WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Independent Women Features (IW Features), the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, is sharing the story of Claire Abernathy, a detransitioner, and her mother, Carrie Abernathy. The mother-daughter duo shared exclusively with IW Features how they were sold the lie of so-called “gender-affirming care,” and how it permanently impacted their lives.
This documentary is part of IW Features’ “Identity Crisis” series, which launched in 2022 to tell the stories of detransitioners and their loved ones, exposing the crippling dangers of gender ideology and its toll on America’s youth.
Watch Claire and Carrie Abernathy’s story HERE
Claire, who is a detransitioner, has struggled with her body since a very young age, explaining to IW Features that going through puberty and developing breasts at an early age exacerbated the discomfort and confusion she already felt with her image.
Claire noted that she was first introduced to gender ideology online through Instagram and Tumblr, in addition to a sex education class in middle school where she was taught about the “genderbread person.” Before she was even a teenager, Claire began seeing a therapist who “specialized in the gender field.” This therapist, Claire told IW Features, “made my parents feel very small, like they didn’t know their own child.”
Failing to affirm Claire in her gender confusion would be abusive, the therapist warned her mother, Carrie, and her dad. For Carrie, those words were paralyzing. “If my child is going to kill herself if I don’t affirm her, I’m going to do whatever I have to save my child’s life,” Carrie told IW Features.
At the behest of professionals such as this therapist, Claire permanently – both chemically and surgically – altered her body. She told IW Features her doctors encouraged her to remove her breasts between middle and high school, when she was just 14 years old, so that she could enter high school as a “boy.” But it became obvious to Claire that she was not a boy and never would be. When Claire decided to read the Cass Report and the WPATH files, she said the whole house of cards came crashing down, and she realized it had all been a mistake.
Kaylee McGhee White, editor-in-chief of IW Features, said: “Claire and Carrie Abernathy’s story is becoming far too common. Impressionable and vulnerable children, and their parents who are desperate to help them, are being misled deliberately by medical professionals across the country. The affirmation-only approach being pushed by these professionals has cost families like the Abernathys greatly, and we’re proud to give them a platform from which to fight back.”
Andrea Mew, managing editor of IW Features and author of the profile, said: “Claire and Carrie’s story is a wake-up call to every parent being told that unequivocal affirmation is the only path forward. This is what happens when a generation of moms and dads are pressured to disregard their instincts and trust a predatory industry much more interested in ideology and profit than the long-term well-being of the children in their ‘care.’ America is watching these consequences unfold in real time, which is why at IW Features, we’re amplifying the voices of brave parents willing to break the silence like Carrie, so others can avoid the pain they endured.”
“Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” features stories from detransitioners, experts, and parents fighting to protect children and teens from the irreversible harms of gender ideology. From ‘top surgery’, nipples peeling off, clitoral growth, trapped milk ducts, and hairy bodies, Identity Crisis documentaries bring to light the graphic stories of young adults now reckoning with the physical and emotional scars of gender ideology.
- Soren’s Story | How One Detransitioner Found Peace Outside of Medicalization
- Washington Therapist and Whistleblower Fired for Calling Out Reckless Treatments Against Youth
- Prisha’s Story Pt. 1 | Mentally Ill Teen Betrayed by Health Professionals Who Recommended Testosterone and ‘Top Surgery’
- Prisha’s Story Pt. 2 | A Detransitioner’s Pregnancy Journey
- Isabelle’s Story | The 20-Year-Old Detransitioner Taking on the American Academy of Pediatrics
- Cat’s Story | Detransitioner Loses Natural Singing Voice After ‘Gender Affirming’ Care
- Daisy’s Story | After ‘Top Surgery’ & Hormones, Female Detransitioner Decided She Wanted to Be A Mom
- Cristina’s Story | Meet the Detransitioner Suing Planned Parenthood
- Detransitioner Speaks Out About Irreversible Damage After “Disastrous” Misdiagnosis
- Controversy Erupts in California School District Over Radical Gender Ideology in Classrooms
- This Therapist Network Helps Gender-Confused Children Through Counseling, Not Surgery
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