Gender transition is an inhumane, aggressive intervention backed by massive business interests. A new book, featuring those who regret their surgeries, reveals how the trans industry operates in the West. Not for the faint-hearted!
In recent years, transgenderism has become a primary progressive topic in the Western world: after same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States in 2015, this became the new front in the culture war. Transgender people are those who feel they were born in the “wrong body,” meaning they are “actually” the opposite gender of their biological sex. Previously, this was known as gender identity disorder. Now, it’s celebrated as a human right. The “oppressed” transgender people are celebrated, and questioning the trans movement is forbidden; anyone who does is accused of “dehumanizing” them.
Historically, transgenderism affects 0.01 percent of the population, almost exclusively boys. According to various surveys, today transgender individuals make up 0.3 percent of the population in the European Union and, depending on the survey, 0.3 to 0.6 percent in the United States. That means there could be 1.5 million in the 512-million-strong EU and 1.4 million in the 326-million-strong USA. This number emerged after the definition was expanded. One survey shows that this type of gender identity disorder appears in 0.001 percent of women and 0.033 percent of men.
Until 2012, science knew nothing about the sudden development of gender identity disorders in teenage girls. However, this phenomenon emerged thereafter. In the United Kingdom, the number of teenage girls seeking gender transition surgery increased by 4400 percent by 2018. In the USA, the number of such surgeries performed on women quadrupled between 2016 and 2017, accounting for 70 percent of all such operations. American journalist Abigail Shrier calls this a “transgender epidemic,” while researcher Lisa Littman refers to it as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD).
There are several issues with transgenderism. The most significant is the completely erroneous anthropology behind it. In 2016, two medical scientists, Paul McHugh and Lawrence Mayer, along with their colleagues, reviewed the literature on gender and transgenderism and concluded that
it is scientifically unproven that someone can be “born in the wrong body.”
Moreover, the American psychological and medical professions almost immediately refer anyone suspected of having a gender identity disorder for gender transition surgery—often after just a single one-hour conversation. The surgery is now called “gender-affirming surgery” because it affirms the felt gender rather than the biological one. However, the transition is only superficial, as a person’s brain, skeleton, and cells are inherently male or female and cannot be changed. Puberty blockers and hormone treatments can cause severe diseases and disorders. True gender transition is impossible.
It is also untrue that minors are not operated on: a Reuters investigation found over fifty minors in the USA who had undergone surgery: between 2019 and 2021, 56 adolescents aged 13 to 17 with gender dysphoria had gender-affirming surgeries, including vaginoplasties. Recently, there was a scandal in Texas because of this. Despite this, 95 percent of children with gender identity disorders outgrow these conditions by puberty.
Those who regret their transition are called detransitioners, officially making up 2 percent of transgender people, but clinical practice suggests this number is much higher since many disappear from the healthcare system. The existence of detransitioners is highly embarrassing for the trans movement, which claims that being trans is wonderful and gender transition is a fantastic “journey.” According to Lisa Littman’s research,
only 24 percent of detransitioners inform the healthcare system, so the actual number may be around 8 percent.
The movement dismisses the detransitioners, claiming they are too few to matter. This is an inconsistent argument because, by this logic, the trans movement itself, and even the LGBTQ movement, could be dismissed. They present themselves as protectors of minorities but ignore the existence of inconvenient minorities. That’s not fair.
They also claim detransitioners were never truly trans. This is a false argument. The LGBTQ movement emphasizes the fluidity of sexuality, which research supports regarding LGBTQ orientations. Heterosexuality is relatively stable. If sexuality is fluid, someone could theoretically be trans and then not trans, at least in principle. However, the movement insists that fluidity is politically correct only when moving away from heterosexuality and biological gender, not the other way around.
The trans movement also argues that transgenderism is innate and immutable. This is also false: an “innate” gender feeling that contradicts our biology cannot exist, and practice does not support it. The trans movement claims that transgenderism is innate and immutable, pushing anyone with even a slight suspicion of being trans towards transition, and then when they regret it, they claim those individuals were never truly trans. The issue is that it is impossible to predict who will regret it. And gender transition procedures are irreversible.
The so-called Dutch protocol, which has long been used to treat minors with gender identity disorders with puberty blockers, faces increasing criticism. Numerous researchers have recently spoken out against this practice. In late 2022, two experts wrote against it in the German newspaper Die Welt, and in August 2022, thirty Dutch experts called for its abolition. A Swedish review from 2021 found the data on the psychological effects of puberty blockers insufficient, as did the Finnish health authorities in 2020 and the British authorities in 2022.
Many young people who start transitioning early regret it later, becoming “detransitioners.” The Reddit/detrans group already has over 54,000 members.
The trans movement portrays dealing with detransitioners as an expression of conservative transphobic hatred. They have yet to explain how to address detransitioners in a way that is not transphobic, likely because
the goal of the trans movement is not fair treatment but silencing the issue as it threatens their political goals and worldview. They see detransitioners as an existential threat.
Despite this, early 2024 saw the New York Times dedicate an article to detransitioners who once believed they were trans, arguing that they deserve more attention.
Mary Margaret Olohan, a journalist for Daily Caller, Daily Wire, and Daily Signal, did just that with her book “Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult,” published in May 2024.
The book’s description states: “Trans activists are loud—unless you regret transitioning and go back. If you question gender ideology, you better keep your mouth shut. This fascinating new book contains interviews with regretters and gives a voice to young people caught up in this harmful ideology. Their testimonies—including lawsuits against their gender-affirming healthcare and therapy providers—are unforgettable. The annual ‘Pride Month’ in June is not only a celebration of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals but also an unchallengeable celebration of gender transition. Detransitioners’ experiences show that the matter is more complicated and painful than most people ever imagined.”
Mary Margaret Olohan’s interviewees are mostly young women and a few young men who thought they were trans but later deeply regretted it. Prisha, Luka, Chloe, Helena, and others share dramatic and distressing stories. Many had various mental health issues or had been previously abused. As teenagers, they hated their bodies, wanted to avoid further abuse, or had other reasons and quickly found the sectarian depths of the online trans culture. Doctors and psychologists immediately pushed them into transitioning. Enormous sums, often tens of thousands of dollars, were spent on transitioning, and some even underwent gender-affirming surgeries.
Over time, however, they became disillusioned and faced difficulties the trans industry had not informed them about or had mentioned only in the fine print. For example, puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and transitioning pose the risk of infertility. Their other mental disorders would not be resolved. Transitioning involves severe mood swings and guarantees nothing. Their pseudo-genitalia (which bear no resemblance to real ones) require lifelong maintenance. Removed breasts cannot be reattached. And these are just a few of the issues. The American trans industry simply conceals these challenges from patients and takes their lost teenage identities at face value.
The book also addresses the systematically spread myth by the trans movement that “it’s better to have a trans child than a dead child,”
claiming parents who prevent their gender-dysphoric children’s transition risk their suicide. This is false; research does not support this claim, often citing studies among adults that are unreliable. Long-term, transitioning does not reduce the suicide rate among trans people, which is not necessarily due to lack of acceptance but rather untreated other mental health issues.
In “Detrans,” we first read about how the interviewees came to believe they were trans. Then comes the encouragement (“affirmation”), followed by two chapters on hormone therapy and its not-so-bright effects, leading to gender-affirming surgery. After this peak, the depressive part follows: realization and regret, then detransition. Using Abigail Shrier’s term, these individuals suffered irreversible damage. Breasts cannot be reattached—or if they can, they will not function as breasts. Genitalia cannot be restored, and neither can hormone treatments. Women who wanted to become men are left with stronger physiques, increased body hair, deeper voices, and flat chests even if they regret it. I will not delve into more details here.
The trans industry earns enormous sums from patients and requires lifelong “maintenance” treatments, binding them to the industry.
Medical interventions are brutal, lengthy, painful, and irreversible, but the trans movement keeps repeating the lie that bodies must be adapted to feelings,while more compassionate therapies that adapt feelings to bodies are being banned in more and more places (several US states, Canada, France, etc.). The protagonists of the book have sued their former doctors and psychologists. They did the right thing.
Olohan has written a brave book, and her interviewees are also brave because today, for such things, one can quickly become a victim of the woke cancel culture. The fact that the medical and psychological support for the book’s protagonists disappeared once they chose detransition speaks volumes about the state of affairs. Their former doctors ignored them, they fell out of the healthcare system, and their online support vanished as well. The air around them became thin. The trans movement, which preaches tolerance, suffocated them.
Gender transition is an inhumane, antihuman, aggressive intervention, backed by massive business interests. It’s time to expose this movement, which is based on emotional manipulation. Olohan’s book is an excellent assessment, focusing not only on theory but also on practice, personal experiences, and real people. We must learn from it and continue to keep this inhumanity out of our country.
Mary Margaret Olohan: “Detrans: True Stories of Escaping the Gender Ideology Cult.” Regnery, 2024.
Edited by Ivan Hajda
