I responded to the article.
The science is clear, when the guidelines are properly followed there is little to no regret post Gender Reassignment Surgery.
In one study...
An inception cohort was retrospectively identified consisting of all
subjects with gender identity disorder who were approved for sex
reassignment in Sweden during the period 1972-1992. The period of time
that elapsed between the application and this evaluation ranged from
4 to 24 years. The total cohort consisted of 218 subjects. The results
showed that 3.8% of the patients who were sex reassigned during 1972-1992
regretted the measures taken. - Factors predictive of regret in sex reassignment by
Landén M1, Wålinder J, Hambert G, Lundström B.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9570489In another study...
Altogether 325 consecutive adolescent and adult applicants for sex
reassignment participated: 222 started hormone treatment, 103 did
not; 188 completed and 34 dropped out of treatment. Only data of
the 162 adults were used to evaluate treatment...After treatment
the group was no longer gender dysphoric. The vast majority
functioned quite well psychologically, socially and sexually.
Two non-homosexual male-to-female transsexuals expressed regrets. - Sex
reassignment: outcomes and predictors of treatment for adolescent and adult
transsexuals by Smith YL1, Van Goozen SH, Kuiper AJ, Cohen-Kettenis PT.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/158420328 people in the first study, and 2 in the second study. People suffering from regret are hardly a screaming throng.
I should know, as I run the website (Susan's Place Transgender Resources,
https://www.susans.org) mentioned in this article.
It is the largest transgender support resource in the world. Since 2006 7,175,530 Unique visitors made 12,936,461 visits resulting in 79,153,463 Pageviews to my web site. Over 14,000 transsexuals and their supporters have made 1,370,755 posts since I switched my forum software back in 2003.
So I guess you could call me as close to an expert on transsexualism as you will find here.
I must say it was so great to see my site referenced in the article here because it brought this caltrop to my attention.
You see I just love rebutting people who make false and misleading statements about my web site. I don't even have to rely on my memory, you see everything is documented, and archived so it's all still there.
One thing I can say outright is that we have had very few posting of regret.
Since I made the rules and set the policy on the site, I can tell you there is absolutely no policy against discussion of post-op regret on my web site.
Here are the policies
People suffering from post-op regret have every right to discuss
the topic, until they start hijacking SRS and transition threads
with the post-op regret themes...
They also cannot attempt to discourage people from
having SRS, any more than I want people
encouraging people to do so.
That being said Post-op Regret would make an acceptable
topic. Discussing the short comings of SRS would make a
excellent thread. Discussing ways to improve outcomes
from therapy. Etc.
The topic isn't banned what is banned is hijacking threads,
and using their personal regret as the basis to say other people
shouldn't consider transition or SRS as a means of dealing with
severe GID.
That is the site's entire policy on the subject.
In the 19 years I have been running the web site we have prohibited exactly one user from talking about the subject after they had around 50 posts and an entire thread to state their views and to contribute something constructive, they simply kept repeatedly blaming others for their own actions and repeating the same arguments why they were not responsible for their choices ad nauseum.
We spent hours dealing with this individual before doing so. They were finally banned, for posting that they were planning on reaching out to groups who they knew would attempt to hurt the transgender community.
There seems to be one common thread in people expressing regret for having SRS and it's a glaring one. Lying to their therapists to get what they want.
Your article references Sheila Jeffrey's book, "Gender Hurts." which includes a quote from our then forum admin Dennis.
Which for the sake of discussion, I will include in my response.
"The reaction from the transgender community was fast, furious, and abusive, particularly in the
Susans.org discussion forum as described in Sheila Jeffrey's book, 'Gender Hurts.'"
I took a look at the quote and it was so heavily edited as to be unrecognizable.
Finch first desertion of the cause on the Susan's.org discussion forum,
where 'Dennis' comments on Finch's legal case against the Monash
clinic, 'this is a joke! And calls him a 'media whore' (Susan's.org,
Dennis, 2007). Another commentor, 'Melissa', says, 'people like
this make me sick... I'm sorry people who regret transitioning should
be shot. They are a waste of oxygen', and 'Helen W' says that Finch
should be 'laughed out of the courtroom', and calls him an 'arch
manipulator') (idid.).
They reject the idea that regretters really exist and say that they do not
know of any.
Here is the reality of what they said in the complete context. You can read it for yourself at
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,11302.0.htmlIt started with Dennis making a statement about Mr. Finch's case against the clinic...
There's one in Australia who's suing his doctors, even
though he fudged his answers the second time round of
psychiatric testing. The first time, he was rejected:
http://www.realityresources.com/alanfinch.htm I hope he loses.
Dennis
He was followed two post later by Melissa whose quote also appeared in the book but very heavily edited let's look at the entire quote
People like this make me sick. HE decides to lie and
then blames everyone else just so he doesn't have to
accept responsibility for his actions. In doing so, it
harms all "real" transsexuals as a whole. People
like this are actually on of the reasons my parents are
having a hard time accepting this. They are worried I
will have the same regrets, but if anything, I have been
*extremely* honest with people. I'm sorry, people who
regret transitioning enough to detransition should be shot.
They are only a waste of oxygen.
Melissa
There is no excuse for the last line and that should been caught and edited by the moderation staff on the site as it violates the terms of service. Since it has existed for so long and has been quoted in the book, I shall leave it as is, but will publicly state it should've never been allowed there in the first place, and I apologize to anyone who has been affected or hurt by it.
Now let's look at what Helen said...
I wish Mr. Finch would be laughed out of the courtroom.
And it sickens me that Leach and his crew are using this
"arch manipulator" as an example. And where did that
10% dissatisfaction statistic come from?
And the friend who outed Mr Finch as a pathological liar
is accused of suffering from, "the hellish emotional confusion
which results from crossing gender lines."
I have a high level of suspicion of the veracity of
anything that is on that site. I think Mr. Leach is an
exploiter and a thief who preys on the insecurity and
internalized worthlessness that trans people feel for his
own gain.
helen
Further down in the thread Dennis states,
I agree with you Helen, about being suspicious of anything
on that site. I have seen Mr. Finch in other contexts though.
He was featured on a Fifth Estate program about transitioning.
In addition to being a liar, he is also a media whore.
Dennis
Then we have the fact that even though quoting my web site then making extensive and subjective claims about it neither this author, nor Mrs. Jeffreys ever attempted to contact me to fact check, nor to get the position of my web site or my self on the subject which is extremely unethical when making such broad-brush claims about it.
There is a common thread with Mr. Finch, and the other postop regret advocates I have recently seen. They have all stated at one point or another that they made false statements to their doctors and psychologists to get the end results they wanted. Once they got it, they realized that they made a mistake. Rather than accept responsibility for their actions and the role they played in their situation they blame the system for not protecting them from their own deception.
I don't see how anyone can find it acceptable when someone who does so, attempts to turn around and then blame those medical professionals for not protecting them from their own deception.
The transgender community recognizes regret as a possible outcome but basically points out that these regret'ers made the choices they did, and they chose to have the surgery; and if they don't like it tough. No one forced them to climb up on that operating table. It is this lack of personal responsibility and culpability is what that the transgender community objects to.
If a transgender person is honest with themselves, and honest with the medical professionals who oversees their transition, anyone who would suffer from potential regret should be caught and excluded from the transition process long before they could reach an operating table. If they were not they have our sympathy Gender Reassignment is not for everyone.
Yet many of these people are attempting to prevent others from seeking treatment that medically recognized as the only truly successful solution for relieving severe gender dysphoria.
My web site has been in existence since 1996, and is the largest transgender community in the world. Between 1996 and 2014 I have seen perhaps 10-20 people stating that they regretted their surgery. I have seen thousands saying how happy they are to be finally themselves.
I don't begrudge those who regret their surgery and would be happy to provide support to them. There are a couple of proviso's
1. They cannot hijack non-regret threads by members with post op regret posts.
2. They are welcome to discuss their situations, their regret, provided that is is not for the purpose of simply wallowing in self pity but instead is an active attempt to improve their lives.
Self pity has never helped anyone.
That is my point of view, which also makes it the point of view of my web site.
