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Sinéad Watson and transgender people

Sinéad Watson is a Scottish ex-transgender activist. Watson gets money and attention by making it harder for others to access trans healthcare. Watson is affiliated with anti-transgender hate group Genspect.

Background

Watson was born in ~1991 and reports being repeatedly sexually assaulted as a teen.

Watson made a gender transition as an adult. Watson socially transitioned at age 20 and began medical transition at age 24. Watson had top surgery at age 26. In October 2019, at age 28, Watson made additional changes in identity and expression.

Rather than taking personal responsibility for medical decisions made as an adult, Watson blames “the trans lobby.” According to a post by anti-trans activist Julie Bindel:

Watson self-referred to the Sandyford in 2014, having spent time in a psychiatric unit following a severe mental breakdown. “I burned my house down while trying to kill myself,” she says, “and made out to the doctor it was because I was really a trans man and needed to transition. That was bullshit.” Watson was suffering from depression, dependent on alcohol, and struggling to accept that she was a lesbian.

Ex-trans activism

According to a 2021 post by Lee Leveille of Health Liberation Now!:

Sinéad Watson is a detransitioned woman from Scotland who has been featured on BBC Scotland’s The Nine. She was one of the co-organizers of the #DetransAwarenessDay campaign and serves as an advisor for the parent advocacy group Genspect. Genspect is led by Stella O’Malley, who has also founded the Gender Dysphoria Support Network (GDSN) and is a founding member of Thoughtful Therapists alongside James Esses and James Caspian. Like [Mary E.] McAlister [of the Child & Parental Rights Campaign], O’Malley has also claimed that talk therapy isn’t used as a form of conversion therapy, a fact contested by research from international experts on conversion practices. Watson, in her advocacy to oppose the proposed conversion therapy ban in Scotland, reiterated O’Malley’s claims and argued that “if exploratory talk therapy is deemed conversion therapy, it’s not a kindness and will result in countless others like myself who have been harmed[.]” She also serves as the advisor for the Gender Dysphoria Alliance, a peer-run group comprised primarily of trans men who advocate for higher restrictions on transition-related care. Gender Dysphoria Alliance was denounced by No Conversion Canada and University-Rosedale Greens for its claims that Green Party electoral candidate Tim Grant signed their “pledge” opposing conversion therapy bans that cover talk therapy. The claim was initially repeated by Genspect though it has since been corrected.

Prior to her detransition, Watson was a transmedicalist YouTuber who went by the pseudonym “Yorick.” In previous videos she asserted that by supporting their children in exploring their identities, parents (particularly mothers) of trans youth are perpetrating child abuse. She has also confessed to “enjoying a lot of [the] content” of the alt-right YouTubers Steven Crowder, Dave Cullen/Computing Forever, and Black Pigeon Speaks, though she took issue with their interviews with Walt Heyer. In her video “Let’s Talk About Sex Reassignment Regret,” she rejected Heyer’s use of his personal story to oppose trans health care. Calling attention to the fact that Heyer is not a licensed professional who’s “status as a rehabilitated trans person is paying well[,]” she expressed frustration at how “the anti-trans movement is treating him as a poster boy and probably raining praise on him.” This opens questions about her recruitment of legal counsel that frequently cites him, including within the very brief they filed, to help her oppose trans health coverage in Arizona.

References

Stone, Gemma (March 21, 2022). Former Anti-SJW YouTuber Gets Shoutout From JK Rowling. Medium https://medium.com/@notCursedE/former-anti-sjw-youtuber-gets-shoutout-from-jk-rowling-af98a0da49b0

Cook, James (February 10, 2020). The dividing lines over Scotland’s gender laws. BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-51445579

Anti-trans coverage

Bindel, Julie (May 3, 2024). GENDER OP HELL : I had surgery to become a man but regretted it so I changed back to a woman five years later – now my body Is ruined. The Sun https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/27720466/gender-transition-surgery-regret-body-ruined/

Thomas, Kim (April 29, 2023). The troubling truth about ‘gender affirming’ mastectomies. The Spectator https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-troubling-truth-about-gender-affirming-mastectomies/

Bindel, Julie (September 15, 2022). Scotland’s Tavistock must fall. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2022/09/scotlands-tavistock-must-fall/

Bayswater Support (February 19, 2021). Detransition Story: Watson. https://www.bayswatersupport.org.uk/detransition-story-watson/

“Laval, M.” (September 9, 2021). Canada Votes 2021: Party positions on gender. Genspect https://genspect.org/canada-votes-2021-party-positions-on-gender/

Selected writing by Watson

Watson, Sinéad (August 2, 2023). The trans lobby pushed me to have a double mastectomy and I bitterly regret it. That’s why Costa’s advert is so dangerous. Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12366421/The-trans-lobby-pushed-double-masectomy-bitterly-regret-Thats-Costas-advert-dangerous-writes-SINEAD-WATSON-detransitioned-woman-double-mastectomy.html

Media

Andy Ngo Live with Andy Ngo and Sinéad Watson (November 1, 2022). ‘I wish I could feel my chest’: Ex-trans shares her story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p90K88EdOXs

Transparency with Aaron Kimberly, Aaron Terrell, and Sinéad Watson (September 4, 2022). EP47 – It’s Ms. Watson, thank-you – with Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBnPzgwD9B8

GBNews with Dan Wootton and Sinéad Watson (August 11, 2022). ‘Why have we been experimenting on children?’ | Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPB3UJreqqc

Genspect / GBNews with Stella O’Malley and Sinéad Watson (August 1, 2022). Genspect advisors Stella O’Malley and Sinéad Watson discuss the closure of the Tavistock on GB News. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mseopbrwz0s

Genspect with Alex Phillips, Stella O’Malley, and Sinéad Watson (Jul 30, 2022). Reflections on the closure of the Tavistock: Sinéad Watson in conversation with Stella O’Malley. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr3z34RW_h0

Genspect with Sinéad Watson (April 6, 2022). Detrans Awareness Day Webinar 2022 – Sinéad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF8PCghKTl8

The Cauldron with Lisa, Denise, Claire and Sinéad Watson (January 21, 2022). The Cauldron – Lisa, Denise and Claire interview Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8EXYgcoPPs

GBNews with Alex Phillips and Sinéad Watson (December 7, 2021). ‘Exploratory therapy would have saved me a lot of pain,’ says Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp7d9guHmm4

LGB Alliance with Malcolm Clark, Helen Joyce, Tanya Carter, Kate Grimes, Az Hakeem, and Sinéad Watson (November 13, 2021). Session 1: Lies, Gender Identity & Stereotypes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YzVihxjI0

The Mess We’re In with Graham Linehan, Helen Staniland, “Arty Morty,” and Sinéad Watson (November 10, 2021). The Mess We’re In Ep. #94: Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho-982j4CLU

Merched Cymru with Az Hakeem and Sinéad Watson (October 5, 2021). Webinar: Transition and Detranstion with Dr Az Hakeem and Sinead Watson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrjogH-WAxg

Make More Noise with Keira Bell, Sinéad Watson, “Bec Wonders,” “Lu Lu” and “DJ Lippy” (July 20, 2021). Free speech and the nature of gender transition. A conversation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltPrAbHuuVw

Sinéad Watson (July 1, 2021). Ramblings of a detransitioned woman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj9dImEgNqI

Labour Women’s Declaration and Sinéad Watson (May 22, 2021). Sinead Watson, detransitioned woman, on devastating impact of gender clinic’s “affirmative model.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMbTd1crgs

Sinéad Watson (March 12, 2021). Detrans Awareness Day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1sgrVrET0

Staff report (February 10, 2020). Sinead is worried about a possible change in the law. BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-51453612

Videos by or about “Yorick”

Azazel (February 13, 2018). Freedom of Speech on University Campuses (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRmzHVdIGmQ

Azazel (January 12, 2018). The Genderfluid Generation (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqgN3CGhUfM

Azazel (January 10, 2018). ‘Transtrenders’ – Milo Stewart (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxaMhoaEYiQ

Azazel (November 28, 2017). My Beef with Ben Shapiro (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjdD3PezPAw

Azazel (November 7, 2017). The Rise of the Transgender Child (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmJlbal3_QQ

Azazel (November 7, 2017). Let’s Talk About Sex Reassignment Regret (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Rs3_MRFZM

Azazel (November 7, 2017). Casual Transphobia: Can Words Kill? (Yorick Re-Upload). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMvcORJZars

Magdalen Berns (October 10, 2016). Debunking Myths about “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism” (“TERF”). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UafsVsUYTjI

Resources

Genspect (genspect.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Gender Dysphoria Alliance (genderdysphoriaalliance.com) [archive]

  • Who We Are

Substack (substack.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

UK LGBT Archive (lgbthistoryuk.org)