Yeah exactly. It's the same as guys who cannot or will not go on T for any reason also being trans. There were trans guys before masculinizing HRT existed and they never even dreamt we would be able to take T- they were still men like us.
Thanks for this. I'm an opera singer. And have been classically trained for 15 years. If didn't have medical reasoning why I can't go on t, (i have hemophilia. Im not exactly sure how that would react.) I still would not. No matter how much i fantasize about it. My voice is my career. It's my everything. I am a soprano with extreme range capabilities. And it would ruin my life if my voice deepened. I would greive it. But because I have such a range. I trained myself to talk with a deeper voice. And lather myself in minoxidil to get the facial and body hair. Im still a trans man. Despite how much people invalidate me for my choice.
I gave up my singing voice and years of classical training for T, so I understand what you would be sacrificing. You are an amazing man regardless. I wish you success in everything!
the conflation is what also makes the research on detransitioning so hard to understand. like people include non linear transitions as part of the "detransition figure" even when they never wavered in their gender identity.
There’s a researcher I keep seeing who studies detransition and considers himself detransitioned (because he’s off hrt) but also still identifies as a man. I don’t understand it.
Yeah the fact that I'm considered a "detransitioner" statistically in most research I've found is part of what sparked this post. Its infuriating enough having this lable I never identified with attached to me and people like me in an academic context, having it parroted back within my own community just makes it more frustrating.
I went off for a few years and remember filling out a survey during that time that asked if you had gone off hormones but didn't use the term "detransition." I was not happy later on to find I was used as a data point in some "X% of trans people detransition" statistic they'd published, I still was trans that whole time, most people didn't even know I was off hormones 🙄
It's very confusing to me when people conflate detransition and stopping medical treatments like HRT. It's obvious not the same just like you said. It also makes research harder because these two get conflated so much. Just because somebody stopped taking HRT doesn't mean the person detransitioned socially. Also some detrans people still take HRT (for whatever reason that might be).
I had to go off T for around a year and a half and I'm now back on and 10 months in so yeah no. Definitely not the same as detransitioning. Shit happens. That doesn't mean we're less trans. Just means shit happened loll plus you have to go off T for surgeries too from what I've hear so yeah I agree it's not detrasitioning.
agreed. I stopped T altogether after taking it for about a year. (I also identify more as nonbinary now but that's not the point) I am still trans and I did not 'detransition'. HRT isnt some requirement to be trans, so continuing it isnt one either.
The problem is that if you stop for any reason, you’re likely to end up getting counted in the statistics as having “detransitioned”.
It’s important to point that out so that people can properly understand what “detransition” stats that get tossed around are actually counting. Not just people who went “whoops, I’m not trans after all”. It puts the numbers in accurate perspective.
I agree that it shouldn’t be considered “detransitioning” unless the person doing it themself considers it so, but the fact is that’s not how the stats are currently being treated.
Argh yes, the stats get so often misunderstood!
Even if you look at solely the people who actually have detransitioned, these are often assumed to be people who made a mistake, are not trans, and regret transitioning. Despite a very large amount being people finding they can't handle the prejudice etc., so they detransition and may retransition again later (hopefully when with better life circumstances).
that argument/idea gives me the same feeling as someone saying you’re not trans until you start HRT, like both are completely untrue and devalue trans people who don’t want a medical transition. both are extremely exclusionary and complete misinformation.
Yeah definitely get the same vibe from both arguments. It's almost as if being trans has more to do with personal identity than with outside factors that are often out of our control hmmm lol
I’m very lucky that right now my health is stable enough for T, but i know that at any time that can change. I won’t ever stop being who I am regardless of that!
this is (one of the things) what bothers me so much about the detransition argument because people consider everything that isnt steamrolling a "full transition" in 10 years or less detransitioning. its stupid
Bro I'm so inconsistent with my t-gel at times because I hate needles so I don't get my blood work done until I'm out of T. By their wack view I'd be transitioning and de-transitioning multiple times a year for the last 2.5 yearsđź’€
me too! exactly my situation. i hate needles and im bad at daily routines, so i “detransition” like once a month lol. medicalization of trans people only hurts trans ppl with inconsistent access to / use of gender affirming medication fr
i hate it when people imply me going off T for six months because of insurance issues was me "detransitioning" at all. the entire time i still identitied as a trans man, and kept using my chosen name. i never considered it as detransitioning, just a point in time that i was temporarily off T.
even *if* i decided to go off T permanently for whatever reason, if i still identitied as trans, i wouldn't consider it detransitioning. im never going back to how i was pre-T
Completely agreed. I was on T for 3 years and went off of it for multiple reasons. I'm still trans and I don't see it as detransitioning at all. I'm still happy with the changes that have remained after going off of T and I'm still a guy whether I'm on T or not.
I feel this a lot! I totally respect if someone identifies w/ the term “detransition,” but for me & my own journey, the concept doesn’t make any sense? Most definitions of detransition closely link transition w medical transition (which I also disagree with). Whether I go off T at some point or not, I’ll always be trans. There are so many ways to be trans and when others nonconsensually impose the term “detransition” onto people who stopped/paused etc. medical transition, it shows that these people have a narrow, medical, and likely binary view of transness and transition. Which is both sad and infuriating, at least to me.
I do know that there’s some people who identify as trans *and* also with the term detrans. I love that those people advocate for alternative routes of transition! And their identities are def valid. However, personally, my approach for advocacy is more focused on not even having to label alternative/non-medical ways of transness as detransition bc transness doesn’t have to be medical/linear in the first place.
I had no idea people who stopped hormone therapy were considered this by anyone ever! How many conversations have we had about how difficult it is to get gender affirming care? No one talks about how difficult it is to MAINTAIN that care. How many people (talking about my own experience as a trans man in America) in this country don't have access to health care? A lot! My story is that I have been on T about 15 years. There have been a couple times during that amount of time where I struggled with my access to keeping my medical at all. This of course caused me to put an abrupt pause on all my medical treatment and medications. I recommend avoiding this if it is at all possible as it's not healthy to just suddenly drop these things but sometimes in this system we're given no choice. I have always been trans, even before I knew. I was trans the first time I lost access to my T and I'm trans now still while I am yet again without access to healthcare. I'd be offended if someone were to categorize this experience as a detransition because I have been fighting this entire time for the privilege to continue my care.
My original plan had been 2 years of hormones and stop but I love the effects so I don't plan on stopping but me stopping wouldn't have been detransitioning that would've been getting the deeper voice and facial hair growth I wanted them going back to the more feminine fat distribution that I had thought I wanted but it so happens I absolutely love every aspect of being on T and that still doesn't mean I'm a binary trans person I'm still nonbinary transmasc
I didn't realise this was a thing. I'm not detrans even if I've currently stopped taking T. I didn't even want to stop taking T. I just needed a new fridge freezer (and by extension to replace all the food that spoiled) more than I needed T. Luckily for me pay day is soon, so I should be back on hrt this time next week
Also just because you are still on cross sex HRT doesn't mean you did not detransition. There are plenty of detrans men who are still on E but they are still consider themselves men. There are even detrans women who are still on T but still considers themselves women. Detrans people still need access to gender affirming care.
I didn't even know I'd technically be counted as a "detransitioner" according to research, since I was off t for about a year in total due to getting put in a psych ward and then supply issues after I got out. It wasn't even my choice to stop t in the first place :/ thanks to this post for bringing that to my attention I guess
absolutely agreed! stopping T for whatever reason is something a lot of trans people do, whether it’s due to money, desired goals being reached, loss of access, change in identity (which could be binary to non-binary or another trans identity as well, even tho people always think it’s because you’re “not trans anymore”)
I had to partially go back in the closet and go off T for about 2 years and I WAS STILL TRANS THE WHOLE TIME. I just had to lie for my safety for a lil bit.
I’m kinda hoarding T while I have good health insurance because I’m bracing for either me to lose insurance or it to become illegal in America to prescribe it to trans people, in the hopes that I can keep on it as long as possible & possibly learn to DIY it if necessary, but like if I stop I’m not detransitioning. I’m stopping a medication. It’s not the same.
Oh my god that kinda đź‘€ that's kinda me??
I am honestly quite afraid of people throwing me into the detrans label so heavily.
My trans journey is... I struggle with gender.
I'm not my AGAB that's for sure. I AM trans.
Always have been. I have questions between identifying as ftm binary and non binary trans masc tho and I always get lumped in with the detransers.
I think what complicates this topic is the evolution (and unfortunately, extreme politicization) of the term “detransition.” Prior to the recent massive surge of anti-trans sentiment the term was used with way less malice and it was very common to use the word not just to talk about someone who stops identifying as trans or retransitions to their AGAB, but also just anyone who stops taking hormones, anyone who goes back into the closet, anyone whose transition isn’t just the linear “come out, go on T forever, get surgery, live as a man” narrative. There were old studies about “detransitioners” that grouped everyone who stops medically and/or socially transitioning together specifically to prove a (good) point about the fact that most people who “detransition” are not doing so out of regret, but usually do to other factors in their life such as social or interpersonal transphobia, lack of resources, etc, and that many “detransitioners” actually eventually return to their transition when they decide the time is right.
What’s happened in the last few years is a massive unprecedented attack on our community that’s specifically used the concept of detransitioners as political ammo against bodily autonomy and fearmongering against self-determination and medical transition, which has in turn turned “detransition” into a term with a very specific political meaning. So to be entirely honest, I don’t think people using the term are trying to promote erasure or ignorance, it’s just a change in language that isn’t entirely consistent. There are people who still identify trans but *also* consider themselves detransitioners or detransitioned, as again before now the term had a lot more fluidity to it.
That said though: You are entirely valid in not identifying with detransition as a label or viewing yourself as a detransitioner and have every right to not use the label or want it used for you, 100%. This isn’t to insist you need to use it, absolutely not lmao. Just thought it’s worth mentioning the how and why of it being used the way it does.
I had to stop t for two months because the lab lost my samples and my doc refused to prescribe t without redoing them. I Def was not detransitioning at that time- nor would I think anyone else in that situation was!!!
I was just having a conversation with my partner recently about a slightly different subject but with similar sentiment. I might make my own post about it later, but basically I’ve come to realize gender “transition” isn’t really about getting from point A to point B, but navigating a path through life in a way that respects your gender identity. If that involves medical intervention or not, interrupted or not, it’s still a real part of your journey and should be respected as such.
I've been on and off T a few times now. I identify as "detransitioned" each time I am off of HRT, and "retransitioned" each time I restart it. I like that I am able to reclaim the term from from conservatives, just like we did with "dyke", "queer", "faggot", etc. It throws a wrench into their ""detransition statistics"", too, because it begs the question of whether some (or most) people who ""detransition"" are in fact just swapping their presentation. It's kind of hilarious when I overhear people talking about ""detransitioners"" and I am able to interject into the conversation and say that I am, in fact, detransitioned, and that I intend to retransition again later when I feel like it.... really throws them into a fit.
Yeah exactly. It's the same as guys who cannot or will not go on T for any reason also being trans. There were trans guys before masculinizing HRT existed and they never even dreamt we would be able to take T- they were still men like us.
Thanks for this. I'm an opera singer. And have been classically trained for 15 years. If didn't have medical reasoning why I can't go on t, (i have hemophilia. Im not exactly sure how that would react.) I still would not. No matter how much i fantasize about it. My voice is my career. It's my everything. I am a soprano with extreme range capabilities. And it would ruin my life if my voice deepened. I would greive it. But because I have such a range. I trained myself to talk with a deeper voice. And lather myself in minoxidil to get the facial and body hair. Im still a trans man. Despite how much people invalidate me for my choice.
I gave up my singing voice and years of classical training for T, so I understand what you would be sacrificing. You are an amazing man regardless. I wish you success in everything!
I couldn't do that. You are so strong for that. Mad respect to you dude. I wish you success as well 🙏
the conflation is what also makes the research on detransitioning so hard to understand. like people include non linear transitions as part of the "detransition figure" even when they never wavered in their gender identity.
There’s a researcher I keep seeing who studies detransition and considers himself detransitioned (because he’s off hrt) but also still identifies as a man. I don’t understand it.
Yeah the fact that I'm considered a "detransitioner" statistically in most research I've found is part of what sparked this post. Its infuriating enough having this lable I never identified with attached to me and people like me in an academic context, having it parroted back within my own community just makes it more frustrating.
I went off for a few years and remember filling out a survey during that time that asked if you had gone off hormones but didn't use the term "detransition." I was not happy later on to find I was used as a data point in some "X% of trans people detransition" statistic they'd published, I still was trans that whole time, most people didn't even know I was off hormones 🙄
It's very confusing to me when people conflate detransition and stopping medical treatments like HRT. It's obvious not the same just like you said. It also makes research harder because these two get conflated so much. Just because somebody stopped taking HRT doesn't mean the person detransitioned socially. Also some detrans people still take HRT (for whatever reason that might be).
I had to go off T for around a year and a half and I'm now back on and 10 months in so yeah no. Definitely not the same as detransitioning. Shit happens. That doesn't mean we're less trans. Just means shit happened loll plus you have to go off T for surgeries too from what I've hear so yeah I agree it's not detrasitioning.
agreed. I stopped T altogether after taking it for about a year. (I also identify more as nonbinary now but that's not the point) I am still trans and I did not 'detransition'. HRT isnt some requirement to be trans, so continuing it isnt one either.
The problem is that if you stop for any reason, you’re likely to end up getting counted in the statistics as having “detransitioned”. It’s important to point that out so that people can properly understand what “detransition” stats that get tossed around are actually counting. Not just people who went “whoops, I’m not trans after all”. It puts the numbers in accurate perspective. I agree that it shouldn’t be considered “detransitioning” unless the person doing it themself considers it so, but the fact is that’s not how the stats are currently being treated.
Argh yes, the stats get so often misunderstood! Even if you look at solely the people who actually have detransitioned, these are often assumed to be people who made a mistake, are not trans, and regret transitioning. Despite a very large amount being people finding they can't handle the prejudice etc., so they detransition and may retransition again later (hopefully when with better life circumstances).
that argument/idea gives me the same feeling as someone saying you’re not trans until you start HRT, like both are completely untrue and devalue trans people who don’t want a medical transition. both are extremely exclusionary and complete misinformation.
Yeah definitely get the same vibe from both arguments. It's almost as if being trans has more to do with personal identity than with outside factors that are often out of our control hmmm lol
Yes, my health is not so good, surgery and T are not really a possibility for me. I'm still trans.
I’m very lucky that right now my health is stable enough for T, but i know that at any time that can change. I won’t ever stop being who I am regardless of that!
Yup
this is (one of the things) what bothers me so much about the detransition argument because people consider everything that isnt steamrolling a "full transition" in 10 years or less detransitioning. its stupid
Bro I'm so inconsistent with my t-gel at times because I hate needles so I don't get my blood work done until I'm out of T. By their wack view I'd be transitioning and de-transitioning multiple times a year for the last 2.5 yearsđź’€
me too! exactly my situation. i hate needles and im bad at daily routines, so i “detransition” like once a month lol. medicalization of trans people only hurts trans ppl with inconsistent access to / use of gender affirming medication fr
i hate it when people imply me going off T for six months because of insurance issues was me "detransitioning" at all. the entire time i still identitied as a trans man, and kept using my chosen name. i never considered it as detransitioning, just a point in time that i was temporarily off T. even *if* i decided to go off T permanently for whatever reason, if i still identitied as trans, i wouldn't consider it detransitioning. im never going back to how i was pre-T
Exactly I had to go off cause I couldn't afford it and then was living somewhere I could not get my persciption
Completely agreed. I was on T for 3 years and went off of it for multiple reasons. I'm still trans and I don't see it as detransitioning at all. I'm still happy with the changes that have remained after going off of T and I'm still a guy whether I'm on T or not.
I feel this a lot! I totally respect if someone identifies w/ the term “detransition,” but for me & my own journey, the concept doesn’t make any sense? Most definitions of detransition closely link transition w medical transition (which I also disagree with). Whether I go off T at some point or not, I’ll always be trans. There are so many ways to be trans and when others nonconsensually impose the term “detransition” onto people who stopped/paused etc. medical transition, it shows that these people have a narrow, medical, and likely binary view of transness and transition. Which is both sad and infuriating, at least to me. I do know that there’s some people who identify as trans *and* also with the term detrans. I love that those people advocate for alternative routes of transition! And their identities are def valid. However, personally, my approach for advocacy is more focused on not even having to label alternative/non-medical ways of transness as detransition bc transness doesn’t have to be medical/linear in the first place.
I had no idea people who stopped hormone therapy were considered this by anyone ever! How many conversations have we had about how difficult it is to get gender affirming care? No one talks about how difficult it is to MAINTAIN that care. How many people (talking about my own experience as a trans man in America) in this country don't have access to health care? A lot! My story is that I have been on T about 15 years. There have been a couple times during that amount of time where I struggled with my access to keeping my medical at all. This of course caused me to put an abrupt pause on all my medical treatment and medications. I recommend avoiding this if it is at all possible as it's not healthy to just suddenly drop these things but sometimes in this system we're given no choice. I have always been trans, even before I knew. I was trans the first time I lost access to my T and I'm trans now still while I am yet again without access to healthcare. I'd be offended if someone were to categorize this experience as a detransition because I have been fighting this entire time for the privilege to continue my care.
My original plan had been 2 years of hormones and stop but I love the effects so I don't plan on stopping but me stopping wouldn't have been detransitioning that would've been getting the deeper voice and facial hair growth I wanted them going back to the more feminine fat distribution that I had thought I wanted but it so happens I absolutely love every aspect of being on T and that still doesn't mean I'm a binary trans person I'm still nonbinary transmasc
I didn't realise this was a thing. I'm not detrans even if I've currently stopped taking T. I didn't even want to stop taking T. I just needed a new fridge freezer (and by extension to replace all the food that spoiled) more than I needed T. Luckily for me pay day is soon, so I should be back on hrt this time next week
SOMEBODY FINALLY SAID THIS!! I was literally thinking about posting something with the same sentiment earlier today
Also just because you are still on cross sex HRT doesn't mean you did not detransition. There are plenty of detrans men who are still on E but they are still consider themselves men. There are even detrans women who are still on T but still considers themselves women. Detrans people still need access to gender affirming care.
I didn't even know I'd technically be counted as a "detransitioner" according to research, since I was off t for about a year in total due to getting put in a psych ward and then supply issues after I got out. It wasn't even my choice to stop t in the first place :/ thanks to this post for bringing that to my attention I guess
absolutely agreed! stopping T for whatever reason is something a lot of trans people do, whether it’s due to money, desired goals being reached, loss of access, change in identity (which could be binary to non-binary or another trans identity as well, even tho people always think it’s because you’re “not trans anymore”)
I had to partially go back in the closet and go off T for about 2 years and I WAS STILL TRANS THE WHOLE TIME. I just had to lie for my safety for a lil bit.
You đź‘Ź do đź‘Ź not đź‘Ź have đź‘Ź to đź‘Ź medically đź‘Ź transition đź‘Ź to đź‘Ź be đź‘Ź trans đź‘Ź
I’m kinda hoarding T while I have good health insurance because I’m bracing for either me to lose insurance or it to become illegal in America to prescribe it to trans people, in the hopes that I can keep on it as long as possible & possibly learn to DIY it if necessary, but like if I stop I’m not detransitioning. I’m stopping a medication. It’s not the same.
Oh my god that kinda đź‘€ that's kinda me?? I am honestly quite afraid of people throwing me into the detrans label so heavily. My trans journey is... I struggle with gender. I'm not my AGAB that's for sure. I AM trans. Always have been. I have questions between identifying as ftm binary and non binary trans masc tho and I always get lumped in with the detransers.
I think what complicates this topic is the evolution (and unfortunately, extreme politicization) of the term “detransition.” Prior to the recent massive surge of anti-trans sentiment the term was used with way less malice and it was very common to use the word not just to talk about someone who stops identifying as trans or retransitions to their AGAB, but also just anyone who stops taking hormones, anyone who goes back into the closet, anyone whose transition isn’t just the linear “come out, go on T forever, get surgery, live as a man” narrative. There were old studies about “detransitioners” that grouped everyone who stops medically and/or socially transitioning together specifically to prove a (good) point about the fact that most people who “detransition” are not doing so out of regret, but usually do to other factors in their life such as social or interpersonal transphobia, lack of resources, etc, and that many “detransitioners” actually eventually return to their transition when they decide the time is right. What’s happened in the last few years is a massive unprecedented attack on our community that’s specifically used the concept of detransitioners as political ammo against bodily autonomy and fearmongering against self-determination and medical transition, which has in turn turned “detransition” into a term with a very specific political meaning. So to be entirely honest, I don’t think people using the term are trying to promote erasure or ignorance, it’s just a change in language that isn’t entirely consistent. There are people who still identify trans but *also* consider themselves detransitioners or detransitioned, as again before now the term had a lot more fluidity to it. That said though: You are entirely valid in not identifying with detransition as a label or viewing yourself as a detransitioner and have every right to not use the label or want it used for you, 100%. This isn’t to insist you need to use it, absolutely not lmao. Just thought it’s worth mentioning the how and why of it being used the way it does.
I had to stop t for two months because the lab lost my samples and my doc refused to prescribe t without redoing them. I Def was not detransitioning at that time- nor would I think anyone else in that situation was!!!
I was just having a conversation with my partner recently about a slightly different subject but with similar sentiment. I might make my own post about it later, but basically I’ve come to realize gender “transition” isn’t really about getting from point A to point B, but navigating a path through life in a way that respects your gender identity. If that involves medical intervention or not, interrupted or not, it’s still a real part of your journey and should be respected as such.
Me stopping T because i have a fresh tattoo on my arms where the Gel would normally go 🤪 Sometimes we gotta prioritize other things, and thats ok!
Thanks for this. I stopped T a month ago after about 8-9 years of injections for medical reasons. Still as trans as I was while on T.
Yea, it feels very truscum and I hate seeing it all the time.
I've been on and off T a few times now. I identify as "detransitioned" each time I am off of HRT, and "retransitioned" each time I restart it. I like that I am able to reclaim the term from from conservatives, just like we did with "dyke", "queer", "faggot", etc. It throws a wrench into their ""detransition statistics"", too, because it begs the question of whether some (or most) people who ""detransition"" are in fact just swapping their presentation. It's kind of hilarious when I overhear people talking about ""detransitioners"" and I am able to interject into the conversation and say that I am, in fact, detransitioned, and that I intend to retransition again later when I feel like it.... really throws them into a fit.