Some of the most powerful voices speaking out against the transgender movement come from individuals who have transitioned in the past and now regret it. Recently, Canadian YouTube personality Lauren Southern interviewed one such person who transitioned from female to male and then back again.
Southern interviewed a family friend named Sarah, who explained her journey of becoming one of many people tricked into believing she was trans.
Sarah began by saying she looked up to her dad as a child and like so many other young girls who used to be classified as “tomboys,” she didn’t like things that society typically deems feminine. She explained how as a child, she loved motorcycles and video games and even “wanted to grow a beard” to look like her father.
“I never really wanted Barbies or dresses or any of the things people would try to push on me as a girl,” Sarah tells Southern.
She mentioned how puberty was a turning point, especially because she had so many friends who were boys. Sarah felt uncomfortable being looked at differently by members of the opposite sex.
“I didn’t go through therapy,” she explained. “I was kinda like, yeah I wanna be a guy. I think I’m a guy.”
Southern asked how Sarah’s trans journey began. Sarah recalled how in “late elementary or early high school,” a trans person came into her school to talk about their experience and describe how kids who feel like they don’t fit in may actually be trans.
Following that school presentation, Sarah said she went to her mom and said, “Hey. I think I’m a boy.”
Next, she went to the Vancouver Children’s Hospital, where Sarah said she was told she’d need to undergo therapy to be prescribed hormones. But she claimed that wasn’t “true” and she just found “another source” — a youth clinic — to get the hormones because she couldn’t afford a therapist.
At the clinic, Sarah said they briefly asked if there could be any other factors contributing to her dysphoria. She said they didn’t push too hard and she was 15 and therefore thought she knew her own mind. “I wanted what I wanted,” Sarah explained.
“I genuinely felt what the community describes as dysphoria,” she continued. “You’re putting that huge decision in a child’s hands,” Sarah said, getting visibly emotional. “They can change their minds, but when they do … “
Sarah recalled going on testosterone at 15 and going for a “top surgery” consultation at 16. The doctors allegedly said they had an opening in one month and pressured her to take the spot or risk waiting a long time for the opportunity. Sarah said the top surgery was completely free of charge to her as the patient.
After describing her experience with antidepressants, Sarah said, “A lot of things have more consequences than we could ever know.” She said it’s a lie to pitch puberty blockers as harmless and reversible.
Even after fearing she’d made a mistake, Sarah said she felt it was “too late to go back” because she’d already been on hormones and living as male for years. She said support for people looking to detransition was almost non-existent, which stood in stark contrast to the community she found when beginning her trans journey.
“Anytime anyone hears that I’m detransitioning, they don’t want to have anything to do with me,” she said.
Sarah described all the things she has to do to reclaim her womanly features. Unlike the surgeries to transition, the procedures to detransition are costly, Sarah said. She mentioned laser hair removal and voice surgery, plus rebuilding her breasts post-mastectomy.
“I just want to get to a point where I don’t look in the mirror and want to cry when I see myself,” she told Southern.
Next, Sarah described how she was embraced into the trans community back when she wanted to become a boy, but said there was nothing but silence and “awkwardness” when she decided to detransition. She described herself as an extremely shy person but feels it’s important to share her story for others like her who may regret transitioning.
“It does make it hard if it’s labeled as hate speech, because it’s not,” she said.
In conclusion, Sarah delivered a powerful message to any young people who identify as trans and are thinking of going on hormones and getting surgeries. “You can rush into this, but you can’t rush out,” she warned. “They will coax you in, they will be there for you, but the moment you change your mind, there’s … I thought there was nobody. I was in such a dark place. I really don’t want to see anyone in that dark place.”
And for detransitioners, Sarah offered words of support. “You probably feel very, very alone right now … but you are loved, you’re not alone,” she said. “The best people I’ve met in life are the people who’ve gone through hell.”
