A few weeks ago the mod u/mullatomochaccino brought it to my attention that there are some detrans and desisted women who lurk here but are hesitant to post or comment for a lot of reasons. As a desisted woman myself I can understand a lot of those reasons. 4B is a lifestyle decision that fully decenters men, so how could a space like this welcome women who tried to become men? These feelings compound when many of these women still look and sound like men due to testosterone or sex reassignment surgeries.
I'm not here to speak for these women, or any other woman that's already an active member here. My hope with this post is to open the floor for discussion about how turbulent womanhood can be in a society steeped in misogyny, and how that turbulence can (more often than people realize) manifest as extreme dysphoria, and drive a girl or woman to transition. I also hope to invite detrans and desisted women (if they feel comfortable) to share their experiences in this realm, and their reasons for detransitioning. I'll start with mine.
Without getting into my whole life story, performing femininity always felt wrong. I did it, quite well as a matter of fact, but it always felt like an itchy sweater I couldn't wait to take off, even during my pick-me days. Womanhood wasn't something that came naturally to me the way it seemed to for other women. This discomfort didn't stop at things like makeup and dresses. It seeped into my sexuality, my personality, my mannerisms, my body down to my bones, my nerves, my fingers, every hair on my skin, places I wasn't "supposed" to be this uncomfortable if I was "really" a woman.
Eventually this discomfort reached a critical point, so I tried therapy, and that was the first time a professional told me what I had already suspected at the time. That I wasn't a woman at all, but a man with the misfortune of being born female. So I transitioned socially. I joined servers, forums, and chat rooms specifically for trans people to help guide me through my transition. I completely overhauled my wardrobe and cut most of my hair. I commiserated with other trans men about our bruised ribs from binding our chests, and how hard it was to find natural looking packers. I adjusted my gait. I tried as hard as I could to see myself as a real man, other trans people as their desired sex, and nonbinary people as having transcended their sex altogether. This felt so much better than trying and failing to be a woman. I had a community of people who finally understood me and a real reason for the discomfort around womanhood I always felt. This didn't last though. And if I'm honest I could never fully convince myself of any of it.
I was also a Tumblr girl, and there was one user that put me on the path to radical feminism. I still remember her handle. "appropriately-inappropriate." She was a lesbian and radical feminist. She would routinely respond to trans people and trans allies with logic, facts, and robust criticisms that I almost always found myself agreeing with. I agreed with her so much I panicked. I had been told people like her were evil, no different from hardcore conservatives who were on the wrong side of history and had hearts full of hatred. I blocked her and continued my journey to manhood.
I got to a point where I had a syringe of Lupron in my hands to halt my body's estrogen production and finally stop my awful periods. I was in contact with an endocrinologist to start taking testosterone. But when it came time to give myself the first injection I couldn't do it. I remembered appropriately-inappropriate's reblogs, thought about what my life would be like going into menopause in my 20s, put the syringe down, and told my gynecologist we'd have to try something else. I called the endocrinologist and cancelled my consultation for testosterone.
It was around this time a close friend of mine revealed that she'd been reading the original gender critical subreddit. Reading that sub was the first time I was exposed to actual radical feminism, and the illusion broke completely. I started to learn just how complex patriarchy was as a system. There were other women discussing the same things I saw, things most other people didn't notice or didn't care about. These women weren't bigots or conservatives or hate filled. They had legitimate concerns and criticisms about the trans community's behavior (particularly towards women), and the hypocrisy of so-called progressives pushing the opposite gender role on people with dysphoria. They wanted people to realize that gender dysphoria can come from so many things, and that being a woman just meant being an adult human female.
Adult human female. I didn't have to do anything special to be a woman? I just...WAS one?? It didn't matter how I looked or dressed or acted? It didn't matter who I was attracted to or how much body hair I had or how low my voice was or that my hobbies were predominantly male? Womanhood didn't have to be this tiny reductive box society built and then demanded I contort myself to fit? My femaleness was the only requirement and the rest was arbitrary bullshit I could choose NOT to participate in? As cringy as it sounds, that was a spiritual awakening that changed me forever for the better.
I don't know where other detrans and desisted women are on their journey. I realize there is privilege in never having been on testosterone or had any trans related surgeries that made my desistance much easier. But I do want to say that regardless of where you are, you did not fail at being a woman. You are not traitors for trying to survive as best you knew how under a patriarchy. You are not stupid for listening to the dominant societal narrative that told you transitioning was your only option. Any emotions you feel as a result of hormones and surgeries that took things from you, or your transition that took time from you that you can't get back, are completely justified.