14 Comments

This is an amazing interview, and thank you, both, for sharing it with us. After so many years of attacks against us, as women who are gender critical (just like the interviewee here), we might have become too cynical to even have empathy for people going through "gender distress". This interview shows that there are gender-questioning people out there who are not all out to "get us". Our common humanity should make us try to understand each other better. I in no way advocate for "being nice", as I know where that led us. Our fight is not finished yet, our children are not safe yet, our men are not yet all on our side. But sometimes we must stop in our track and ask ourselves if there is more to the person in front of us than what they let us see.

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I've been pondering how to "best get liberally-inclined people like me" to wake up to the insanity of gender identity. What argument can I make? What scientific information can I present? What are the right (and wrong) words to say? After reading this interview and the personal story of Ava, it seems that the more productive approach would be to "Flood the Zone" (to steal a phrase) with personal stories. Let people see and hear the real consequences, real dissonance, real struggles of real people, and hope that it slowly sinks in or cracks the ice a little. This is all to say, "More Please!"

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Lovely interview. She gives me hope.

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This is deeply moving. Thank you both. I salute her courage.

Reading the words of this bravely honest female-to male-to female detransitioner confirms for me that misogyny is a linchpin of the trans cultural phenomenon.

The girls and women pursuing a transgender identity are fleeing the relentless sexual objectification and harassment every girl and woman has to survive -- note the numerous men who behaved in predatory ways toward this young girl as she was growing up. Those experiences taught her to hate her femaleness. For the AGP men, it's the urge to possess the demeaning image of a sexually objectified "femininity" that arouses their sexual pleasure. For the young gay boys and men with a "feminine" appearance, it's the pain of being coding as "girly." In all these cases, transgenderism arises from, and reinforces, contempt for women.

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Such a good quote: 'It is possible to be gender non-conforming and to become happy and adjusted to it. It is possible to be gender non-conforming and to heal or grow your way out of it. Gender misalignment is not a pathology."

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I am concerned that the hair loss prescription could be finasteride, a drug connected to a dozen suicides. This is a classic story of unscrupulous therapists and doctors operating on obvious conflicts of interest. It's so important for women like her to tell the whole story. May she regain health, mind/body connection and benefit from helping to expose the trans cult for the medical malpractice scandal that it is.

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Thank you, Eliza, for this fascinating interview. And thank you to your subject, who was so open about her life experience. I don’t think I’ve ever read an interview with a female detransitioner of this age group. Her viewpoint is very valuable, and I think it’s wonderful that she’s training to be a therapist.

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That's why I wanted to engage with her. I hadn't really heard from any woman who transitioned in that time period and she was so eloquent about her experiences.

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This is a fantastic interview. Thank you to Ava for sharing her story and to Eliza for your thoughtful questions. The house atop the swamp metaphor is fantastic.

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Such a great interview, and unexpectedly relatable even though I have never ID’d as trans. I’m curious about how, or whether, Ava’s relationship with her male partner changed once she decided to detransition? Is he bisexual as well, or is he actually heterosexual and did he always perceive her as a butch woman?

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Thank you for posting this article!

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What is happening with her husband?

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Great insightful interview however I was curious how present and deep any regret might be for the severe physical harm she has inflicted on herself?

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You are brave and wise, thank you for sharing.

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