Hundreds of Young Trans People Seeking Help to Reverse Transition, Says Detransitioned Woman

Samuel Allegri
By Samuel Allegri
October 5, 2019US News
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Hundreds of Young Trans People Seeking Help to Reverse Transition, Says Detransitioned Woman
Trans pride flags flutter in the wind at a gathering to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on March 31, 2017. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman who formerly identified as a man says that after she openly detransitioned last year, she was surprised by the messages she received from others in a similar situation, and now is opening a charity to help those who seek to detransition back to their original sex.

Detransitioning is a process in which a transgender person seeks to revert a gender transition, either socially, legally, or physically.

“I’m in communication with 19 and 20-year-olds who have had full gender reassignment surgery who wish they hadn’t, and their dysphoria hasn’t been relieved, they don’t feel better for it,” Charlie Evans, 28, told Sky News.

“They don’t know what their options are now.”

Evans, who identified as a man for a decade before detransitioning, is launching a charity called “The Detransition Advocacy Network” to help the hundreds of young transgender people she said have come to her for help.

The U.K. woman said that hundreds of young transgender people have contacted her, and in Newcastle alone, 30 people have reached out to her for help.

“I think some of the common characteristics are that they tend to be around their mid-20s, they’re mostly female and mostly same-sex attracted, and often autistic as well.”

She told Sky News how one young person who is detransitioning told her she felt “shunned by the LGBT community for being a traitor.” The charity’s first meeting will take place at the end of October in Manchester.

A 21-year-old woman who identified as a male at 13 years old told Sky News she began the detransition process earlier this year, saying, “I didn’t think any change was going to be enough in the end and I thought it was better to work on changing how I felt about myself, than changing my body.”

The woman, who did not want to be identified, contacted Evans’s charity for help.

“For everyone who has gender dysphoria, whether they are trans or not, I want there to be more options for us because I think there is a system of saying, ‘okay here’s your hormones, here’s your surgery, off you go’. I don’t think that’s helpful for anyone,” she added.

Studies cited by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that 25 to 30 percent of transgender adolescents have previously attempted suicide, while 45 percent of young transgender adults (18 to 24) have attempted suicide. Meanwhile other studies show that 28 to 52 percent of transgender people overall have attempted suicide.

The study noted that female to male transgender adolescents had the highest attempted suicide rate at 50.8 percent.

If you or someone you know needs support, you can find your local hotline through International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide.

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