Portrait of a detransitioner as a young woman

CAROL HAD long suspected her everyday life in rural California would be easier if she were a man. Yet she was stunned by how true this turned out to be. As a “butch” woman (and “not a big smiler”) she was routinely treated with slight contempt, she says. After a double mastectomy and a few months on testosterone—which gave her facial hair and a gravelly voice—“people, cashiers, everyone, suddenly became so goddam friendly”.