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

• L'autore separa tre idee spesso accomunate sotto «detransition»: l'atto di fare detransition, l'identificarsi come detransitioner e l'avere una brutta esperienza della transizione.
• Il saggio classifica la ricerca esistente in «prevenire la detrans» (studiare quanto spesso avviene e perché) e «sostenere la detrans» (studiare l'esperienza in sé per migliorare l'assistenza).
• Nei dati svedesi (Dhejne e altri, 2014), le richieste di inversione dell'intervento arrivavano in genere circa 8 anni dopo l'intervento. Quindi il tasso dello 0,3% per il 2001–2010 potrebbe essere troppo basso semplicemente perché non era passato abbastanza tempo; escludendo quel periodo, 14 persone su 321 (4,4%) hanno chiesto l'inversione.
• I casi di rimpianto noti alle cliniche (ad esempio lo 0,1% in un sondaggio tra cliniche che avviano gli ormoni sul solo consenso) sono definiti «significativamente viziati», perché molti detransitioner smettono di presentarsi anziché dirlo alla loro clinica.
• All'epoca non esistevano indicazioni mediche sulla detransition e quasi nessuna ricerca sulla detransition in persone che avevano assunto ormoni senza chirurgia.
• L'autore chiede una ricerca basata su interviste condotta con i detransitioner e una ricerca medica su come interrompere gli ormoni in sicurezza.

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.