Zack FordVerified account

A quick thread: One of the least helpful forms of argument can be highlighting exceptions to the norm and elevating those people's experiences beyond what everyone else experiences. This has been particularly true of conversations around transgender health. 1/

Just like they have with the exceptional trans athlete who actually wins their competitions, opponents of trans equality have placed undo emphasis on "detransitioners," people who regret attempts to transition their gender. The media has sadly followed suit on occasion. 2/

To be clear, decades of research inform the standards of care for transgender people and regret for transitioning is exceptionally low, and even among them, some detransition for external reasons like parental rejection — not because they think transitioning was a mistake. 3/

But detransitioners are often the focus of anti-trans narratives because they serve as a toll for concern trolling to the tune of: "Even if transitioning is beneficial for 99% of people, do we still want to risk what's happened to this tiny group??" 4/

Evan's piece also mentions another detransitioner (pseudonym "Max") similarly disenchanted with how their narratives are used to reject affirmation for all other trans people. An important takeaway is that detransitioners' stories aren't over. 6/

Anti-trans activists are keen to take advantage of what detransitioners are *currently* saying, but do they listen when they take future steps in their identity? If they come back to identifying as trans or otherwise gender non-conforming, are they listened to then? 7/

The obvious answer is no. In @RyanTAnd's anti-trans book, which he's taking on a fresh press tour after Amazon stopped selling it, he dedicated a whole chapter to six detransitioners, indicating their stories were a primary motivation for writing the whole book. 8/