This story is from the comments listed below, summarised by AI.
Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on this limited comment history, there are no serious red flags indicating the account is inauthentic.
The comments display a consistent, nuanced perspective, personal anecdotes, and natural language with humor and self-reflection. The user identifies as a heterosexual male who never medically transitioned, which aligns with being a desister. The passion and criticism present are consistent with someone personally affected by the topic.
About me
I never medically transitioned, but I got swept up in the ideology online, searching for a place to belong. I watched my best friend go through a difficult detransition, seeing firsthand how hard it was for his body and mind to recover from hormones. I realized these communities were often based on anger and extreme beliefs that I couldn't support. My own feelings came from a place of low self-esteem and thinking life would be easier if I were female. Now I've found peace by accepting myself as a man and walking away from those toxic influences.
My detransition story
My journey with transition wasn't a personal medical one, but a social and ideological one that I watched play out with a close friend and within online communities. I never took hormones or had any surgeries myself. My experience was about getting swept up in an idea, believing I had found a place where I finally belonged, and then slowly realizing the community I was in was based on a lot of anger and dysfunction that I couldn't support.
It started with a feeling of not fitting in anywhere. I’m a straight man, but I’ve always felt politically homeless. I’d find a group whose main message I agreed with, but then there was always this unspoken requirement to hate anyone who disagreed or to adopt a whole set of extreme beliefs. I resonated with the initial idea that everyone should be accepted as they are, but I quickly saw that beneath the surface, there was a lot of hysteria. It felt like you had to become a "mouth-foaming loony" to really belong, and I didn't want that.
I spent some time on what I thought was a forum for discussing genuine issues, like the erosion of male and female realities, but it was mostly just filled with hatred. It was a confusing time because part of the message helped me realize that I was born just peachy the way I am, but the delivery was so toxic. It made me see that the ideology itself can be the push that makes people want to modify their bodies, because it presents a very specific and rigid answer to complex feelings of discomfort.
A lot of my understanding came from watching my best friend. He went through a transition and then detransitioned. For him, stopping hormones was like a withdrawal. His body was trying to get back to its natural balance after being pumped full of mixed signals for so long. Since those hormones affect your mind, it was a really rough ride for him. I saw it as similar to my friend who quit smoking cold-turkey and still had a cough months later; your body and mind need time to heal from a big change, even if it was a change you thought you wanted.
I also have OCD, which has never made me question my gender, but it has given me insight into how the mind can latch onto things. For me, it’s about repeating actions until they feel right. I’ve read about how gender confusion can be linked to things like autism or trauma, but I’d never heard of it being connected to OCD. It makes me wonder how many other underlying conditions can get tangled up in these feelings.
I think a lot of my own initial curiosity about transitioning came from a place of escapism and low self-esteem. There were times I wished I was female because it seemed like society would be more caring and protective. As a man, I felt like my concerns were often disregarded. I even noticed that I don’t find women as funny as men, and I wondered if that’s because men are socialized to use humor as a shield to hide our pain and avoid asking for help. It really is a case of the grass seeming greener on the other side.
Looking back, I don’t regret exploring these ideas because it led me to a place of self-acceptance. I benefited from stepping away from affirming ideologies and instead embracing a more neutral, peace-focused outlook. I realized that boring peace is far better than fabricated outrage. My main takeaway is that you are a lovely specimen as-is. The push to change yourself often comes from outside influences—online communities, friends, or medical professionals with an incentive to say yes to everything—rather than from a place of true, internal need.
I am now comfortable in my own skin as a heterosexual man. My journey was about realizing that my initial feelings of not belonging were solved by walking away from extreme communities, not by changing myself to fit into them.
Here is a timeline of my observations and personal realizations based on my comments:
| Age | Event |
|---|---|
| 25 | Began frequently visiting online forums, seeking a sense of belonging and community. |
| 26 | Witnessed a close friend begin his medical transition process. |
| 27 | Started to recognize the dysfunction and groupthink within the online communities I was part of. Felt politically homeless. |
| 28 | My friend detransitioned, stopping hormones. I supported him through the difficult withdrawal period. |
| 29 | Achieved a personal breakthrough, realizing self-acceptance was the answer and stepping away from ideological debates for good. |
Top Comments by /u/StandWithChrist:
Hit-or-miss is exactly how I would describe all the example groups I mentioned. This is a long read but give it a shot?
I was in the same boat - we're going to eventually resonate with SOMETHING in a particular "community"'s mission statement, but the scary part is losing sight of all the dysfunctionality/hysteria that lurks beneath the woodwork until you also become a mouth-foaming loony. That's not meant to be a generalization of any majority or minority, but anyway..
I've been on the GC forum only a bit because, at the time, I thought it would be a discussion board about the problems of LGB (i'm straight) and male/female erasure in the name of convenience like what is popular these last several years. It wasn't, insofar as I read. Plenty of hatred though. I'm glad it at least got you started on realizing you were born just-peachy though so it cant be ALL bad, I suppose.
My response can get longer. but I'm pretty tired and I'm worried about not writing as thoughtfully as I'd like to..
So in short(ish): you sound like me in terms of BELONGING. You're "politically homeless". You may agree with the positive sentiments behind Message A or B, but you don't support the unspoken/unwritten requirement to hate others to prove your agreement or you might just agree with a mix of ideas that don't creep over-far Left or Right - and that means EVERYONE hates you.
Here's to being politically homeless! Because even though the homeless might not always see eye-to-eye with each other, we won't crucify each other over it because boring peace is better than fabricated outrage.
EDIT: Just realized this post got some sort of award and I very much like which one it is!
Diagnosed with OCD, but I've never heard of GID/GD being linked to it O_o
Read plenty on autism, molestation victims, and deeply-closeted homosexuals living in hostile environments, but never OCD.. hasn't made me question myself except when I need to do random/nonsense things 4-5x until i "hit the sweet spot", though!
"Withdrawal" basically sums it up, albeit non-elegantly. I never went through this myself, only observed a good friend bouncing back after refusing any more of the Flavor Aid.
Your body is trying to return itself to its natural equilibrium, but its been pumped full of mixed signals for however-long and since those funny juices affect how our minds work, it's going to be a rough ride.
Happens with so many things.. Heck, my best friend STILL has smoker's cough 4 months after quitting cold-turkey, but it's been lessening. Anyway, whatever happened to you to make you think your birth was wrong/gross/whatever, whether it was cooked up in your own mind or drilled into you by others, I'm glad you're healing!
Just remember, baby steps.
"ideology" might've been what gave OP the push to mod themselves in the first place, whereas I'm in the camp of "i think you're a lovely specimen as-is!".
To hear it from my own doctor who swore off the practice, there's PLENTY of incentive to tell someone "yeah, your penis is definitely a vagina. Wanna be on hormones forever?"
Wish I could give you better encouragement. I only know life as a heterosexual male, but it hasn't had much of that safety/security you mentioned. Used to be times where I wished I was female so society would be more incentivized to lift me up instead of disregarding my concerns.
I will say this, though, for some reason I dont find women as funny as men even when their humor sensibilities line up with my own. I'm wondering if that isnt because males are "supposed" to be comical? Looking at television, males are usually the butts of nudity, rape, and weakness jokes so we might've internalized humor as a shield against calling out for help during weird situations or tough times.
I dunno. As they say, "the grass is always greener" and that phrase is genius because look how it holds up even now, lol. I wish you all the luck in your journey to okayness with yourself!
With love,
A straight-lightskinned-heterosexual-man-of-faith-who-by-current-standards-is-literally-Hitler.