That's something that always struck me about detransitioners. They were the helpless victims who were misled by Big Pharma and Big Trans and nobody tried hard enough to stop them.

This is a convenient narrative and I can definitely see the appeal. I have no doubt that a certain proportion of detransitioners were indeed helpless victims subject to perfidious doctors in the pocket of Big Pharma.

Late to this thread, but I just wanted to say, this is a really good point. Perhaps we ought to distinguish more often between child transitioners-- who really were pressured into it-- as opposed to those who medically transitioned as consenting adults.

I also worry that some of the people who do pose this framing of detransitioners may be emphasizing the experience of heterosexual detrans people, and disenfranchising that of LGB people. For example, a transman who fetishizes gay men then detransitions might suggest that she was conned, and to at least some extent she was, but it's worth acknowledging the part her actions played in negatively impacting gay male communities. She was still an identity tourist.

Even if you make an honest mistake, you still have to take responsibility for your actions. That's what's missing from the narrative. Ultimately, LGB people lose out in the end.