The grim reality of gender reassignment

Lisa Littman, a doctor and researcher, recently surveyed ‘detransitioners’ — people who thought they were transgender then changed their minds. The majority, 55 per cent, ‘felt that they did not receive an adequate evaluation from a doctor or mental health professional before starting transition.’ Sadly, it seems, their identity issues were more complicated than simply being trans. Many of these individuals are now living with the consequences of medical treatments that failed to help their gender issues and may have caused permanent physical and psychological damage.

There is no objective diagnosis for transgenderism, and the evidence supporting hormonal and surgical ‘reassignment’ as an effective remedy for gender dysphoria (the feeling of being at odds with one’s sex) can be sketchy. Meanwhile, there is plenty — not least the risk of infertility and loss of sexual function — to suggest that so-called gender reassignment is very often a bad idea.

In the mid 20th century, sexologists and surgeons began to experiment with ‘sex change’ interventions for a tiny number of (mostly male) patients who, for complicated psychological reasons, wanted to live as the opposite sex.