Chris Lange, FISM News

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A growing number of detransitioners are speaking out against “gender-affirming surgery” — far more accurately labeled as “body mutilation” — while sharing personal stories of trauma, regret, and the destructive influence of social media. 

The Cambridge Dictionary defines the term “detransition” as a process whereby people “stop making changes, which may be social, legal, or medical, that lead to them living as a person of a different gender to the one they were said to have at birth.”

Helena Kerschner, a biological woman who began identifying as a boy at the age of 15, recounted feeling intense pressure to undergo gender transition surgery on social media in a new, two-part documentary series hosted by Fox News Host Tucker Carlson.

“Transgressive: The Cult of Confusion” features interviews with several people who underwent gender-changing surgeries and puberty blockers who experienced significant regret and are taking steps to restore their biological gender.

Kerschner, now 23, explains in the film that she was “sucked into gender ideology” by extensive content on Tumblr that encouraged young people to transition. She described being filled with regret over her decision years later, at which time she stopped identifying as a male.

“I had like a big realization moment where I just realized how much I just regretted this whole thing, and I was wrong, and that I’m not trans,” she said. “And it was like the cloud just lifted, and I immediately became a normal person again. I immediately became myself again.”

A portion of the interview was released in an April segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which was taken down by YouTube. The Google-owned platform cited its policy against “spam, deceptive practices, and scams.”

Kerschner, who also said that her teachers encouraged her to transition, expressed concern for young people who are vulnerable to pressure to transform their bodies. 

“It’s completely normal for not only young girls, but often young boys to feel uncomfortable with themselves, uncomfortable with their body,” she said. “But we have this ideology that is especially prevalent online that says that if you have those feelings, that means you’re trans.”

“There are literally people who say, if you don’t even like your voice on a recording, that’s a sign of gender dysphoria, and you need to go see a medical professional because you’re trans,” she added.

Walt Heyer, another detransitioner who appears in the docuseries, is a biological man who previously identified as a woman. Heyer’s painful journey back to his true identity as a male included struggles with substance abuse and a suicide attempt.

“Eventually, I found my way to the Lord, Jesus Christ,” he said. 

Heyer uses his experiences to educate others about the harmful effects of transgender surgery through a website he created called “Sex Change Regret.”

The number of teens who identify as transgender has nearly doubled since 2017, according to a UCLA Williams Institute report published in June 2022.

FISM recently reported that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health – the nation’s leading transgender health organization — is expected to issue new guidance to children’s hospitals to lower the age recommendations for youth transgender surgeries. This essentially means that pediatric hospitals will be given a green light to perform mastectomies, hysterectomies, and genital surgeries on minors.

Brown University professor Lisa Littman explored the growing phenomenon of “rapid onset gender dysphoria” in a recent study which found that “unprecedented numbers of adolescent girls are now identifying as transgender, despite never having questioned their gender identity in the past.” 

“I was failed by the system. I literally lost organs,” 17-year-old Chloe Cole recently told the New York Post. At the age of 12, Cole said she decided that she was transgender. The following year, she told her parents, who allowed her to be placed on puberty blockers and testosterone medication. At 15, she continued her transition by undergoing a double mastectomy.

One year later, she said she realized that she had made a horrible mistake.

“I can’t stay quiet,” Cole said. “I need to do something about this and to share my own cautionary tale.”

This report was partially informed by Fox News, The Christian Post, and American Faith reports.