This story is from the comments by /u/split_skunk that are listed below, summarised with AI.
User Authenticity Assessment: Not Suspicious
Based on the provided comments, the account "split_skunk" shows no serious red flags of being inauthentic. The user presents a highly detailed, internally consistent, and emotionally plausible narrative of being a male desister (MtFtM) who took estrogen for a very short period and is now dealing with the physical and emotional consequences.
Key points supporting authenticity:
- Consistent Narrative: The user's story remains coherent over many months, with repeated, specific details about their dosage (10mg Estradiol Valerate, two doses), timeline, and specific physical changes (breast budding, sexual dysfunction, cold genitals).
- Emotional Plausibility: The expressed emotions—anger at being misinformed, trauma, anxiety about recovery, and a nuanced view of the trans community—align with the stated experiences of a desister.
- Engaged Dialogue: The user responds to others with personalized advice, shares research, and engages in complex discussions, demonstrating human-like interaction and reasoning.
While the extreme physical effects from a two-week regimen are atypical and a point of contention, the user consistently provides context (e.g., high dose, low body weight, anemia) to explain their unique experience. This does not indicate inauthenticity but rather a highly specific and passionately held personal account.
Conclusion: The account appears authentic. There is no compelling evidence to suggest it is a bot or a bad-faith actor. The user's profile is consistent with a genuine, albeit particularly distressed, desister.
About me
I started questioning my gender at 20, influenced by my online community and a personal fetish, and I was quickly prescribed estrogen. The physical changes were immediate and permanent, which was traumatic and made me realize my motivations were more sexual than identity-based. I stopped after just two doses, but I’ve been left with lasting breast tissue and sexual dysfunction. My recovery has been a long, difficult process of accepting these irreversible changes. This experience has made me deeply critical of how easily these medical interventions are accessed.
My detransition story
My journey with this started when I was 20. I was deep in the furry fandom, which is a community I’ve been part of for years. It’s a space with a lot of queer and neurodivergent people, and over time, I saw more and more of my friends identifying as trans. I wanted to be happy like them and feel that same sense of belonging. I’m not diagnosed, but I suspect I have autism and OCD, and I think that made me more susceptible to latching onto an identity that promised community.
The first seed was planted when I was browsing a transformation fetish subreddit and saw a post saying that a lot of people with that fetish are actually trans. I’ve had that fetish since I was a kid, so it made me question everything. I started reading trans forums, where people constantly said things like, "cis people don't question their gender." I felt pressured to start hormones quickly because I was worried I'd regret waiting.
I went to a Planned Parenthood. The appointment was shockingly fast. About 15 minutes after meeting the doctor, I had a prescription for estrogen injections. There was no therapy referral, no deep discussion of my mental health or the risks. I wasn't even shown how to inject it properly and had to borrow supplies from a trans friend. I was 5'11" and only 125 pounds, underweight and anemic, but I was given a high starting dose of 10mg of estradiol valerate per week.
I only took two doses, one week apart. But the changes were immediate and shocking. Within a week, my nipples started to bud. They became puffy and sensitive, and they never went back to how they were before. They still stick out through my shirts. I also experienced softer skin, fat redistribution, and a change in my body scent. My sexual function changed drastically almost immediately; I lost my ability to get erections easily and started having what felt like female orgasms.
I had been told by the trans community that there were no permanent effects for the first few months, that I could "just try it." That was a complete lie. Seeing these permanent changes happen so fast was traumatic. It made me realize that a big part of my desire to transition was sexual, related to that autogynephilia (AGP) I had wondered about. I was also "in love" with an idealized female version of myself, a fantasy. The reality of the physical changes, which stayed even when I wasn't turned on, forced me to face the truth.
I decided to stop after those two doses. The urge to take more was strong, like a drug addiction. I had to throw out my supply to avoid relapsing. The recovery process has been long and difficult. It's been over nine months now, and my body is still not back to normal. My testosterone levels are in the low-normal range. My facial hair grows much slower and thinner. My erectile function is maybe 50% of what it was; I can get erections, but they're weaker, I lose them quickly, and I can no longer get hard just from thoughts. I've lost almost all my precum, and my ejaculate volume is much lower. My genitals often feel unnaturally cold, which is sometimes painful.
I’ve seen doctors, but they haven't been very helpful. One endocrinologist dismissed my symptoms entirely. My recovery has come from time, weight training, and recently, pelvic floor exercises, which have helped a bit with erections. But I’ve had to accept that some of these changes, like the breast buds and the sexual dysfunction, are probably permanent.
Looking back, I believe my desire to transition was influenced by a perfect storm of factors: social contagion within my friend group, undiagnosed OCD and autism, a transformation fetish, internalized issues from my circumcision, and the toxic positivity of online trans communities that encouraged me to ignore my doubts. I don't exactly regret it because I don't think I could have avoided it with the information I had at the time, but I deeply wish it hadn't happened. The experience has made me wary of the medical industry and the "informed consent" model, which I believe exploits vulnerable people. I've learned to appreciate my male body for what it is and focus on healthier ways to improve myself, like working out and skincare. I don't consider myself an enemy of trans people—my girlfriend is trans—but I strongly believe the barriers to medical transition need to be much higher to prevent people from making irreversible mistakes based on temporary feelings or other unresolved issues.
Timeline of Events
| Age | Event |
|---|---|
| 20 years old | October 5th: Took first injection of 10mg Estradiol Valerate. |
| 20 years old | Within one week: Noticed breast budding, skin softening, and sexual changes. |
| 20 years old | October 12th: Took second and final injection. |
| 20 years old | Mid-October: Decided to detransition after realizing the changes were permanent and primarily sexually motivated. |
| 20 years old | November (6 weeks off): Testosterone recovery begins slowly. Erectile function and facial hair growth at about 20%. |
| 20-21 years old | Next several months: Gradual, partial recovery of sexual function, body odor, and facial hair. Breast tissue remains. |
| 21 years old | ~5 months off: Hormone blood test shows Total Testosterone at 471 ng/dL (low-normal). Symptoms of dysfunction persist. |
| 21 years old | 9+ months off (Present): Sexual function plateaued at approx. 50% of pre-HRT function. Permanent changes accepted. |
Top Reddit Comments by /u/split_skunk:
This makes me so angry. This is propaganda. What is she trying to prove? Who is she trying to argue against?
This comic is an attempt at social coercion with an appeal to tribalism. The reason the author made this comic is because she wants gain credibility in the trans community, and/or be seen as an authority figure on trans issues.
"Moral Panic" ... What? Where??? This is a nonsense phrase. It doesn't have any real meaning and is just designed to cause fear. I would love to ask this author for a couple examples and an explanation of what exactly she is referring to with this phrase.
Transphobic Backlash? Transphobes might use detransitioners as an argument against providing gender-affirming hormones, but that doesn't mean that all detransitioners should be ignored. Detransitioners are people too. In fact, they are people who have gone through all the trauma that trans people have, plus more.
Detransitioners should not be ignored. They provide very valuable stories that questioning transitioners should explore before they decide to transition.
You can't help people who don't want to be helped.
For the trans community to accept our help, they will first need to take detransitioners seriously.
Once the majority of trans people are able to think critically and objectively about detransitioners' regret stories, they will understand why hormones should not be able to be acquired in a single 30-minute appointment.
But that is an extremely hard task for a lot of trans people to do, for whatever reason (e.g. they feel subconsciously threated by detrans people, they think detrans people are all transphobic or TERFs, they are worried about backlash from other trans people by defending / siding with detransitioners, etc.)
In my opinion, doctors who prescribe hormones so quickly like this are abusing and exploiting trans people. They might be exploiting them for profit, or to protect their career. By regulating hormones further, we are helping to protect trans people from exploitative medical professionals.
But trans people do not see it as abuse, because a lot of trans people do not ( / will not) take regret stories and detransitioner stories seriously.
It's naturally very hard for trans people to want stronger regulations on hormones. The situation they are in is actually very similar to the prisoner's dilemma: a trans person will either fight for stronger hormone regulations, or not. And they will either regret transitioning, or not. If that makes sense.
I do not have time to watch the entire documentary, but the top comments are a refreshing reminder that there are a lot of people who respect our stories and are "on our side" on the topic of the "affirm only" model.
I believe the public opinion on "affirm only" gender-affirming care is slowly turning around. Adolescents should not have access to hormones.
Nordic countries are the most progressive countries in the world. They pioneer many progressive policies, and many other developed countries often eventually adopt their policies. Yes, I do believe regulating children's access to hormones is a progressive policy, in the same way that banning kids from having sex with adults or banning kids from working a full-time job are progressive policies.
If they are coming around on this issue, I hope the rest of the world comes around on it too. Although it is far from a certainty. I mean Norway / Sweden / Finland / Iceland / Denmark still allow Male Infant Genital Mutilation i.e. circumcision, so sensitive medical topics are clearly extremely hard to restrict.
As a former MtF, I want to say that there is a lot of pressure and social contagion in that community, too.
I don't doubt it exists in FtM communities too. In fact I think I agree with you, that it is probably more severe in FtM communities. But the social contagion and cult-like behaviors are still strong and common in MtF communities, too.
Scandinavian countries -- like Sweden and Denmark -- are eliminating the "affirm only" approach for trans therapy and medicalization, after seeing little increase in overall happiness and lots of increase in regret.
They're some of the most progressive (and happiest) countries in the world, so I hope the U.S. will follow eventually. But it will be hard and I expect it to take 10 - 20 years, because the trans community is so adamant about getting what they want, and public opinion and legislature in the U.S. moves so, so slowly.
It's especially hard to "restrict" a group that has been historically oppressed, because anything we claim to be safety restrictions, trans people will claim as transphobia. It feels impossible sometimes to convince trans people that we have their best interest in mind too, and that's really frustrating.
Wow. We are the same. When I identified as trans, I thought my "bottom dysphoria" was because I didn't have a vagina. A couple months ago (after de-transing), I realized that I actually had a lot of unresolved grief from my circumcision that was forced upon me against my will when I was a baby.
When I was trans, I thought I was upset because I didn't have a vagina. In reality, I was upset because I didn't have an intact (i.e. uncircumcised) penis. I am now actively working to regrow my foreskin through skin expansion procedures, to help resolve this grief.
Here is a comment I made a couple weeks ago on r/foreskin_restoration explaining in more detail about how my transition was related to my circumcision trauma.
The double standards and denialism are insane. If you go to trans forums, you can find trans people celebrating how quickly HRT is affecting them -- giving them softer skin, erectile dysfunction, and breast buds within a week of starting. But suddenly, when I claim these things happened to me (a detransitioner), it's "not possible for hormones to work that fast". It's so frustrating.
I don't know why some people believe this. I have talked with two other detrans men who only took hormones for a single week and then experienced the exact same things I am experiencing.
A single shot of exogenous hormones can mess up your HPTA for a really long time -- at least a few years, and for some men the rest of their life.
If you care about your genital function, just know that once you take your first dose of HRT, your dick will never work the same again. There are many stories of guys here who only took a single dose, and their erections are weaker and unsatisfying for the rest of their life. Same thing with ejaculate volume. Your loads might forever be small and weak. You'll never be able to "shoot ropes" again, if that's something you care about. I was also left with permanently cold genitals, that are uncomfortable and much colder than they used to be. I took two doses of estrogen, and my last dose was over 9 months ago.
It does work in a technical sense in that I can still get erect and ejaculate, but it doesn't work as well and it definitely doesn't feel the same. I wrote a reply to Mindless_Low's comment with a little more detail.
I also completely lost my ability to secrete precum and to prostate orgasm, which so far have not returned. I used to make tons of precum and have the most intense prostate orgasms. Now I am dry as a desert, and I can't even find my prostate.
I met one other detrans male who also experienced these prostate side effects after stopping hormones, and it's caused both of us a lot of distress. He was on for three months and has been off for one year. I've talked with a ton of detrans men and he is the only other one who also experienced these symptoms, so it seems this side effect is very rare. Neither of us have recovered so far.
Interestingly, we both shared with each other that we actually made lots of precum fine before we took estrogen and while we were on estrogen. It was only when we stopped that we lost our ability to do so.