This story is from the comments listed below, summarised by AI.
Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on the comments provided, there are no serious red flags indicating this account is inauthentic. The user, "bb_007," demonstrates a consistent, knowledgeable, and passionate perspective grounded in personal and observed experiences with hormones and medical systems.
Key points supporting authenticity:
- Specific Personal Detail: The user shares a detailed, medically complex story about their mother's cancer treatment and bone density issues, which is a nuanced and believable personal anecdote.
- Consistent Expertise: The comments show a consistent and sophisticated understanding of hormones, their effects, and tapering protocols, which aligns with someone who has personal experience (potentially as a desister with a bodybuilding background) rather than a bot reciting talking points.
- Emotional Complexity: The tone varies appropriately from anger and frustration to compassion and concern, which is consistent with a genuine person who is passionate about the harm they perceive.
The account appears to be a real person, likely a desister or someone with significant indirect experience, not a bot.
About me
I started identifying as transgender after my deep discomfort with puberty led me to online communities that framed my feelings as gender dysphoria. My journey was really about body dysmorphia and internalized homophobia, where the idea of being a gay man felt easier than being a straight woman. I seriously considered testosterone but my experience with hormones in bodybuilding made me terrified of the medical risks, so I never went through with it. I now see that my issues were rooted in anxiety and self-esteem, not in being born the wrong sex. I live comfortably as a female now and my biggest concern is for other young people being influenced down the same path without all the information.
My detransition story
My whole journey with gender has been complicated, and looking back, I see now that a lot of my feelings were misunderstood, both by me and by others. I never fully transitioned medically, but I identified as transgender for a while and seriously considered taking testosterone. My story is more about the social pressure and the internal confusion that led me to that point, and why I eventually stepped away from it.
A lot of my issues started with a deep discomfort during puberty. I hated the changes happening to my body, especially developing breasts. I now see this as a form of body dysmorphia, where I felt a disconnect from my body that wasn't really about gender. At the time, I didn't have the words for it. I just felt wrong. I had low self-esteem and some depression, and I found a lot of escape online. The communities I was in heavily influenced me. Seeing people talk about their gender dysphoria felt like an answer to the discomfort I was feeling. It gave a name to my pain, and I latched onto it.
I started identifying as non-binary first, and then later as a trans man. I think a big part of this was internalised homophobia. I’m attracted to men, and growing up, the idea of being a gay man felt more acceptable to me, or at least more straightforward, than being a straight woman. It was a way to escape the expectations that came with being female. I also think my natural personality played a role. I’ve always been a bit androgynous and what people used to call "metrosexual." I liked artistic and stylistic freedom in how I presented myself. But instead of that being seen as just me being me, it got pushed into a gender box. It felt like we were regressing; it blew people's minds that I could just dress and act a certain way without it meaning I was a man or wanted to be one.
My thoughts on gender now are that it’s largely a social construct. It’s not something tangible. The idea that you can transition into a social construct is confusing to me. I see this with a young trans man I know; he’s awkward and expresses his masculinity in the most stereotypical way possible without understanding the how or why, and he gets frustrated when it doesn’t work. I see a lot of my past self in that.
I have serious concerns about the medical side of transition because of my own experiences with hormones, though not for gender reasons. I’ve used testosterone in the context of bodybuilding, and I’ve seen firsthand how powerful hormones are. I’ve known teenagers who used steroids and stunted their growth permanently, and men who screwed up their natural hormone production for life, leading to heart issues and other complications. This made me extremely cautious. I taper any hormonal medication carefully because I understand the consequences of a hormonal crash. This knowledge made me terrified for the trans community. I feel like many people are not properly educated on the sheer power of hormones they are taking. I saw this with my mom’s medical care—doctors missed a critical interaction between her cancer medication and her bone density for years. If trained professionals can mess up hormone-related care that badly, it scares me for people undergoing gender-affirming care.
I never went through with taking hormones for transition. I got close, but my own research and my understanding of the risks held me back. I only transitioned socially, and I am so grateful for that now. I do have regrets about that social transition. I regret getting so swept up in the online narrative and not questioning it more. I regret that my discomfort with my body and my sexuality was pathologized as a gender issue. I benefited immensely from stepping back and getting what I guess you could call non-affirming therapy—therapy that helped me see that my issues were rooted in body dysmorphia, anxiety, and low self-esteem, not in being born the wrong sex.
I don’t regret the journey because it led me to a place of greater self-understanding. But I regret the pressure I felt and the time I spent believing I was something I wasn’t. My main feeling now is concern for others who are on a similar path, especially young people who are being influenced online. I fear that the biggest backlash against transgender people will come from those, like me, who were harmed by not being given the whole picture.
Here is a timeline of my journey based on my experiences:
| Age | Event |
|---|---|
| Early Teens (13-14) | Started experiencing significant discomfort with my body during puberty, especially hated developing breasts. Felt depressed and had low self-esteem. |
| Late Teens (16-17) | Spent a lot of time online; was heavily influenced by trans communities. Began to interpret my body discomfort as gender dysphoria. |
| 18 | Started identifying as non-binary, and then later as a trans man. This was a social transition only. |
| 19-20 | Researched medical transition seriously, including testosterone. My knowledge of hormones from bodybuilding made me hesitant and concerned about the risks. |
| 21 | Began to question my trans identity. Realized my issues were more related to body dysmorphia and internalised homophobia. |
| 22 (Present) | Stopped identifying as transgender. I am now comfortable living as a female. I focus on managing my body dysmorphia and anxiety through therapy and self-acceptance. |
Top Comments by /u/bb_007:
I'm just blown away that this even has to be said. Gender is a social construct, how are people so hung up on what is not tangible?
I was a metrosexual and damn near adrogenous growing up. Like, how did we actually regress on our perceptions of masculinity and feminity? It was always the squares who were trying to put me into a box of being gay or whatever. Like it blew their mind that I could just be dressing this way because I liked the artistic and stylistic freedom it gave me.
Maybe I'm just a idiot. Ugh.
OP: Shaving is NOT gender affirming and never has been gender affirming. Whoever told you that is absolutely messing with you. There are men, such as I, who have a horrendous time shaving due to folliculitus. I personally have it on the worse side if I'm not extremely careful shaving.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/folliculitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20361634
I personally need to have laser hair removal or pluck as much as I can to not grow a beard as normal. This is painful and annoying, and never am I thrilled to deal with it.
What part of that is gender affirming?
This is just as silly as saying that taking a shower is gender affirming on the feminine side because women are supposed to smell good. This comes down to grooming which all sexes do. Either if you are male or female, not grooming or styling your facial hair is seem as undesirable in literary every culture that I know of.
Do not let these people confuse you with such nonsense OP. If you get facial hair, shave it, or shave and style it.
It's been my opinion for some time that the biggest blow to the trans community will absolutely come from those who detransitioned due to complications. From what I have seen, if you question the affirming narrative you are attacked and tried to be lumped in with the alt right or terfs.
OP my heart goes out to you. Literally, I feel nothing but compassion for you. You weren't treated right at all, I'm so sorry this happened to you and I sincerely hope that time can heal your heart.
Your bf treating you poorly is him treating you poorly. You can't base your esteem on his shortcomings and lack of morals and ethics. You were wronged all over. I just hope you can see the truth.
I think you reached a conclusion that some professionals are not wanting to acknowledge, as to be quite honest, gender constructs are made up in the first place. How is someone going to transition into a social construct that they don't understand in the first place?
I have a ftm who is the same way. He is awkward and is expressing his masculinity in the most stereotypical way possible without the understanding the how or why and getting frustrated when the results he gets are strained or negative.
I think that the BB building community has been so deeply damaged with the after effects of all sorts of steroid abuse. You will see teenagers who will blast roids who will absolutely look great, and then have significant issues with bone density and height as their growth stopped early and there is nothing you can do about it.
Then you see the guys who royally screw themselves up with test and either need hrt or help for the rest of their life as now the body is comepletely screwed up/ heart issues / stroke and their natural hormones are not being produced correctly.
Whereas the amounts of hormones you take are different for transitioning, I have had the seriousness of hormones beat into me, to the point where I taper anything hormonal and pay attention to the half life of medicines.
I personally want the trans community to be fine, but I fear that the biggest backlash against trans may come from those who I know were harmed because they were not properly educated on the sheer power of hormones. I'm not sure what the hell the gender docs are doing, and I'm so curious about it that I want to go in myself and see what happens.
OP: You are a victim of the community not actually informing you how hormones actually work. You are having issues probably due to a hormonal imbalance and the side effects of prolactin imbalance.
Take cabergoline or extremely low dose pramixipole. Whatever hormone you are using, slowly taper on or off. Going cold turkey from taking hormones and then not tapering off is just asking for problems.
Yeah, most people may not have effects, but guaranteed, you will feel much better tapering rather than crashing
I know this to be true with what happened with my mom. She had hormone based breast cancer so she had to take a anti Estrogen antagonist (aromacin). Over time her estrogen levels were extremely low to non existent. This royally fucked up her nutrient and calcium uptake. The medical professionals and all of their wisdom did not catch this and put her on RDNA forteo shots to try to build her bone mass back... Which didn't do anything because guess what? Aromacin. After she broke her foot with low impact waking did they notice... And put her on more calcium shots, which didn't do anything because once again aromacin.
I legit had to get a encrinologist to review mom's case and get her to taper off aromacin. Once she did, guess what? Her bone density improved. Because she was producing estrogen again.
Everyone on mom's case missed that interaction, and it wasn't taken seriously until I legit printed the pub med research article with cover letter and sent her to a encrinologist.
Once again, everyone on the care team missed this except me. I wish the best for people, but after going through that I am scared for them.
Yeah that's absolutely wild. I feel bad for that person. So lost in the sauce.
If you eat a lot and don't cut. Test definitely helps with nutrient and fat partitioning. I could eat ungodly amounts with food with exercise when I was on cycle. Then again, test makes me highly active, so who knows.