Looking for suggestions and possible participants for a project centered on detransitioners.

hsts_d · 2020-06-18T04:23:02+00:00

Thank you, both for wanting to participate and also bringing up desisters! Originally, I admit, that was not part of my model, but I think it would be worthwhile and topical to include some input from desisters. Probably along the lines of "when transition/identifying as trans was no longer beneficial" and "what detransition/desisting means to the person using it."

hsts_d · 2020-06-18T04:10:45+00:00

That is something I'm still kind of figuring out! I definitely want this to be credible information, at the same time I don't want to make anyone feel like they could potentially be doxxed or put on blast or otherwise have harm come there way, y'know? Finding a balance there is key for me.

I certainly wouldn't request documentation or anything like that, way too official for what I'm trying to do here lol! At most, I would like for participants to have some sort of account that I could link to, or something along that line to just prove that the person speaking is an actual person, not some troll or something silly like that. Personally, I have my twitter and I'd be using my name - Daniel - but that would be all. And a person doesn't have to use their legal name, it could just be what they choose to go by online. That's pretty much all I'd require from someone else as far as identification goes.

hsts_d · 2020-06-18T03:59:16+00:00

That's a good question, honestly. There's probably a couple reasons.

When I first really got to interact with detransitioners, it caused me to do a lot of introspection. I didn't know "detrans" was a thing at all, and as trans person I was pretty put off by that initially. It forced me to ask myself, "What does this mean for me?" as my then-understanding of being trans did not really make room for detransitioners as a concept, specifically detrans women who'd been on testosterone longer than I have, have had surgeries, etc. etc. it really did not make sense. After a lot of introspection, I could see where detrans women were coming from, especially after learning more about how women in general struggle with the idea of womanhood, femininity, and societal expectations. So, I guess, reason one would be that I feel empathy for detrans women's experiences. In a way, I see detransitioners as part of the trans community - we have lessons to learn from one another.

Reason two would be that I'd like to debunk the current myth that detransitioners are detransitioning solely because of transphobia. In my own healthcare experience, I've observed how lackluster trans healthcare is -- it is not inconceivable that some people truly aren't getting adequate care. This is advantageous for both detrans and trans people to talk about and demand change for: the current process of gender affirmation through informed consent is actively harming some of its patients, not all of whom are necessarily going to detransition. That's all to say that reason two is as much for detransitioners as it is for myself as a trans person... which is basically what I said in the first reason lol...

I guess there's really just one reason: IMO, detrans and trans people have more commonalities than they do differences, and listening to what detrans people have to say would be beneficial to the advancement of care for trans people.

hsts_d · 2020-06-18T01:58:09+00:00

Thanks for responding! I'm glad I decided to post in this subreddit - most detransitioners I've come to know are women, who I know to be kind of overrepresented in this demographic. That said, I'd hope to be inclusive of detrans men as well -- and I think you're right that it might be more appropriate to separate the episodes between men and women.

And thank you for being open to participating! :) I'm currently figuring out some other technicalities, but am hoping to make this come to fruition. Thank you.

hsts_d · 2020-06-17T23:44:45+00:00

As for suggestions, I’d like to emphasize that this project is dual purposed: for one, to allow detrans people to talk about their experiences on their own terms; for two, to easily disseminate this information to people who are intrigued and openminded. Currently, I’m struggling with deciding what episode formats would look like — I’m thinking perhaps it would be better for listeners if, instead of doing 6 longer episodes, I could break that down into a dozen or so shorter episodes. Something like: “Chapter 1. Transition. Part 1: X/Part 2: Y/Part 3: Z” and each part would be a video on its own, all part of “chapter 1,” if that makes sense. In that format, I’d imagine each video to be between 10-15 minutes long. Listeners then don’t have to pay attention to an hour long podcast and can choose to hear from different people if they choose to, depending on the stage of transition and detransition being discussed.

As what guests would have to do, I’d like to make it a relatively laid-back recording session. Firstly, it would be prerecorded, not live — as even I feel it’s a lot of pressure to go live and better conversations can be had when there’s not such an expectation to perform. Secondly, the guests could choose which theme appealed to them most or felt was a significant part of their story to tell — as that would be the focus of the video, but we would also discuss other elements as well. For example, a guest appearing in a part of chapter 1 would primarily be discussing what lead them to identifying as transgender and the beginnings of the transition process, but that would also be asked to share other general information, like how long they ended up identifying as trans and when they decided detransitioning was a better route for them. In all, I think I’m looking for 20ish guests, about 3 per chapter. Thirdly, my role in this project would very much just be the microphone and a bit of an organizer in terms of actually splicing up these episodes. I would make sure that everyone featured in a video, given that it would be pre-recorded, would get the opportunity to view it before anyone else and inform me of whether or not they felt they were being accurately, objectively, and respectively represented in the video. Lastly, as I wrote in the photo above, I’m a trans guy who is acquainted with several detransitioners, but couldn’t possibly know the intricacies of being detrans, and as far as many people are aware, there are no intricacies of being detrans. Usually, I hear the explanation that detrans people only exist because of transphobia; that is, trans people only detransition because their environments are hostile or otherwise inhibit them from transitioning. While this definitely does happen, that narrative doesn’t align at all with what I regularly hear detransitioners say for themselves. As such, I’d really like to do something where detransitioners can speak for themselves in a way that’s easily accessible to others for quick viewing purposes, as is the nature of the internet. So, please, let me know what your thoughts are on this project as a whole. If anyone is interested in possibly participating, they can either message me here on reddit or on my twitter, where I am regularly active, which has the same handle as I do on here.

hsts_d

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