Share this page!

Ky Schevers Profile picture
Twitter logo
10 Mar, 5 tweets, 1 min read
I recognize that gender dysphoria can manifest in many different ways and different people are going to find that different treatments work best for them but I in no way support "alternative treatments for gender dysphoria" that are really conversion therapy/practices.
Not everyone needs to medically transition but often "alternatives to transition" is just a euphemism for conversion practices. There's nothing healthy or feminist about suppressing who you are or denying yourself something that could make you happier.
Accepting one's body without modification is not inherently good or superior to transitioning. Transitioning isn't selling out, betraying women/lesbians, indulging mental illness or whatever. How many people would go for "alternatives" if transition wasn't stigmatized?
Transitioning is often the best treatment for dysphoria and when that's the case, it doesn't make sense to deny one's self that treatment. It has risks just like any other medical treatment but the solution to that is more research to reduce the risks and improve it over time.
"Alternative treatments for gender dysphoria" that are just conversion practices dressed up in feminism or psychoanalytic jargon help no one. They're "treatments" that "help" people suppress who they are, that feed on self-hatred. They're psychological abuse and self-harm.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Ky Schevers

Ky Schevers Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @reclaimingtrans

Ky Schevers Profile picture
8 Mar
I've been thinking a lot about anti-trans conversion practices and gender identity change efforts and how they include conversion therapy but also include so many other more informal interactions between trans people and other people who try to get us to change who we are.
How many trans people have encountered people who tried to discourage them from being trans and/or encouraged them to try being something else? It's so common. It's also abusive and harmful and we shouldn't have to deal with that.
If a parent, friend, partner, people in your community, etc make an effort to make you not be trans, encourage you to be a (cis) gay/lesbian instead, try to get you to see your transness as a result of trauma, mental illness or internalized sexism, that's a conversion practice.
Read 10 tweets
Ky Schevers Profile picture
5 Mar
Here's an example of how detrans people's experiences can be turned into anti-trans conversion practices. Partners for Ethical Care created a "desistance/detransition" survey and are now using the findings to write a book for parents on how to "detrans" their trans kid. Facebook post by Maria Keffler read Some interesting finding
PEC's survey was targeted both at detrans and desisted people and at parents of detrans/desisted people. Through out the survey, detrans/desisted people are referred to as "the child" regardless of age, even if the person is an adult. Creepy. Desistance and Detransition Survey This survey is for peopleThroughout this survey the word "child" is used toQuestion from survey I am a child who desisted/detransitionSurvey question At what age did the child announce a transge
They're upfront about why they're collecting this data, to help parents of trans youth try to get their child to desist or detransition. The survey includes questions about what parents did to get their children to desist or detransition and advice for parents. Information and data gathered in this survey will be used toSurvey Questions What do you consider the most important thiWhich of the following did the parent do after the child ann
Read 7 tweets
Ky Schevers Profile picture
4 Mar
Transphobic groups are going to keep protesting at clinics treating trans youth. I'm still figuring out what the best response is but one thing that's important to factor in is their target audience. Tweet from @GenderMapper reads It's not the TRA that shares
I can understand not wanting to give these groups any media coverage, problem is they're going to get it from more conservative media outlets. Here's the Christian Post interviewing members of LGBFightBack and Parents of ROGD Kids.
web.archive.org/web/2021022320…
And spreading their conspiracy theories to an audience that's more inclined to believe them. That's what really worries me. They're reaching out to people who already don't trust liberal/mainstream media and are already fairly transphobic. "Lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people were the first
Read 5 tweets
Ky Schevers Profile picture
4 Mar
Convincing a trans person that they're trans because of trauma is incredibly harmful. It's a conversion practice. Lots of people like to make a connection between trauma and gender dysphoria but there's not much research or other evidence to back it up. People need to know that.
It's theoretically possible for trauma to cause gender dysphoria or something that resembles it but it's dangerous to assert a connection with such limited evidence and without taking into account how that could negatively impact trans people, particularly trans trauma survivors.
Trans people are already pathologized/stigmatized so heavily. Experiencing trauma can make you feel like there's something wrong with you. Unhealed trauma can be excruciating. All that can make trans trauma survivors especially vulnerable to conversion therapy/practices.
Read 16 tweets
Ky Schevers Profile picture
3 Mar
Need, narrative, network, or filling a need one has, gaining a sense of meaning/purpose and finding a group to belong to. These are all factors researchers who study "extremist" groups identify as playing important roles in how these groups recruit people.
A person is suffering, has some kind of problem, some kind of need they want to fill, etc and they're looking for a solution. They find a group that gives them a place to belong and gives them ideas/stories that explain their problems and how to fix them and also often give...
...them a role in a larger us vs them kind of struggle. Often, they join the group first, develop a connection with people in it and then they pick up the group's ideology. Indoctrination follows human connection and is often about strengthening that connection.
Read 5 tweets
Ky Schevers Profile picture
3 Mar
Robert Stoller, transphobic psychoanalyst, thought transmasculinity was caused by an afab child developing too close of a relationship with their father, while developing a distant relationship with their mother. He summed it up as "Too much father, not enough mother".
Rad fem theory is similar in some ways, too much patriarchy, not enough positive (radical feminist) female influence. Both of them posit an outside masculine influence distorting the development of a "proper" female identity in a transmasculine person.
Both theories assume an afab person should develop a female sense of self though bonding with cis women and see any deviation from that as a problem that should be corrected if at all possible, through therapy or radical feminist consciousness raising, respectively.
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @reclaimingtrans has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @reclaimingtrans!

Read all threads by @reclaimingtrans