CLAIMS THAT CAITLYN JENNER IS EXPERIENCING “SEX CHANGE REGRET.” - IT'S ALL GOSSIP

 Caitlyn Jenner must be used to tabloid rumors by now. A report that began circulating over the weekend, however, upped the ante on Internet gossip: Writer Ian Halperin claimed that the former Olympian, who came out as transgender in an interview with Diane Sawyer last year, is experiencing “sex change regret.”
Halperin, author of “Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America’s Royal Family,” an unauthorized biography on the reality TV clan, told The Wrap that transitioning has “been very hard” for Jenner. Halperin continued, “She’s thrilled she has raised awareness about how transgender people have long been discriminated against but I think there’s a chance she’ll de-transition in the next couple years.” That claim, which was based on “whispers,” would trickle its way onto the Washington Post, Fox News, CBS News, and even the New York Times.


As a kicker, there’s now a story on a site called Report Quickly, which bills itself as “a combination of real shocking news and satire news”—with no visible differentiation between the two—that claims she was getting her “man parts back.”

The “detransitioning” claims were quickly debunked by Jenner’s rep, who told the New York Daily News: “Not worth commenting on such an idiotic report. Of course it’s not true.” Her friend, New York Times writer Jennifer Finney Boylan, further responded in an op-ed for The Advocate. “[R]egret over coming out?” Boylan wrote. “Not a chance.

If there’s one constant in Caitlyn’s life since last spring, it’s been a sense of joy at having finally found the courage to be herself.” As Boylan explained, Halperin never actually met with Caitlyn Jenner to confirm the accusations before speaking to The Wrap, nor did the publication reach out to Jenner’s camp about it.

There are some who would suggest that by aligning herself with the most ubiquitous reality TV dynasty in the history of the medium, Jenner asked for this. But Jenner, contrary to popular belief, isn’t “just another tabloid figure.” No matter what you personally think about her, Jenner’s public transition and how we report on it matters greatly to the vast community she represents.

Statistics show that the overwhelmingly vast majority of those who do transition lead healthier, happier lives because of it, but others may choose to reverse the process. While detransitioning isexceedingly uncommon, the media fascination doesn’t help those who may be struggling with their transition—for any number of valid reasons. What we need is a culture that supports transgender people, not one that spreads shameful gossip to tear them down.

For those unfamiliar with the subject, you might be wondering how many trans folks actually “detransition.” While people like Caitlyn Jenner have increased the visibility of transgender people in the media, the trans community remains a population that’s vastly under-researched in academic circles.

That means hard numbers on the subject are difficult to come by, but as the research that does exist suggests, the rate of postoperative “surgical regret” is extremely low. “Virtually every modern study puts it below 4 percent, and most estimate it to be between 1 and 2 percent,” the Huffington Post’s Brynn Tannehill reports. This is much lower than a 2014 poll from The British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons showing that two-thirds of all cosmetic surgery patients regretted going under the knife.

Nonetheless, stories on trans people choosing to “detransition” are vastly overreported by the press. After coming out as transgender, Walt Heyer would change his driver’s license, birth certificate, and legal documents before realizing that womanhood was not right for him.

Heyer has since spent his career using his isolated experience as confirmation that being transgender is a fraud and transitioning simply doesn’t work, reporting on the small number of cases that confirm his bias. In an interview with CNN last year, the author compared Jenner’s coming out to a night of heavy drinking. “It’s sort of like, you know, going down to the bar and you’re having a good time and you drink it up good and then, you know, you wake up with a hangover,” Meyer claimed.

In a personal essay, he further attacks the notion that being transgender is a valid identity. “Changing genders is short-term gain with long-term pain,” he writes. “Its consequences include early mortality, regret, mental illness, and suicide.” Heyer is correct that there is an “alarmingly” high rate of suicide among transgender people:

As USA Today reports, 41 percent will attempt to take their own life. In 2014, a trans high school student, 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, reminded the public of these grave realities. “The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living… because I’m transgender,” she wrote in a Tumble post. What Heyer doesn’t understand, however, is that these tragic incidents have little to do with “sex-change regret” or whether being transgender is the right decision. It’s about the lack of social and medical support people like Leelah Alcorn too often face.