‘Gender-Affirming Care Is Dangerous. I Know Because I Helped Pioneer It.’
By Riittakerttu Kaltiala — 10.30.23
My country, and others, found there is no solid evidence supporting the medical transitioning of young people. Why aren’t American clinicians paying attention?
Any medical professional aware or even suspicious of the mini critiques of gender, affirming care outlined in this article, that continues to approve and administer life altering medical intervention in the lives of children…. Well, I am not in a position to damn them, but God may very well be.
I'm coming to this article belatedly, but want to express profound and sincere gratitude to Dr. Kaltiala for her persistence and courage in speaking the truth. We need more of you, especially in the United States.
Sexual orientation and gender dysphoria should never have been coupled in public discourse; as a lesbian, I've always disliked the incongruous idea of some "LGBTQ+" conglomerate. Having spent the last year-plus educating myself on the harm done by ideologically driven, unsupported "gender affirming care" (with gay youth especially susceptible), and the harm done all females by trans-identified males who trespass into their sports and spaces, I now find the alphabet soup nonsense repugnant. It's simply a politically expedient hijacking of the historical gay rights movement by trans activists that too many liberals have uncritically embraced.
So, thank you for putting some boundaries up. I can't imagine the difficulty of having to confront this in your field, after participating in it. Your colleagues and connections are still endorsing this nonsense though, and have encouraged others to do so. It's not just about hurting children, it's also about endorsing a culture of silencing opposition and maligning people's character who don't agree.
I can't believe the medical field would drop so many mind-altering pharmaceuticals on young kids, resulting in life-long dependency and sterility, while completely deforming their bodies in the process. Hint - doling out pharmaceuticals doesn't just happen to kids, we all know this. I went through the wringer in dealing with anti-depressants and finally had to say "NO". I then went to a men's specialty clinic and got all the blood tests I needed. Verdict - low Vitamin D, and additionally found I have a MTHFR issue. Solution - take some vitamins, but only after spending maybe $2,000 on doctor and psychiatrist appointments, getting a portfolio of prescriptions from SSRIs to Benzos and other off-label things that really didn't help. I also had to take ownership of my own thought processes, but that's another story. That 4-6 month period was outrageously unnerving and stressful. I trusted the medical field to help guide me, but help ultimately didn't come through pharmaceuticals. Count yourself fortunate if you've got a doctor you can trust.
I can't believe the medical field doles out "black box" products like candy. I'm doing fine by the way, but can you imagine a child going through this? And to add to it, your colleagues and activist have been more than willing to malign people's character and threaten them with "a living daughter or a dead son". A lot of people have been speaking up on this, it's not just vulnerable kids that are being toyed with, it's the culture of free speech, educational ideology, and calling normal families and parents "extremists" when they speak up. Again, I commend you for speaking up, but please, you need to help others who are behind this to see the light.
I wonder to what degree the intransigence of the US medical community on this issue is tied to the polarization of American politics. In countries like Finland and Sweden, which are multi-party democracies, issues such as this one may be less of a tribal matter than (everything is) in the United States. Here, people simply identify with one tribe or the other, and can't back down on any issue. The so-called gender affirmation protocols—as people smarter than me have pointed out—have a sort of religious fervor. Trying to argue logically with these people is like trying to convince a member of Hamas that Muhammad may not be all that.
All you need to do is look at what happened to Jazz Jennings to understand reality. He’s (yes he) is a mess. You can’t turn a male into a female. His mother should be prosecuted for child abuse. She monetized Jazz and apparently his book for kids is read in many schools. He should have been left alone as an effeminate boy. Without meds and horrible surgeries
There are 3 girls in our little neighborhood (of a few short streets) all of whom decided they were boys and not girls and transitioned. They all fit the profiles described-- none showed any dysphoria until they were teens. All of them are autistic or at least socially awkward, one had a severe eating disorder before that, and all come from very permissive homes that are also toxic (parents fighting etc). Of the 3 girls, at least 2 cut off their breasts. All of them changed their names to male names. One already regrets it (and now has no breasts). She changed her name back to a female name. Another is now just a lesbian, but has been damaged by hormones. The other is still living as a male but is very small and does not pass as a man at all, which causes I'm guessing more discomfort.
I keep thinking if any one of the three sets of parents had actually encouraged their daughters to get psychological help-- to address the anxiety and the eating disorder and the mental illness, maybe these girls would still have their breasts. Their parents instead allowed them to be butchered and they have to live with this.
Very interesting and enlightening. I hadn’t thought about part of the push for medical intervention in adolescence stemming from the fact preventing puberty changes in the first place could make the change more effective. It makes more sense about why it might have become a focus in the first place. (And it’s ironic that the same “benefit” of early age makes it’s a terribly dangerous idea for a million reasons that were already more obvious to me).
Wow I'm glad social contagion is mentioned here. I've been convinced its a major element in the current gender issue for some time now. And I believe it infects the medical community as much as the parents and youth in this country.
And NOW, THIS MORNING, I hear this article on NPR!!!!!
If isolation and mental illness can cause social contagion of Dancing, Laughing, and now violent tics - AMONG TEEN GIIRLS !!!! - I'm amazed they conveniently ignored the gender dysphoria recently cropping up in teen girls. How did the tic studiers uttlerly miss the current gender dysphoria chaos? Seems to fall right into place IMO.
"It had taken quite a while, but I felt vindicated." -- And with this excellent and long overdue essay, you have further solidified my vindication, as well. When I first heard of gender dysphoria several years ago, something about it just didn't sit right. So I starting looking into it, and everything I learned only validated those feelings. So, I can't thank you enough for your courage to push back against an obviously captured system, and for sharing this exceptional essay. I can only hope you have opened the door for others in your field to do the same!
This article is timely and, at the same time, terrifying. This market, susceptible teenagers, didn't exist fifteen years ago. But what better way to generate demand than by telling parents "if your kid doesn't transition, they'll kill themselves." Manipulative and, frankly, evil. Count the medical community as yet another institution in which we've lost faith in the US.
I don't think there's a coincidence between knee jerk gender transitions for minors and the flood of pharmaceutical commercials we see on the tube. In this country it seems like every itch, booboo and case of the blues needs to be carpet bombed with rounds of therapy and chemicals. I'm all in favor of people getting the help they need. But the medical industrial complex in this country has jumped the shark.
What is believed to be the driver of this social contagion? In other words, what is the vehicle, of communication for these "shared" stories among teens?
I'll submit it coincides with the meteoric rise of social media (Instagram, TikTok primarily). Dr. Jonathan Haidt and his contemporaries have identified social media as one of the main causes for the rise in anxiety and depression among teens. Is gender dysphoria an obvious sequitur of the rise of mental illness?
I personally have become very disappointed and disillusioned with the healthcare industry and I am a practicing RN 50 years. Not only has the care in some places deteriorated, but there are some physicians who only care about money. I am adamantly against any gender affirming care under the age of 21 other than mental health counseling. If you want to transition as an adult that's your business however I do not believe insurance should cover it. Insurance does not cover plastic surgery and we have other serious diseases that need insurance coverage. I believe many of these doctors that are into the gender transition care do it for the money. Plus the hormones required are dangerous. It's abominable what they are doing.
thank you for your courage in speaking out and trying to stop this terrible practice, based on the erroneous idea that people can change their biological sex.
Any medical professional aware or even suspicious of the mini critiques of gender, affirming care outlined in this article, that continues to approve and administer life altering medical intervention in the lives of children…. Well, I am not in a position to damn them, but God may very well be.
I'm coming to this article belatedly, but want to express profound and sincere gratitude to Dr. Kaltiala for her persistence and courage in speaking the truth. We need more of you, especially in the United States.
Sexual orientation and gender dysphoria should never have been coupled in public discourse; as a lesbian, I've always disliked the incongruous idea of some "LGBTQ+" conglomerate. Having spent the last year-plus educating myself on the harm done by ideologically driven, unsupported "gender affirming care" (with gay youth especially susceptible), and the harm done all females by trans-identified males who trespass into their sports and spaces, I now find the alphabet soup nonsense repugnant. It's simply a politically expedient hijacking of the historical gay rights movement by trans activists that too many liberals have uncritically embraced.
So, thank you for putting some boundaries up. I can't imagine the difficulty of having to confront this in your field, after participating in it. Your colleagues and connections are still endorsing this nonsense though, and have encouraged others to do so. It's not just about hurting children, it's also about endorsing a culture of silencing opposition and maligning people's character who don't agree.
I can't believe the medical field would drop so many mind-altering pharmaceuticals on young kids, resulting in life-long dependency and sterility, while completely deforming their bodies in the process. Hint - doling out pharmaceuticals doesn't just happen to kids, we all know this. I went through the wringer in dealing with anti-depressants and finally had to say "NO". I then went to a men's specialty clinic and got all the blood tests I needed. Verdict - low Vitamin D, and additionally found I have a MTHFR issue. Solution - take some vitamins, but only after spending maybe $2,000 on doctor and psychiatrist appointments, getting a portfolio of prescriptions from SSRIs to Benzos and other off-label things that really didn't help. I also had to take ownership of my own thought processes, but that's another story. That 4-6 month period was outrageously unnerving and stressful. I trusted the medical field to help guide me, but help ultimately didn't come through pharmaceuticals. Count yourself fortunate if you've got a doctor you can trust.
I can't believe the medical field doles out "black box" products like candy. I'm doing fine by the way, but can you imagine a child going through this? And to add to it, your colleagues and activist have been more than willing to malign people's character and threaten them with "a living daughter or a dead son". A lot of people have been speaking up on this, it's not just vulnerable kids that are being toyed with, it's the culture of free speech, educational ideology, and calling normal families and parents "extremists" when they speak up. Again, I commend you for speaking up, but please, you need to help others who are behind this to see the light.
I wonder to what degree the intransigence of the US medical community on this issue is tied to the polarization of American politics. In countries like Finland and Sweden, which are multi-party democracies, issues such as this one may be less of a tribal matter than (everything is) in the United States. Here, people simply identify with one tribe or the other, and can't back down on any issue. The so-called gender affirmation protocols—as people smarter than me have pointed out—have a sort of religious fervor. Trying to argue logically with these people is like trying to convince a member of Hamas that Muhammad may not be all that.
Let them be sued. Gender affirming care for children will be the new lobotomy. Sue them. Sue them all. Bankrupt them.
All you need to do is look at what happened to Jazz Jennings to understand reality. He’s (yes he) is a mess. You can’t turn a male into a female. His mother should be prosecuted for child abuse. She monetized Jazz and apparently his book for kids is read in many schools. He should have been left alone as an effeminate boy. Without meds and horrible surgeries
As a pediatrician who does not do trans care I’m appalled by the entire thing. It’s unscientific harmful garbage that has infiltrated medicine.
There are 3 girls in our little neighborhood (of a few short streets) all of whom decided they were boys and not girls and transitioned. They all fit the profiles described-- none showed any dysphoria until they were teens. All of them are autistic or at least socially awkward, one had a severe eating disorder before that, and all come from very permissive homes that are also toxic (parents fighting etc). Of the 3 girls, at least 2 cut off their breasts. All of them changed their names to male names. One already regrets it (and now has no breasts). She changed her name back to a female name. Another is now just a lesbian, but has been damaged by hormones. The other is still living as a male but is very small and does not pass as a man at all, which causes I'm guessing more discomfort.
I keep thinking if any one of the three sets of parents had actually encouraged their daughters to get psychological help-- to address the anxiety and the eating disorder and the mental illness, maybe these girls would still have their breasts. Their parents instead allowed them to be butchered and they have to live with this.
Very interesting and enlightening. I hadn’t thought about part of the push for medical intervention in adolescence stemming from the fact preventing puberty changes in the first place could make the change more effective. It makes more sense about why it might have become a focus in the first place. (And it’s ironic that the same “benefit” of early age makes it’s a terribly dangerous idea for a million reasons that were already more obvious to me).
Wow I'm glad social contagion is mentioned here. I've been convinced its a major element in the current gender issue for some time now. And I believe it infects the medical community as much as the parents and youth in this country.
And NOW, THIS MORNING, I hear this article on NPR!!!!!
[ Body Electric' examines the connection between social media and depression rates] https://www.npr.org/2023/11/01/1209857295/body-electric-examines-the-connection-between-social-media-and-depression-rates
If isolation and mental illness can cause social contagion of Dancing, Laughing, and now violent tics - AMONG TEEN GIIRLS !!!! - I'm amazed they conveniently ignored the gender dysphoria recently cropping up in teen girls. How did the tic studiers uttlerly miss the current gender dysphoria chaos? Seems to fall right into place IMO.
"It had taken quite a while, but I felt vindicated." -- And with this excellent and long overdue essay, you have further solidified my vindication, as well. When I first heard of gender dysphoria several years ago, something about it just didn't sit right. So I starting looking into it, and everything I learned only validated those feelings. So, I can't thank you enough for your courage to push back against an obviously captured system, and for sharing this exceptional essay. I can only hope you have opened the door for others in your field to do the same!
In case anyone cares to get the other side. https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/abusive-practices-and-conversion
Interesting. And not terribly compelling.
How is it interesting and also not compelling???
What did you find interesting?
This article is timely and, at the same time, terrifying. This market, susceptible teenagers, didn't exist fifteen years ago. But what better way to generate demand than by telling parents "if your kid doesn't transition, they'll kill themselves." Manipulative and, frankly, evil. Count the medical community as yet another institution in which we've lost faith in the US.
I don't think there's a coincidence between knee jerk gender transitions for minors and the flood of pharmaceutical commercials we see on the tube. In this country it seems like every itch, booboo and case of the blues needs to be carpet bombed with rounds of therapy and chemicals. I'm all in favor of people getting the help they need. But the medical industrial complex in this country has jumped the shark.
What is believed to be the driver of this social contagion? In other words, what is the vehicle, of communication for these "shared" stories among teens?
I'll submit it coincides with the meteoric rise of social media (Instagram, TikTok primarily). Dr. Jonathan Haidt and his contemporaries have identified social media as one of the main causes for the rise in anxiety and depression among teens. Is gender dysphoria an obvious sequitur of the rise of mental illness?
I personally have become very disappointed and disillusioned with the healthcare industry and I am a practicing RN 50 years. Not only has the care in some places deteriorated, but there are some physicians who only care about money. I am adamantly against any gender affirming care under the age of 21 other than mental health counseling. If you want to transition as an adult that's your business however I do not believe insurance should cover it. Insurance does not cover plastic surgery and we have other serious diseases that need insurance coverage. I believe many of these doctors that are into the gender transition care do it for the money. Plus the hormones required are dangerous. It's abominable what they are doing.
thank you for your courage in speaking out and trying to stop this terrible practice, based on the erroneous idea that people can change their biological sex.