A teenage girl says she is de-transitioning after being influenced to wrongly identify as a boy by TikTok users.<br /><br />Ash Eskridge, 16, started transitioning into a male when she was 13 years old.<br /><br />She said she was feeling depressed at age 12 and influenced by 'social media influencers' who made her think she was trans.<br /><br />Ash got her name legally - going by Greysen - and socially transitioned - which involved getting a new wardrobe and cutting her hair.<br /><br />Once she turned 16, Ash started taking testosterone and her voice became lower.<br /><br />Ash said she realised she made a mistake in April after feeling "unnatural" having body hair and a low voice and began de-transitioning this year.<br /><br />She said she thinks influencers on TikTok made her want to transition after they said how transitioning saved their life.<br /><br />Ash, a student, from Missoula, Montana, US, said: "I saw a bunch of stuff on the internet and wanted to fix myself the way that those people have been fixed.<br /><br />"I saw TikTok videos by influencers saying how that transitioning saved their life.<br /><br />"I was struggling and wanted it to save my life too.<br /><br />"My family were very confused - my life had been really girly and I never showed any dislike of being a girl.<br /><br />"They were very supportive of me but they never thought it was right for me but they stood by me regardless."<br /><br />When she was 13 years old, Ahs told her mum, Darcy Eskridge, 46, how she wanted to transition.<br /><br />Darcy, a secretary, said: "She told us she was trans. It was after Covid and she was at home a lot.<br /><br />"She started spending too much time on TikTok, watching influencers who were saying how they went through the same thing.<br /><br />"How they had transitioned and it made them happy.<br /><br />"We questioned Ash and pushed back.<br /><br />"We told her we would accept her for who she is but how we didn't feel this was the right path for her."<br /><br />After two and a half years as living as a male Ash started taking hormones and she grew body hair but said it felt "unnatural".<br /><br />Ash said: "My voice dropping didn't feel correct. When the voice started dropping it made me feel uncomfortable and the body hair felt really gross.<br /><br />"It was a big build-up of that and I missed being a girl - I was missing the way I was perceived in society.<br /><br />"My breaking point was when I had a dream that I was a girl and I thought 'I can't do this anymore'."<br /><br />In April 2023, Ash told her family how she had made a mistake and wanted to de-transition.<br /><br />Darcy, said: "She came to us and said how she made a mistake.<br /><br />"She told us how easily influenced she was by social media.<br /><br />"There was a lot of shock from us but also a sense of relief as we never thought it would be the best path in life for her.<br /><br />"As I said, there was a shock but we supported her, we always supported her."<br /><br />Both Ash and Darcy said it has been a "tough road" as Ash has lost friends since deciding she wanted to de-transition.
