Telling the Whole Story: A Closer Look at the Detrans Women in When Children Say They’re Transgender
Many articles about detransitioning present an incomplete and misleading view of the detrans community by failing to address the beliefs and politics of its members. An example of this is Jesse Singal’s Atlantic article When Children Say They’re Transgender which features three detrans women, Max Robinson, Carey Callahan, and Cari Stella. Robinson’s and Callahan’s stories are told in much greater depth than Stella’s, who is briefly mentioned and quoted. In the article, they are presented as women who used to think they were trans, transitioned and later came to detransition and believe that they had underlining issues that they wish had been explored. They are cited as a reason for requiring more psychological assessment before allowing people to transition. While the article mentions that there is a growing community of detransitioned women, it doesn’t mention that many in this community believe and promote transphobic radical feminism. All of detrans women featured in the article were at least sympathetic to transphobic feminism if not enthusiastic proponents of it. All of them knew each other, promoted each others’ work and engaged in organizing and activism. Additionally, they all have connections to anti-trans organizations such as FourthWaveNow and some have worked with anti-trans researchers and conversion therapists.Read More »Telling the Whole Story: A Closer Look at the Detrans Women in When Children Say They’re Transgender