What Happens During Trans Conversion Therapy? The Answer is Horrifying

Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson displayed an appalling about-face after taking back his promise to ban all conversion therapy—including trans conversion therapy—citing the need for “parental involvement” in a child’s transition. While none of us were shocked by the news, it did represent a strange consistency with the decisions in America, specifically on the part of Alabama and Texas, to treat gender-confirming treatment as a form of child abuse. Whether or not Johnson’s decision was a last-ditch attempt to court Tory votes (in the same way that Texas politicians are using transness as the sticking point in order to get re-elected) it leaves trans minors out in the cold, vulnerable to the harsh, abusive practices of parents and organizations who still believe that gayness and transness can be “prayed away.” 

But while we know plenty about the practice of gay conversion therapy, thanks to fiction treatments like 2018’s Boy Erased and The Miseducation of Cameron Post, as well as documentary accounts like last year’s “Pray Away,” trans conversion therapy remains a confusing concept for many. So just what does this traumatic process entail? Writer and scholar Florence Ashley, and expert on trans conversion practices, wrote an entire book on the subject (it’s of course being review-bombed by TERFs at the moment, so go and give it five stars if you have a  moment.) In a thread over the weekend, Ashley explained in detail the kind of harm and abuse trans subjects are put through during these “therapy sessions.” 

Someone asked about what trans conversion practices entail, in light of the UK’s plan not to ban them. I thought I would share my answer here for everyone’s benefit.

What are trans conversion practices? A thread.🧵

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

A survey by Ozanne Foundation reported these forms of conversion practices in decreasing order of how common they are: talk therapy, private prayer, verbal abuse, behavioural conditioning, emotional healing, prayer with close friends, exorcisms, counselling with a minister…

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

“Verbal abuse, behavioral conditioning, and exorcisms.” Yup sounds…like it should be banned! It gets worse:

…beatings, isolation, plea bargaining with god, religious fasting, food deprivation or forced feeding, corrective rape, and forced nudity. Yeah. It’s really bad.

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

Psychoanalysis continues to have a strong influence in trans conversion practices, seeing transness as fundamentally pathological and rooted in some sort of disruption of normal childhood gender development—often the mother’s fault, or trauma.

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

The consent question is an especially important one:

One topic people disagree on is whether it can ever be consensual, as people often consent due to internalized transphobia, fears or threats of social and familial ostracism including losing employment or being disowned, as a condition of access to gender-affirming care, or…

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

…because they were misled. A brand new study I co-authored with colleagues found that only 30% of survivors who ostensibly consented were aware of the practices’ objective; and only 40% of parents who consented for them.https://t.co/rSHG2GX0q4

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

Young people around the ages of 18-19 are at high risk, but so are trans adults being pressured into the practice by family, unsupportive workplaces, or the medical establishment itself.

We also see a very significant spike from around 18-19, suggesting that the practices often prey on vulnerable young adults who recent left the family nest and are struggling with their gender.

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

A new study also found that it’s not just “quack” doctors who are engaging in this practice. It’s licensed professionals.

In our new study linked above, we found that 58% of trans conversion practices were by healthcare professionals and another 18% by counselors, therapists, teachers, and other providers in a position of authority.

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

The practice of trans conversion therapy isn’t that removed from gay conversion therapy. Both practices seek to remove “gender deviance” from the world.

While this may be surprising to those who see sexual orientation and gender identity as separate, it’s important to remember that many of those who offer conversion practices see them both as gender deviance.

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022

This is only the tip of the iceberg, of course. If you want to learn more, check out Ashley’s book launch this Wednesday.

I hope this is helpful. If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to get my book and come to my virtual book launch on April 13th at 3 pm EST.https://t.co/wUjb5517Mh

— Instructor Florence Ashley (@ButNotTheCity) April 10, 2022