but wouldn't we have noticed if people were suicidally depressed about their bodies? How would they all have kept that a secret?

In the past, it was widely assumed that having a lot of body-loathing that was deeply distressing was simply part and parcel of growing up and living female in a misogynistic society where males routinely sexually objectify and abuse girls and women, and where so many girls and women are taught that our worth is entirely based on our looks.

Lots of girls and women in previous generations were depressed as a result, but we did not go around making loud threats to kill ourselves as a result - coz we were raised to eschew that obvious sort of grandstanding, bullying and overtly manipulative type of behavior. And coz the response we would've had gotten would have been along the lines of, "Who cares?" and "Oh, get over yourself!" and "Go ahead, you won't be missed." So instead, girls and women expressed our body-loathing and depression in more subtle and covert ways - and in ways that involved punishing ourselves rather than lashing out at others and trying to punish society.

"Trans" people and advocates who threaten suicide and/or make false claims about the supposed high risk/rates of suicide amongst the "trans" population are actually engaging in aggressive behavior meant to be socially hostile to everyone not in the special group they pretend they're trying to help. Their principal aim is to cause harm and distress to everyone who isn't "trans," not really to end their own lives nor aid any "trans" person who truly is suicidally depressed. But of course their behavior actually does a great deal of harm to trans-identified people, especially the kids who are being told that constantly wanting to kill yourself is a key, defining feature of being "trans."

If individuals whose MO is to frequently threaten suicide and/or overplay their risk of suicide ever actually do attempt suicide, their central motive is usually the hope that their actions will cause other people in their lives to feel bad rather than to simply stop their own suffering.

When people are really serious about wanting to commit suicide, they usually don't broadcast their intent but rather keep their thoughts and plans on the QT. Most people who make plans to commit suicide and actually do so tell no one of their intent in the near-term time period beforehand. On the contrary, in their last days and weeks it's very common for genuinely suicidal people to mask their mood and their plans under a veneer of good cheer so as to give their loved ones the impression that they are feeling better now and their suicidal ideation is a thing of the past.

But that's for people who've been visibly depressed for a long while and who plan out their suicides ahead of time. Interestingly, a majority of people who've attempted suicide but survived have reported to mental health professionals that their decision to try to off themselves was made on the spur of the moment, without putting much or any thought into it beforehand. Which means they didn't spend any or much time making threats of suicide or talking about it beforehand either.