The Detransition Diaries
Jennifer Lahl and Kallie Fell (Ignatius Press, $24.95, 246 pages)
Documentarian Jennifer Lahl (Trans Mission) and perinatal nurse Kallie Fell have written a short, powerful, timely argument against transgender ideology. There are several short chapters on issues surrounding gender dysphoria such as “The rise of the gender-affirmation movement,” “Lessons not learned from medical abuses,” “Why is the trend higher among adolescent girls,” and “Lasting and Irreversible Damage,” but it is the seven chapters giving voice to seven individuals who regret their transition that are most persuasive. Those case studies show that social media is a driving force behind the transgender social contagion, that many individuals who are confused about their gender also suffer mental illness or are neurologically divergent, that they are rushed to transition by a medical establishment enthralled by the transgender ideology, often suffer tragic physical and mental anguish after transitioning from male to female or female to male, and are harassed by trans ideologues when they change their mind and seek to detransition.
To take just one of the seven cases, Lahl and Fell say of Helena – who was prescribed testosterone to begin transitioning after a mere one-hour consultation with her local Planned Parenthood — “transitioning was not turning out to be what she had expected. She had thought she was going to blossom and finally become her authentic self. But instead, she had become profoundly dysfunctional.” The hormones caused serious emotional side effects and she began self-harming. The authors state, “the entire time she was on testosterone, none of the professionals caring for her connected any of her symptoms she was experiencing to the hormone treatment.” One gets the impression they did not want to make the connection.
Lahl and Fell note that the medical establishment, fertility industry, and pharmaceutical companies have incentivized a vast experiment on the young – especially girls – that effectively medicalizes them with a lifetime of drug regiments and medical oversight and care. They are using “gender-affirming care to make a profit from the disoriented minds of young people with gender dysphoria. The authors note that gender medicine fails all four pillars of informed consent: “decision-making capacity, proper documentation of the consent, disclosure, and competency.” Considering the lifetime consequences, should parents be allowed to consent on behalf of their children? Grace, one of the seven case studies, says teenagers are told that “transitioning is the answer to problems that would actually be better solved in another way.”
