The faces, the countries and the names of the treatments change, but one idea remains the same: "It’s clear that medically transitioning wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t what they needed." Behind the camera, after hearing dozens of testimonies from the so-called detransitioners, people who regret having undergone a gender transition treatment, Kallie Fell is surprised by the "passion each one of them has for living life to the fullest." She avoids describing them as brave just because "I know they don’t like being called brave."
She is also surprised that they are willing to share "such intimate parts of their lives and bodies" to "protect others from making the same decisions that they did." It's even more surprising that the three documentaries with their stories are available free of charge to the public. These stories, which there are far too many of, are generally unknown and too often snatched away from the online world.
Fell is a mother, nurse, producer and screenwriter of a film trilogy. She hosts the podcast Venus Rising and she is the author of the book The Detransition Diaries. She is also the executive director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (CBC). One word that could define Fell is prolific. It was her interest in women's health that led her to join the CBC six years ago. Now, the nonprofit's goal of addressing "bioethical issues that most profoundly affect our humanity" has begun to encompass transitional surgeries as well.
"We became fully invested when we learned that children, before they are put on a path to transition to the opposite sex, are offered fertility preservation," she told Voz Media, alluding to treatments, such as egg freezing, that are performed in case the transitional surgery results in infertility.
"Much of our previous work at the CBC Network focuses on fertility and infertility and learning that children are rendered infertile by transitioning 'therapies' is in our minds, unacceptable."
Do no harm
"The work we do at the Center for Bioethics and Culture (CBC) Network, in part, is to challenge medicine when it loses its connection to the rich tradition of the Hippocratic Oath," says Fell, focusing on the "physician’s fiduciary responsibility to 'do no harm.'" The case of transitional surgeries not only fits with these concerns but is "a perfect example where the medical field has abandoned this oath, causing irreparable harm to children."
Trauma, porn, addictions, mental health problems, bullying... Fell sees multiple causes but she says therapists only see gender dysphoria and they offer transition as the one-stop solution. "What we advocate for is for better, more robust care that takes the whole child and their experiences into consideration. We think that more robust care will show that most children are suffering from something else, such as an adverse childhood event, like sexual trauma for example, and that any gender dysphoria will resolve when proper mental health care is provided," says Fell.
We can't forget about Brian, one of the young men who appeared in the latest film produced by the CBC:
(He) struggled mightily with alcohol and drug addiction, but medical providers failed to even address it. He says in the film, “I think when I went and saw these gender therapists, a good therapist, I think, would have said, Well, maybe you're transgender. Who knows? But let's get sober for a while and then let's revisit this topic. But that's not what happened.”
In another testimony from the film The Detransition Diaries, a detransitioner claims that in one 30-minute call with the Planned Parenthood organization, she was prescribed testosterone over the phone. "A single call into planned parenthood resulting in a prescription the same day can’t be the standard of care," says Fell.
One story, two protagonists
So who can parents trust? Katie Fell is optimistic, although she recognizes that it is a common question among parents.
She recommends joining support groups: "There are a lot of really great groups out there now that are helping families navigate this." Another useful tip, she says, is to change their environment. Joe Burgo, a doctor specializing in gender dysphoria whom Fell consulted for one of her films, told her that he knew someone who moved to a different country.
Although parents are generally the neglected protagonists in transition stories, Fell assures that the documentaries that they have made have sparked interest among adults "who had or have gender-confused children and lived with the fear of losing their children to the radical transgender movement." That pushed them to continue recording the testimonies of detransitioners and their parents.
Misinformation
Many testimonies from those who regret their transition surgeries have one thing in common. The internet is full of misinformation. That's another reason behind the CBC's work, which includes three films and a book that will be released this month:
We want to show people how harmful this ideology can be, especially on children and young adults.
Ritchie, another one of the detransitioners interviewed by the CBC, Googled "gender dysphoria" and found a description on a website that he felt eased his pain. Today he recognizes that the description was very generic. And the page? It was the official website of the U.K. public health service: www.hns.uk.
"I was introduced to a belief system: if you don’t fit in, that's a sign that you are trans; if you don’t like your body in, that's a sign that you are trans," can be heard in another testimony on The Detransition Diaries. "If you transition, all of these problems will be fixed."
