Summary
This essay by a sociology doctoral student reports no new data. It argues that "detransition" covers three different things: stopping or reversing a transition, identifying as a detransitioner, and having a bad experience of transition. Studies often blur them. The author says most research has tried to count or predict detransition in order to prevent it, which does little for people who have already detransitioned. Regret studies have weak spots: requests to reverse surgery come years later, many people just stop going to clinics, and counting lawsuits or "known cases" misses most experiences. The author calls for interview-based research with detransitioners to build care plans, including guidance on stopping hormones. It is an openly transfeminist position paper; its views are argued, not tested.
Key findings
- लेखक तीन विचारों को अलग करता है जिन्हें अक्सर “डीट्रांजिशन” में मिला दिया जाता है: डीट्रांजिशन करने का कार्य, डीट्रांजिशनर के रूप में पहचान बनाना, और ट्रांज़िशन का बुरा अनुभव होना।
- निबंध मौजूदा शोध को “डीट्रांस रोकना” (यह अध्ययन कि यह कितनी बार और क्यों होता है) और “डीट्रांस का समर्थन” (देखभाल सुधारने के लिए अनुभव का स्वयं अध्ययन) में छाँटता है।
- स्वीडिश डेटा में (डेजने और अन्य, 2014), सर्जरी उलटने के अनुरोध सामान्यतः सर्जरी के लगभग 8 साल बाद आए। इसलिए 2001 से 2010 की 0.3% दर केवल इसलिए बहुत कम हो सकती है कि पर्याप्त समय नहीं बीता था; उस अवधि को छोड़ने पर, 321 में से 14 लोगों (4.4%) ने उलटने को कहा।
- क्लिनिकों को ज्ञात पछतावे के मामलों (उदाहरण के लिए केवल सहमति पर हार्मोन शुरू करने वाले क्लिनिकों के सर्वेक्षण में 0.1%) को “काफ़ी दोषपूर्ण” कहा गया है, क्योंकि कई डीट्रांजिशनर अपने क्लिनिक को बताने के बजाय जाना बंद कर देते हैं।
- उस समय, डीट्रांजिशन के लिए कोई चिकित्सीय मार्गदर्शन नहीं था और बिना सर्जरी के हार्मोन लेने वालों में डीट्रांजिशन पर लगभग कोई शोध नहीं था।
- लेखक डीट्रांजिशनरों के साथ किए गए साक्षात्कार-आधारित शोध, और हार्मोन को सुरक्षित रूप से बंद करने के तरीके पर चिकित्सीय शोध की माँग करता है।
Abstract
Detransition is tied to three related but distinct concepts – the act of detransitioning, the 'detransitioner' identity, and the negative transition experience – which I refer to collectively using the umbrella term 'detrans'. Detrans research is inevitably political and value-laden, but different methodologies and research questions lend themselves to divergent goals. Drawing on work in the feminist philosophy of science and transfeminist scholarship, I draw a conceptual distinction between research aligned with the goals of 'preventing detrans' vs. 'supporting detrans'. Existing research has constructed detransition as a negative clinical outcome to be prevented because it has been focused on the causes of detrans and the detrans rate. Research associated with the goal of supporting detrans is defined by its focus on the experience and process of detrans itself. Research on preventing detrans constructs detrans as a divisive issue of zero-sum clinical risk, and it is not oriented toward helping people who detransition or who have a negative transition experience. Research on supporting detrans, in contrast, constructs detrans as an issue of inclusion and can be used to improve the medical and mental health care that detrans people receive. I argue that there is an urgent need for qualitative sociological research involving detrans people. I conclude with some broad guidelines for researchers studying detrans.
Conclusion
The author recommends that researchers be precise about which aspect of detrans they study (the act, the identity, or the negative experience), how their measures relate to it, and how the study is described to participants, and that they consult potential participants throughout. Qualitative, interview-based research with online detransition communities is described as feasible and urgently needed whether detransition is rising or not, without "rising epidemic" or "contagion" rhetoric, and detransitioners' calls for medical research on safely stopping hormones are endorsed. Qualitative work should not be used for broad causal claims. Detransitioners should be treated as more than "canaries" signalling a wider risk: their experiences are real, distinct and worth studying in their own right.