From what I seen and the research I've done, there's more evidence that a person can come to believe that they're trans/gender dysphoric because of trauma and/or social forces than there is evidence that trauma or social forces can make someone trans/gender dysphoric.
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Most of the "evidence" for gender dysphoria being caused by trauma, internalized sexism, etc comes in the form of testimonials by detrans and desisted people. In terms of research there's not much there to prove such theories. GCs and other transphobes would cite it if there was.
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Doesn't mean it's not possible but there isn't good evidence to back it up. It'd be really interesting to study ideological detrans people and ask them how they came to their current understanding of themselves because there's a good chance it involved reading blogs and...
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...participating in detrans spaces. After I and other detrans rad fems started blogging and promoting each other, more and more people adopted similar views and started identifying as detrans/desisted. We were trying to exert social influence and we succeeded to some extent.
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We said we weren't out to recruit but when I look back on our actions we absolutely were. We were smart enough to know that a more subtle touch can work better at winning converts. Just put ideas and stories out there, make them compelling and let people come to you.
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If people start hanging out in detrans spaces with a particular ideological bent they'll start picking up the ideology organically as they talk to people and learn the group norms. They'll get encouragement to view their experiences in particular ways, consume media that...
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...promotes the views of the group, get support to deal their dysphoria using "alternative treatments" rather than transition, etc. In the detrans spaces I was in, I was encouraged to examine social factors that supposedly made me trans but not social influences that could...
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...push a person to detransition. When I started wondering if my detransition and conversion to radical feminism could be related to trauma I experienced in the queer/trans scene, the detrans woman I was closest to didn't want to hear it and got upset and dismissive.
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I was encouraged to see my transition as a trauma response/reaction to social influences but wasn't supposed to critically examine my detransition in the same way. I wasn't supposed to question my detransition or evaluate whether it was really working for me.
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So you have a detrans community that encourages people to adopt certain views and stories about themselves, how they became trans, transitioned, etc but discouraged them from changing their minds or coming to other ways of seeing things. You can get a lot of emotional support...
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...and praise for telling those stories, not just from detrans and desisted women but from rad fems and others anti-trans people. It seems pretty similar to how a lot of ex-gay groups work, where you also find people adopting the stories and theories promoted by the group...
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...in exchange for emotional support and a sense of belonging. The longer I'm out, the more skeptical I become of detrans theories and methods. I've met some detrans/desisted people who aren't ideological and talk about how trauma or social factors played a role in why they...
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...thought they were trans without projecting their stories onto all trans people. I'm far more inclined to believe what they say than detrans people who are still struggling w/ dysphoria while holding anti-trans views, who seem to be talking themselves out of being trans.
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