This story is from the comments by /u/Sugared_Strawberry that are listed below, summarised with AI.
User Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on the provided comments, the account appears authentic. The user demonstrates a consistent, deeply personal narrative of detransition, including specific medical, social, and psychological details that align with known detransitioner experiences. The writing style is nuanced, emotional, and shows introspection over a long period, which is not typical of bot behavior. The passion and occasional anger expressed are consistent with someone who has experienced significant personal harm and stigma. No serious red flags suggesting inauthenticity were found.
About me
I was a female who transitioned to male as a teenager, believing it would fix my deep unhappiness. After four years on testosterone, I felt isolated and realized the life I truly wanted was as a woman. I suddenly decided to detransition and my mental health has improved dramatically since accepting my body. I now see my dysphoria was rooted in other mental health issues, not my sex. I am at peace living as a masculine woman and believe my problems were in my mind, not my body.
My detransition story
My whole journey with transition and detransition was messy and confusing, and looking back, I see it was built on a lot of pain and misunderstanding. I was born female, and for a long time, I didn't feel right in my own skin. I hated my breasts and felt a deep discomfort with my body, especially during and after puberty. I now believe a lot of that was tied to other issues I was dealing with, like depression, anxiety, and very low self-esteem. I was also professionally diagnosed with autism and OCD, which I think played a huge role in how I fixated on my body and identity.
I started my social transition in my mid-teens. I was deeply influenced by what I saw online and by the friends I had at the time. I became convinced that I was actually a man, a trans man. I held onto that belief tightly for years. At 16, I started taking testosterone. I was on it for four years. I thought it would fix everything, that I would finally look and feel like a "real man." And for a while, I believed it was working. I passed most of the time, but just barely. I was a short, curvy guy with an androgynous voice. People would sometimes tell me they didn't know if I was a trans woman or a "thick gay boy." Being visibly trans started to feel like a form of constant public humiliation. I felt inferior to other men and was convinced they saw me that way too.
The social side of being a man was nothing like I expected. I missed the easy camaraderie I used to have with other women. As a man, I was too scared to talk to women casually for fear of making them uncomfortable, and my interactions with men were awkward and often ended with me being laughed at or ignored when I tried to compliment them. The isolation was profound. I also realized that the relationship dynamic I truly wanted was a heterosexual one, where I could be "the girl" in the relationship. I craved male attention, but as a trans man, I got zero dates or expressions of interest. If I even complimented a man, I’d be laughed at.
My sexuality was all over the place. On testosterone, my sex drive was through the roof; I was orgasming multiple times a day and was frankly obsessed with porn. But it felt like being a slave to my urges. Since stopping hormones, that drive has completely vanished. I can become aroused, but I feel no natural urge to. I could probably go the rest of my life without it.
The physical effects of testosterone were severe. I experienced significant vaginal atrophy. I had read about it, but no resource prepared me for the excruciating pain of not being able to insert more than a single finger. It's something I'm still slowly recovering from. I also had acne and some minor balding.
The turning point came suddenly. One day, in the middle of my work shift, with no warning, the thought just hit me: "I want to be a girl again." I remembered a post I’d seen years before that said, "Wanting to be a girl is a symptom of being a girl," and that was it. The decision to detransition felt like it was made in a matter of hours or days. I wasn't in a particularly bad place at that moment; it was just a sudden, clear realization.
Detransitioning was hard at first. I felt immense shame and embarrassment, especially since I didn't change jobs. People still referred to me as "he," and I couldn't bring myself to correct them. I felt trapped between two worlds. I thought it would take me 6 months to a year to pass as a woman again, but it happened much faster. My body hair thinned, my facial hair growth slowed, and my voice lightened a little, though I still sound like a gay guy sometimes. I get misgendered occasionally, especially over the phone, but most of the time, I’m seen as a woman.
My mental health has improved dramatically since detransitioning. The constant, agonizing anxiety I had over how I was perceived—my voice, my walk, whether I was scaring women or would be attacked by men—is practically gone. I can initiate conversations, speak to strangers, and raise my voice. I feel like I can finally live. I’ve even been able to lower my psychiatric medication without therapy. I now see that my problem was never my body; it was my perception of it. I was trapped in my mind, not my body. I had to learn that changing my outside appearance would never fix my internal problems.
I benefited greatly from non-affirming therapy in the sense that I now wish I had seen a therapist back then who would have questioned me and probed into the root causes of my desire to transition, instead of just affirming me. I think my dysphoria was deeply linked to my autism, OCD, and internalized issues, not an innate identity.
I have serious regrets about transitioning. I regret the four years I spent "larping as a male." I regret the permanent changes to my body and the health complications. I mourn the woman I could have been if my dysphoria had been treated with proper therapy instead of hormones. I feel a deep sadness for the time and experiences I lost.
I now see gender for what it is: a social construct. Sex is biological and immutable. I am a female human being. I can be a masculine woman—I don’t shave, I rarely wear makeup, and I have a shaved head—but that doesn’t make me any less of a woman. I am at peace with that. I don't struggle with dysphoria anymore because I've accepted the reality of my body. The uneasiness I sometimes feel is more about a general dissatisfaction with myself, not a hatred of my sex.
My views are strong now. I believe transition is an unnecessary medicalization of a mental health issue. It doesn’t fix the root problem, which is in the mind. I think the medical industry profits from selling a pipe dream that you can change your sex, and it preys on vulnerable people like I was.
Here is a timeline of my journey:
| Age | Event |
|---|---|
| 16 | Started taking testosterone. |
| 16-20 | Lived socially and medically as a trans man for 4 years. |
| 20 | Had my last testosterone shot and began detransitioning. |
| 20-21 | Physical and social detransition. Voice lightened, body hair thinned. |
| 23 (Now) | Living as a detransitioned female. Mental health significantly improved. |
Top Reddit Comments by /u/Sugared_Strawberry:
But what is being trans other than being an impersonator of the opposite sex? (With varying success..) Being a dysphoric, and eventually chemically/surgically castrasted male doesn't make a male a female. Why try to achieve something that isn't possible? If anything, consider the amount of money you'd be spending in an attempt to make an already unhealthy (I presume, based on your medical conditions) body objectively worse. But if you're okay with the possibility of increased cardiovascular risk, multiple sclerosis & lord knows what else they'll discover in the upcoming years...by all means.
As an extension to the thought-provoking question: Would you rather be a wealthy and very attractive man or an unattractive, mannish looking woman who very few people actually believe is a woman? A man who almost everyone he encounters is only pretending to humor his woman-larp out of fear of him freaking out of them? Food for thought.
The men are already giving you wonderful advice, but I wanted to let you know that the sweeping generalization of women across the board experiencing "multiple, intense orgasms" is just not true.
The intensity of mine depends on where I am in my menstrual cycle, and I've never been able to experience them back-to-back because I have what is apparently called a subjective refractory period.
If part of your transition goal is experiencing something, as a male, that not even every woman experiences... good luck.
Published on April 22nd 2022.
"The study sample included 627 transmasculine and 325 transfeminine individuals with an average age of 19.2 ± 5.3 years. The 4-year gender-affirming hormone continuation rate was 70.2% (95% CI, 63.9-76.5). Transfeminine individuals had a higher continuation rate than transmasculine individuals 81.0% (72.0%-90.0%) vs 64.4% (56.0%-72.8%). People who started hormones as minors had higher continuation rate than people who started as adults 74.4% (66.0%-82.8%) vs 64.4% (56.0%-72.8%). Continuation was not associated with household income or family member type. In Cox regression, both transmasculine gender identity (hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.50-3.86) and starting hormones as an adult (hazard ratio, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.14-2.52) were independently associated with increased discontinuation rates.
Our results suggest that >70% of TGD individuals who start gender-affirming hormones will continue use beyond 4 years, with higher continuation rates in transfeminine individuals. Patients who start hormones, with their parents’ assistance, before age 18 years have higher continuation rates than adults."
Around 30% of patients in the sample alone stopped filling their prescription within 4 years. It's definitely not just 1 percent.
Last time i posted sources, i didn't see my comment on the post; I'm not sure if it was against the rules. If you'd like i can send you the link to the study so you're not just taking my word for it :)
Some, yes; most, no. If the voice isn't a dead giveaway, there's their body shape or stature/head size/hand size & as a last resort; the eyes. I recall seeing a man in his 30s, bald with a gut; but he had the smallest, most dainty hands I'd ever seen on a grown man & his eyes looked off on his face; & I quickly realized he was a female on steriods.
Cis people probably don't recognize them as much, but if you've traveled down the same road as them; you know what to look for. I also feel like cis people are starting to be able to notice them in the ways that typically only a detransitioned/trans people would beause they've become so visible in recent years.
Nearly exactly 5 months since my last testosterone shot and I don't feel any less embarrassed about the 4 years I wasted larping as a male. I didn't change jobs for my detransition and people still refer to me as "he," and I can't bring myself to correct them. I feel trapped in this space where I'm actively presenting more feminine, and yet people still believe that I believe I am a man; or I can fill people in and they'll know how delusional I was. Lose-lose situation. I don't know if the shame/embarrassment ever goes away. I really hope we're able to work past it.
This isn't uncommon at all, unfortunately. It was the same for me. Never had any doubts whatsoever during the 8 years I was trans-identified. One day, I just "woke up." I didn't want to do it anymore, I wanted to live as my bio sex again. My heart goes out to you. I hope you're able to reach a healthy conclusion & lead a peaceful life.
A lot of taboo fetishes can be born out of trauma. I think in both/all cases, the individual is transitioning due to some sort of attempt at escape; & I don't think any of these individuals are more trans than the other. Transitioning for any reason is the wrong reason imo.
I get where you're coming from & why it offends you, though.
I was ranting to an imaginary audience (lol) about this just a few days ago! In my eyes, being a man or woman was completely up to self determination. I.e. being a man (in my case) is what you make of it. You become the kind of man that you choose to be. My line of thinking had gone from "I feel like a man." to "I just am one. I was meant to be one."
I wish a member of my family had never fed me the complete & utter lie that sex can be changed. I wish I had been taken to a therapist who would've figured out why I wanted to transition so badly and solve the issue at the root instead of believing every word I said without probing/questioning, and I wish they'd paid close attention to comorbidities.
You're completely right. Trans people may be plagued by the ways they are being perceived that are out of their control, but many of them believe that they are truly the gender they identify as. Irregardless of where they are in their transition/whether they pass. That was how I saw it. It didn't matter that I still looked & sounded like a woman pre-transition. I was a man and I confidently told anyone who asked that I was and demanded that they refer to me as such. Oh, how I wish I found out sooner that everyone was just "playing along" and didn't actually believe me.
Everyone knows the whole "What is a woman?" spiel, but I'm confident that very few (especially trans) people can define female. Sometimes I wonder that if everything was laid out for them in an entry level fashion, would they understand? Would they change their ideology accordingly?...I doubt it.
Some people are genuinely delusional enough to believe they're the opposite sex. That's it, that's all it is lol. There are people who passed phenomenally who detransitioned because they realized that sex is immutable in some way, shape or form; & there are others who could never hope to pass and yet wholeheartedly believe that they are no less male/female than "cisgender" people. There are smaller things that affect our decision, like how well we're treated for example; but an individual can be exposed to all sorts of hatred & violence & still come out the other side identifying as trans because they've got it worked out that's that's what they are supposed to be.
During my transition, i genuinely believed i was living my best life. It wasn't until months into my detransition that I realized it was actually the lowest i had ever been.