Last Updated on December 6, 2019
A woman who transitioned into a man almost two decades ago has decided to transition back into a woman.
61-year-old Debbie Karemer transitioned into a man at the age of 44 after struggling with her gender identity for several years.
She eventually began testosterone therapy to become a man and changed her name to Lee Harries.
Karemer had surgery to remove her breasts merely three months after beginning testosterone–a day after consulting a private doctor.
In spite of many operations to facilitate her gender reassignment, she had a breakdown and started identifying as female again.
Karemer believes her troubles began when she was abused by her late father during her teenage years.
She blames her fear of being raped for her self-hatred.
Years of counselling revealed to her that she was suffering from PTSD following years of sexual abuse.
She has signaled that she feels trapped in an ‘approximation of a male body.’
Now, she is waiting on the NHS to assign her a reassignment surgery reversal via the Detransition Advocacy Network.
On her condition, she said: “Looking back now I realize that it was simply a feeling that if I didn’t have a vagina, I couldn’t be raped
“But I’m not a man, I am an approximation of a man. I feel completely mutilated. I completely missed out on being a woman… I wish I could wake up as Debbie.”
After nearly two decades on testosterone, she discontinued hormone treatment in February this year.
She has recently started taking estrogen as part of her detransition.
She believes that a misdiagnosis of her childhood trauma and lengthy sexual abuse caused her to want to transition.
If she had received proper psychological care, she insists that she might not have wished to transition in the first place.
