WASHINGTON, D.C. – At 13 years old, Jonni Skinner was made to believe he had somehow been born in the wrong body. He was diagnosed as transgender after just one appointment, referred to specialists, prescribed testosterone blockers and estrogen, and assured that transition was the only path toward a livable future.
Now 22 years old, Skinner has become one of America’s most outspoken detransitioners. He argues that what he needed as a lonely, autistic, feminine young boy wasn’t a new identity. Rather, he needed the freedom to grow into himself without irreversible medical intervention that still affects him to this day.
Independent Women’s Features (IW Features), the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, released a new documentary today, chronicling Skinner’s experience as part of its ongoing “Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” series, which was established in 2022.
Watch Jonni Skinner’s story here: Jonni Skinner Says He Wasn’t Born in the Wrong Body, But His Doctors Told Him Otherwise
Diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Jonni Skinner, who was from a small town in Michigan, told IW Features that he was bullied for being a feminine boy.
Shortly after turning 13 years old and being diagnosed as transgender, Skinner was quickly placed on testosterone blockers, estrogen, and months later had a puberty blocker implanted.
The clinician had presented Skinner’s mother with a familiar phrase that has now surfaced time after time in lawsuits and detransitioner accounts: “Would you rather have a living daughter or a dead son?”
This decision set the course for the next decade of Skinner’s life after the treatments left him with devastating health problems—including dizziness, fainting spells, worsening urinary problems, severe bladder inflammation, and ulcers—before he ultimately chose to detransition. Today, he continues to experience health problems he believes stem from years of wrong-sex intervention. Skinner told IW Features:
“I was just a gay guy that they did this to, and I just never had the chance to grow up to figure that out.”
Looking back, Skinner told IW Features what he needed was not medical intervention, but time and support.
“I just needed more support to build some self-worth. I needed people to protect me from this medicalization so I could have the life experience to figure out who I was.”
IW FEATURES’ “IDENTITY CRISIS” DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Skinner’s documentary is the latest installment of IW Features’ “Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” series, which highlights the stories of detransitioners, experts, and parents fighting to protect children and teens from the irreversible harms of gender ideology.
The “Identity Crisis” series, since its inception in 2022, has featured Independent Women ambassadors Soren Aldaco, Prisha Mosley, Claire Abernathy, and Luke Healy, who have shared their personal experiences facing the harmful realities of so-called “gender-affirming care”:
- Claire Abernathy: Detransitioner and Mother Were Sold the Lie of Gender Transition—Now They’re Exposing the Real Costs
- Luke Healy: Luke Healy Was Groomed to Transition. His Mom Refused to Play Along
- Prisha Mosley: Mentally Ill Teen Betrayed by Health Professionals Who Recommended Testosterone and “Top Surgery”
- Prisha Mosley Pt. 2: A Detransitioner’s Pregnancy Journey
- Soren Aldaco: How One Detransitioner Found Peace Outside of Medicalization
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