I don't understand why transgenderism isn't recognized as a belief system. The only thing that makes a transgender person such is their presumably sincere belief that gender can differ from biology and that this condition affects them. It is a belief system being propagated by educated people and government even through force of law. Certainly, everyone is entitled to their beliefs and has the right to practice them free from discrimination, but nobody has the right to compel others to adopt the tenets of their belief system and practice it. The United States was founded on a principal that beliefs were the individual's right and protected, that no belief trumped any other and that beliefs were no place for government.
An important report, though it should never even have been needed. But given the Orwellian state of affairs these days, it obviously was.
I'd wager I'm different from most of your readers because I consider myself far-left. But I'm not an ideologue nor an idiot. If I see something that doesn't make sense, I call it out, no matter which side it's supposedly on. Which is why I've been calling out this national psychosis of "gender transition" for years. I've lost friendships over it. Tant pis.
Too many soi-disant liberals aren't, in fact, liberal at all. They've jumped on the trans bandwagon, essentially saying it's ok that children be experimented upon, even mutilated, to advance the cause of trans activists. It's appalling.
Liberty allows you to pretend whatever you like about yourself, but not to compel others to do the same. If you're a man and you want to wear a dress, have at it. Go for it! (Personally, I think Billy Porter looks fab in an evening gown.) But that doesn't make you a woman.
If Eddie Izzard is a woman, then Rachel Dolezal is black.
I am soooo curious how this will play out in the US. I think it is going to be a bitter hot mess with legal battles and entrenched activist clinicians like Jack Turban digging in.
The first thing we need to do is remove gender ideology teaching from schools. This I think is strongly contributing to trans identification of children.
If there are enough lawsuits, physicians will eventually stop doing this care. Even if the lawsuits aren't successful, being involved in a lawsuit is incredibly stressful and time consuming. Physicians will burn out eventually and have to carry massive malpractice insurance premiums.
I think the best way to end transgender treatment in the US for under 18s is to create laws which put providers on the hook for detransitioners and and subsequent damage caused to them from transitioning, with a long statutue of limitations (ideally 10 plus years). The stakes to transition someone would be much much higher. There needs to be skin in the game for our gender clinicians. When there isn't any, you get our current care system, which is affirm EVERYONE.
Some clincians will simply never change their ideological tune. But setting up this leagal stringent legal environment will provide them out from this care so they can keep their dignity with their progessive circles (one of the most important thing for many involved in this care).
Why do we hear so much noise from the transwomen and virtually nothing from the transmen?
Why do transwomen noisily and publicly push themselves into women's spaces, facebook pages and sport etc while the transmen lurk silently in the shadows? I'm unaware of transmen demanding to play in men's sport, hang about in male changerooms, have big nights out with the boys. The couple of transmen I know, have no male friends, only women. In fact, despite their hairy faces, deeper voices, manufactured Adam's apples, clothes and no breasts they still largely behave like women.
There's a message here. I'm just not too sure what it is.
We've a long way to go, but the Cass review will help reset matters. Her integrity and academic relevance are unimpeachable, and the international translatability of her findings should be high (there's no genetic/social reason why findings from the British health service do not translate almost identically across the anglosphere, and it is the anglosphere which has been most corrupted by the transgender madness.) I have sent articles about it to the many middle-class parents I know whose children have been corrupted by this lunacy.
What will be harder will be to root the ideology out of the education system where its hold is pernicious. Again, I can tell the UK and US experiences are very similar, based on the heart-breaking anecdotes I read on TFP. I'm afraid a "bipartisan" committee or whatever won't cut it. We need to criminalise anyone who tells children "you might be in the wrong body" (this assertion is insane, degenerate and wicked, in equal measure) and prosecute anyone found pushing such drivel as being guilty of child abuse. I know those words are strong, but I don't know how else to express it.
A final word of quiet desperation. I'm gay, which is irrelevant, except that I've watched in horror and disgust as the transgender lunatics have Trojan-horsed their way into society on the back of widespread tolerance of quietly decent gay and lesbian couples. This was a deliberate act (again, the much smaller society of the UK makes it plain: our principle campaign body for equality in law for gay people decided to become a full-on transgender lobby group a few years ago, jettisoning the "LBG" while riding on the back of the legal reforms which by 2010 had given complete legal equality for gay people in the UK. They used acceptance of gay people to push their pernicious, disgusting agenda.) Please, straight friends, *please* do not tar "all gay people" with the brush of the degenerates who prance around at "Drag Queen Story Hour" or who tell your children they might be "nonbinary". Their attack is on all of us who know that pairbonded monogamy is the best path to a good life, along with being able to live at peace with one's own nature.
The findings of the review sound like a statement of the bleeding obvious. What I'd like to see is an article explaining what is motivating the people who have been pushing this. Why were medicos prepared to recommend treatments for which there was no evidence? Why weren't they prepared to go slow while the evidence base built? It's almost as if they knew what they were doing and wanted to get a far as they could before being found out.
The extremes on both sides seized this issue and then shut down debate. And the result is too many people have been harmed, are being harmed or will be harmed because of this.
The transgender phenomenon has been turned completely on its head. I wrote a college paper on 'transsexualism' in 1977. Back then, patients were required to cross dress for up to 2 years before doctors would even think about medical intervention. The result was far fewer people traumatized and a regret/reversal rate of close to zero. Now, an estimated 60-90% of people identifying as trans (pre treatment) change their minds and yet activists STILL want to rush the process. Meanwhile, people on the Right ban any treatment doom too many genuine transitioners to a life time of heartbreak and agony. It's just appalling.
Hi Chris. I am going to take apart this "extremes on both sides" suggestion. First, I was always an Independent in the past but Colin Wright's cartoon illustrates what happened with that: https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/my-political-journey
In the 1970s Dr. Paul McHugh ran the first US "sex change" clinic which was at John's Hopkins. Then, he shut it down in 1979 (after your college paper) when he concluded that his patients did not have improved mental health, even if they expressed happiness in the short term about getting what they thought they wanted. He was chief of psychiatry there from 1975 to 2001 when the seas changed and I think activists wanted him gone - much like psychologist Kenneth Zucker in Canada. McHugh has said “I’m not against transgender people". He is “anxious they get the help they need.” But that such help should be psychiatric rather than surgical, since "being transgender" is a psychological problem, not a biological phenomenon.
Men like Walter Heyer and Corina Cohn have discussed regret and being tied to a "medical leash" of synthetic hormones once their bodies no longer make any hormones naturally. Now, if someone wants to do a real clinical experiment on some carefully selected adults (over 26) and maintain close records with long term follow ups - that might be one thing. But, as Cohn has pointed out, it is not even an experiment if there is no long term follow up. I would add that the airline attendant who "passed" so well and committed suicide was a failure of "treatment". Young women are getting their breast sliced off willy nilly. And, it is appalling that we have hundreds of clinics in the US that "provide care" to children. Medicine was supposed to err on the side of "do no harm" not "make the most money and lose track of the patient". Have you seen Shellenberger's WPATH files? https://public.substack.com/p/the-wpath-files All of our medical associations are taking direction from quacks there. See also 4thwavenow.com
Lots of parents on PITT identify as liberal but they do not use their names for fear about their kids. I really disagree that "conservatives" do not want to discuss the matter. They are not allowed to discuss non-gender ideological positions freely except in substacks and now maybe on Twitter/X. You certainly do not see them discussed on NPR where the words "biological sex" cannot even be used. Look what happens to JK Rowling and she must be the richest woman in the UK. When did "people on the right" shutdown debate and cause this problem of medical malpractice against children? And, what is a "genuine transitioner"? Where are all these doomed people? And, what of all the men who do no more than change their clothes and insist they belong in women's spaces and get people in trouble for not agreeing that they literally "are women"? Not that they should get to invade women's spaces and sports if they are eunuchs. A guy who was part of a careful study and wanted to not attract attention to himself would not clobber women in sports.
Here is how the Left is extreme esp. in the US re: this issue: pro self ID (of one's transgender status) advocating the providing of puberty blockers & hormone therapy on teens under 16 based on the child's say so; providing those treatments to anyone after a bare minimum of pre care examination (often as little as 2 hours) and psychotherapy; the refusal to discuss anything less than complete body autonomy for children; the complete denial of the fact that there has to be a social component in the huge increase in people identifying as trans and the fact that the population of trans has completely flipped: ear;y on from bio boys wanting to be girls to now where it is reversed, (not to mention that in the early cases, children felt out of place by as early as 4 as opposed to now where they feel trans as late as 15.)
Here is how the Right is extreme esp. in the US re: this issue: the denial that the concept of transsexualism, trransgenderism, of being born in the wrong body exists: it does exist and has been in the scientific literature since the 50s.
State laws banning of all treatments for transgender youth including psychotherapy; the public advocating for laws that limit treatments for adults. The public utterances by those on the Right that trans people are simply wrong in how they view themselves.
For a very balanced comprehensive presentation of the trans issue in all of its complications and manifestations, i would recommend any number of podcasts on 'Blocked and Reported, by Jessing Singal and Katie Herzog. Both have written extensively about the issue and have been absolutely excoriated by the Left for doing so. I would also look at The Netherlands for state of the art treatment programs that start with several months of pre treatment psychotherapy and require long term follow up care.
"The speaker, Alicyn Simpson, who is transgender, is a “community navigator” for a youth gender program at the University of Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital,"
Hi Chris. Thanks for the reply. PITT stands for Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans - with website PITT.substack.com Most parents on PITT would agree that the issue is a bit beyond "right" and "left".
Jesse Singal is one of the first people I encountered on the topic. He tries to be fair but I am not so sure I completely agree with him.
I am not denying that transexualism exists - but I do dislike the re- branding to "transgender" and the claim that anyone can be born in a "right or wrong body." I also think that changing "Gender Identity Disorder" to "Gender Disphoria" was an activist step. Dr. John McHugh ran the first "sex change" clinic in the US and then shut it down after concluding that long term mental health of his patients was not improved. He decided that treating a psycholgical problem as a physical one was a mistake. Sure, it is a psych problem that some have always suffered from - just as with many other psych problems. Bailey and Blanchard categorized two different kinds - homosexual transexuals who wanted to pass as women and dreamed of dating straight men, and heterosexual transexuals who have a pretty interesting sexuality one might call a fetish - see the writings of "Anne" Lawrence (who seems pretty happy and is honest about things) - but there are far more who regret "transition" including the vocal Corina Cohn ("tied to a medical leash") and Walter Heyer.
I think real psychotherapy is great for anybody. The problem is that now it is labeled "conversion therapy" to suggest that someone might not be "born into a body" and to explore any underlying issues (there can be many). And, "sex changes" including hormones have become a big business. If anyone is ever to receive such "treatment" they've got to be something like 26 years of age with lots of psychological work done first. Age 16 is a completely crazy age to make life altering damage-to-the-body decisions, IMO and people like Dr. Stephen Levine who studies consent would say that a teen does not understand the long term consequences or understand whether he would want children, etc. How is that extreme to say that someone who is still developing should wait?
I highly recommend Helen Joyce's book "Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality' She goes through the history starting earlier than the 1950s.
I completely agree with you that the flipped sex and the age is a the worst problem and also the fact that an entire IDEOLOGY surrounding the concept of transexuallity is taught/promoted in a way that turns it into a cult religion for many girls/young women. This should not be in the schools.
"Transgender Surgery Isn't the Solution
By Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital"
"U.S. Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Gender Transition (Male To Female, Female To Male), And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030"
Never said you denied transsexualism exists, I said it's an extreme position to say that transsexualism exists. because it is, and it is what several of these state law treatment bans or limits are implying. "
Stating "there are far more who regret 'transition' is not true for those who've undergone the full treatment. (hormones, blockers, surgery) The vast majority of that population do not regret treatment. Just because there are people who loudly vocalize about their regret like Corina Cohn and Walter Heyer doesn't change that percentage. Again, see the Dutch studies for the best available data on that issue.
What IS true us that the strong majority - anywhere from 60-90% of those youth who at some point identity as trans change their mind pre treatment, usually identifying as gay or non-binary, often by going through puberty itself.
I think we can agree that no matter what age is best to begin treatment, there has to be a great deal psychological assessment first, especially since a substantial percentage of the this population bring significant mental and behavioral issues (i.e., autism) to the table.
Do you view Jaron Bloskinsky as having been an abused child (by his mother and Bowers) or as a great happy success story? He has that stage name, "Jazz Jennings", poor thing.
Your first paragraph does not make any logical sense so I cannot reply to it.
2nd paragraph: The vast majority who got on "blockers" (off label use of cancer drugs) go on to the full deal. And, they are damaged from them in many ways (bone loss, failure to develop socially with peer group, etc.) This leads many thinking people to believe it is a very active intervention, not a "pause". "The vast majority of that population do not regret treatment." Please provide the long term study which concludes this, Chris. The onus ought to be on "do no harm". "see the Dutch studies for the best available data on that issue". My understanding is that the WPATH wanted the conclusion that it wanted and pointed to one very flawed Dutch study. Have you read the WPATH Files (Michael Shellenberger) expose?
Third paragraph: "What IS true us that the strong majority - anywhere from 60-90% of those youth who at some point identity as trans change their mind pre treatment, usually identifying as gay or non-binary, often by going through puberty itself." Most of the little boys who wanted to wear their mother's skirts - when left alone - just grew up to be gay. The men who "come out" as "trans" at 50 are mainly fetishists (whatever). The girls who trans_id in high school suffer from social contagion/cult ideology. "Non-binary" is nonsense.
"I think we can agree that no matter what age is best to begin treatment, there has to be a great deal psychological assessment first, especially since a substantial percentage of the this population bring significant mental and behavioral issues (i.e., autism) to the table."
Sort of agreement. I do not think it is OK to say that the person is not autistic so full steam ahead! I do agree that it is a problem that currently no exploration of what underlies the expressed desire is done. You are defining "treatment" as mutilation I think and I am not certain I am ever on board with that. Maybe it is OK for some fully grown, like some 30+ male... but he is still a man and our laws should not be changed to reflect his confusion/delusion.
I am wondering why you are invested? Did you agree to have a son or daughter cosmetically operated on to resemble the opposite sex? Such people will be the last to admit to themselves that they agreed to harm their own child. Although, I think it is mostly the fault of medical professionals. Also, have you scanned PITT.substack.com? You would be very welcome to do so.
I meant to say: "I said it's an extreme position to say that transsexualism does not exist because it is (an extreme position) , and it is what several of these state law treatment bans or limits are implying."
The whole gender war reminds me of the great George Carlin’s bit about distorting language to take all meaning out of it. If the question was - “Is it okay to chop off healthy breasts of teenage girls?” The answer would have been hell no! But instead we were being asked “Should we should provide gender realignment surgery to children?” Lot more confusing and takes out all meaning from the words.
“Pumping off-label drugs into pre-pubescent children/Pushing kids into a life long treatment of synthetic hormones” became “gender affirming care”
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. This is was final and most essential command. “ - George Orwell
Human beings are the same the world over. The Cass Report should end the nonsense and the grubby money making medicine done in in the name of gender affirming care in this country. If the medical profession truly wants to help confused kids then ensure that mental health treatment is readily available and advocate for parental involvement and the end of silly pronouns and name changes in schools. Dismissal and criminal charges for school personnel who do not comply could bring quick results.
The claim that "all major US Medical Associations" support gender affirming care for pediatric and adult patients including medical and surgical transition is a factual statement. The physicians that make up these organizations on the whole are smart to brilliant, compassionate and motivated to help suffering patients. So, are these amazing physicians correct in their interpretation of the current medical literature or are they influenced by their typically liberal politics to ignore the flaws in the data as outlined by the Cass report? That is a question that "all major US Medical Associations" need to address quickly
The people running the associations are radicals, like Dr.Jason Rafferty who is president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He thinks that a "child's sense of reality" is the "navigational beacon to orient treatment around."
At least there is a lawsuit against him and the AAP:
And the people who run these associations follow the direction of activist quacks at WPATH. You probably know about the WPath Files: MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER
As a member of the medical profession, I have seen some very serious mistakes made in the name of compassion. The current opioid crisis is in part because of physicians jumping on board with the "Pain the 5th Vital Sign" concept of 20 years ago. It is imperative that physicians have a health skepticism about unconventional treatments, especially in light of the tremendous increase in so-called transgender youth in the last 5-10 years. If you asked simple questions such as-what is the current literature on this condition? Do any of the writings on transgenderism make sense? Does removing health sex organs and placing young people on hormones really make their life better? Are there any coexistent mental or psychological issues that would make a person want to change their sex? Why would we want to obscure the basic scientific facts about the differences between male and female human beings?
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and policies where not nearly enough questioning and investigation were performed before their implementation.
The literature on this is interesting in that the authors, reviewers and editors all share the same bias…. So it is reasonable to be concerned that medical literature showing the risks of transition are going to be few and far between
Yes Andy that is what amazes me! Everything in the medical literature is written as though this transgender business is completely normal and fully accepted by all of us. The articles genuinely use the words “person with ovaries” etc. I read a so-called academic study (replete with statistics, graphs, algorithms and jargon) on the perceptions of “pregnant men” on the level of bias in their peri-natal care. I can’t understand how anyone can participate and keep a straight face, it is so comical.
By the way, these poor pregnant men did have to face psychological trauma - being “misgendered” by the odd member of staff.
I was accepting of all of this until I heard about autogynephilia. The trans lobby does not want anyone to find out about that. But those who have researched it have concluded it is a real phenomenon. Historically, such men transitioned later in life. It is my belief that those men who transitioned later in life were unable to “pass” as women, and they are in part responsible for the promotion of earlier transition in children, so as to avoid such an outcome. Unfortunately, the children who are currently being treated for this appear, to me, to be feminine boys who would otherwise grow up to be gay. The limited research which exists seems to indicate that men who transition later in life were NOT. feminine boys, and in fact autogynephilia is over represented in traditionally masculine pursuits such as the military, engineering, and computer science. Until we recognize that “ gender dysphoria” is not one thing, we are going to continue to sacrifice effeminate boys to protect grown men who will not acknowledge the true reason for their need to present as women and instead promote “gender identity” as something residing within all of us. (I am speaking here only of the phenomenon for boys and men; the reasons more and more adolescent girls are transitioning appear to me to be a result of social contagion and are a more recent development, but the men came first and without them I don’t believe the phenomenon would have spread to girls.)
And yet Biden anointed an autogynephile as the US Assistant Health Secretary, put him and all that his fetish steers towards (irreversible medical harms to children, for a start!) at the pinnacle of US Health.
Not to mention Biden's suitcase-stealing fetishist choice at the top of nuclear waste storage, is that right? Though it seems his theft of woman's clothing eventually cost him his job. Why is an autogynephile still empowered to push the harming of minors and of disproportionately autistic and vulnerable young adults, from the very top of the US healthcare infrastructure?
If it were in a work of fiction we might find it implausible that a president or his advisors could impose such appallingly poor choices on the nation.
Yep. And with all the fanfare about how this was the “first woman” appointed to the position. Unbelievable! I do disagree with you to a point- I see nothing wrong with having a sexual fetish, or placing someone with a particular fetish in this position. These people are not behaving sexually in public, just as gay people aren’t. My understanding is that it is simply a sexual orientation to themselves as women, and what they may do with this female self in private is their business. I don’t know enough about the theft of a suitcase, but I imagine it may be difficult to come to terms with a desire to wear women’s clothing, and so one might resort to furtive methods to obtain it rather than purchasing it outright. (Again, I’m not certain this is what happened.). That’s part of the harm in not recognizing and accepting this AS a sexual orientation, similar to homosexuality. Instead, the “trans acceptance” movement is promoting an incomplete and misleading definition of the phenomenon as being entirely separate from sexuality. That’s not true, and this false belief is what makes it ok, in many people’s minds, to apply it to feminine-behaving boys and masculine-behaving girls. In fact, the phenomenon of gender-nonconforming children too has to do with sexuality in the sense that these children are likely to be gay. Our fear of sexuality, and naming it, has led us to the point where we are engaging in “conversion therapy” for such children, using drugs and surgery. I am in favor of acknowledging autogynephilia as a sexual orientation and allowing autogynephilic adults to transition should they so choose, as there is evidence it helps them, just as it helped gay people to be accepted and acknowledged. It doesn’t harm anyone so long as the medical treatment for it is not given to children, and the medical profession can certainly regulate that. What I am against is pretending it doesn’t exist, as that is what leads to harm to children. I am also against pretending that gender-nonconforming behavior in children is not merely an indication of possible normal homosexual orientation but is instead a medical issue of being “in the wrong body.”
I would suggest that you look into how the whole recent concept of the 'trans child' was invented and sold in order to lend credence and legitimacy to autogynephilia, and deriving from autogynephiles' typical wish that they had a more plausibly feminine appearance, thus leading to the notion that children should be medically transed before puberty. No child is born in the wrong body. It is absolutely unethical to put a man gripped by this fetish in a position of highest authority on how children led to believe their bodies are somehow 'wrong' should be treated.
Do look also into social contagion, not only amongst gay children but autistic teens, another group hugely disproportionately drawn to misperceiving their sense of difference and social struggles as 'being trans'. Also, I recommend reading the many gay and lesbian critics of the trans movement. Andrew Doyle, Malcolm Richard Clarke, Julie Bindel to name the first 3 that come to mind, and gay/lesbian detransitioners. Too many false parallels between gay and trans have been claimed, harming too many people. I can't engage more at present but hope you will look further.
I think we are saying the same thing. (See my original post). I completely agree with you that the concept of the transgender child was, at least in part, invented and promoted by adult male autogynephiles trying to “pass” and wishing they had transitioned earlier. I also agree that the increase in trans-identifying children, especially girls, can and should be recognized as a social contagion. I’ve read the feminist critiques, and the ones from gay people. I also think that many, if not most, gender-nonconforming children (for example very young boys who like pink and Barbie) are, or will likely be, gay and that “gender confirmation” for such children (or whatever they are calling it at the moment), is conversion therapy, full stop. I further acknowledge that some of these children (for example teen girls who were not at all masculine as young children and yet suddenly claim to be boys) may be autistic and have other psychological comorbidities. Sexuality, whether autogynephilic or homosexual, is the elephant in the room with all of this “trans” stuff. To deny that that the desire to change sex has anything to do with sexuality is patently absurd. But the absurdities abound. To claim that a man who married, fathered children, was in the military or another traditionally masculine pursuit, later transitioned, and now needs “lessons” on how to walk and talk like a woman, “was always a woman all along” is absurd. To claim that a child who is interested in dolls and dresses is a girl and one who isn’t is a boy, is absurd. And remember when it became impermissible to ask any celebrity promoting “trans” visibility about the surgery, or whether they had even HAD the surgery, because “it wasn’t about genitals?” Absurd. The fact is, many if not most retain their male genitals, and that fact is extremely relevant to considerations regarding restrooms, prisons, women’s shelters, and women’s sports teams. Articles like this one are a start, but I would like to see all of these absurdities acknowledged in the mainstream press, and I believe that to discuss and acknowledge them is not always done out of bigotry. Live and let live, but let’s tell the truth about who is living and how.
The US health system is a market. It is replete with actors who seek wealth and influence and lacks controls and restraints. Interest groups present themselves as authorities and do not represent the common good. Hilary Cass is a nationally recognized and appointed expert. She cannot be bought by quacks and social reformers. Listen to her.
Gender is now big business in the US, and even government participates. Sadly.
I don't understand why transgenderism isn't recognized as a belief system. The only thing that makes a transgender person such is their presumably sincere belief that gender can differ from biology and that this condition affects them. It is a belief system being propagated by educated people and government even through force of law. Certainly, everyone is entitled to their beliefs and has the right to practice them free from discrimination, but nobody has the right to compel others to adopt the tenets of their belief system and practice it. The United States was founded on a principal that beliefs were the individual's right and protected, that no belief trumped any other and that beliefs were no place for government.
An important report, though it should never even have been needed. But given the Orwellian state of affairs these days, it obviously was.
I'd wager I'm different from most of your readers because I consider myself far-left. But I'm not an ideologue nor an idiot. If I see something that doesn't make sense, I call it out, no matter which side it's supposedly on. Which is why I've been calling out this national psychosis of "gender transition" for years. I've lost friendships over it. Tant pis.
Too many soi-disant liberals aren't, in fact, liberal at all. They've jumped on the trans bandwagon, essentially saying it's ok that children be experimented upon, even mutilated, to advance the cause of trans activists. It's appalling.
Liberty allows you to pretend whatever you like about yourself, but not to compel others to do the same. If you're a man and you want to wear a dress, have at it. Go for it! (Personally, I think Billy Porter looks fab in an evening gown.) But that doesn't make you a woman.
If Eddie Izzard is a woman, then Rachel Dolezal is black.
Transitioning of children will be looked at as medical woke insanity. Just as awful as the Tuskegee syphilis studies.
I am soooo curious how this will play out in the US. I think it is going to be a bitter hot mess with legal battles and entrenched activist clinicians like Jack Turban digging in.
The first thing we need to do is remove gender ideology teaching from schools. This I think is strongly contributing to trans identification of children.
If there are enough lawsuits, physicians will eventually stop doing this care. Even if the lawsuits aren't successful, being involved in a lawsuit is incredibly stressful and time consuming. Physicians will burn out eventually and have to carry massive malpractice insurance premiums.
I think the best way to end transgender treatment in the US for under 18s is to create laws which put providers on the hook for detransitioners and and subsequent damage caused to them from transitioning, with a long statutue of limitations (ideally 10 plus years). The stakes to transition someone would be much much higher. There needs to be skin in the game for our gender clinicians. When there isn't any, you get our current care system, which is affirm EVERYONE.
Some clincians will simply never change their ideological tune. But setting up this leagal stringent legal environment will provide them out from this care so they can keep their dignity with their progessive circles (one of the most important thing for many involved in this care).
Insurance needs to stop paying for it.
What will be said to the last child wrongfully sterilized?
Why do we hear so much noise from the transwomen and virtually nothing from the transmen?
Why do transwomen noisily and publicly push themselves into women's spaces, facebook pages and sport etc while the transmen lurk silently in the shadows? I'm unaware of transmen demanding to play in men's sport, hang about in male changerooms, have big nights out with the boys. The couple of transmen I know, have no male friends, only women. In fact, despite their hairy faces, deeper voices, manufactured Adam's apples, clothes and no breasts they still largely behave like women.
There's a message here. I'm just not too sure what it is.
They cause problems in settings with male-only rituals such as orthodox synagogues
We've a long way to go, but the Cass review will help reset matters. Her integrity and academic relevance are unimpeachable, and the international translatability of her findings should be high (there's no genetic/social reason why findings from the British health service do not translate almost identically across the anglosphere, and it is the anglosphere which has been most corrupted by the transgender madness.) I have sent articles about it to the many middle-class parents I know whose children have been corrupted by this lunacy.
What will be harder will be to root the ideology out of the education system where its hold is pernicious. Again, I can tell the UK and US experiences are very similar, based on the heart-breaking anecdotes I read on TFP. I'm afraid a "bipartisan" committee or whatever won't cut it. We need to criminalise anyone who tells children "you might be in the wrong body" (this assertion is insane, degenerate and wicked, in equal measure) and prosecute anyone found pushing such drivel as being guilty of child abuse. I know those words are strong, but I don't know how else to express it.
A final word of quiet desperation. I'm gay, which is irrelevant, except that I've watched in horror and disgust as the transgender lunatics have Trojan-horsed their way into society on the back of widespread tolerance of quietly decent gay and lesbian couples. This was a deliberate act (again, the much smaller society of the UK makes it plain: our principle campaign body for equality in law for gay people decided to become a full-on transgender lobby group a few years ago, jettisoning the "LBG" while riding on the back of the legal reforms which by 2010 had given complete legal equality for gay people in the UK. They used acceptance of gay people to push their pernicious, disgusting agenda.) Please, straight friends, *please* do not tar "all gay people" with the brush of the degenerates who prance around at "Drag Queen Story Hour" or who tell your children they might be "nonbinary". Their attack is on all of us who know that pairbonded monogamy is the best path to a good life, along with being able to live at peace with one's own nature.
The findings of the review sound like a statement of the bleeding obvious. What I'd like to see is an article explaining what is motivating the people who have been pushing this. Why were medicos prepared to recommend treatments for which there was no evidence? Why weren't they prepared to go slow while the evidence base built? It's almost as if they knew what they were doing and wanted to get a far as they could before being found out.
The extremes on both sides seized this issue and then shut down debate. And the result is too many people have been harmed, are being harmed or will be harmed because of this.
The transgender phenomenon has been turned completely on its head. I wrote a college paper on 'transsexualism' in 1977. Back then, patients were required to cross dress for up to 2 years before doctors would even think about medical intervention. The result was far fewer people traumatized and a regret/reversal rate of close to zero. Now, an estimated 60-90% of people identifying as trans (pre treatment) change their minds and yet activists STILL want to rush the process. Meanwhile, people on the Right ban any treatment doom too many genuine transitioners to a life time of heartbreak and agony. It's just appalling.
Hi Chris. I am going to take apart this "extremes on both sides" suggestion. First, I was always an Independent in the past but Colin Wright's cartoon illustrates what happened with that: https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/my-political-journey
In the 1970s Dr. Paul McHugh ran the first US "sex change" clinic which was at John's Hopkins. Then, he shut it down in 1979 (after your college paper) when he concluded that his patients did not have improved mental health, even if they expressed happiness in the short term about getting what they thought they wanted. He was chief of psychiatry there from 1975 to 2001 when the seas changed and I think activists wanted him gone - much like psychologist Kenneth Zucker in Canada. McHugh has said “I’m not against transgender people". He is “anxious they get the help they need.” But that such help should be psychiatric rather than surgical, since "being transgender" is a psychological problem, not a biological phenomenon.
Men like Walter Heyer and Corina Cohn have discussed regret and being tied to a "medical leash" of synthetic hormones once their bodies no longer make any hormones naturally. Now, if someone wants to do a real clinical experiment on some carefully selected adults (over 26) and maintain close records with long term follow ups - that might be one thing. But, as Cohn has pointed out, it is not even an experiment if there is no long term follow up. I would add that the airline attendant who "passed" so well and committed suicide was a failure of "treatment". Young women are getting their breast sliced off willy nilly. And, it is appalling that we have hundreds of clinics in the US that "provide care" to children. Medicine was supposed to err on the side of "do no harm" not "make the most money and lose track of the patient". Have you seen Shellenberger's WPATH files? https://public.substack.com/p/the-wpath-files All of our medical associations are taking direction from quacks there. See also 4thwavenow.com
Lots of parents on PITT identify as liberal but they do not use their names for fear about their kids. I really disagree that "conservatives" do not want to discuss the matter. They are not allowed to discuss non-gender ideological positions freely except in substacks and now maybe on Twitter/X. You certainly do not see them discussed on NPR where the words "biological sex" cannot even be used. Look what happens to JK Rowling and she must be the richest woman in the UK. When did "people on the right" shutdown debate and cause this problem of medical malpractice against children? And, what is a "genuine transitioner"? Where are all these doomed people? And, what of all the men who do no more than change their clothes and insist they belong in women's spaces and get people in trouble for not agreeing that they literally "are women"? Not that they should get to invade women's spaces and sports if they are eunuchs. A guy who was part of a careful study and wanted to not attract attention to himself would not clobber women in sports.
I don't know what PITT is an acronym for.
Here is how the Left is extreme esp. in the US re: this issue: pro self ID (of one's transgender status) advocating the providing of puberty blockers & hormone therapy on teens under 16 based on the child's say so; providing those treatments to anyone after a bare minimum of pre care examination (often as little as 2 hours) and psychotherapy; the refusal to discuss anything less than complete body autonomy for children; the complete denial of the fact that there has to be a social component in the huge increase in people identifying as trans and the fact that the population of trans has completely flipped: ear;y on from bio boys wanting to be girls to now where it is reversed, (not to mention that in the early cases, children felt out of place by as early as 4 as opposed to now where they feel trans as late as 15.)
Here is how the Right is extreme esp. in the US re: this issue: the denial that the concept of transsexualism, trransgenderism, of being born in the wrong body exists: it does exist and has been in the scientific literature since the 50s.
State laws banning of all treatments for transgender youth including psychotherapy; the public advocating for laws that limit treatments for adults. The public utterances by those on the Right that trans people are simply wrong in how they view themselves.
For a very balanced comprehensive presentation of the trans issue in all of its complications and manifestations, i would recommend any number of podcasts on 'Blocked and Reported, by Jessing Singal and Katie Herzog. Both have written extensively about the issue and have been absolutely excoriated by the Left for doing so. I would also look at The Netherlands for state of the art treatment programs that start with several months of pre treatment psychotherapy and require long term follow up care.
One more thing - the Biden Administration is working to erase girls/women as a legal category and replace "sex" with "gender". I very strongly object.
I also reject all the language that erases women - like: chest feeder, vagina haver, pregnant person, etc.
And, where does Frankenstein "medicine" end? After live womb transplants?
https://nationalpost.com/health/womb-transplants-transgender-women
and
"Children’s Hospital Gender Program Navigator Touts Uterine Transplants for Trans Men from 'Live Donors'"
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/madelineleesman/2023/01/16/childrens-hospital-talks-about-uterus-transplants-n2618349
"The speaker, Alicyn Simpson, who is transgender, is a “community navigator” for a youth gender program at the University of Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital,"
Hi Chris. Thanks for the reply. PITT stands for Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans - with website PITT.substack.com Most parents on PITT would agree that the issue is a bit beyond "right" and "left".
Jesse Singal is one of the first people I encountered on the topic. He tries to be fair but I am not so sure I completely agree with him.
I am not denying that transexualism exists - but I do dislike the re- branding to "transgender" and the claim that anyone can be born in a "right or wrong body." I also think that changing "Gender Identity Disorder" to "Gender Disphoria" was an activist step. Dr. John McHugh ran the first "sex change" clinic in the US and then shut it down after concluding that long term mental health of his patients was not improved. He decided that treating a psycholgical problem as a physical one was a mistake. Sure, it is a psych problem that some have always suffered from - just as with many other psych problems. Bailey and Blanchard categorized two different kinds - homosexual transexuals who wanted to pass as women and dreamed of dating straight men, and heterosexual transexuals who have a pretty interesting sexuality one might call a fetish - see the writings of "Anne" Lawrence (who seems pretty happy and is honest about things) - but there are far more who regret "transition" including the vocal Corina Cohn ("tied to a medical leash") and Walter Heyer.
I think real psychotherapy is great for anybody. The problem is that now it is labeled "conversion therapy" to suggest that someone might not be "born into a body" and to explore any underlying issues (there can be many). And, "sex changes" including hormones have become a big business. If anyone is ever to receive such "treatment" they've got to be something like 26 years of age with lots of psychological work done first. Age 16 is a completely crazy age to make life altering damage-to-the-body decisions, IMO and people like Dr. Stephen Levine who studies consent would say that a teen does not understand the long term consequences or understand whether he would want children, etc. How is that extreme to say that someone who is still developing should wait?
I highly recommend Helen Joyce's book "Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality' She goes through the history starting earlier than the 1950s.
I completely agree with you that the flipped sex and the age is a the worst problem and also the fact that an entire IDEOLOGY surrounding the concept of transexuallity is taught/promoted in a way that turns it into a cult religion for many girls/young women. This should not be in the schools.
"Transgender Surgery Isn't the Solution
By Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital"
https://couragerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TransgenderSurgery.pdf
"Current Concerns About Gender-Affirming Therapy in Adolescents
Stephen B. Levine & E. Abbruzzese"
https://archive.ph/zmi9z#selection-839.0-881.1
"Reconsidering Informed Consent for Trans-Identified Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
Stephen B. Levine,E. Abbruzzese &Julia W. Mason"
https://archive.ph/4lR0S
Then of course, there is Michael Shellenberger's recent expose of WPATH Files which is an activist group all of the American Medical Societies follow.
Corinna Cohn :
https://corinnacohn.substack.com/p/the-medical-leash-of-hormone-replacement
"U.S. Sex Reassignment Surgery Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Gender Transition (Male To Female, Female To Male), And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2030"
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-sex-reassignment-surgery-market
Never said you denied transsexualism exists, I said it's an extreme position to say that transsexualism exists. because it is, and it is what several of these state law treatment bans or limits are implying. "
Stating "there are far more who regret 'transition' is not true for those who've undergone the full treatment. (hormones, blockers, surgery) The vast majority of that population do not regret treatment. Just because there are people who loudly vocalize about their regret like Corina Cohn and Walter Heyer doesn't change that percentage. Again, see the Dutch studies for the best available data on that issue.
What IS true us that the strong majority - anywhere from 60-90% of those youth who at some point identity as trans change their mind pre treatment, usually identifying as gay or non-binary, often by going through puberty itself.
I think we can agree that no matter what age is best to begin treatment, there has to be a great deal psychological assessment first, especially since a substantial percentage of the this population bring significant mental and behavioral issues (i.e., autism) to the table.
Do you view Jaron Bloskinsky as having been an abused child (by his mother and Bowers) or as a great happy success story? He has that stage name, "Jazz Jennings", poor thing.
Your first paragraph does not make any logical sense so I cannot reply to it.
2nd paragraph: The vast majority who got on "blockers" (off label use of cancer drugs) go on to the full deal. And, they are damaged from them in many ways (bone loss, failure to develop socially with peer group, etc.) This leads many thinking people to believe it is a very active intervention, not a "pause". "The vast majority of that population do not regret treatment." Please provide the long term study which concludes this, Chris. The onus ought to be on "do no harm". "see the Dutch studies for the best available data on that issue". My understanding is that the WPATH wanted the conclusion that it wanted and pointed to one very flawed Dutch study. Have you read the WPATH Files (Michael Shellenberger) expose?
Third paragraph: "What IS true us that the strong majority - anywhere from 60-90% of those youth who at some point identity as trans change their mind pre treatment, usually identifying as gay or non-binary, often by going through puberty itself." Most of the little boys who wanted to wear their mother's skirts - when left alone - just grew up to be gay. The men who "come out" as "trans" at 50 are mainly fetishists (whatever). The girls who trans_id in high school suffer from social contagion/cult ideology. "Non-binary" is nonsense.
"I think we can agree that no matter what age is best to begin treatment, there has to be a great deal psychological assessment first, especially since a substantial percentage of the this population bring significant mental and behavioral issues (i.e., autism) to the table."
Sort of agreement. I do not think it is OK to say that the person is not autistic so full steam ahead! I do agree that it is a problem that currently no exploration of what underlies the expressed desire is done. You are defining "treatment" as mutilation I think and I am not certain I am ever on board with that. Maybe it is OK for some fully grown, like some 30+ male... but he is still a man and our laws should not be changed to reflect his confusion/delusion.
I am wondering why you are invested? Did you agree to have a son or daughter cosmetically operated on to resemble the opposite sex? Such people will be the last to admit to themselves that they agreed to harm their own child. Although, I think it is mostly the fault of medical professionals. Also, have you scanned PITT.substack.com? You would be very welcome to do so.
Have you read this one:
https://couragerc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/TransgenderSurgery.pdf ?
And, I seriously recommend the Helen Joyce book to you. - LM
I meant to say: "I said it's an extreme position to say that transsexualism does not exist because it is (an extreme position) , and it is what several of these state law treatment bans or limits are implying."
The whole gender war reminds me of the great George Carlin’s bit about distorting language to take all meaning out of it. If the question was - “Is it okay to chop off healthy breasts of teenage girls?” The answer would have been hell no! But instead we were being asked “Should we should provide gender realignment surgery to children?” Lot more confusing and takes out all meaning from the words.
“Pumping off-label drugs into pre-pubescent children/Pushing kids into a life long treatment of synthetic hormones” became “gender affirming care”
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. This is was final and most essential command. “ - George Orwell
Human beings are the same the world over. The Cass Report should end the nonsense and the grubby money making medicine done in in the name of gender affirming care in this country. If the medical profession truly wants to help confused kids then ensure that mental health treatment is readily available and advocate for parental involvement and the end of silly pronouns and name changes in schools. Dismissal and criminal charges for school personnel who do not comply could bring quick results.
"Should" happen is very different from what will happen, unfortunately.
America desperately needs its own version of the Cass Report.
The claim that "all major US Medical Associations" support gender affirming care for pediatric and adult patients including medical and surgical transition is a factual statement. The physicians that make up these organizations on the whole are smart to brilliant, compassionate and motivated to help suffering patients. So, are these amazing physicians correct in their interpretation of the current medical literature or are they influenced by their typically liberal politics to ignore the flaws in the data as outlined by the Cass report? That is a question that "all major US Medical Associations" need to address quickly
The people running the associations are radicals, like Dr.Jason Rafferty who is president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He thinks that a "child's sense of reality" is the "navigational beacon to orient treatment around."
At least there is a lawsuit against him and the AAP:
https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/10/Ayala-v-AAP-Complaint_stamped.pdf
https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-american-academy-of-pediatrics-named-in-bombshell-detransitioner-lawsuit
And the people who run these associations follow the direction of activist quacks at WPATH. You probably know about the WPath Files: MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER
https://public.substack.com/p/the-wpath-files
As a member of the medical profession, I have seen some very serious mistakes made in the name of compassion. The current opioid crisis is in part because of physicians jumping on board with the "Pain the 5th Vital Sign" concept of 20 years ago. It is imperative that physicians have a health skepticism about unconventional treatments, especially in light of the tremendous increase in so-called transgender youth in the last 5-10 years. If you asked simple questions such as-what is the current literature on this condition? Do any of the writings on transgenderism make sense? Does removing health sex organs and placing young people on hormones really make their life better? Are there any coexistent mental or psychological issues that would make a person want to change their sex? Why would we want to obscure the basic scientific facts about the differences between male and female human beings?
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and policies where not nearly enough questioning and investigation were performed before their implementation.
The literature on this is interesting in that the authors, reviewers and editors all share the same bias…. So it is reasonable to be concerned that medical literature showing the risks of transition are going to be few and far between
Yes Andy that is what amazes me! Everything in the medical literature is written as though this transgender business is completely normal and fully accepted by all of us. The articles genuinely use the words “person with ovaries” etc. I read a so-called academic study (replete with statistics, graphs, algorithms and jargon) on the perceptions of “pregnant men” on the level of bias in their peri-natal care. I can’t understand how anyone can participate and keep a straight face, it is so comical.
By the way, these poor pregnant men did have to face psychological trauma - being “misgendered” by the odd member of staff.
I was accepting of all of this until I heard about autogynephilia. The trans lobby does not want anyone to find out about that. But those who have researched it have concluded it is a real phenomenon. Historically, such men transitioned later in life. It is my belief that those men who transitioned later in life were unable to “pass” as women, and they are in part responsible for the promotion of earlier transition in children, so as to avoid such an outcome. Unfortunately, the children who are currently being treated for this appear, to me, to be feminine boys who would otherwise grow up to be gay. The limited research which exists seems to indicate that men who transition later in life were NOT. feminine boys, and in fact autogynephilia is over represented in traditionally masculine pursuits such as the military, engineering, and computer science. Until we recognize that “ gender dysphoria” is not one thing, we are going to continue to sacrifice effeminate boys to protect grown men who will not acknowledge the true reason for their need to present as women and instead promote “gender identity” as something residing within all of us. (I am speaking here only of the phenomenon for boys and men; the reasons more and more adolescent girls are transitioning appear to me to be a result of social contagion and are a more recent development, but the men came first and without them I don’t believe the phenomenon would have spread to girls.)
And yet Biden anointed an autogynephile as the US Assistant Health Secretary, put him and all that his fetish steers towards (irreversible medical harms to children, for a start!) at the pinnacle of US Health.
Not to mention Biden's suitcase-stealing fetishist choice at the top of nuclear waste storage, is that right? Though it seems his theft of woman's clothing eventually cost him his job. Why is an autogynephile still empowered to push the harming of minors and of disproportionately autistic and vulnerable young adults, from the very top of the US healthcare infrastructure?
If it were in a work of fiction we might find it implausible that a president or his advisors could impose such appallingly poor choices on the nation.
Yep. And with all the fanfare about how this was the “first woman” appointed to the position. Unbelievable! I do disagree with you to a point- I see nothing wrong with having a sexual fetish, or placing someone with a particular fetish in this position. These people are not behaving sexually in public, just as gay people aren’t. My understanding is that it is simply a sexual orientation to themselves as women, and what they may do with this female self in private is their business. I don’t know enough about the theft of a suitcase, but I imagine it may be difficult to come to terms with a desire to wear women’s clothing, and so one might resort to furtive methods to obtain it rather than purchasing it outright. (Again, I’m not certain this is what happened.). That’s part of the harm in not recognizing and accepting this AS a sexual orientation, similar to homosexuality. Instead, the “trans acceptance” movement is promoting an incomplete and misleading definition of the phenomenon as being entirely separate from sexuality. That’s not true, and this false belief is what makes it ok, in many people’s minds, to apply it to feminine-behaving boys and masculine-behaving girls. In fact, the phenomenon of gender-nonconforming children too has to do with sexuality in the sense that these children are likely to be gay. Our fear of sexuality, and naming it, has led us to the point where we are engaging in “conversion therapy” for such children, using drugs and surgery. I am in favor of acknowledging autogynephilia as a sexual orientation and allowing autogynephilic adults to transition should they so choose, as there is evidence it helps them, just as it helped gay people to be accepted and acknowledged. It doesn’t harm anyone so long as the medical treatment for it is not given to children, and the medical profession can certainly regulate that. What I am against is pretending it doesn’t exist, as that is what leads to harm to children. I am also against pretending that gender-nonconforming behavior in children is not merely an indication of possible normal homosexual orientation but is instead a medical issue of being “in the wrong body.”
I would suggest that you look into how the whole recent concept of the 'trans child' was invented and sold in order to lend credence and legitimacy to autogynephilia, and deriving from autogynephiles' typical wish that they had a more plausibly feminine appearance, thus leading to the notion that children should be medically transed before puberty. No child is born in the wrong body. It is absolutely unethical to put a man gripped by this fetish in a position of highest authority on how children led to believe their bodies are somehow 'wrong' should be treated.
Do look also into social contagion, not only amongst gay children but autistic teens, another group hugely disproportionately drawn to misperceiving their sense of difference and social struggles as 'being trans'. Also, I recommend reading the many gay and lesbian critics of the trans movement. Andrew Doyle, Malcolm Richard Clarke, Julie Bindel to name the first 3 that come to mind, and gay/lesbian detransitioners. Too many false parallels between gay and trans have been claimed, harming too many people. I can't engage more at present but hope you will look further.
I think we are saying the same thing. (See my original post). I completely agree with you that the concept of the transgender child was, at least in part, invented and promoted by adult male autogynephiles trying to “pass” and wishing they had transitioned earlier. I also agree that the increase in trans-identifying children, especially girls, can and should be recognized as a social contagion. I’ve read the feminist critiques, and the ones from gay people. I also think that many, if not most, gender-nonconforming children (for example very young boys who like pink and Barbie) are, or will likely be, gay and that “gender confirmation” for such children (or whatever they are calling it at the moment), is conversion therapy, full stop. I further acknowledge that some of these children (for example teen girls who were not at all masculine as young children and yet suddenly claim to be boys) may be autistic and have other psychological comorbidities. Sexuality, whether autogynephilic or homosexual, is the elephant in the room with all of this “trans” stuff. To deny that that the desire to change sex has anything to do with sexuality is patently absurd. But the absurdities abound. To claim that a man who married, fathered children, was in the military or another traditionally masculine pursuit, later transitioned, and now needs “lessons” on how to walk and talk like a woman, “was always a woman all along” is absurd. To claim that a child who is interested in dolls and dresses is a girl and one who isn’t is a boy, is absurd. And remember when it became impermissible to ask any celebrity promoting “trans” visibility about the surgery, or whether they had even HAD the surgery, because “it wasn’t about genitals?” Absurd. The fact is, many if not most retain their male genitals, and that fact is extremely relevant to considerations regarding restrooms, prisons, women’s shelters, and women’s sports teams. Articles like this one are a start, but I would like to see all of these absurdities acknowledged in the mainstream press, and I believe that to discuss and acknowledge them is not always done out of bigotry. Live and let live, but let’s tell the truth about who is living and how.
The US health system is a market. It is replete with actors who seek wealth and influence and lacks controls and restraints. Interest groups present themselves as authorities and do not represent the common good. Hilary Cass is a nationally recognized and appointed expert. She cannot be bought by quacks and social reformers. Listen to her.