The Patriot Post® · Sex-Reassignment Regret

Transgenderism is a word that refers to gender dysphoria. This mental illness is incredibly rare. According to Dr. Mariam Grossman in an interview in the documentary “What is a Woman?” the actual number of gender dysphoric individuals is between 1 in 30,000 and 1 in 110,000. And yet, the amount of people identifying as “transgender” has increased exponentially. According to a 2017 study by UCLA School of Law, the number has doubled in teenagers aged 13-17.

According to Mairead Elordi: “Teens and young adults make up a much larger portion of the transgender population compared to adults. About 43% of the 1.6 million transgender people in the U.S. are young adults or teenagers, and nearly one in five are minors ages 13 to 17. This is despite the younger teen demographic being less than 8% of the total U.S. population. In the same vein, young adults 18 to 24 make up just under a quarter of the transgender population, but they are only 11% of the total U.S. population.”

It prompts the question: Why such a dramatic increase? Why in such a specific subsection of the population? The answer is social contagion.

Transgenderism as a Social Contagion

The Rainbow Mafia has been very successful at branding “transgenderism” — or really identifying as any gender — as trendy. Teens, especially teen girls, are particularly susceptible to this sort of social manipulation. All teens going through puberty struggle with the development of their bodies. In young girls, this has manifested in some extremes over the centuries such as hysteria, eating disorders, and self-harm. Today’s version of this phenomenon is manifested in girls identifying as boys because the Internet or their leftist friend or society told them that being a girl was a bad thing.

Author and freelance journalist Abigail Shrier has been long documenting this rise in “transgender” identification, specifically in young women. She has even written a book, Irreversible Damage, wherein she interviews gender dysphoric people, doctors, therapists, and parents. The clear conclusion of her research and interviews is that this uptick in identifying as “transgender” is a social contagion. This book has been actively canceled by the Left and others who are highly motivated to perpetuate the lie that transgenderism will solve all social problems.

In a recent interview on Fox News, Shrier said: “If this were organic, we would expect to see it evenly distributed across the population. We would see it without respect to viewpoint or politics of the locality, and we would see women in their 60s and 70s suddenly discovering and admitting their transgender status. Right? You would see women in their 70s saying, ‘Now that the stigma is gone, I can announce I’m transgender.’ We’re not seeing that at all. We’re seeing that among the same population that falls for every social contagion and is subjected to the most peer influence: that’s teenage girls.”

Lies vs. the Science

These young people are being seduced by many lies to get them to join into this social experiment. Here are some examples: Transitioning will make you no longer depressed; puberty blockers are completely reversible; gender affirmation will keep you from being suicidal; and gender affirmation surgery will solve all your maladies.

The end goal of “transitioning” is to help the gender dysphoric person be “happy,” but it doesn’t actually address the underlying issues. This was infamously stated publicly by the most controversial athlete in college sports, Lia Thomas, who said: “Trans people don’t transition for athletics. We transition to be happy and authentic and our true selves. Transitioning to get an advantage is not something that ever factors into our decisions. … Trans women are not a threat to women’s sports.”

Generally when a young person is suffering from depression or harmful thoughts, the last thing they need is to be lied to. They need people to tell them the truth, people who care enough to walk with them through their struggles and get to the underlying issues, be they mental, emotional, or otherwise. “Transgenderism” is a community, and that seems to be what a lot of these teens are looking for, especially if they are white. Our current culture tells us that if you are white and straight then you are a hated privileged class and fair game for discrimination. Identifying as another gender or as a sexual identity gives them that status in society of being oppressed and therefore protected. It provides a community of peer pressure, though that ultimately leads these children down paths they did not intend to tread in their search for happiness.

Puberty blockers are emphatically not reversible. But this fact is not really able to gain much traction since no one is keeping tabs on the long-term ramifications of this drug use. It is a willful lack of research. But there is enough testimony from “detransition” survivors that indicate this was a huge mistake. There are reports of bone density damage (osteoporosis), cancer development, stunted growth, and perpetual sexual immaturity.

Gender affirmation as a treatment method is not kindness. It goes along with the first point that if a person is struggling, depressed, and searching for answers, it is malpractice to lie to them in order to “make them feel better.” And yet, it is now illegal to offer people presenting with gender dysphoria any other method of treatment. Doctors and therapists can be sued in some states if they pursue other methods. Before this ban on common sense was in place, 80% of people suffering with what they thought was gender dysphoria were able to get to the root issue they were struggling with and live a happier, well-adjusted life.

Along with gender affirmation comes the oft-used refrain by its proponents as a way of manipulating children’s parents into submission: “Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?” (Or vise versa). A recent study conducted by The Heritage Foundation found some horrific stats on the actual number of transgender youth who, in spite of all the promises of happiness and fulfillment, still committed suicide. According to the results of this study: “By 2020, there are about 1.6 more suicides per 100,000 people ages 12 to 23 in states that have a policy allowing minors to access health care without parental consent than in states without such a policy. The average state suicide rate in this age group between 1999 and 2020 was 11.1, making an additional 1.6 suicides per 100,000 an increase of 14 percent in the suicide rate.”

Finally, the most horrific lie revolves around the mutilation and destruction of these people’s healthy bodies so that they can “present” like their gender of choice. These surgeries involve mastectomies (lopping off healthy breasts), phalloplasty (constructing a false penis), or vaginoplasty (constructing a false vagina). These procedures, as infamous surgeon Dr. Marci Bowers said, are a Faustian bargain.

“Detransitioning”

For the “lucky” ones, they realize that they have been manipulated, lied to, and experimented on. These people start a process of “detransitioning” and making peace with their bodies and biological sex. They accept the truth and stop taking puberty blockers. Those who have not been on these drugs for a long time don’t experience as many side effects. As for those who have been on puberty blockers, gotten surgery, and seriously regret their decision, their paths are a lot more difficult and the consequences are more severe. Both groups are trying to tell their stories.

According to the testimony of Scott (Kellie) Newgent, who was also interviewed for the documentary “What is a Woman?” the average time for suicidality among people who fully “transitioned” is 7-10 years post-operation. Newgent also testified that she has suffered continuously as a result of her surgeries and will probably die as a result of their side effects.

A few years ago in England, brave souls such as Charlie Evans publicly “detransitioned” and talked about how hundreds of other people came to her to help them do the same. In Irreversable Damage, one of Shrier’s interviewees describes how the trans community treated her after she decided to “detransition.” She was shunned, called a traitor, and threatened.

An article in Women’s Forum Australia documents similar experiences: “Their transition stories are variations on a strikingly repetitive theme: undiagnosed mental issues, trauma, peer group ‘encouragement’ to transition, with no questions asked by the therapists who prescribed medication. Their ‘detransition’ stories are also similar: unresolved ongoing mental issues now compounded by medical and surgical damage to their bodies, feelings of bitterness towards the therapists who failed to safeguard their welfare and experiences of rejection from the ‘trans community’ they formerly called home.”

These people who are experiencing major regrets with their choices are being silenced. The more men and women share their “detransition” stories, however, the more it encourages others who have made similar mistakes to change before it’s too late; to change before they take the ultimate step and end their lives.