The Untold Stories Of Kiwi 'Detransitioners' - Meet Issy
Issy was fast-tracked into testosterone, mastectomy and hysterectomy by 22. At 26 she’s detransitioned, infertile, scarred and on a year-long wait just to get female hormones back. This is what ‘affirmative care’ can cost.
نظرة عامة
Issy, a 26-year-old New Zealand woman, began medical transition at 19, had a double-mastectomy at 21 and hysterectomy at 22, and has since detransitioned. She recounts how rapid affirmation and no pushback from doctors left her with irreversible damage, estranged family, and a 12-month wait for hormone care now that she wants to restore her health.
ملخص الفيديو الكامل
Issy, a 26-year-old New Zealand woman, tells Family First NZ that she began medical transition at 19, underwent a double-mastectomy at 21 and a full hysterectomy at 22, and has now detransitioned. She describes a childhood in which she “always thought I was a boy,” played exclusively with boys, and felt acute discomfort when puberty began at 11. Trying to cope, she “became as feminine as possible,” yet hated her body, was clinically depressed, and spent high school “a hugely depressed, anxiety-filled teenager” who also embraced satanism for seven years. At university she joined the campus LGBT club, saw trans peers who “looked happy,” and—after cutting her hair and liking the feeling—went to her GP and stated, “I feel like I’m a man.” No one, she says, questioned that declaration; instead she was placed on a five-month wait-list for an endocrinologist, then a psychologist gave the required approval and she began testosterone. She lists the irreversible effects she was warned about—deepened voice, hair growth, possible infertility—but, not wanting children, she dismissed the risks. Within months she grew a beard, lost her period, and felt “very, very happy,” especially after top surgery removed the large breasts she had always loathed. Issy recounts how the queer community “affirm you in that entire process” and taught her that family who hesitate “don’t accept me so you cut them off,” leading to months of estrangement from her mother and sister. She now believes this was “a failure on my part,” recognizing that her family “were grieving the loss of a daughter.” Despite initial euphoria, her relationships repeatedly failed and a deeper unhappiness returned; she tried multiple antidepressants while still on testosterone. At 26, after a spiritual encounter—an unknown woman at a prayer event handed her a book titled “Gender Confusion” and whispered “come as you are”—Issy embraced Christianity, concluded “I will never ever be a male,” and stopped testosterone. She is now on a 12-month wait-list to restart estrogen because the hysterectomy left her without natural hormones, and she notes the irony that “it was very easy to navigate the transitioning process” but “I’m finding a bit of resistance and lack of care” for detransition. She is left with visible mastectomy scars—“the consequences of my actions”—yet says she has finally “fully loving myself, my true self.”