In an interview in The Guardian titled “Transition Caused More Problems Than It Solved,” a man who is detransitioning after living 20 years as a woman explains why he regrets transitioning as a 19-year-old:
“I started to realise that I could have dealt with my own issues so much better without changing my body because that has brought so many more difficulties. Detransitioning isn’t as unusual as you might expect, but it is underground, for a number of reasons, and the trans community isn’t happy discussing this.”
He now thinks he was rushed into transitioning by well-intentioned but ultimately misguided people....
“One of my biggest struggles is that due to the medical procedures I underwent, I have difficulty with dating, am unable to have children, and still having problems finding a good hormone balance. And it is difficult being part of the psychological community that is so pro-transition right now and being one of the few critics”....
“I feel regrets about not having children and not being able to have biological children. This was something I didn’t appreciate when I was younger, but really feels like something missing now.”
In the interview, I see echoes of some of the points made by Ryan Anderson in the lecture I posted last week. The way to help those with gender dysphoria is to work to restore mental and physical health in a way that sees the body and soul as a united whole, not make radical changes to the body in an effort to change a person’s biological sex (as if that were possible).
I think the “well-intentioned but ultimately misguided” comment in the interview is key. Those who are pushing for people with gender dysphoria to transition are not doing so out of bad motives. They simply have a different understanding of who we are as human beings (evolved creatures whose bodies have no inherent purpose, who are without accountability to a Creator and His design); and, as a result, they have a different understanding of what leads to human flourishing (self-determination vs. making peace with the body you’ve been given). But good motives can’t protect people from the pain that results from misdiagnoses and harmful recommendations arising out of a faulty worldview. Fighting against the reality of biological sex has serious consequences (such as sterility) that no one can avoid forever.
The Christian worldview is the one that matches reality, and so the real solutions—physical, mental, and spiritual—that will ease the pain of those who suffer from gender dysphoria will come out of Christianity and its recognition of the value and purpose of the body. Pray for our fellow citizens who are experiencing the anguish of gender dysphoria and are deciding even now where they will seek help. We will see more of this regret as efforts to push transitioning increase (see, for example, this Australian teenager and Walt Heyer’s site, SexChangeRegret.com).