Detransition: Teenagers Regretting Gender Transition

Transitioned as Teens, Now Sharing Detransition Stories

Two girls who began their gender transition as teenagers — one at age 13 — have become the most cited cases of so-called detransition. Their testimony, spread on social media, argues that "trans surgeries on minors should be banned" and that gender ideology "destroys everything it touches." From there, personal stories turn into a debate over who is responsible when results differ from promises, and whether regret can be reversed.

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What Is Detransition and Which Changes Are Irreversible?

Detransitioning means abandoning a trans identity and returning to one's birth identity, fully or partially. The problem is that the body does not always cooperate. The argument in the thread states that testosterone causes irreversible changes in muscle composition and fat distribution, and that voice — described mockingly as a truck driver's voice — cannot be restored by any surgeon, no matter how expensive. It adds that bone structure also does not revert.

In surgical terms, the description is harsher. Those supporting this view speak of mutilation and emphasize that surgery effectively amounts to sterilization. "The first thing done to those two was sterilizing them," they claim. "If they regretted it later, having children was already off the table." The real conflict is not about clinical data, but about the age at which someone can make such a decision.

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Age 13 and a Signature: Who Is Responsible?

Consensus breaks down here into three views. One group holds that the affected person is responsible, having chosen and now facing the consequences. The most common response is that a 13-year-old girl cannot be expected to have adult maturity, and that the narrative was shaped by her environment. A third group points to parents: in the reported case, the minor shared her struggles, and the response was taking her to a psychologist who allegedly endorsed the process under threat of suicide if she did not transition. She recounts this herself later, with her body already altered.

Professionals face a different accusation: that no one signs documents, reports disappear, and those who induce treatment assume no responsibility when patients return years later. Suspicion of financial interest runs through many comments, though no specific figures are provided. Criticism also extends to political leaders accused of promoting these policies from government.

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Ban Until 18: Where Most Agree

What unites otherwise opposing views is the demand to ban these surgeries for minors. The recurring analogy is compelling: a minor cannot get an earring or tattoo without parental consent, yet genital surgery is presented as the child's own decision. If capacity to consent is the criterion, it should apply equally everywhere.

Counterarguments appear too: delaying intervention until 18 fixes nothing when hormonal damage occurred at 14. Underlying this is an unanswered question: if a minor cannot decide about their body, why are they allowed to decide about hormones?

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Schools as First Entry Point

Part of the issue shifts outside the home. There are accounts of talks in schools aimed at 10-year-olds, without prior notice or family consent, discussing identity, sens change, and sensual content students had not received elsewhere. In one case, a father describes his son leaving class shocked, while the mother demands explanations from the school for lack of notification.

The takeaway is that a minor claiming to be trans often repeats what they heard in their immediate environment. That is the crux: it is impossible to distinguish how much the child is echoing others, and asking questions is precisely what both sides want to control.

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Who Pays and What Public Care Covers

Money appears on several fronts. That treatment is funded by public money is rejected by many in the thread. "Not with my money," summarizes one message. Meanwhile, suspicion arises that the pharmaceutical industry has more profitable markets than curing diseases, and that surgeons profit well from operating.

Parallel debates concern what deserves political attention. The thread cites 2,982 male suicides in Spain in 2021 versus 49 deaths from gender-based violence, asking why suicide prevention is invoked only in specific contexts. These figures are thrown out to gauge media focus, not to compare tragedies.

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Missing Data

With these elements, the discussion ends where it began. No one denies cases exist; no one knows how many. Without reliable counts of detransitions, the issue remains decided by testimonies, each new story reopening the same dispute: a teenager who sought help, a system that treated her as an adult, and a body that cannot go back.