A couple of weeks ago I wrote, very briefly, about the trans debate, including the regrets of some young transitioners about taking the plunge. They are known as detransitioners. Keira Bell, who transitioned from female to male and back to female, while suing the NHS (Britain’s National Health Service), has written a piece on her own experience:
As I look back, I see how everything led me to conclude it would be best if I stopped becoming a woman. My thinking was that, if I took hormones, I’d grow taller and wouldn’t look much different from biological men.
I began seeing a psychologist through the National Health Service, or NHS. When I was 15—because I kept insisting that I wanted to be a boy—I was referred to the Gender Identity Development Service, at the Tavistock and Portman clinic in London. There, I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, which is psychological distress because of a mismatch between your biological sex and your perceived gender identity.
By the time I got to the Tavistock, I was adamant that I needed to transition. It was the kind of brash assertion that’s typical of teenagers. What was really going on was that I was a girl insecure in my body who had experienced parental abandonment, felt alienated from my peers, suffered from anxiety and depression, and struggled with my sexual orientation.
And a panel of British High Court justices found that the docs at Tavistock were operating most unprofessionally.
If you’re at all interested in this subject, this is a good piece to read. It provokes the question: if someone you know, or don’t know, were to tell you that they wanted to transition, and were of a young age, what would you say?
- You’re crazy!
- Of course, dear, let me help arrange that.
- Why?
Let me know in comments.
