came with sterilization attached. But might be some cases.)
Even fairly recently, some people went to clinicians with fairly conservative views on gender, and were pressured into either abandoning the whole idea of transitioning OR conform to conservative gender roles and present that way. I know some people just pretended to be these perfect men/women, planning all along to change that later. But others internalized more or less of that pressure. Later on, still happy with their bodies, they would, e.g., re-identify as non-binary or more fluid identity-wise, not as "man" or "woman".
Perhaps the opposite thing are people who really want to be the other gender than the one they've hitherto been identified with - but find that they can't, really, at least not socially, and then they'd rather backtrack. I saw some anti-trans people a while ago posting a news story about a middle-aged man, now once again identifying as such, who had begun a medical transition process and then back-pedaled.
"Concerned" anti-trans people: "This is so problematic, there should be more research before we let people do this".
The actual guy in the news story: "I realized I can never be a woman. I just felt like something in-between, and then I thought I'd rather go back."
Is this best described as regretting transition ... or as regretting how LATE he had a go at it? At an age where he's destined to LOOK "in-between", with all the consequences this might entail both socially and for his self-image?
And then you've got people who just regret the whole thing, it just wasn't right for them. Obviously the goal should be that this group remains small. But people in the debate sometimes seem to think that even ONE such person remains unacceptable, and a reason to shut down all trans care. Which is absolutely bizarre standards for trans care, standards applied NOWHERE else in medicine. All treatments have their regretters.
For some people, it's like suffering closeted trans people means NOTHING, but a single confused cis person who transitioned even though it was wrong for them has INFINITE negative value. They will also talk as if these confused cis people had zero agency in seeking out trans care, almost as if they were victims of coercive care. Which is both disingenuous and patronizing.
I always love your long and thoughtful engagement, Sofia! I will reply back very soon when I have more time to offer something that can possibly match your enthusiasm (and length), lol!