Irrespective of people's views on women's spaces there is no denying that historically those biological men who were using them were a very small number who were medically assessed.
I think the medical assessment process is often flawed though.
Many people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria might have been better helped by the medical profession if other very relevent factors were identified and nuanced support was available for these.
Abuse, childhood trauma, homophobia etc seem often also present in people's stories. If this is the case, contextualising it as transsexualism lessens the possibility of healing from what may be the source/s of the dysphoria.
I was so struck by Debbie's story. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, underwent full medical transition without her PTSD as a result of being sexually abused as a child being identified.
Mirror November 2018 (also in Mail)
(extract)
"After undergoing years of counselling, he says he has finally discovered he wasn't transgender. Instead, he says, he was a woman suffering with horrific complex PTSD after years of sexual abuse.
"Looking back now I realise that it was simply a feeling that if I didn't have a vagina, I couldn't be raped," he revealed.
"I feel completely 'mutilated'," he added.
He has spoken out on the 'taboo' subject of gender reassignment reversal to encourage others to seek talking therapy before surgery.
He says he should never have been allowed to transition, claiming sexual abuse sparked his dissatisfaction with his female body.
He alleges his father raped and abused him when he was a teenager, but died five years ago, before he could be charged.
Now, he looks in the mirror "through the eyes of that terrified 15-year-old girl and see this funny little man staring back at me".
He said: "I wish I could turn back the clock and just have the foresight of what the nightmare the next 15 years would be.
"I'm a woman I'm not meant to be a bloke. I'm trapped. It's a complete mess - where do you even start? I just regret the decision.
"There is this myth that when an individual 'changes gender' they go into hospital one gender and come out 'all done'. That isn't the case, there are years of surgeries and hormones for the rest of your life.
"The session where I realised this was so bad that I had a complete break down and panic attack because I realised it was a huge mistake.
"It should never have happened. It was a big wake up call.
"I was traumatised by what had happened in my life and it was misdiagnosed as being transgender.
"I was vulnerable, I just though that if I wasn't a girl my life would be different, I would be different, I would be accepted and that would be it.
"I thought that becoming a man would make me worthy and I would become a different person."
He added: "I'm not a man, I am an approximation of a man.
"I wish I could wake up as Debbie and realise that the last 15 years were just as bad a nightmare."
Lee primarily blames his father for what has happened to him.
But he says he believes the private psychiatrist who started off his transition should have "picked up on the fact I was abused".
"I should have had help somewhere along the line," he said.
"Nobody ever raised the idea that I could feel like this due to trauma. Not once - until it was all done.
"I have spent my life despising my own body.
"It's so inhumane to feel that was about your own body. But the fact is I now know I rejected my body because of the way my father treated me." (continues)
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/im-still-debbie-man-reveals-13532989
Like Leanne, Debbie was motivated to share her story to try to help others. I hope people with influence in transgender communities listen to them & reflect.
