Australian Detransition Stories in the Media: 2003 to 2023
Case Summaries from the Past 20 Years.
The following provides case summaries of Australian residents who have shared their story of sex-change regret and detransition in the Australian media since 2003. The purpose of this review is to assist in educating interested parties about detransitioner experiences in Australia by compiling such stories in one convenient location.
Before presenting the case summaries, some brief notes on parameters, language, sex composition and changing clinical standards are provided to give relevant context and background to the stories that follow.
Parameters
These summaries specifically include people who medically transitioned with surgery and/or hormone treatment in Australia and voluntarily shared their story in the news media. As such, this is not a comprehensive record of detransitioned people in Australia. It does not include desisters (formally gender dysphoric or trans-identified people who did not medically transition). Nor is it intended to be an exhaustive account of news coverage of this issue.
Language
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the first known use of ‘detransition’ to refer the process of reversing medical gender transition, was in 2004. ‘Detransitioner’ or ‘detrans’ for short, refers to someone who has engaged in the process of detransition.
The expression ‘sex-change regret’ was the more common way to describe those who regretted undergoing medicalised transition prior to the 2010s. Present use of the word ‘detransition’ reflects a change in terminology away from ‘sex change’, which referred exclusively to transition as a medical process, to the broader term ‘gender transition’ which may or may not include medical procedures (eg. social transition).
Sex Composition
The sex composition of Australian detransition stories in the media has inversed in recent years. Until 2021, the overwhelming majority of media stories were about male detransitioners. From 2022 -2023 however all but one of the stories reported in this period are from females. This is likely to reflect the dramatic surge in girls and women presenting to gender clinics that began to occur in the mid 2010s, surpassing males as the prevalent group in the clinical cohort where as previously they were only a small minority.
Changing Clinical Standards
The clinical approach to gender dysphoria has changed considerably over the past twenty-five years. Prior to 2017, minors and adolescents in Australia did not have access to medicalised treatment without court approval. This change occurred following collaborative advocacy efforts by activist clinicians, lawyers and members of the trans and allied community, culminating in the landmark re: Kelvin case.
Throughout the 2010s an “affirmative” approach to gender dysphoria began to emerge as the preferred treatment style. This replaced a more cautious model outlined in The Harry Benjamin Standards of Care (SOC6) published in 2001, that expected adults to undergo psychotherapy and perform a “real life test” (also known as a ‘real life experience’ RLE or social transition) by living as the target sex for a period of time before receiving any medical interventions. The specific requirements of a RLE were removed from the seventh version of the WPATH Standards of Care (SOC7) published in 2012, and the RLE itself was completely removed from the eighth version (SOC8) published in 2022.
The changes to the standards of care represent a significant shift away from a psychopathology model of gender dysphoria to an ideological model of ‘Transgender Healthcare’ that affirms a patient’s self-declared gender identity.
Although reliable rates of detransition are presently unknown, the decline of a more cautious approach is believed to have resulted in an increase. This suspected increase could be reflected in the frequency in Australian media reporting of this issue, with more than half of the detransition stories reported only appearing in the last two years, despite the present reluctance of some mainstream media to cover this issue.
Australian Detransition Case Summaries, 2003 – 2023.
Alan Finch - Australian Story Sex-Change Regret (2003)
Angela - Sex Change Masks Childhood Trauma (2004)
Anon - Male Sex Change Patient Sues Doctors (2009)
Eight Former Patients of Monash Gender Clinic Regret Transition (2009)
Patrick Mitchell - Transgender Boy Changes His Mind (2017)
Jeremy Bate - W.A. Man Detransitions After 17 Years (2018)
Adelaide - Teen Regrets Transition (2022)
Jay Langadinos - Detrans Woman Sues Psychiatrist for Negligence (2022)
Ollie Davies - Detrans Man Left Infertile from HRT (2022)
Courtney Coulson - ROGD Detrans Woman (2023)
Mel Jeffries - Victorian Woman Detransitions After A Decade (2023)
Nic – Detrans Butch Lesbian (2023)
1. Alan Finch - Australian Story Sex-Change Regret (2003)
Alan Finch shared his story of sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) regret on the ABC TV program Australian Story in September, 2003. Finch underwent SRS in 1988 but returned to living as a man in 1997. Eight years after the operation he learned that a pre-surgery assessment had deemed him unsuitable for SRS, which the Southern Health (Monash) Clinic ignored. Finch subsequently initiated legal action against the clinic in 2004 and won the right to sue in 2005 after the court dismissed an appeal. He was ultimately awarded a confidential settlement.
Following the airing of the Australian Story program Finch became an advocate against what he called the "sex-change industry". His story was widely reported in the media, including internationally (examples - New Zealand and the UK). In interviews Finch referred to his surgery as a mutilation and lamented that it had left him unable to have sex. He describes his experience as "a terrible misadventure".
In 2004 Finch became a spokesperson of a support group for people with gender identity issues and sex-change regret called Gender Menders. The group was run by the Gender Identity Awareness Association based in Melbourne, Victoria. GIAA sought to encourage non-medical therapies for gender dysphoria, warn of the consequences of medical treatments, and lobby for improved standards of care.
The Australian Story episode Boy Interrupted that featured Finch was removed from the online ABC repository in the late 2000s. It is believed, but not confirmed, that this was done at the request of Finch. After a few years of speaking to the media under his real name between 2003 and 2006, Finch spoke to The Age for an article published in 2009 where his story is discussed under a pseudonym.
2. Angela – Sex Change Masks Childhood Trauma (2004)
Angela suffered five years of sexual abuse in childhood and later adopted a male persona as an unconscious means of self-protection. In 1990 she attended the Gender Dysphoria Clinic at Monash Medical Center where she was deemed a "true transsexual" in her first consultation. In 1992, Angela was approved for a bilateral mastectomy, which was later performed at a private hospital.
After living as a male for four years Angela began to question her belief that she was a man in a woman's body. This prompted her to see a different psychiatrist who was able assist her in confronting painful unresolved issues from her youth.
When Angela sought assistance from the Gender Clinic to revert back to life as a woman, their help was found wanting. She was escorted from an endocrinologist's office when she became angry after the clinician was unable to answer any of her questions about hormones, periods and fertility.
After extensive electrolysis and breast implants, Angela later married and had three children who she could not breast feed due the mastectomy. Her story was first reported in the Herald-Sun newspaper on March 28, 2004, and she later spoke to journalist Jill Stark for a story in The Sydney Morning Herald / The Age in 2009.
3. Anon - Male Sex Change Patient Sues Doctors (2009)
A male patient of Southern Health (Monash Gender Clinic) was diagnosed with gender dysphoria during consultations between 1993 and 1995. On the advice of doctors at the clinic he then underwent sex-reassignment surgery but returned to living as a man five years later. In 2009 at age 66, he began legal action against the clinic, alleging that the doctors had misdiagnosed him as transsexual and failed to investigate his history, including sexual abuse. His legal claim was ultimately settled out of court.
4. Anon - Eight Former Patients of Monash Gender Clinic Regret Transition (2009)
In 2009 Southern Health (Monash Gender Clinic) was temporarily shut down for an internal review following litigation by three former patients (the three cases above – Alan, Angela, and Anon). The Sunday Age reported that at least eight former patients of the clinic believe they were misdiagnosed as transsexual. Some attempted suicide after struggling to adjust following their irreversible surgery.
5. Patrick Mitchell - Transgender Boy Changes His Mind (2017)
Patrick Mitchell appeared on the Australian 60 Minutes program in 2017 to share his story of gender dysphoria and detransition. He had stereotypical feminine interests as a child and was severely bullied at school. Patrick began transitioning at 12 years old. He was put on a puberty blocker after being formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria and grew breast tissue due to taking his mother's estrogen medication.
At age 14 Patrick changed his mind and returned to living as a boy. His mother came to the view that the doctors where wrong to pigeonhole her son so quickly. Patrick and his mother had to travel to South Korea to have his breasts removed. This was the only place they could find a surgeon who was prepared to conduct such an operation on a child so young.
Patrick and his mum where also interviewed by Women’s Day magazine and his story was widely reported in the media, including in the Daily Mail Australia.
6. Jeremy Bate - Man Detransitions After 17 Years Living as a Transwoman (2018)
Western Australian man Jeremy Bate lived as a transwoman for 17 years. He transitioned at age 35 by taking hormones and undergoing sex-reassignment surgery. He believes the health profession let him down at a time when he was extremely vulnerable and that he should have been offered counselling that explored alternatives. When Jeremy began questioning his trans-identity he was ostracised from the trans community and struggled to find help. He detransitioned at age 52.
Jeremy’s story was reported by the West Australian newspaper WA Today after he appeared on Vision Christian Radio program 20Twenty. In 2021 he was interviewed on the Australian YouTube channel Northern Vibe.
7. Adelaide - Teen Regrets Transition (2022)
Adelaide is a same-sex attracted female who came out as a trans man at age 11 and began medical transition at 15. She had her breasts removed at age 16. At first she was happy with the results but over time became unhappy and decided to detransition. In an interview with Australian socialist newspaper Green Left, Adelaide said "I really feel like I regret almost all of my transition." At the time of publication Adelaide identified as a non-binary girl and said she is still trying to figure out her gender identity. She reports being misgendered as male due to the masculinising effects of cross-sex hormones and wants better support for those who detransition.
8. Jay Langadinos - Detrans Woman Sues Psychiatrist (2022)
Jay began identifying as a man in her late teens. In 2010 she wanted to begin medical transition and saw a psychiatrist who deemed her suitable for hormone treatment after a single appointment. Jay saw the psychiatrist again in 2012 seeking a referral for bilateral mastectomy. She underwent the surgery two months later and visited the psychiatrist for a third time the following month, seeking a hysterectomy, which was performed five months later when she was 22.
Rather than improve her mental health, her depression worsened after each surgery. In late 2016, while Jay was seeing a different psychiatrist, she came to the realisation that her transition had been a mistake. In 2020 she sought the advice of an endocrinologist to cease testosterone. Jay explained in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald that a complicated home life, discomfort in her body, and realisation that she was same-sex attracted, all contributed to her feelings of gender confusion.
In 2022 she commenced legal action against the psychiatrist who referred her for hormone treatment and surgery for professional negligence, alleging that he did not conduct proper psychiatric evaluations. Jay has suffered significant consequences to her mental and physical health from the medical interventions she received. Her court case is ongoing.
As the first Australian detransitioner known to launch legal action since the late 2000s, Jay’s case has been widely reported, including on ABC Radio.
9. Ollie Davies - Detrans Man Left Sterile from HRT (2022)
Ollie came out as a transwoman at age 26. He was trans-identified from 2015 to 2021 and is sterile as a result of HRT. His story was reported in The Australian newspaper (archive) in August 2022. Ollie is bisexual and reports having no history of gender dysphoria as a child or young adult. He was however experiencing significant mental distress when he came out as trans "I was completely nihilistic and lonely and self-hating and had no self-esteem. I was experiencing a total loss of identity and lack of sense of self." It wasn't until queer activist friends began repeatedly suggesting to him that he was trans that he began questioning his gender.
Ollie was diagnosed with gender dysphoria after three consultations with a psychiatrist shortly after coming out as a transwoman. He believes his mental health was not properly assessed. Of the sessions with the psychiatrist he says "There was no therapy involved ... He [the psychiatrist] somehow managed not to figure out that I was depressed, emotionally deprived, that I had no relationship with my parents, that I had a completely fucked-up relationship with my sexuality, that I could barely sleep because I’m so anxious".
Since returning to live as a man, Ollie has spoken out against the gender affirmation treatment model in the media. He told The Australian he is devastated that taking estrogen has left him infertile and believes there are 100s of people like him in Australia who regret their transition.
Interview with LGB Alliance Australia:
Interview with Some Kind of Therapist Podcast:
Ollie's Substack:
Ollie's Website: https://olliebun.github.io/content/transition/
10. Courtney Coulson - ROGD Detrans Woman (2023)
Western Australian woman Courtney Coulson first shared her story of detransitioning on her Youtube channel in November, 2020. She had no history of gender dysphoria when she began identifying as transman in her early 20s, and considers herself part of the Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria cohort. Courtney detransitioned after five years and has expressed her concern at how easy it was to be affirmed and receive hormones. She believes she should have been exposed to different perspectives before being put on the medical treatment pathway.
In July 2023, Courtney briefly appeared in the ABC Four Corners program Blocked: The battle over youth gender care, however she was unhappy with the program and believes she was misled by producers.
Courtney later appeared in the Channel 7 program Spotlight which specifically focused on detransition.
11. Mel Jeffries - Victorian Woman Detransitions After A Decade (2023)
Mel, a 32 year old woman from Melbourne, shared her destransition story with the Channel 7 program Spotlight in September, 2023.
After receiving a formal diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder at age 18, Mel was deemed suitable for hormones after a one-hour consultation with a psychiatrist. She lived as a trans man for around a decade, except for a few years where she identified as non-binary. She had a double mastectomy at age 26 and detransitioned shortly after.
Mel was an unhappy teenager with depression and a history of sexual trauma. She believes that the sexual assault played a big part in her desire to transition, along side multiple mental health problems that she believed medical transition would fix.
In 2013, Mel appeared on the SBS program Insight, where she described herself as a detransitioner. However she resumed taking hormones soon afterwards, despite the negative health impacts she was experiencing, when friends in the trans community told her that feeling unsure was normal.
Since detransitioning for good some years later, Mel says she has been dismissed by the trans community that once "love bombed" her. She is presently on a disability support pension and struggles to afford hair removal treatment for the excess hair growth caused by taking testosterone. Mel has expressed grief and loss regarding her surgery, telling Spotlight that she feels "violated by the medical industry".
12. Nic - Detrans Butch Lesbian (2023)
Melbourne woman "Nic" spoke to journalist Julie Szego for a story she was commissioned to write for The Age newspaper on youth gender transition. Ultimately a new editor at the paper refused to publish the piece and Szego was sacked over the issue. Szego subsequently launched a substack and later published a more in-depth story on Nic in November 2023.
Nic was a gender non-conforming child who was told by people since she was six years old that she was a lesbian. An emerging same-sex attraction in her teenage years felt dirty and wrong to her, and found the prospect of becoming a woman frightening. She socially transitioned as a teenager and was stealth in her final years of high school.
Nic attended an adult gender clinic at age 18. The clinic asked her to write a letter explaining why she wanted to transition. In retrospect Nic says her letter contained "internalised misogyny" and "lots of red flags". After 10 sessions with a mental health clinician over six months she was approved for hormones. She stopped taking testosterone after nine months due to negative side effects - a question remains over the suitability of the dose. This experience prompted her to reconsider transition.
Nic, now 22, considers herself to be a butch lesbian, rather than trans. She laments the commandeering of detrans narratives in the culture wars and the “very hostile” environment for detransitioners within the LGBTQ community.
Closing Remarks
The most consistent issue reported by Australian destransitioners in the media over the past 20 years is a lack of adequate psychological evaluation prior to commencing a medical treatment pathway. In some cases this involves a failure by treating clinicians to investigate the contributing role of sexual abuse in a patient’s desire to transition. Many report wishing they had been offered alternative treatment options to the medical or affirmation style approach such as counselling or psychotherapy.
Most detransitioners also report being harmed by the affirmative model due to the permanent changes from the surgical and hormonal interventions they received. These treatments have negatively impacted their physical and mental health. Such impacts include but are not limited to:
permanently altered voice
inability to breast feed
infertility from HRT
inability to have children due to hysterectomy
masculinisation of appearance
inability to have sex
suicidality
depression and anxiety
distrust of medical and mental health professionals
excessive pain and scaring from gender affirming surgeries
The majority of Australian detransitioners who have shared their story in the news media underwent medical transition as adults. According to a recent survey of detransitioners, which included Australian respondents, the average duration of transition before detransition is 4.75 years.
The author would like to thank all those who have been prepared to share their story publicly.
Please report any corrections or additions to: kellyjamesaus@proton.me
Good work, Kelly 👍