Ideological detransition/"alternative treatments for gender dysphoria" is basically an alternative health scam directed at trans & questioning people. Like other alt health scams, it preys on people's negative experiences w/ the healthcare system, in this case trans healthcare.
A lot of people have horrible, sometimes traumatic experiences with more mainstream healthcare and then turn to alternatives looking for better treatment. Problem is a lot of those alternatives are grifts or culty as all hell or don't have good research to back them up.
A lot of detrans people have had traumatic experiences with transition or the psychiatric system or other forms of healthcare and are looking for something more helpful. Unfortunately, the ideological detrans scene is full of transphobic theories and conversion practices.
I fell into ideological detransition largely because I had trouble finding resources for trans trauma survivors. I wasn't interested in going to a therapist because I hadn't found therapy useful in the past. I'd found peer support groups more helpful.
The problem with the detrans women's community was that it mixed peer support with transphobic ideology and conversion practices. It felt good to connect with others but I didn't get enough space to make sense of my experiences or change my mind or figure out what I needed.
At the time, having clear answers, structure, and methods to follow felt good. I was very distressed and confused, so having an ideology to make sense of everything offered some relief. And I had a community of people I could talk to so I didn't feel as alone with my pain.
Talking about my trauma and getting support was helpful but framing it as "recovering from "female disidentification" wasn't. Treating being trans and transitioning as a product of trauma and something to heal from really, really hurt me. It caused even more trauma.
Some detrans women got mad at me when I started figuring out that my detransition wasn't working. These tended to be folks who were deeply invested in the scene and held a degree of status and influence. I was threatening their source of social capital by saying it didn't work.
There are detrans women who care way more about validating their pet theories and "alternative treatments" than they are with actually helping people. They don't want to hear that their methods don't work and they'll push people to keep going with them even if they don't help.
I sure as hell didn't feel like I was free to change mind. The message I got was that my feelings and well-being didn't matter. Some detrans women just want to prove that "alternative treatments" are superior to transitioning and living as a trans person.
If the detrans community was actually focused on supporting people instead of pushing an ideology, I would've figured out what worked for me and come out as trans again much sooner. Instead I lost years of my life using "treatments" that didn't work and traumatized me further.
Coming out of that really makes me appreciate why peer support groups have worked to develop guidelines to prevent abuse and harm. Most peer support groups I've gone to have been really helpful because people respect each other's autonomy and self-knowledge.
Sketchy healthcare providers are a problem but so are alternative health cults and scams. We need to work for better healthcare for trans, detrans and questioning people and we need peer-developed resources that are truly focused on helping people get what they need to live well.
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