Summary
Canadian researchers interviewed 20 young people aged 16 to 25, nearly all born female, from seven countries. All had started and then stopped a gender transition, and were asked about the whole journey. How they saw their gender changed over time, and rarely settled into a simple return to their birth sex. Same-sex attraction, sometimes with shame about being gay, was part of why many had transitioned. Body discomfort often eased during transition. Afterwards it could ease, come back, or turn into distress about permanent changes such as a deeper voice. The authors conclude that paths are too varied to predict how things will turn out. They say care should look at the whole of life, including sexuality and possible loss. This is early, exploratory work. The group was small and volunteered, accounts look back in time, and the analysis openly comes from a gender-affirming viewpoint.
Key findings
- أُجريت في 2020 مقابلات مع عشرين شخصاً بأعمار 16 إلى 25 من كندا والولايات المتحدة وفرنسا وبلجيكا وإندونيسيا واسكتلندا وفنلندا؛ وُلد 19 من العشرين إناثاً.
- تحول جميعهم اجتماعياً؛ وتحول 13 طبياً أيضاً (12 تناولوا الهرمونات، و8 أجروا جراحة واحدة على الأقل، و2 تناولوا حاصرات البلوغ)، لكن 3 فقط من الـ 13 بدؤوا التحول الطبي قبل 18.
- بعد التوقف، تنوعت الهويات الجندرية: احتضن بعضهم جنسهم عند الولادة مجدداً، ووصف آخرون أنفسهم بأنهم لا ثنائيون أو سائلون أو لم يستخدموا أي وصف، واحتفظ بعضهم باسم التحول أو ضمائره.
- كان أكثر من نصف من تحدثوا عن الجنسانية منجذبين إلى جنسهم نفسه قبل التحول، وربط كثيرون منهم تحولهم بالعار من كونهم مثليين.
- شعر معظمهم بتحسن في أجسادهم أثناء التحول، لكن بعضهم وجد أن التغيرات لم تكن كافية، أو أصيب بمضاعفات، أو شعر بضغط لمواصلة «الخطوة» التالية.
- بعد التوقف، وُصفت ثلاث تجارب جسدية: الشعور براحة معقولة، أو عودة الكرب الأصلي، أو كرب جديد من تغيرات دائمة مثل الصوت أو شعر الوجه.
- لم يجد المؤلفون سمات مشتركة تتنبأ بمن سيتوقف، ويوصون بأن تشمل الموافقة المستنيرة الجنسانية والخسارة المحتملة والتحديات المستقبلية على مدى حياة الشخص.
Abstract
Background: Detransition is frequently covered in the media as a return to a cis identity after transition. Detransition is often studied in isolation and fails to examine it in context of various stages leading to detransition. Aim: To present the perspectives and reflections of youth who have detransitioned on their journey from early transition to discontinuation, focusing on three key dimensions: gender modalities, sexual modalities, and dysphoria experiences, and their evolution during this journey. Method: We drew from 20 in-depth interviews with young people aged 16 to 25 who have discontinued a transition and examined various stages of the gender journey from early transition to detransition. Youth narratives were analyzed thematically and longitudinally. Results: We developed three main themes related to the gender journey: nonlinear gender modalities, navigating sexual modalities along with gender modalities, and coping with dysphoria and body discomfort. We found a great diversity of experiences with regard to these within each participant and across the sample. Discussion: Transition and detransition trajectories are nonlinear and heterogeneous, without any identified commonalities that enable the prediction of outcomes after transitions. However, transnormativity may influence how people who detransition are expected to conform to a certain narrative despite the diversity of experiences present in this community.
Conclusion
Youth who discontinue a transition undergo diverse gender journeys and changes across gender modalities, sexual modalities and experiences of dysphoria. Transition and detransition trajectories are nonlinear and heterogeneous, with no identified commonalities that allow outcomes after transition to be predicted, and transnormativity may push people who detransition to fit an expected narrative. Future research should examine these experiences prospectively, for example by following youth from the moment they question their transition and examining how heteronormativity and transnormativity affect decisions to transition or detransition. Providers should look critically at media narratives, take a life-course approach that offers support beyond transition care, help youth understand how transition may affect their gender and sexual modalities, and discuss possible ambiguous loss, in order to strengthen informed consent and support youth whatever direction their gender journey takes.