Story of Richard Hoskins detrasitioner in Mail on Sunday

In a 2015 survey of nearly 28,000 people conducted by the U.S.-based National Center for Transgender Equality, only 8 percent of respondents reported detransitioning, and 62 percent of those people said they only detransitioned temporarily. The most common reason for detransitioning, according to the survey, was pressure from a parent, while only 0.4 percent of respondents said they detransitioned after realizing transitioning wasn’t right for them.

The results of a 50-year survey published in 2010 of a cohort of 767 transgender people in Sweden found that about 2 percent of participants expressed regret after undergoing gender-affirming surgery.

The truth is that the vast majority of trans people are happy with their choices and the rates of detransitioning are tiny.

Do you have research which shows this?

All I did was ask if you had professional knowledge because you seemed to know so much!

You can learn a lot from reading and talking to people.

All I did was ask if you had professional knowledge because you seemed to know so much!

I googled him and came up with The Boy in the River: A shocking true story of ritual murder and sacrifice in the heart of London – a mass-market thriller title if there ever was one.

He certainly doesn't, in the Mail at least, write like any academic I've ever read. But you're right, a bit more research would have revealed that he has worked with the police and does specialise at a high level in some of the most gruesome and appalling murders imaginable. Not to say that every murder isn't appalling, of course.

Snowblight, no – but then I haven't commented on the transition process and timing.

By that logic there's an awful lot of potential trans people on this site seeing as discussing trans issues, especially surgery, accounts for the bulk of traffic on here.

Snowblight, no – but then I haven't commented on the transition process and timing.

Career made writing books about ritual and religious killings – he knows what sells.
No. Hoskins made his career out of being a expert consultant on ritual killings, based on researching religion, living in Africa and studying modern African witchcraft at first hand. He's only written the one book, on a London murder that had connections to African witchraft.
He can be rightly criticised for the narcisssitic atitudes and assumptions that come through in the Mail piece. But don't accuse him of "writing to sell".

So so sad. I can’t imagine the heartbreak of what he went through with his son.

I honestly don’t know how anyone could read that article and feel anything other than compassion. Maybe it will help others to realise that they are perhaps in a similar situation?

I agree.

Tangential, but I was also struck by the NHS funding of 80 hours electrolysis being available for transitioning men but not for women with hirsutism.

I'm wondering if any such woman has/would start a sex discrimination case against the NHS? Seems pretty clear-cut discrimination to me.

He blames the NHS 'machine' for fast-tracking him through the system in six weeks. I've never met any trans person who has been through the system that quickly.

I was surprised at that as well. We're always hearing about how long the waiting lists are. Was it really any different 5 years ago?

The question about whether he was right to go into the ladies' was a good ending though - self awareness of the effect of his behaviour on others beginning to dawn.

He'd clearly never once considered it before. Possibly partly due to feminists campaigning about the GRA and raising awareness of women's rights that he now has.

The PTSD element is so powerful; his early experience of abuse, family tragedy and the surely cumulative effects of the appalling cases he was routinely involved with.

How many people who transition have PTSD? Girls who have suffered abuse and men who have been in the military seem to be over-represented amongst transitioners.

Having lost several close relatives, I empathise with his loss. It must have been heartbreaking to slowly watch his son die. It can, in my situation, also mess up your mental health.

I can see why he did what he did. He should have been given extensive counselling. However, it is a grave concern that NHS went straight for medical transition not assessment for mental health problems.

vulnerable people seem to be pushed down this path and I blame the likes of Stonewall and the lobby groups.

Oh: you seem to know the ways the NHS works for gender reassignment patients. Have you been through the process?

No... and given that most people on here have a reasonable knowledge of it, have you?

Comorbidity isn't taken seriously in the right way.

Oh: you seem to know the ways the NHS works for gender reassignment patients. Have you been through the process?

Fawning? No I recognise the shitting all over everyone around and the rush to affirm rather than challenge whats been said.

The reality is at the time he'd most likely not have listened as he was so sucked into the fantasy and wrapped up in himself.

That's the point. The nature of the beast has always been there should be more not less gatekeeping though and more alternative routes legitimised.

You seem to know a lot about the NHS procedure and mental health services, Snowbright. Are you a professional working in these areas?

No

You seem to know a lot about the NHS procedure and mental health services, Snowbright. Are you a professional working in these areas?

many really do seem to think we are just background scenery in their busy and important lives

And this is reinforced everywhere - every film, book, tv series, tv advert. We are simply here to 'facilitate the lives of others' as Jane Garvey said - but that side of womanhood - the caring, the support - is never the female role that is adopted by the stunning the brave, is it?

The men suffer, the women support and make the difficult decisions.

Every individual story will have different circumstances but this is clearly a sweeping generalisation. Anyone working in mental health services involving men will tell you that one of the biggest pressures that many of them feel under is that they are the ones who are supposed to be the rocks, the ones to make the big decisions, the ones to not lose control and fall apart so they are there to support others who are grieving.

All I see is me, me, me, me, poor me. Ego the size of a house. Left the decision to switch off his son's life support machine to his wife. Not a word about the effect of his behaviour on his wives or child

Yes sorry this was my take on it tbh. He comes across as very selfish.

I am truly sorry for the trauma he suffered as I am sorry for what everyone else suffered too. But this luxury of time to even go have the surgery is something those left behind didnt have as they were picking up the slack back home.

Should the surgery have been performed? Hell no. I couldn't even get my tubes tied without being told I might change my mind. And that's reversible. This trans stuff is dangerously immune to normal procedures and is something that someone somewhere needs to work on because it will and has lead to stories like this.

The PTSD element is so powerful; his early experience of abuse, family tragedy and the surely cumulative effects of the appalling cases he was routinely involved with.

I hope in future the mental health aspect that the piece so clearly highlights will soon be given the care it needs as a matter of course. The 'what lies beneath?' question must be the most important one to ask.

Not one word about his son's mother's agony, though. The men suffer, the women support and make the difficult decisions.

The question about whether he was right to go into the ladies' was a good ending though - self awareness of the effect of his behaviour on others beginning to dawn.