Why detransitioners feel silenced

Detransitioners report that their very existence is treated as a threat because it contradicts several core claims made by trans activists. They are told that “regret is vanishingly rare,” yet their lived experience shows detransition happens and can be traumatic. They are accused of being “TERF sock-puppets,” “internally transphobic,” or “never truly trans,” and are labeled “transphobic” simply for speaking. Online, they are banned, down-voted, or shouted down; in LGBT spaces they are asked to leave or told “you shouldn’t tell people you exist because they won’t take us seriously.” This silencing creates a cycle: fear of hostility keeps many quiet, which then reinforces the narrative that detransition is statistically insignificant. Detransitioners therefore feel erased from both progressive and conservative communities—rejected by the left for undermining trans narratives and used as “straw men” by the right—leaving them isolated and unheard.