New research says that the majority (60%) of detransitioners, a term which refers to transgender people who have decided they are no longer trans, listed becoming “more comfortable identifying as their natal sex” as the reason they detransitioned. The study consisted of a survey of 100 detransitioners, and looked specifically at individuals who had undergone hormonal or surgical sex changes before deciding to return to their birth sex.
Amongst the most popular reasons given for detransitioning were: experiencing discrimination (23%); concerns about potential medical complications from transitioning (49%); and coming to view their gender dysphoria as being a symptom of underlying trauma, abuse, or a mental health issue (38%).
Over a third of male respondents listed “I felt discriminated against” as a reason for their detransitioning, although only 17.4% of women said a feeling of being discriminated against influenced their decision.
The most widely used “narrative” to explain their detransition, used by 58% of study respondents, was the view that “gender dysphoria was caused by trauma or a mental health condition.” Over half of respondents said that they believes that their sex change had “delayed or prevented them from dealing with or being treated” for an underlying trauma or mental health condition.
55% of respondents felt that they did not receive “an adequate evaluation from a doctor or mental health professional” before they started their gender transition. Only 25% of detransitioners informed their doctors that they had detransitioned, a statistic that may be linked to the fact that only 27% of respondents believed that the counselling and information they received prior to transition was accurate about the benefits and risks of transitioning. Nearly half (46%) said that they counselling they received was “overly positive about the benefits of transitions.” The study says those results, combined with only 5% of respondents saying the counselling they received was “not positive enough” about the benefits of transitioning, suggests “a bias towards encouraging transition.”
38% of the male respondents, and 13% of female, said that they had “erotic reasons for wanting to transition.”