We are at today’s Make More Noise event, Detransition: The Elephant in The Room! We will be live tweeting using the hashtag #ManchesterDetrans. Please follow along!

Charlie Evans, a detransitioned female and founder of the @DetransAdNet, introduces our speakers. She says ‘we are not motivated by hate. We are motivated by solidarity, sisterhood and a strong sense of justice’. #ManchesterDetrans

Our first story comes from Max, a female detransitioner who says that her transition was about ‘escaping lesbophobia and male harassment’. #ManchesterDetrans

Max notes that ‘every person who is born female is forced to modify her appearance in some way’. #ManchesterDetrans

Discussing the benefits of therapy for dysphoric individuals, Max says ‘it took a long time to link gender and body issues to what was going on in my life’. #ManchesterDetrans

Max finishes by saying ‘there isn’t a simple answer here. We need to think about it, talk about it and ask these questions’. #ManchesterDetrans

Our next speaker is Kira, who describes herself as being ‘caught up in transition’. #ManchesterDetrans

She says that as a child she had no female role models, socialised with boys and ‘was free to be the gender nonconformist child [she] was until puberty’ when she ‘started to feel the social pressures to conform’ to femininity. #ManchesterDetrans

Kira began hormone replacement therapy and had a double mastectomy at 20 years old but she discovered that ‘hormones and surgery can only do so much’ #ManchesterDetrans

She asks the very moving question, ‘How can I possibly be loving myself if I am sacrificing my general health in order to change my whole being?’ #ManchesterDetrans

Kira closes by saying ‘medical transition doesn’t have to be the only response to gender identity issues’. #ManchesterDetrans

We will now here from a panel of experts including Tavistock employee Dr David Bell (speaking in a personal capacity), psychotherapist @stellaomalley3, NHS doctor and clinical researcher @HannahKJRyan and clinical psychologist Dr Anna Hutchinson. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr David Bell says ‘as far as I know, I do not think any centre has properly followed up the patients’. He is shocked that clinics ‘carry out a major intervention and not follow up the patients’. #ManchesterDetrans

He adds that the term ‘puberty blockers’ is misleading. He says that they are ‘potent drugs’ which probably have physiological consequences beyond affecting puberty. #ManchesterDetrans

He goes on to say that the term ‘puberty blockers’ falsely implies that they are a targeted medical intervention and ‘lures us towards a simplification of something that is much more complex than that’. #ManchesterDetrans

@stellaomalley3 says that ‘the lack of long term evidence is the biggest issue in this field...we need to tread carefully’. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr Ann Hutchinson points out the alarming statistic that ‘nearly 100% of those who take puberty blockers go on to take cross-sex hormones’. #ManchesterDetrans

@charlie_sci adds that ‘we have no system to effectively collect data on detransition’. @HannahKJRyan agrees, highlighting the importance of acknowledging that existing statistics on detransition are highly questionable. #ManchesterDetrans

@HannahKJRyan notes that the effects of puberty blockers and HRT are long term and so long term data collection on these treatments is absolutely crucial. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr David Bell asks someone absolutely crucial questions: ‘Why is this happening? What kind of social, cultural events are leading to this rapid change? Has there been a sudden rise in misogyny? Are girls internalising their hatred of femininity?’ #ManchesterDetrans

He says that ‘it would be very reductionist to put this down to individuals’ and says that understanding the complex social and cultural factors motivating this rapid change will take time. #ManchesterDetrans

He questions the concerning ‘rush to [give] experimental treatment’. #ManchesterDetrans

@HannahKJRyan says that more clinicians are starting to engage with the issue and she hopes that more medical professionals will speak out. She says ‘there is a lot of pressure to move quickly’. #ManchesterDetrans

@HannahKJRyan says that those health professionals working face to face with children and teenagers who are experiencing a lot of distress are under ‘immense pressure’, both professionally and morally, to act. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr David Bell says that there is fear amongst medical professionals of being called transphobic or being accused of a hate crime. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr Anna Hutchinson says that medical professionals are accused of transphobia for calling for more research. She says ‘how can it be transphobic to call for better standards of care? I want better standards of care for dysphoric children’. #ManchesterDetrans

A member of the audience who is also a medical professional working in this field describes his experiences of being silenced. He says, ‘we are advised against using the terms detransition and desisters’ and says that this deeply worries him. #ManchesterDetrans

He also describes how the conflation of gender identity and sexuality is leading to a form of conversion therapy for these children. #ManchesterDetrans

Another audience member, a clinical psychologist and lecturer, describes her concerns about the ‘affirmation-only model’ which advocates immediate social transition for gender-questioning children. #ManchesterDetrans

@HannahKJRyan agrees and notes that the impact of social transition is significant and should not be underestimated. #ManchesterDetrans

An audience member notes that gender ideology feels like old school sexism. Dr David Bell responds by saying that he has observed a ‘caricaturing of gender stereotypes’ through transition. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr Bell also says there is ‘a great confusion in talking about gender and talking about sexuality as if they are the same thing’. He laments that gay and lesbian young people are being deprived of the opportunity to come terms with their emerging sexuality. #ManchesterDetrans

Dr Bell also makes the harrowing link between the rise in medical transition and increasingly commodified & privatised healthcare where the ‘consumer is always right’. He feels that treating patients as consumers is dangerous & leads to a rush to transition. #ManchesterDetrans

@stellaomalley3 says that the relationship between gender-questioning individuals and therapists should be ‘explorative and slow’. #ManchesterDetrans

@HannahKJRyan says that ‘there isn’t open dialogue’ between all relevant parties and that discussions such as today’s @MakeMoreNoise2 event are incredibly important. #ManchesterDetrans

@stellaomalley3 describes the difficulty she experienced in making her documentary ‘Trans Kids – It’s Time To Talk’ as so many sources refused to speak on the issue. #ManchesterDetrans

She says that we must galvanise as we can’t let the non-experts rule the debate. #ManchesterDetrans

We will now hear from a brave panel of detransitioners including @tjdetrans and @sathananas. #ManchesterDetrans

‘Us detransitioners agree that medical transition is not the perfect solution to gender dysphoria’. #ManchesterDetrans

Ellie describes having a lack of role models who were masculine females and how she struggled to envisage growing up to be a lesbian woman. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas also describes having no lesbians around her growing up and also struggling to imagine her life as a lesbian woman. She describes coming to the realisation that her transition was at least partially motivated by internalised homophobia. #ManchesterDetrans

@tjdetrans describes the influence of the internet on her transition. When she was 14, feeling socially isolated & struggling to admit that she is a lesbian, ‘being able to see things online which gave [her] a way out of those things was very reassuring’. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas makes some extremely heartfelt and moving statements. Regarding her fellow panelists she says ‘where have these women been all my life? It could have prevented all this pain and suffering if I had these women in my life’. #ManchesterDetrans

The stories of these women highlight the urgent need for young lesbians to be surrounded by understanding, support, solidarity and sisterhood. #ManchesterDetrans

Regarding the new wave of sex-positive feminism, @sathananas says ‘it’s easy to have rainbow stickers in your room and it’s easy to say you love being gay but it’s really hard to actually live that’. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas calls for ‘representation of masculine women and lesbians’ and @charlie_sci agrees that ‘bringing back lesbian spaces would be very positive’. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas poses an incredibly poignant question: ‘What the hell are surgeons doing calling this gender reassignment and gender reaffirming healthcare? Because my body doesn’t feel healthy anymore’. #ManchesterDetrans

Describing her decision to desist, @tjdetrans says ‘thankfully I chose that path. It wasn’t an easy path to choose but I’m glad I’m here’. #ManchesterDetrans

@tjdetrans describes watching @stellaomalley3’s documentary & posting on social media that it should be avoided at all costs as it was ‘full of terfs’. @tjdetrans says that she is now grateful for this documentary and the exposure to the opposing argument. #ManchesterDetrans

Another speaker describes her double mastectomy which she doesn’t regret as it ‘helped with the symptoms but not the underlying cause’. She, like other panel members, draws parallels between her gender dysphoria and her eating disorder. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas describes feelings of hopelessness & futility in her attempt to ‘become male’ through surgeries. Having undergone a mastectomy, a hysterectomy and an oophorectomy she realised she would never become male. ‘I’m sorry I just can’t believe it anymore’. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas says ‘surgeons are pushing you towards more surgery. I woke up from my hysterectomy and the nurse asked if I wanted a [mastectomy] revision...I was given a flyer for phalloplasty’. #ManchesterDetrans

@sathananas continues ‘it took so much energy to keep reassuring myself that I am a man’. She describes her journey towards accepting reality: ‘it’s really hard...but so is surgery’. #ManchesterDetrans

Ellie adds ‘I was never given the option of accepting my own body the way it was. People experiencing gender dysphoria deserve much better than this. They deserve much better than experimental treatment. They deserve the opportunity to accept their body’. #ManchesterDetrans

Final comment from an audience member who is audibly upset by the panel’s experiences. He says ‘I was 30 before I was happy with myself. People have done this to you & allowed this to go on. You say where do we need a platform next? You need it everywhere’. #ManchesterDetrans

The stories from this panel have been incredibly moving. We would like to thank them for their bravery in sharing what are clearly deeply personal and traumatic experiences. We extend our solidarity to them all. #ManchesterDetrans