Just to add, I am having a stab at setting up a facebook group that allows the kind of discussions that were not permitted in the spaces I've found so far. No idea how easy it will be to get a critical mass of people to join, but I'm giving it a go.
Thank you for writing this. I too am a Ph.D. scientist, and have asked trans activists to provide suggestions on where to find the supposed “vast body of scientific literature” supporting their assertions. I also asked in good faith- I like to believe I would be persuaded by data.
But every study that I was referred to was either flat out wrong (basically all the genetic studies) or at best extremely weak (small sizes, short time frames, bad or missing controls, huge drop-out rates with no follow-up, barely significant signals based on self-reported feelings, etc.) The text of these papers often contain statements that are wildly overblown or simply not supported by their own data.
So I experienced the same reaction you did. Eventually I realized I was engaging religious zealots. I simply was not going to convince them with facts, and of course they will be hostile to any questions regarding their faith. This isn’t surprising, as this is a group of people who believe in a metaphysical gender that can be expressed independent of a physical body. That is a religious belief, not science. And the priests (aka moderators) don’t want you or I leading anyone in the flock astray with pesky science questions.
It would all be relatively harmless foolishness if it wasn’t leading to permanent mutilation of a generation of young people.
This is so interesting. I struggle to understand how parents can affirm. I found the recent wider lens episode with rose very interesting. Your reports are consistent with her comment that she believed that questioning was transphobic. I question everything - the only thing I don’t question is stuff that really doesn’t matter. So of course I would question how best to help my child. Your article has helped me understand that not only do affirmation parents not question but they actively guard against questioning.
I’ve also found the wider lens podcasts really good. I haven’t listened to them all but I’d like to work my way through them.
I do understand why parents feel desperate. We were clobbered over the head with the “do you want a trans kid or a dead kid?” thing and if that is what you genuinely believe is the case then of course you’d do anything.
But we’ve also always taught our kid that if someone ever tells you “you must not ask that” or “you are not allowed to question that” it is a huge red flag and we’ve encouraged them to apply that to us as well.
It’s been the bane of our lives a bit lol because we have to justify everything to the Nth degree since he was a toddler but I 100% believe that there is nothing but nothing that cannot or should not be questioned.
Thank you for writing this and for the other work that you mentioned you’re working on. Sometimes I start to question if I’m possibly the one in an echo chamber on the other side of the issue, because it’s so isolating to look for answers and question the narrative. I’m desperately looking for somewhere to ask advice on how to respond to my college daughter cutting us out of her life. It’s extremely hard to find advice. So I just want to thank you, because I was having a rough day and reading the moderator messages made me laugh out loud. Ironically it’s very similar to the responses I received from my daughter a year ago when I asked if she had read about ROGD. -She was a psych major. I was trying to show that I am doing research and not just jumping to conclusions. She sent me quotes from psychology articles saying it’s not real and it’s harmful. Then blocked me from texting. I was shocked.
So at least I felt a little better reading your experiences, and remembering I’m not the only parent who has poured through every study I can find to get answers. Thank you again.
That sounds so hard and I wish I knew how to combat it. There’s resources on deprogramming and so on but of course you can’t apply any of that if you have no contact.
I’m glad at least you got a chuckle - it was insane the garbage they were coming up with 🤣
I really hope you find a way to reach your daughter or that she comes to her senses somehow.
Mine has blocked me as well. They’re trans “friends” and influencers as well as other girls trying to appear as allies tell them to do this. But then again, so do the professors, activists, therapists and doctors. Completely unethical. I hope parents start suing the hell out the colleges and universities. The activist orgs are also terrible. They do the same.
Thank you for this. I also have a science background, and when I dived into the research I realised just how flimsy it is. But if we're not allowed to talk about it, then how can the general public know what is truly going on? I took our kid (trans-ID'd during covid lockdown, autistic - how many are like this?) to our gender clinic. We saw them on zoom many times over two years. Not once did they raise any questions about the underlying reasons for the trans-ID. They only affirmed. The papers they sent us to read were entirely affirmation only (eg they included a criticism of LIttman's ROGD paper but not her paper itself).
Exactly - it rings so many alarm bells to me when people are not even willing to read something, let alone make a coherent argument about why it might be wrong.
The way it is constantly presented as "settled science" when it is in fact very, very early, experimental days is deeply dangerous and - when people are misled in that way - I don't think they can be said to have really consented.
I didn't say this in the piece, but our kid also ticks many of the common boxes: same-sex attracted, autistic, started IDing as trans along with their whole friend group, transitioned during lockdown after isolation and heavy social media use. I don't assume any of these are reasons to invalidate their very real feelings but, to me, they are all potential influences on their experience of gender dysphoria.
You have done a service by documenting your experience with the Facebook group. Back in 2017 when our daughter "came out" as trans, I was desperate for reliable information and studies. I too joined a Facebook parents group, perhaps the same one as you. I immediately started asking questions (I wasn't anywhere near as careful as you), and within about a week I was ejected from the group. The reason they gave was this: "you seem not to be an ally to trans people". I tried joining another Facebook group, of Russian-speaking parents of trans kids, believe it or not. They were a little more tolerant than the English-speaking group, but I was cold-shouldered for my questions and finally dropped out. Today there are more resources available -- parent groups, detransitioner accounts, and studies. The parent group I currently attend on Zoom is wonderful, in spite of all the painful stories. However, I supposed you could say that it too is an echo chamber of sorts. We too have to vet new members, and be careful about anonymity. But I will say this: during every meeting, the chat area is on fire with people sharing links to new articles, studies, resources. It is nothing like the Facebook groups where parents gather to find reassurance that they have done the right thing by medicalising their kids . . .
Sounds like it could very well be the same group - certainly sounds like their style 🤦♂️
And I’ve wondered the same about echo chambers - it’s always good to be alert to blind spots. But certainly the approach is radically different - when people refuse to even look at evidence or tell you you can’t even discuss something it is a colossal red flag.
Thank you for this great essay--it is hard to explain to people what is going on when parents ask for information, but you illustrated it really clearly!
Lots of the studies have been taken apart at segm.org as well, and Genspect is having a conference at the end of the month (as you likely know if you are listening to Gender, a Wider Lens).
de Vries et al 2011 failed replication, GIDS tried to repeat it and didn't find the benefit (Carmichael et al., 2021), some people suggest (e.g. Cantor, but maybe others too, I can't remember) that as GIDS didn't include the psychotherapy component, one possibility (not the only one, obviously) is that the psychotherapy is what caused the improvement de Vries et al (2011) saw, rather than the medications.
I'm working my way through "parent summary" pieces on some of the most commonly quoted studies and also intend to write up pieces on their limitations and flaws, again aiming at simple language that is hopefully easily understood. It's a bit of a mountain to climb, but one step at a time...
Thanks for the reminder about SEGM, I'll make sure I review what they have there again!
I have great admiration for Levine and Abruzzese’s work here, particularly their ability to not just break into ranting about how insane these people are, what a profound embarrassment this “gender-affirmation” episode is to the entire scientific community and how damaging it is to the credibility of the profession. Entire fields of research captured by narcissistic gaslighting and craven passive silence. Aarrrgggggghh. I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO IT.
“individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had received gender-affirming surgery were more likely to be treated for anxiety disorders compared with individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had not received gender-affirming surgery.”
Thank you for the even-handed article. It shows the extraordinary diligence we parents do when it comes to our children and their wellbeing. On my part, for our (male) child, I did a deep dive into the state-of-the-art when it comes to research on the effect of estrogen (or oestrogen across the pond!) on the male body. Here is what I found: https://bit.ly/estro_on_men. Although estrogen is promoted as improving mental health, in studies conducted within a clinical setting, there is no evidence that it helps with the psychosocial functioning of natal males. On the contrary, recent published literature points to a strong body of evidence that such treatment can lead to major depressive disorder and long-term cognitive impairment. Case reports published in the last couple of years indicate that estrogen may induce autoimmune disorders. There is evidence in the published literature of estrogen's role in raising risks in cardiovascular diseases, two different kinds of cancers, and liver diseases. Evidence from clinical encounters and insurance claims demonstrates significantly higher rates of neurological and physiological disorders in the transgender population compared to the general population. There is also evidence accumulating over several decades that transgender women on estrogen bear an elevated all-cause mortality rate along with an increased rate of suicide compared with the general population of either natal sex. You have your own Substack - feel free to use any of the evidence that I go through in my review. And once again, thank you.
My take is basically that many autistics/Aspies (including myself, a straight cis man) have less distinctly‑gendered behavioral traits than neurotypicals, so "Aspergirls" seem masculine by comparison to neurotypical women. (My younger sibling has already gone FtM but I've shared my take with a few other family members…)
"Rational and coherent" are not to be found anywhere in the trans lobby. Because we are mammals and mammals can't change sex, however many drugs they take and surgeries that alter their appearance. Parents who want the best for their children do not want them sterilized before their brains have matured (which, once they've followed the protocols, may never happen in any case). First do no harm is violated by every doctor who offers "gender affirming care" https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/first-do-no-harm and a parent's main job is to safeguard the wellbeing of their children: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-parents
Sadly, none of this surprises me at all. Mermaids are not a support group, but more like an evangelical cult. I am a stand-in parent for a young same-sex attracted autistic woman who was abused as a child. Last year while suffering extreme personal discomfort as result of trauma she phoned Mermaids for advice and were told "we can't help you with your trauma, your mental health or your autism but we can assist you on your transition journey". They "helped" her to "understand" that her discomfort in her body was caused by her being trans. In my opinion this is a criminal level of misguidance (I can't think of a suitable word - it's more than negligence, but rather a wilful direction towards harm) that could easily have resulted in irreversible medicalised harm had it not been for this young person being capable of analytical thought and having the support of some scientifically/ analytically capable people. Shortly afterwards she discussed the strong discomfort in her own body with an NHS therapist and was told she "might have been born in the wrong body" - all of this was well after the publication of the interim Cass report, and shortly after the full report was published; there is simply no excuse for it, and these perpetrators of harm must one day be held to account. I'm pleased to report that she is now absolutely clear that she is not "trans" and feels very relieved to have avoided the very serious harm that could have been done to her. I strongly recommend "Gender- A Wider Lens", "Genspect" and "Sex Matters" as sources for alternative perspectives here. Also "When Kids Say They're Trans" is a helpful book which will be dismissed as "transphobic" by the cult, but is actually about protecting children and helping them to work through these feelings without harming themselves.
One of the most worrying elements of this is the fact that even the Tavistock center published some preliminary data about the high incidence of young girls in their care who had experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment prior to the symptoms of discomfort with their bodies. I am extremely wary of a government that has such an appalling rate of conviction for predators taking the position that the problem is not a society that tolerates abuse towards women, or a criminally incompetent justice system, but that these young women are “in the wrong bodies”. To me it seems that the new paradigm is taking young women’s rightful feelings of grief and anger at how they are treated in a society where even other women seek to make young adolescent girls feel shame about their bodies and about adults’ inappropriate behavior towards them, and turn it into a rejection of their biological sex.
Yes, the default position amongst the “Be Kind” lobby seems to be to sideline trauma and abuse and then repeat it by promoting medicalised transition. It’s almost unbelievable. Things are changing though. As a headteacher I have now drafted a clear school policy about this, in the absence of statutory guidance from the DfE. It’s a difficult area to address because I will be accused of transphobia and a lack of compassion, but I know that without a change more children are going to be harmed and their real underlying needs ignored.
One of the most worrying elements of this is the fact that even the Tavistock center published some preliminary data about the high incidence of young girls in their care who had experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment prior to the symptoms of discomfort with their bodies. I am extremely wary of a government that has such an appalling rate of conviction for predators taking the position that the problem is not a society that tolerates abuse towards women, or a criminally incompetent justice system, but that these young women are “in the wrong bodies”. To me it seems that the new paradigm is taking young women’s rightful feelings of grief and anger at how they are treated in a society where even other women seek to make young adolescent girls feel shame about their bodies and about adults’ inappropriate behavior towards them, and turn it into a rejection of their biological sex.
This is just an obvious lie. How would she have access to a secret database of numbers no one else does? This would mean she has access to: the entire list of all kids on the waiting list (why would this be shared with her? Just think about it... this is private NHS information, if it's being leaked to her someone needs to be prosecuted for it) and then, additionally, someone has gathered and shared ONLY WITH HER information about suicides from that already-confidential list. you know that graph about "this did not happen / this did not happen but in yellow"?
This person is a disordered fabulist. If you have a community of people who want to hang out with an obviously disordered fabulist, that's too bad but in the case of Mermaids I would say nothing is being hidden from anyone. She's announcing to the list "I am an obvious liar" and they are choosing to stay. Sad but not sure that kind of foolishness is preventable.
They tried to indoctrinate and brainwash you. I personally would never have fallen for that narrative. I always told my daughter this was utterly wrong.
I'll start by saying, I'm not an expert. I am though, very well informed. I'll also say, the likelihood of your child having permanent gender identity Disorder, is very low. I created my substack, purely to talk about Truths, with compassion. You are dealing essentialy with two ideologies. 1 ready to affirm your child, and one ideologicaly opposed to anyone crossing the feminist sex class divide. In the middle is scientific research, over a century, into the causes of gender dysphoria. Which a few benefit from historicaly. It is complex and full of nouence. It always though has compromises for life.
The treatment of children is new, and the reality is, most will grow out of it. There is though some evidence of when it apears to be permanent distress. G.I.D especialy in females, is rare. Or should I say, has been rare untill actvism and ideologies got in the way.
What I do is purely state the mainstream scientific research, and I'm slowly building up these resources.
Without ideological bias.
I will and are hated by both sides for just talking Truths.
Transition, should always be a last resort.
The affirmation model has caused regrets.
Historicaly those that have benefited the most were those few who were atypical for their sex, behaviours and attracted to their sex. With a lifelong wrong group, rather than wrong body.
A few who were attrsacted to the opposite sex, and developed symptoms, very early, and persisted, after puberty.
With girls, most will be lesbian, as adults. We are seeing another seed of developenent in straight girls and women. Which has got the sexology community worried.
Just to add, I am having a stab at setting up a facebook group that allows the kind of discussions that were not permitted in the spaces I've found so far. No idea how easy it will be to get a critical mass of people to join, but I'm giving it a go.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/237822368721915
Thank you for writing this. I too am a Ph.D. scientist, and have asked trans activists to provide suggestions on where to find the supposed “vast body of scientific literature” supporting their assertions. I also asked in good faith- I like to believe I would be persuaded by data.
But every study that I was referred to was either flat out wrong (basically all the genetic studies) or at best extremely weak (small sizes, short time frames, bad or missing controls, huge drop-out rates with no follow-up, barely significant signals based on self-reported feelings, etc.) The text of these papers often contain statements that are wildly overblown or simply not supported by their own data.
So I experienced the same reaction you did. Eventually I realized I was engaging religious zealots. I simply was not going to convince them with facts, and of course they will be hostile to any questions regarding their faith. This isn’t surprising, as this is a group of people who believe in a metaphysical gender that can be expressed independent of a physical body. That is a religious belief, not science. And the priests (aka moderators) don’t want you or I leading anyone in the flock astray with pesky science questions.
It would all be relatively harmless foolishness if it wasn’t leading to permanent mutilation of a generation of young people.
Exactly this. My assumption was that the evidence must be there, and that I just hadn’t managed to find it.
As it slowly dawned on me that, no, it genuinely just isn’t there I was astonished and then horrified.
And I feel deeply for both the kids and the parents who have been misled - what a terrible terrible realisation to have to grapple with.
This is so interesting. I struggle to understand how parents can affirm. I found the recent wider lens episode with rose very interesting. Your reports are consistent with her comment that she believed that questioning was transphobic. I question everything - the only thing I don’t question is stuff that really doesn’t matter. So of course I would question how best to help my child. Your article has helped me understand that not only do affirmation parents not question but they actively guard against questioning.
I’ve also found the wider lens podcasts really good. I haven’t listened to them all but I’d like to work my way through them.
I do understand why parents feel desperate. We were clobbered over the head with the “do you want a trans kid or a dead kid?” thing and if that is what you genuinely believe is the case then of course you’d do anything.
But we’ve also always taught our kid that if someone ever tells you “you must not ask that” or “you are not allowed to question that” it is a huge red flag and we’ve encouraged them to apply that to us as well.
It’s been the bane of our lives a bit lol because we have to justify everything to the Nth degree since he was a toddler but I 100% believe that there is nothing but nothing that cannot or should not be questioned.
Thank you for writing this and for the other work that you mentioned you’re working on. Sometimes I start to question if I’m possibly the one in an echo chamber on the other side of the issue, because it’s so isolating to look for answers and question the narrative. I’m desperately looking for somewhere to ask advice on how to respond to my college daughter cutting us out of her life. It’s extremely hard to find advice. So I just want to thank you, because I was having a rough day and reading the moderator messages made me laugh out loud. Ironically it’s very similar to the responses I received from my daughter a year ago when I asked if she had read about ROGD. -She was a psych major. I was trying to show that I am doing research and not just jumping to conclusions. She sent me quotes from psychology articles saying it’s not real and it’s harmful. Then blocked me from texting. I was shocked.
So at least I felt a little better reading your experiences, and remembering I’m not the only parent who has poured through every study I can find to get answers. Thank you again.
That sounds so hard and I wish I knew how to combat it. There’s resources on deprogramming and so on but of course you can’t apply any of that if you have no contact.
I’m glad at least you got a chuckle - it was insane the garbage they were coming up with 🤣
I really hope you find a way to reach your daughter or that she comes to her senses somehow.
Mine has blocked me as well. They’re trans “friends” and influencers as well as other girls trying to appear as allies tell them to do this. But then again, so do the professors, activists, therapists and doctors. Completely unethical. I hope parents start suing the hell out the colleges and universities. The activist orgs are also terrible. They do the same.
Thank you for this. I also have a science background, and when I dived into the research I realised just how flimsy it is. But if we're not allowed to talk about it, then how can the general public know what is truly going on? I took our kid (trans-ID'd during covid lockdown, autistic - how many are like this?) to our gender clinic. We saw them on zoom many times over two years. Not once did they raise any questions about the underlying reasons for the trans-ID. They only affirmed. The papers they sent us to read were entirely affirmation only (eg they included a criticism of LIttman's ROGD paper but not her paper itself).
Exactly - it rings so many alarm bells to me when people are not even willing to read something, let alone make a coherent argument about why it might be wrong.
The way it is constantly presented as "settled science" when it is in fact very, very early, experimental days is deeply dangerous and - when people are misled in that way - I don't think they can be said to have really consented.
I didn't say this in the piece, but our kid also ticks many of the common boxes: same-sex attracted, autistic, started IDing as trans along with their whole friend group, transitioned during lockdown after isolation and heavy social media use. I don't assume any of these are reasons to invalidate their very real feelings but, to me, they are all potential influences on their experience of gender dysphoria.
You have done a service by documenting your experience with the Facebook group. Back in 2017 when our daughter "came out" as trans, I was desperate for reliable information and studies. I too joined a Facebook parents group, perhaps the same one as you. I immediately started asking questions (I wasn't anywhere near as careful as you), and within about a week I was ejected from the group. The reason they gave was this: "you seem not to be an ally to trans people". I tried joining another Facebook group, of Russian-speaking parents of trans kids, believe it or not. They were a little more tolerant than the English-speaking group, but I was cold-shouldered for my questions and finally dropped out. Today there are more resources available -- parent groups, detransitioner accounts, and studies. The parent group I currently attend on Zoom is wonderful, in spite of all the painful stories. However, I supposed you could say that it too is an echo chamber of sorts. We too have to vet new members, and be careful about anonymity. But I will say this: during every meeting, the chat area is on fire with people sharing links to new articles, studies, resources. It is nothing like the Facebook groups where parents gather to find reassurance that they have done the right thing by medicalising their kids . . .
Sounds like it could very well be the same group - certainly sounds like their style 🤦♂️
And I’ve wondered the same about echo chambers - it’s always good to be alert to blind spots. But certainly the approach is radically different - when people refuse to even look at evidence or tell you you can’t even discuss something it is a colossal red flag.
What is your Zoom group? Is there a way I can join?
Hi there. The way to join the meetings is to use the contact form here:
https://genderdysphoriasupportnetwork.com/contact. Maybe I'll see you soon! Take care, SHARON LEE
Thank you for this great essay--it is hard to explain to people what is going on when parents ask for information, but you illustrated it really clearly!
Lots of the studies have been taken apart at segm.org as well, and Genspect is having a conference at the end of the month (as you likely know if you are listening to Gender, a Wider Lens).
de Vries et al 2011 failed replication, GIDS tried to repeat it and didn't find the benefit (Carmichael et al., 2021), some people suggest (e.g. Cantor, but maybe others too, I can't remember) that as GIDS didn't include the psychotherapy component, one possibility (not the only one, obviously) is that the psychotherapy is what caused the improvement de Vries et al (2011) saw, rather than the medications.
Thanks :)
I'm working my way through "parent summary" pieces on some of the most commonly quoted studies and also intend to write up pieces on their limitations and flaws, again aiming at simple language that is hopefully easily understood. It's a bit of a mountain to climb, but one step at a time...
Thanks for the reminder about SEGM, I'll make sure I review what they have there again!
There is also a new summary paper by Levine and Abbruzzese: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11930-023-00358-x but I'm guessing you know that.
Thank you!
I have great admiration for Levine and Abruzzese’s work here, particularly their ability to not just break into ranting about how insane these people are, what a profound embarrassment this “gender-affirmation” episode is to the entire scientific community and how damaging it is to the credibility of the profession. Entire fields of research captured by narcissistic gaslighting and craven passive silence. Aarrrgggggghh. I WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO IT.
“individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had received gender-affirming surgery were more likely to be treated for anxiety disorders compared with individuals diagnosed with gender incongruence who had not received gender-affirming surgery.”
I hadn't seen this - thank you :)
Well done! very thoughtful and thorough. Thanks.
Thanks Hazel - thankyou for reading 😊
Thank you for the even-handed article. It shows the extraordinary diligence we parents do when it comes to our children and their wellbeing. On my part, for our (male) child, I did a deep dive into the state-of-the-art when it comes to research on the effect of estrogen (or oestrogen across the pond!) on the male body. Here is what I found: https://bit.ly/estro_on_men. Although estrogen is promoted as improving mental health, in studies conducted within a clinical setting, there is no evidence that it helps with the psychosocial functioning of natal males. On the contrary, recent published literature points to a strong body of evidence that such treatment can lead to major depressive disorder and long-term cognitive impairment. Case reports published in the last couple of years indicate that estrogen may induce autoimmune disorders. There is evidence in the published literature of estrogen's role in raising risks in cardiovascular diseases, two different kinds of cancers, and liver diseases. Evidence from clinical encounters and insurance claims demonstrates significantly higher rates of neurological and physiological disorders in the transgender population compared to the general population. There is also evidence accumulating over several decades that transgender women on estrogen bear an elevated all-cause mortality rate along with an increased rate of suicide compared with the general population of either natal sex. You have your own Substack - feel free to use any of the evidence that I go through in my review. And once again, thank you.
My take is basically that many autistics/Aspies (including myself, a straight cis man) have less distinctly‑gendered behavioral traits than neurotypicals, so "Aspergirls" seem masculine by comparison to neurotypical women. (My younger sibling has already gone FtM but I've shared my take with a few other family members…)
"Rational and coherent" are not to be found anywhere in the trans lobby. Because we are mammals and mammals can't change sex, however many drugs they take and surgeries that alter their appearance. Parents who want the best for their children do not want them sterilized before their brains have matured (which, once they've followed the protocols, may never happen in any case). First do no harm is violated by every doctor who offers "gender affirming care" https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/first-do-no-harm and a parent's main job is to safeguard the wellbeing of their children: https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-parents
Thanks for sharing this level of detail of the echo chamber. I write articles such as this one and know of better support groups. https://thetranstrain.substack.com/p/protective-parents-are-not-hateful
Sadly, none of this surprises me at all. Mermaids are not a support group, but more like an evangelical cult. I am a stand-in parent for a young same-sex attracted autistic woman who was abused as a child. Last year while suffering extreme personal discomfort as result of trauma she phoned Mermaids for advice and were told "we can't help you with your trauma, your mental health or your autism but we can assist you on your transition journey". They "helped" her to "understand" that her discomfort in her body was caused by her being trans. In my opinion this is a criminal level of misguidance (I can't think of a suitable word - it's more than negligence, but rather a wilful direction towards harm) that could easily have resulted in irreversible medicalised harm had it not been for this young person being capable of analytical thought and having the support of some scientifically/ analytically capable people. Shortly afterwards she discussed the strong discomfort in her own body with an NHS therapist and was told she "might have been born in the wrong body" - all of this was well after the publication of the interim Cass report, and shortly after the full report was published; there is simply no excuse for it, and these perpetrators of harm must one day be held to account. I'm pleased to report that she is now absolutely clear that she is not "trans" and feels very relieved to have avoided the very serious harm that could have been done to her. I strongly recommend "Gender- A Wider Lens", "Genspect" and "Sex Matters" as sources for alternative perspectives here. Also "When Kids Say They're Trans" is a helpful book which will be dismissed as "transphobic" by the cult, but is actually about protecting children and helping them to work through these feelings without harming themselves.
One of the most worrying elements of this is the fact that even the Tavistock center published some preliminary data about the high incidence of young girls in their care who had experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment prior to the symptoms of discomfort with their bodies. I am extremely wary of a government that has such an appalling rate of conviction for predators taking the position that the problem is not a society that tolerates abuse towards women, or a criminally incompetent justice system, but that these young women are “in the wrong bodies”. To me it seems that the new paradigm is taking young women’s rightful feelings of grief and anger at how they are treated in a society where even other women seek to make young adolescent girls feel shame about their bodies and about adults’ inappropriate behavior towards them, and turn it into a rejection of their biological sex.
Yes, the default position amongst the “Be Kind” lobby seems to be to sideline trauma and abuse and then repeat it by promoting medicalised transition. It’s almost unbelievable. Things are changing though. As a headteacher I have now drafted a clear school policy about this, in the absence of statutory guidance from the DfE. It’s a difficult area to address because I will be accused of transphobia and a lack of compassion, but I know that without a change more children are going to be harmed and their real underlying needs ignored.
One of the most worrying elements of this is the fact that even the Tavistock center published some preliminary data about the high incidence of young girls in their care who had experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment prior to the symptoms of discomfort with their bodies. I am extremely wary of a government that has such an appalling rate of conviction for predators taking the position that the problem is not a society that tolerates abuse towards women, or a criminally incompetent justice system, but that these young women are “in the wrong bodies”. To me it seems that the new paradigm is taking young women’s rightful feelings of grief and anger at how they are treated in a society where even other women seek to make young adolescent girls feel shame about their bodies and about adults’ inappropriate behavior towards them, and turn it into a rejection of their biological sex.
"I know the actual number and it breaks my heart"
This is just an obvious lie. How would she have access to a secret database of numbers no one else does? This would mean she has access to: the entire list of all kids on the waiting list (why would this be shared with her? Just think about it... this is private NHS information, if it's being leaked to her someone needs to be prosecuted for it) and then, additionally, someone has gathered and shared ONLY WITH HER information about suicides from that already-confidential list. you know that graph about "this did not happen / this did not happen but in yellow"?
This person is a disordered fabulist. If you have a community of people who want to hang out with an obviously disordered fabulist, that's too bad but in the case of Mermaids I would say nothing is being hidden from anyone. She's announcing to the list "I am an obvious liar" and they are choosing to stay. Sad but not sure that kind of foolishness is preventable.
They tried to indoctrinate and brainwash you. I personally would never have fallen for that narrative. I always told my daughter this was utterly wrong.
I'll start by saying, I'm not an expert. I am though, very well informed. I'll also say, the likelihood of your child having permanent gender identity Disorder, is very low. I created my substack, purely to talk about Truths, with compassion. You are dealing essentialy with two ideologies. 1 ready to affirm your child, and one ideologicaly opposed to anyone crossing the feminist sex class divide. In the middle is scientific research, over a century, into the causes of gender dysphoria. Which a few benefit from historicaly. It is complex and full of nouence. It always though has compromises for life.
The treatment of children is new, and the reality is, most will grow out of it. There is though some evidence of when it apears to be permanent distress. G.I.D especialy in females, is rare. Or should I say, has been rare untill actvism and ideologies got in the way.
What I do is purely state the mainstream scientific research, and I'm slowly building up these resources.
Without ideological bias.
I will and are hated by both sides for just talking Truths.
Transition, should always be a last resort.
The affirmation model has caused regrets.
Historicaly those that have benefited the most were those few who were atypical for their sex, behaviours and attracted to their sex. With a lifelong wrong group, rather than wrong body.
A few who were attrsacted to the opposite sex, and developed symptoms, very early, and persisted, after puberty.
With girls, most will be lesbian, as adults. We are seeing another seed of developenent in straight girls and women. Which has got the sexology community worried.