Lahl’s “The Detransition Diaries” Documentary Discusses Transgender Ethics at The King’s College

Photo Courtesy of the The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network.

The King’s College hosted former nurse and documentarian Jennifer Lahl to present her most recent film titled “The Detransition Diaries” on Tuesday, Nov. 15 in the City Room. 

Lahl has become a regular guest at The King’s College. Last year she presented a documentary that received both negative and positive responses from the student body.

This film follows the stories of three biological females – Helena, Cat and Grace – as they retell their stories of transitioning to transgender men and then “detransitioning” back to women. All of the women identified as transgender for an extensive period of time, taking injections of testosterone with one subject undergoing a double mastectomy. The film goes about exploring the themes of both why they started transitioning and why they went back to their biological sex. 

In the film, there were a variety of reasons the individuals gave regarding their decision to detransition — the most prominent being a deep feeling of loss. 

Helena explained that as soon as she came out as transgender, people celebrated her and paid more attention to her. “No one cared about how I was doing until I came out as trans,” Helen said. 

Lahl claimed this as a strategy LGBTQ+ communities utilize to gain more members by claiming, “If you do not fit in, the LGBTQ+ community is for you.”

Helena continued that while being transgender garnered her attention, it did not fix  her problems but instead redistributed them. “Instead of getting emotional, I would get incredibly irritable and angry all the time,” Helena said in the film.

Another one of the subjects of the film, Cat, said that as her voice changed, she experienced a deep sense of loss. Cat remembered “trying to sing and finding out that my voice could not reach the same notes because of the testosterone I was taking.” Cat stated that transitioning did not fix her previous mental health issues and “was a cover for my actual problems.”

Grace, a recipient of a double mastectomy and testosterone injections, recounted her deep sense of loss at the removal of her breasts. 

“After a few days, I would look in the mirror and wonder why I cut off my breasts,” Grace said. “You don’t have to change yourself to be yourself,” she explained in response to the idea that individuals find themselves in the wrong body. 

Beyond the stories of the women is the commonality they all shared in how easy it was to access transitioning medication, such as testosterone or other supplements. 

After the film screening, Lahl answered questions from students in the room. Grace Henry, a freshman majoring in Media, Culture and the Arts, asked, “Why is it that teachers, doctors and therapists are so quick to recommend life-altering treatments?” 

Lahl replied, “The easy answer is money, because once you do this to patients you have a patient for life because trans men will always need testosterone.” 

Matthew Peterson, a freshman majoring in Journalism, Culture, and Society, asked why the film exclusively showcased women and transmen.

Lahl responded, “We intentionally focused on women because of the uptick of how many young girls are struggling with this new ‘I hate my body’ mindset.” 

Jeremias Contreras, a freshman majoring in Business, asked, “What role did trauma play in their transitions into becoming trans men?”

Lahl replied, “For Helena, she lost a caregiver. Cat had a playmate that tried to molest her and caused trauma… When a girl is molested by a boy, many think that the safest thing to do is become a man because then men will not come after you.”

TKC Students for Life led an open dialogue at Cafe Grumpy to discuss the issue in detail on Friday, Nov. 18. “The film was really honest due to the authenticity of each of the detransitioner’s stories,” Peterson said.

Colton Taussig is a freshman at The King's College majoring in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. He is an avid film-lover and takes great pride in his home state of Missouri.