Detransitioner Perspective: How Trans Social Contagion Spreads

In Greek mythology, the Sirens, featured prominently in Homer’s Odyssey, are creatures that lure sailors to be shipwrecked on dangerous rocks. As the Homeric text reads:

Now stop your ship and listen to our voices. All those who pass this way hear honeyed song poured from our mouths. The music brings them joy, and they go on their way with greater knowledge.

Answers about life and its meaning, and knowledge of your self and your purpose are what all humans seek and crave—therefore, this is what the Sirens use to attract the sailors (contrary to popular renderings of the Sirens)—and it’s more tempting than any physical attractiveness could be. Gender ideology offers that same Siren song, and modern teens and young people are drawn to it just as the sailors of myth—and with a similar end result.

Gender ideology claims to offer such knowledge through “gender exploration”, which is when one entertains the idea that they have an innate sense of gender that trumps their sex. Trans activists frame this as liberation. According to a Healthline article, being nonbinary is about “having a core sense of self that…respects and sees your personhood first and foremost” and “knowing yourself and doing what’s right for you”. These sorts of ideas can be enchanting to many, but especially to those who feel lost in life, and are eager to latch onto a belief system that promises to explain and solve all of their issues.

The nonbinary label, however, is a bit of a slippery slope, or maybe a gateway drug. People who identify as nonbinary often become dissatisfied with this label when they find it does not actually improve their lives and, having already been indoctrinated in a non-reality based belief system, move on to a cross-sex identity.

Activists know this and play into it. For instance, the British trans activist organization Mermaids states that “gender dysphoria”, which was long taken as the basis of transgender identities, can manifest as a general struggle with life, framing it in advance as a very broad state of being that can apply to most everyone. This sentiment is echoed in several popular resources such as the Gender Dysphoria Bible, which states that “a lot of people believe that you can only be trans if you feel actively hurt by being seen as a man, but that particular feeling won’t usually arrive until after you’ve started to transition and you finally know who you truly are” — in other words, that discomfort with biological sex will only come after adopting a cross-sex identity.

Basically, presenting as the opposite sex is how you determine that you are trans. As the Gender Dysphoria Bible (a sort of gender manual that many young people will reference) states, “gender euphoria”— a joy derived from performing what is perceived as femininity as a male or performing what is perceived as masculinity as a female, should be seen as “a sign that you’re proceeding in the right direction”. What they neglect to mention, however, is the placebo effect of cross-sex performance, which is inevitable since transition has already been falsely portrayed as a miracle cure with a low regret rate (something for which there is no proof). When the portrayal of transition as a miracle cure is combined with the idea that one need not have lifelong discomfort with his or her biological sex to happily transition, this can lead to a (false) understanding that transition is the right and only path. And then, in circular logic, this conviction is something that trans activists cite as proof of a trans identity. As the Gender Dysphoria Bible preaches, “cis [men] don’t constantly wonder what it would be like to be a girl”. If you think it, therefore, you are it.

Trans Safe Spaces

When transitioning and questioning gender, one seeks out other trans-identifying people to talk with, often in online trans “safe spaces” such as Reddit forums or Discord chat rooms. In these so-called “safe spaces”, people’s cross-sex identities and the efficacy of transition are never to be questioned (since to question would be to drive someone to suicide). Minors are allowed into these safe spaces, and trans activists justify by saying that, for many minors, these spaces are the only spaces where their cross-sex identities are affirmed (and this affirmation is necessary to prevent suicide). In reality, oftentimes these safe spaces critique all narratives that counter the gender ideology dogma, purportedly to avoid exposing users to “transphobia” — again, for fear of causing suicide. Discussions of autogynephilia, a paraphilia where men are sexually aroused by the idea of themselves as women, are considered “transphobic” and are therefore also forbidden on these forums, despite being a well-documented phenomenon. The one-sided nature of these forums, in general, makes them an echo chamber of transition positivity, which is misleading, alluring, and self-fulfilling, especially for unhappy people.

These spaces also promote highly-stereotyped ideas of what male and female are, which can lead a person with no prior gender confusion to begin to doubt themselves upon finding these spaces. For instance, people in these spaces will say that disliking having breasts as a female, liking boy-bands or not wanting to be a stereotypical big strong man as a male, and even same-sex attraction are all evidence that you are trans and reasons you should transition. The worst spaces for this are trans meme forums such as Reddit’s r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns and r/egg_irl forums. While trans activists may try to say that these forums should not be taken seriously because they are intended to be humorous—however many cite the info and conversations they read on these forums as the reason they chose to transition.

One of the dirty secrets of the trans fora is that the people who run these safe spaces that allow minors are often autogynephiles and sexual predators. This, among other reasons, is why autogynephilia is off-limits in these forums and, if mentioned, is excused. A notable example of this is A. Challenor, a Furry, diaper fetishist, and suspected pedophile who ran Reddit’s r/lgbt forum—a forum that claims to be a safe space for minors. With Challenor as a moderator, autogynephilic, sexualized, and fetishistic content feature dprominently in these “safe spaces”—especially trans meme communities. It is also worth mentioning that Reddit allows pornography on their site and does not ask users for their age when creating an account, which means that sexual material inappropriate for minors is only blurred out on Reddit, but it can easily made visible by simply clicking a button on the post that says “I agree to see content that may be disturbing”. Additionally, this material is not always blurred out.

Porn stars have also been known to use Reddit’s livestream function on the supposedly minor-friendly r/lgbt forum to advertise their inappropriate social media accounts. “Trans-safe” Discord chat rooms have also been used by adults to engage with minors in e-sex and to give minors cross-sex hormones that they were not prescribed, behind their parents’ backs, made by random people in their bathtubs—something unrepentantly promoted by mainstream media-supported trans activists who target gender-confused teens.

Advice for Parents

Parents concerned about their children suddenly taking up a cross-sex gender identity with no prior signs of dysphoria need to know that social contagion is often at play, and that the materials about gender they are consuming encourage this, and even market it, in a Siren song meant to attract confused young people.

Wherever children and young people encounter gender ideology online and in society, it is promoted with a decidedly positive slant. With this full-court press marketing, completely unregulated and unchecked, it is no surprise that there has been nothing short of an explosion of young people identifying as trans. Be it a school GSA club, class, friend group, fandom community, or social media circle, your kids are being exposed to people pushing gender ideology and witnessing the exuberant praise of trans-identified people just because they are trans-identified. If they are lured by the Sirens, they will quickly find themselves in trans-specific “safe spaces” that groom them into identifying as trans.

The best way to fight this is to regularly talk with your children about gender ideology from a critical perspective. Ask them why they identify as trans; make them think critically about their “trans identity”. Give them Matt Walsh’s famous question— “What is a woman?”—and point out that a circular definition for any other word would be unacceptable. Point out that stereotypes aren’t set in stone (Did you know that it is considered masculine for Greek men to wear skirts? Did you know that pink was once a “boy color” and blue a “girl color”?). When they bring you stories of notable “historical trans people”, discuss these stories with them critically (Do you think Albert Cashier could have had internalized misogyny?). Tell them stories of notable same-sex attracted people like Sally Ride so that they know being homosexual is okay and will not hinder their success in life.

Most importantly, show them the other side of the coin, that people have regretted transition as long as people have been transitioning, and that transition is not as “safe and effective” as they were led to believe. Point out the flaws in the science behind gender ideology and the fallacies used by trans activists in their reasoning, such as the bandwagon fallacy and the false dilemma. Knowledge is power, and when your kids use their knowledge and critical thinking skills to get to an objective, truthful conclusion, they will be better protected from the transgender social contagion.

For more from this author, check out his substack.