The Detransition Diaries is both personal and historical. It is personal in that it recounts the stories of five women and two men who felt they were born in the wrong body and believed the lie they were told by peers, teachers, and medical professionals that they could be their "true" selves by medically and surgically altering their bodies to match the opposite sex. Their stories describe the short- and long-term harm that so-called gender-affirmative medicine did to their mental and physical health. The book is historical because it outlines the history of the "gender-affirmation" movement, including the various individuals and organizations who have peddled the idea that the sexual binary is arbitrary.
The book closes with an analysis on how this dark chapter in medical abuse might end and what is needed for medicine to regain its obligation to do no harm.