99 — Detransitioned & Damaged by the Dutch Protocol: Teiresias
In this last episode before our break, we begin with some important and exciting announcements about what listeners can expect in 2023 from Gender: A Wider Lens. We then launch into one of our most important interviews yet: “Teiresias” was a patient at the notorious Dutch clinic. Unlike the common misconception that the Dutch used an air-tight method for correctly identifying kids who would benefit long-term from transition, Teiresias’s detransition reveals the truth about childhood gender medicine, even when it’s being practiced by the “gold standard.”
He speaks out about his medical transition and subsequent detransition. Teiresias was a feminine boy who, with puberty, became increasingly distressed by his same-sex attraction. One day Teiresias watched a TV program where a trans man described the happiness that came about as a result of medical transition. A seed was sown, and Teiresias turned to the internet where he was encouraged by older trans women to transition as soon as possible.
Teiresias describes the way the Dutch clinic ignored his childhood trauma, the difficulties with his father, his self-loathing, and his internalized homophobia and instead, led him on to a medicalized pathway with the gender affirmative approach. An over-eager surgeon encouraged Teiresias to undergo many procedures until one day he realized he was chasing a false dream. He then decided to get off the fast track and began his detransition.
Links:
- Sasha’s Parent Coaching Membership Site:
https://www.subscribestar.com/sashalpc
- Stella’s Substack:
https://stellaomalley.substack.com/
Extended Notes
- Stella shares her experience of speaking with detransitioners from the Dutch clinic.
- Teiresias felt that he had a double side, telling friends he wanted to be a girl.
- His parents switched schools because of the bullying in the previous one.
- At ten, Teiresias felt neutral about being attracted to other boys and said he was gay.
- He thought puberty would make him attracted to women.
- He found himself mimicking straight boys and talking about liking girls while still being attracted to boys.
- At 12 or 13, he used derogatory terms to describe trans people just like everyone else.
- The family went through a difficult divorce while he was entering puberty. It caused him to isolate himself.
- In 2015, a talk show introduced him to a teenage trans man who described how happy he was after transitioning.
- Based on information he found on the internet, he self-diagnosed as bipolar and autistic until finding a trans description he aligned with.
- Teiresias started fixating on certain parts of his body but it never solved a problem.
- After entering the Dutch clinic, he had a specific picture in his mind of the woman he wanted to become.
- During his intake to the clinic in 2015, his mother insisted he was still troubled by his relationship with his father.
- There was a real-life phase at the clinic where Teiresias was expected to dress and live as a woman. He didn’t feel comfortable participating.
- The clinic gave him hormones hoping it would give him the self-esteem to help him make the switch from male to female. They said it was their gift to him.
- He gained a lot of weight, possibly from the estrogen.
- After several surgeries, Teiresias was left with a nose that didn’t look normal or allow him to breathe.
- He worried about how people perceived him when in public because he was hyper-focused on the shape of his body.
- He returned to the Dutch clinic to confront the staff.
- During his detransition and through his anger, Teiresias continued to go to the gender clinic so they could better understand why he desisted.
- A documentary solidified his belief that he was making a mistake.
- Teiresias contends that he has always had some type of body dysphoria.
