I was introduced to a detransitioned woman calling herself Emma here (she fears losing her job if she speaks out publicly) for a project I’m calling Gender Peace Talks, in which I’m trying to get gender-affirming clinicians to listen to detransitioners and others hurt by gender medicine, in the hope that the clinicians will shift their approach. (Want to participate? Drop me a line.) I decided to interview her separately because she spoke so insightfully about her "trifecta of trauma," which was ignored; the obsession among clinicians with aesthetics over function; and what detranstioners need going forward.
This quote especially struck me: “I still have and always will have the scars and the fact that these aren't breasts, these are silicone balls that were put under my muscle to replicate the idea of a breast. And that is very distinctly different from being a breast. And I think that trans ideology tends to conflate aesthetics with reality, and we need to decouple that because it is confusing to young people who are gravitating towards the movement. That is why a young girl could think that she could become an actual man, because we codify this language. We say top surgery instead of double mastectomy. We, you know, shroud it in almost like a brand. And it needs to be demystified. There are a shocking number of girls in these detrans groups asking if their breasts will grow back after top surgery. Does that sound like they got informed consent if they think that they can grow their breasts back after top surgery? To me, it doesn't.”
At the request of some readers, I’ve provided a [loose] transcript below.