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Reddit user /u/-NearEDGE's Detransition Story

Transitioned: 16 -> Detransitioned: 25
female
low self-esteem
internalised homophobia
took hormones
regrets transitioning
escapism
trauma
depression
influenced online
influenced by friends
got top surgery
serious health complications
now infertile
body dysmorphia
puberty discomfort
started as non-binary
anxiety
benefited from non-affirming therapy
sexuality changed
ocd
bisexual
This story is from the comments listed below, summarised by AI.
On Reddit, people often share their experiences across multiple comments or posts. To make this information more accessible, our AI gathers all of those scattered pieces into a single, easy-to-read summary and timeline. All system prompts are noted on the prompts page.

Sometimes AI can hallucinate or state things that are not true. But generally, the summarised stories are accurate reflections of the original comments by users.
Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious

Based on this comment history, the account appears authentic. There are no serious red flags suggesting it is a bot or an inauthentic detransitioner/desister.

The comments show a consistent, nuanced, and personal perspective developed over three years. The user engages in detailed, multi-faceted discussions, offers empathetic advice, and references their own experiences (e.g., "I am a guy and I will tell you from experience"). The writing style is natural, with varied sentence structures and personal asides, which is not typical of automated accounts. The passion and criticism align with the genuine frustration some detransitioners feel.

About me

I was born female and my discomfort started as a teenager when I hated the changes of puberty. I was influenced online and by my friends to believe transitioning was the answer to my depression and anxiety. I took testosterone and had top surgery, but it only made me feel different, not better. Through therapy, I realized my dysphoria was a symptom of my other mental health issues, not the cause. I am now a woman learning to live in my body and manage the permanent health effects of my choices.

My detransition story

My journey with gender started when I was a teenager. I was born female, but I never felt like I fit in with the other girls. I hated my breasts when they developed; they felt foreign and wrong on my body. Looking back, a lot of this was puberty discomfort and low self-esteem. I was also deeply depressed and anxious, and I used the idea of being trans as a form of escapism from all those difficult feelings. It felt like an answer to why I was so unhappy.

I started identifying as non-binary first. It felt like a safer step before saying I was a man. I was heavily influenced by what I saw online; it seemed like everyone was talking about transition being the only way to fix these feelings. My friends at the time were also all transitioning or identifying as trans, and I think I was influenced by them too. I didn't have a strong sense of self, so I latched onto this new identity.

I ended up taking testosterone for several years. I thought it would finally make me feel right in my body, but it didn’t. It just made me feel different, not better. I also got top surgery. I don't regret the surgery itself because I still don't like having breasts, but I deeply regret doing it for the reasons I did. I was trying to solve a mental problem with a physical change.

My real issues were trauma, depression, and anxiety. I had a lot of internalized homophobia to work through; I think I found the idea of being a lesbian more difficult than the idea of being a man. I also have OCD, and I now see that my fixation on gender was a manifestation of that. I benefited enormously from non-affirming therapy that finally helped me untangle all of this. A therapist helped me see that my dysphoria was a symptom of other problems, not the root problem itself.

I realized that gender is largely a social construct. It’s the ideas we all have about what men and women are supposed to be. I was fine with my sex, my female body, but I hated the stereotypes and expectations that came with being a woman. I didn't need to change my body; I needed to learn that I could just be a woman who doesn't conform to those stereotypes. There are plenty of masculine women and feminine men, and that's always been normal.

I am now infertile from the hormones, which is a serious health complication and something I have to live with. That is a big regret. My main takeaway is that dysphoria doesn't just go away with transition; it just changes or becomes something you have to manage. For me, it became manageable only when I started dealing with my underlying mental health issues.

I don't identify as trans anymore. I'm just a woman. My sexuality has changed through all of this; I now understand I'm bisexual. My thoughts on gender are much simpler now. For most people, gender isn't something they feel strongly about; they just exist in their body and live their life. That’s what I'm trying to do now—just exist.

Age Event
14 Started feeling intense discomfort with puberty and developing body. Hated my breasts.
16 Began identifying as non-binary, influenced by online communities and friends.
18 Started taking testosterone.
21 Underwent top surgery.
23 Stopped testosterone after realizing it wasn't addressing my core issues.
24 Began therapy focused on underlying trauma, OCD, and depression, not gender affirmation.
25 Came to understand my dysphoria was a symptom of other problems and stopped identifying as trans.

Top Comments by /u/-NearEDGE:

32 comments • Posting since June 22, 2022
Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains why they believe trans women and cis women have fundamentally different social behaviors due to male socialization in their formative years, which they argue creates an immutable, non-overlapping experience.
62 pointsFeb 1, 2024
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Obviously they're physically different, but they're also socially different. Transwomen and cis women do not have the same behaviors. Trans women were also socialized as male in their formative years and there's really no amount of transitioning that's going to change how that impacts how they interact with the world.

It's very similar to how there's a way in which say Japanese people think about and interact with the world that Americans do not. That doesn't mean people who live in Japan and people who live in America, that means people who are natively Japanese or American(not necessarily ethnically) who were born and raised in those respective countries. An American will always have an American mindset no matter how long they live somewhere else and a Japanese will always have a Japanese mindset no matter where they move to or how long they live there.

The things that happen during your formative years, including how you're taught to view and interact with the world have an immutable effect on the rest of your life and who you are as a person.

As other people have pointed out, growing up as a trans person or a trans lesbian, is not the same as growing up as a lesbian. As far as those two things relate, they will not interact with the subject the same way that the other do because they're two completely separate and non-overlapping experiences.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) comments on the differences between female and MtF lesbians, arguing they are not identical groups and that this expectation isn't applied to FtMs and gay men. They also discuss the issue of rigid gender expression where masculinity is seen as FtM and femininity as MtF.
62 pointsFeb 1, 2024
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I'm not going to say that I fully agree with your takes on things or don't find issue with your framing, but you are definitely right in that female lesbians are different from MtF lesbians and should not be expected to treat MtF lesbians as though they're both identical groups. It's wild that this is even a widely spread idea because I've never once seen this kind of sentiment be applied to FtM's and gay males.

And yeah, no one is allowed to express gender in a unique or blurry way. If you're too masculine, you MUST be FtM. Too feminine? MUST be MtF. That's a massive issue right now and has been for almost a decade at this point if not more.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains why they find the phrase "healthy breasts" applied to surgery scars to be medically inaccurate, arguing that scarred flesh is not healthy until it has fully healed into normal skin.
35 pointsMay 15, 2024
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Their comment on 'healthy breasts' just sounds insane. It's flesh. It's pretty objective whether or not flesh is healthy. Scarred flesh is not what you would consider healthy in a general sense. It's only after the scarring heals and it returns to being normal skin that you would call it healthy again. Before then it could either get better or get worse and scar more.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) comments on a detransitioner's photo, explaining they initially perceived them as a woman and now get FtM vibes.
35 pointsJul 22, 2024
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I saw woman when I looked at your face. Didn't realize you were MtF until I actually read the title. The most accurate thing I can say is you give off FtM vibes. I have no idea how that relates to the question you've posed, but that's my honest interpretation of you.

Based on the provided comment, here is a concise title incorporating key details:**Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) comments that OP looks far more than vaguely feminine, appearing as an average woman of their age and body type with no standout masculine features.**### Key details included:- **Username & flair**: `-NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning)` - **Action**: `comments` (as it’s a direct reply to a query) - **Core message**: - OP’s appearance is "far, FAR more than vaguely feminine" - Resembles "the average woman of your age and body type" - "Nothing visually stands out as masculine compared to other women" - **Conciseness**: Combines the comment’s critical observations while avoiding redundancy. This title preserves the emphatic tone ("far more than vaguely feminine"), the comparative assessment ("average woman of your age and body type"), and the key conclusion ("no standout masculine features").
31 pointsJul 4, 2024
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You look far, FAR more than vaguely feminine. When I look at you I just see what the average woman of your age and body type looks like. There's not really much of anything that makes you visually stand out as more masculine when compared to other women.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains that while trans women are socially women in most situations, biological differences mean the term does not always include them.
30 pointsFeb 6, 2024
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Transwomen are socially women for the overwhelming majority of situations, but the physical and biological realities of not being cis women means that there are necessarily situations where 'women' does not include transwomen.

That's about it really.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains that a narrow view of gender roles, not internalized misogyny or misandry, often leads people to transition before discovering the vast spectrum of gender expression.
26 pointsJun 30, 2022
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Yeah, that's called having an overly narrow view on gender and gender roles. Those things are stereotypes but they also are forms of gender expression that do exist. That said, they're also the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the many, many forms of gender expression that exist for both men and women.

It's no one's fault and I wouldn't even say it's because you were misandrist or misogynistic, but because you hadn't seen and experienced all there was to see and experience (and still haven't because no one has). It's the old story about people living in caves. If that's all you see that's all the world is to you. It just sounds like you discovered that there was more to a lot of things than what you used to know and it's 100% valid to learn as you grow and grow as you learn.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains how a detransitioner's facial features, including cheekbones, eyebrow structure, and overall bone structure, align with classical Greek ideals of beauty.
24 pointsJul 29, 2023
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a I mean, it's everything really. You have the cheekbones of one of those women you have a very similar eyebrow area structure and yeah your nose is similar as well but only because your overall facial structure is. Like you look like what the Greeks considered the Pinnacle of beauty

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) comments that a lack of acceptance may be due to location, suggesting the attention received while transitioning might not have been genuine.
17 pointsAug 3, 2023
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People love feminine men in very intimate ways. The problem there and with you're feeling relative to the area around you seems to be that you're not necessarily in a 'good area' I would say. If you're not being accepted and welcomed and feeling seen as a member of your community in general I would also question the attention you received while you were trans.

Reddit user -NearEDGE (questioned awhile but never ended up transitioning) explains that many men prefer masculine women, advising dominant women to seek out submissive men, particularly in kink spaces, as they are a specific type of woman who needs a specific type of man.
16 pointsMay 11, 2023
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I am a guy and I will tell you from experience. There's a large amount of men who won't even consider a woman who isn't masculine. Masculine is much more than just looks though. This kind of guy might be slightly more interested in you approaching them though.

If you tend to have an overall more masculine personality. You tend to be more dominant, more aggressive, etc, then you would want to look for submissive guys(who are aware of and happy being submissive guys) because there are LOTS of them who are straight and more dominant women are very few and far between. I don't know if you're into any kink related spaces but those kinds of guys generally gravitate towards there because it's pretty much the only place that caters to the idea of women being more masculine these days.

I couldn't really say too much more directed like that without knowing you personally, but the answer to your initial question: Yes. VERY much so. You just would need to know where to look for them.

EDIT: And that's also the most important takeaway. You're not women, you're a particular type of woman. You don't need men, you need a particular type of man. Quite a few types of guys won't be interested. Some types of guys won't care one way or the other, and some types of guys will be ecstatic.