One of my key frustrations with the way the Left talks about detransition & transition regret, as a detrans woman, is this 'statistical error' argument. It is, put simply, weak, ineffective, and politely cruel - ThreadSky

dolphindiaries.bsky.social • 68 days ago

One of my key frustrations with the way the Left talks about detransition & transition regret, as a detrans woman, is this 'statistical error' argument.

It is, put simply, weak, ineffective, and politely cruel

Reposted from Talia "Neobasilisk" Bhatt ('Trans/Rad/Fem' is OUT NOW!) ♀︎♀︎

People should be allowed easy access to transition even if they regret it, and if they regret it, it should be just as easy to transition back, legally, socially, physiologically.

Our issue is not "regret", it's social coercion and regulation of sex.

@dolphindiaries.bsky.social plug.

Comments

erikasgarden.bsky.social•68 days ago

As a trans woman on the left, I agree. De-transitioners are completely valid. Its like, I was asked when I started transitioning "what if you regret it?" I just said "then I'll de-transition."

I think political de-transitioners have poisoned the well, and made people sceptical of their intentions

erikasgarden.bsky.social•68 days ago

Not that that makes it right. No one should be treated as malicious until they prove it

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

1. It is weak because people only care about statistics so long as statistics don't have a face. That's how trans ppl themselves fight being seen as 'statistically insignificant'--they put a face to the low number and say 'I matter'

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

Detransitioners, especially right-wing ones, can do the same thing much more successfully because their narratives *affirm* existing biases, whereas trans people must fight against them even if they choose the path of least resistance, like self-pathologisation

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

2. It is ineffective because it contests the wrong point. The Right doesn't care about numbers, and there's little statistical research into how many choose or want to detransition

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

The Right's core argument is that the existence of willing detransitions proves transition is a dangerous act of mutilation.

If you say "well actually there's only like 10 of them"? You still conceded the core point. Your argument is not the Right is wrong, but that we don't matter

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

Which brings me to 3--it is cruel, and lazy. You discard a population category without even an attempt to consider their existence on its own terms. You *agree* with the Right, thus reinforcing the idea that detransition cannot exist as part of sex/gender freedom

m00psy.bsky.social•68 days ago

exactly!!

cazinquiry.bsky.social•68 days ago

I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't see this clearly before. It doesn't help that most reporting pounces on detrans stories as you describe. But it makes sense that total sex/gender freedom would mean acceptance of and material support for people to experience and express themselves fluidly over time

shardsofblue.com•68 days ago

This is so well-said. Relatedly, what let me feel comfortable to try HRT despite the possibility of regret wasn’t that regret rates are low, but that it’s possible to detransition. More supports for changing gender expression in every direction should be the goal.

dolphindiaries.bsky.social•68 days ago

💙

dragonquill.bsky.social•68 days ago

You're so right! The key point is bodily autonomy. It's way harder to bring this is in than statistics, but we should not forget this. Thanks for the reminder!

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