Sex Change Regret

The insanity of hormone blockers for kids

One controversial treatment for children with gender dysphoria is the administration of drugs called hormone blockers to delay puberty. The practice is gaining traction without any scientific proof that it is appropriate or effective, and despite the evidence that it can be harmful:

Most children with gender dysphoria will not remain gender dysphoric after puberty. [1]
The FDA has not approved hormone blockers for use in transgender children—not even for experimental use.
A search for one hormone blocker, Lupron, shows that people are reporting serious long-term, debilitating side effects from having used the drug.

Given these facts, why would anyone inject these drugs into children?

Doctors and parents want to help the child cope with the distress he or she is experiencing. Is relief of adolescent distress really worth the risk?

Most will grow out of the dysphoria. Isn't there some way to work through the distress than experimenting on our children?

[1] J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008 Dec;47(12):1413-23. doi: 10.1097/CHI.0b013e31818956b9., “Psychosexual outcome of gender-dysphoric children”, Wallien MS, Cohen-Kettenis PT., Department of Medical Psychology, Graduate School of Neurosciences, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Gender Regret News

1,500 Sex Change Regretters Request Surgical Reversals

I've been reporting about the widespread regret for years while everyone in the media says regret is rare. The Belgrade Center for Genital Reconstructive Surgery says that they have received 1,500 requests for reversal surgery.

If sex change regret is so rare, why are so many requesting reversal surgery?

If sex change regret is so rare, why are surgeons offering reversal surgery?

These surgeons are known to perform the reversal surgery:

Dr. Sava Perovic, Sava Perovic Foundation Surgery
Dr. Rados Djinovic, Sava Perovic Foundation Surgery
Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic, Belgrade Center for Genital Reconstructive Surgery
Dr. Stan Monstrey, Universitair Ziekenhuis
Dr. Sherman Leis, The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery

Of course the answer is: sex change regret is not rare at all.

Regret Is Real—and Transgenders Are Going Back...

From a physician:
"If I could only go back to the day before my surgery in March of 2005 -- I would run from that surgeon’s knife. I have lived and worked as a surgically altered man trying to play the part of a woman for six years. I spared no expense at trying to make it work." Read more

Regret Is Real—and Sometimes Quick

"Although I thought I was completely sure of what I was doing, I began to regret the decision a mere three weeks after the operation. Some might say I was experiencing post-op depression, but it was definitely more than that.Read more

Detransition because NOT "born in the wrong body"

A University of Rome study proves transsexuals have normal Y chromosomes. The SRY is the main sex-determining gene. AZF a, b and C are genes for male infertility. Transsexuals do not even have a smidgeon of abnormality there.

The DAX1 and androgen receptor genes were theorized to cause transsexualism since they can lead to intersex and can turn a person with a normal Y chromosome into a XY woman. Yet there is no alteration in these genes in any of the transsexuals.

See the article.

Britain's youngest sex swap patient to detransition (Oct. 29, 2012)

After all the favorable publicity in the US about children "needing" sex change treatment, it's refreshing to read that it is not "happily ever after."

This young person made the decision at age 16-17 to start the transition, and now regrets it only one year later. She has cancelled the operation scheduled for January and halted hormone treatments.

She (or he) confirms the point I made in my book, Paper Genders--the brain hasn't matured enough to make this decision until the person reaches their mid-20s. So why would we encourage any child to undergo "treatments" with such long-term consequences?

The following is an excerpt from the article (Oct. 29, 2012):

Although Ms Cooper underwent a thorough psychological assessment and counseling at Hull Royal Infirmary prior to starting her sex change therapy she has suffered such torment living as a women that she has tried to commit suicide twice.

She told told the Sunday Mirror: ‘The hormones have made me feel up and down. One minute I feel moody and the next minute I feel really happy.’

‘The night I tried to slash my wrists I’d downed a bottle of Jack Daniel’s and just thought about how alone I am, and how my decision has alienated my family and how I will have to become a boy again to resolve it.’

You can read the entire article here: Daily Mail

Some Research Findings

2003 Swedish Study Findings
"...suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism."
► Read more
Suicide Studies
"A staggering 41 percent of transgender people in the United States have attempted to commit suicide, according to a new survey."
► Read more...
Much more research is in Walt Heyer's book, Paper Genders.