WPATH Members Provide Uncontested Validation of GHQ Mission

News Commentary

Going back as far as 2014 and earlier, parents, desisters, detransitioners, LGB people, health professionals, autism experts, and some trans people have been ringing alarm bells about the safety of pediatric medical transition for gender dysphoric minors under "the affirmative model." This model may involve social transition at age three, puberty blockers at age ten, and surgery and cross-sex hormones as young as thirteen. WPATH is a very pro-medical transition organization that promotes "Standard of Care" but is strongly influenced by activists highly motivated to transition children medically. Despite this, three of its members have been speaking out about the dangers that are surrounding "the affirmative model." They are Marci Bowers, an MtF surgeon who specializes in vaginoplasty, and Erica Anderson and Laura Edwards-Leeper, who are mental health professionals. Their concerns are regarding reckless mental health practices that rapidly transition youth with little assessment, the considerable increase in female young people wanting medical transition, and the reality placing male tweens on puberty blockers (and then cross-sex hormones) ruins their sexual function for the rest of their lives and requires dangerous and experimental bottom surgeries due to stunted genital growth.

These are the very concerns our organization has raised since 2019, and our board members have raised since 2015. Because affirmative model advocates such as Johanna Olson-Kennedy, Diane Ehrensaft, Michelle Forcier, Jack Turban, and Kristina Olson have so misled the public to believe in the health and safety of this protocol, any person who raised the concerns these WPATH members are now has been painted as a "bigot," a "concern troll," and a "transphobe,” often accompanying verbal abuse and threats to one’s career.

We are glad the WPATH members are speaking out now. We'd like to believe this is in good faith and not solely motivated by fears of lawsuits. The fact that they have done this creates a new reality that there will be no more plausible deniability this can harm in the future. This protocol should have received more scrutiny years ago:

Top Trans Doctors Blow the Whistle on ‘Sloppy’ Care

What Do We Mean By “Gender Affirming Care?” A Conversation with Dr. Laura Edwards-Leeper

Gender Dysphoria Endocrine Society & Pediatric Endocrine Society Guidelines Intentionally Hide Risk & Harm

Editorial

Heading: “Your Dangerous, Inaccurate, and Ideological Guidelines for Trans-Identified Youth”

Sending this to 100s of mental health and medical professionals as this is a wide-spread problem- apathy about risk to LGB and other youth. This is profoundly destructive to these individuals and to our communities. The younger children are transitioned, the more of them there will be.

To the Endocrine Society and Pediatric Endocrine Society,

We are board members for an LGBT medical watchdog organization regarding pediatric medical transition for minors with gender dysphoria. In 6 years of intensely researching this issue, your recent statements and guidelines on this topic are some of the most unethical and sloppy of anything we have seen, in our free-speech opinion. And we have seen a lot of substandard discourse, confirmation bias, censorship, and blatant disregard for the safety of mostly LGB youth who may resolve GD as all prior research shows many do. There are so many ideological spins and factual errors in these documents it would take far too long to go over them all. And that should not be the public’s job. That is your job as the leadership and board members of The Pediatric Endocrine Society and the Endocrine Society, tasked with the most important goal of all, being trustworthy. Your organizations are experiencing ideological capture by extremist gender identity activists (even PhDs and MDs), and our guess is that you are entrusting small, agenda-driven committees to write balanced information. This is a huge mistake regarding this contentious and complicated issue that requires responsible nuance.

No, the “affirmative model” is not universally recognized as “safe” by all gender dysphoria experts, and it is clearly proving to be unsafe for some young people. That is the truth.

BBC

FB comment from WPATH member

Science bodies have a moral obligation to present facts and accurate information to the doctors and scientists they represent and the public. If you don’t, you will justifiably be accused of negligence and malpractice for the harm we are seeing befall young people due to the dishonesties represented in your documents regarding gender dysphoric youth. These dishonesties are being exposed by a groundswell of well-informed parents, doctors, mental health professionals, trans-rationalists, detransitioners, podcasters, and concerned LGB people who have been going public for years, negating the possibility of plausible deniability by organizations such as yours. 

The documents in question: 

https://transhealthproject.org/resources/medical-organization-statements/endocrine-society-statements/

https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/a65106b6ae7f4d2394a1ebeba458591d.ashx

https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advance-article/doi/10.1210/clinem/dgaa816/6031005

https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/endocrine/files/advocacy/position-statement/transgender_health_minors_fact_sheet.pdf

And here is this statement demonstrating the Endocrine Society and Pediatric Endocrine Society have a complete lack of concern or compassion for the young woman in the Bell v Tavistock case (she won) who transitioned at too young an age who is now permanently scarred by doctors such as yourselves. She is here merely as a prop to be kicked to the side and aggressively opposed so you can continue to prescribe extreme and experimental medical treatments on minors who don’t reach full executive function until age 25:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/tes-dpt121120.php

While there are too many errors and hard ideological slants to go over in the material in these links, we will review a few of the most egregious. This is unacceptable for doctors’ organizations.

Your attempt to debunk this quote falls flat to those of us who know what is really going on:

“Texas should ban chemical castration, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and genital mutilation surgery on all minor children for transition purposes, given that Texas children as young as three (3) are being transitioned from their biological sex to the opposite sex.” Even though “chemical castration” and “genital mutilation” are not part of gender-affirming care for minors, such wording serves to alarm the general public, and 94.57% of the electors supported the measure [15].

Not part of gender-affirming care for minors? While you may dislike the phrase “chemical castration” because it doesn’t have the marketable ring of “gender affirming” it is the proper term for the use of hormone blockers. These are the very drugs and terminology used to “chemically castrate” sex offenders. When you give puberty blockers to an 11-year-old, you stunt their genital growth. The problem of “micropenis” is well documented and the state becomes permanent when the youth goes on estrogen. This can permanently destroy the youth’s sexual response making a fully realized adult romantic relationship impossible. Due to lack of tissue, the youth now requires a rectosigmoid or peritoneal graph vaginoplasty to create a neovaginal canal as surgeons can’t do the “gold standard” one. These protocols sterilize both sexes. The wording in the quote above is hardly hyperbolic.

And now to the second part of the inaccuracy of the sentence. Genital surgeries are done on minors. Jazz Jennings, who likely has permanently destroyed sexual function for life, had this procedure done at 17 on national television. Jazz had to have 3 corrective surgeries after the experimental vaginoplasty “popped” and collapsed, an incident described by Jazz as extremely messy and painful. This path was decided by Jazz at age 11 when doctors such as yourselves prescribed hormone blockers. One of the patients in the Steensma/de Vries cohort died from the vaginoplasty, despite this being the #1 “success” study cited to promote pediatric transition. These young people are guinea pigs. We contest a child who hasn’t had a first boyfriend or crush even, can consent to permanent sexuality destruction despite your confidence in the face of conflicting data and views. There are trans people who adamantly oppose this.

Should the public feel “alarm” over this?

Reddit

Here is evidence of vaginoplasty surgeries underage. The same is true for double mastectomies performed on tweens.

https://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/09/prweb12141694.htm:

“The patient, a California high school student who began administering estrogen and anti-androgens to transition from male to female at the age of 11, is the youngest transgender patient in U.S. history to completely avoid male puberty and subsequently undergo gender reassignment surgery at the age of 16.”

Another problem:

"Gender identity was considered malleable and subject to external influences. Today, however, this attitude is no longer considered valid."

A detransition subreddit with thousands of people holds views that say otherwise. We also document many social factors that influence gender dysphoria linked below. Of particular concern to us, but not you, is that homophobic bullying pushes youth towards trans identification. This is according to a peer-reviewed study and many anecdotal examples of LGB youth who claimed this was the case or their therapists saying so. Lack of stability in the home appears to be another environmental factor. There are many examples of social contagions throughout history, and most involve young females. We believe there is robust evidence to support this is currently the case with spiking levels of trans identification in females. Responsible doctors analyze situations when epidemiology has drastically changed. 

We are an intellectually honest, evidence-based organization. We cover the valid "nature" data on brain research, lending credence to the above claim's possibility. But why does a layperson org have more comprehensive, evidence-based information than the Endocrine Society or Pediatric Endocrine Society? You pretend people who flatly state their social environment helped fuel their dysphoria and desire to transition don't exist. You pretend the multiple sex and gender researchers who worry that early social transitions may groom pre gay and lesbian children for medicalization don’t exist (Dr. Wren, Dr. Carmichael, Dr. Cantor, Dr. Zucker, Dr. Soh, Dr. Bailey, Dr. Blanchard, Dr. Korte, Dr. Drescher, Dr, Bradley, even Dr. Steensma have made these statements). The very design of your materials is to hide harm and risk. This is intentional, isn’t it? To see yourselves as protecting the important children even if it means recklessly endangering others by pretending they don’t exist, and ensuring your doctors and the public don’t know they exist.

https://www.genderhq.org/trans-nature-vs-nurture-innate-gender-identity-culture

https://www.genderhq.org/increase-trans-females-nonbinary-dysphoria 

https://www.genderhq.org/trans-children-gender-dysphoria-desistance-gay/#anchor-page1-section-b

You cite Jack Turban and pretend serious critiques by GD experts of his work don't exist. A good list of these professionals can be found in the comments on his JAMA article (under paywall), which should have been published if people were acting with integrity around this issue. 

https://www.genderhq.org/blog/conversion-therapy-trans-study-turban?rq=Turban

https://www.genderhq.org/blog/2020/11/2/recent-article-criticizes-the-quality-of-jack-turbans-analysis?rq=Turban

Miesen (2018)

Another criticism: 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30392631/

“We work and live with the co-occurrence of autism and gender diversity on a daily basis, and we are concerned that perpetuating misunderstanding about the co-occurrence places individuals at risk.”

More on Jack Turban: 

http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10508-020-01844-2

Moving on:

“Pre-pubertal youth who are supported and affirmed in their social transition long before medical interventions are indicated, experience no elevation in depression compared to their cis-gender peers.” (12)

Your reference is Achilles (2020). Should this not be Olson (2016)? Achilles is a drug study on adolescents. And the social transition Olson study is far from perfect.

Here is another example of the malpractice of your documents that violate all standards of informed consent:

"Over the last decade, there has been considerable research on and development of evidence-based standards of care that have proven to be both safe and efficacious for the treatment of gender dysphoria/gender incongruence in youth and adults.”

Where is this hard evidence this is “proven” “safe?” Jazz Jennings had 4 sexuality-destroying vaginoplasty corrective surgeries and will never have any sexual feeling, and you call this “safe.” Multiple gender dysphoria experts are concerned about this harming potential desisters, and you call this “safe.” There is information that this impacts bone health, and you call this “safe.” It looks like the blockers you are prescribing cognitively immature children can negatively impact pubertal brain development by lowering IQ. IQ is something very pertinent to career choice and earned income. But this is “safe.” There is no mention of the study that indicates a significant increased risk of heart attack in FtMs or mitochondrial damage or vaginal atrophy. You don’t mention you have no idea what the long-term consequences are of transitioning tweens on their bodies over the decades to come. How is this ethical, this hiding by you of negative, valid data? How? Having a good, honest desire to help this population is not a valid excuse for violating basic tenants of informed consent and “do no harm.” Citations for serious medical side-effects below:

https://www.genderhq.org/trans-youth-side-effects-hormone-blockers-surgery

We highly recommend you look at historical accounts of how medical and mental health professionals have harmed the public due to mirthful excitement about new protocols that wound up harming people because sterilizing children, destroying their sexual response forever, harming LGB youth, impacting bone health, IQ, and circulatory health are grave matters. We aren’t lawyers, but it sounds like “safe” is lawsuit-worthy (and was in the Bell v Tavistock case).

Bottom line- The sheer extremity of what you are doing to children is because you are being led to believe you are preventing suicides (referenced in your documents). There is a lack of robust proof that this is true, and several media-covered suicides used to promote underage transition involved fully affirmed youth with access to medical protocols. Inflating suicide risk, something often employed by affirmative model doctors and therapists to the public, violates all anti-suicide reporting guidelines, even those for LGBT youth laid out specifically by the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide. Suicide is highly socially contagious. Sending the message youth will kill themselves if not given strong drugs immediately is harmful. GHQ does not spin suicide. It is too serious a matter. No one should. Some studies indicate transition is helpful in this way. The studies in the Cornell review and others that have this information is on our evidence-based website.

But we will list studies/articles that should alarm you given the soaring numbers of children endocrinologists are “chemically castrating,” leading to underage surgeries: 

Branstrom (2020) recently had to be corrected (authors really wanted positive results). The reality is this study from Sweden’s healthcare system, with a large population, failed to prove mental health benefits to either hormonal therapy or sex reassignment surgery. This is in a country that is very pro LGBT, where people have access to public healthcare. It’s not perfect data but better than much in the Cornell review.

Lipson (2019) should concern you. This is a large population of college students surveyed. Why is the mental health so poor in trans people at universities where trans identity is celebrated, minority status is elevated in general, and they have access to student health care that often pays for transition?

Graph circulated by a researcher on SM regarding Lipson (2019)

The use of puberty blockers has not been shown to improve mental health in the UK, one of the reasons Tavistock lost the Bell v Tavistock case. There are likely thousands of kids on these blockers now in the US.

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/Biggs_ExperimentPubertyBlockers.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2X8HdzFfeUnaY0995EiTh9-gYCBKz5FmHG98PTdMjbXgZd5IhhGvl6uhY

At this time there are 20,000 adverse effects reported to the FDA from Lupron. An older article-

https://khn.org/news/women-fear-drug-they-used-to-halt-puberty-led-to-health-problems/

See Adams (2017)- This study, a meta-synthesis analysis, indicates transition may be ineffective in reducing suicide risk. When combining averages across 42 of the more recent studies (relevant because being trans was likely more difficult and unaccepted in the past), they found very high suicide ideation rates, even within the last year. Past year's stats also are not much better than lifetime stats in this review. And these are individuals accessing "gender-affirming" medical care. 

Stop engaging in desistance denial. This data is not presented in your documents. Having researched this for years, we understand why. Desistance data clearly shows pediatric transition is a risk to pre-gay and lesbian kids and ROGD (Littman 2018) shows this is a risk to teens struggling with puberty. This isn't included because you do not care about these youths. No one does in “affirmative” discourse. If you cared, you would address the risks to them and their needs. You can see it every time any data or evidence shows they are being harmed (they are) or may be harmed. You can see a long list of censorship incidences enforced not only by activists (who always threaten people) but by major universities, LGBT media, and magazines like Psychology Today. Everyone does it who wants to appear "progressive." Because LGB youth don’t matter. Girls struggling with puberty don’t matter. Girls who may have a sexual assault in their background don’t matter. If they mattered, you would talk about their needs and suffering, how they are scarred when their body parts are removed at too young an age, and how you are destroying their human right to just grow up and work out their identity issues.

You can't bring yourselves to write one sentence in care of them. Not one.

http://www.heather-brunskell-evans.co.uk/body-politics/1114/

There is so much that is sloppy about your material and ignoring of legitimate studies and critiques of the happy/safe narrative. Please fix this. It delegitimizes you and violates your moral and professional obligations. There are too many people who are very well informed who will hold those accountable for ignoring risk and, worse, lying about it and covering it up. We will leave by summarizing the problems:

1) No acknowledgment of high rates of desistance in all prior research and the likelihood of them being gay or lesbian, thus obscuring risk to pre-gay kids by putting them in social transition at age 5 and interfering with their natural puberty with blockers.

2) No acknowledgment of bizarre trends of clusters of teenage females coming out as trans in a gender dysphoria spike unheard of 20 years ago. Any responsible health professional takes a close look at a condition when its epidemiology changes drastically, especially when treatment results in permanently altering a minor and social contagion is a well-established phenomenon with many historical examples.

3) No acknowledgment of several disturbing studies indicating the hormone blockers, hormones and sex reassignment surgery overall may not reduce the likelihood of mental health problems and suicide risk. And no honest review of information showing very significant negative health impacts.

4) References to Jack Turban and no references to the critiques of this barely out of med school doctor’s work. 

5) No care from the Endocrine Society and Pediatric Endocrine Society for mounting numbers of mostly young women, many ASD and/or lesbian and bisexual, encouraged to hate their bodies as struggling same-sex attracted tomboys, who are now permanently scarred by the mental health and medical profession. See their stories on this subreddit with thousands (assume a high 90% are lurkers and just 10% detrans/desisters, this is a lot of people with regret on this site with 17K subscribers).

https://www.reddit.com/r/detrans/

Tout data that shows benefits to pediatric transition. It’s there. We don’t deny that. But this is an unfolding nightmare and major human rights violation for those of us who care about pre-gay and lesbian kids and LGB teenagers, known to experience intense but ultimately transient GD. We are also very small minority groups. More and more detransitioned young people are significantly impacted. Our communities and our humanity are significantly impacted. We do not blame the mounting numbers of scarred and permanently altered young people. We are working to ensure mental health and medical professionals involved in these inappropriate transitions are held accountable and are not allowed to kick these “bad optics” youth under the rug as morally acceptable collateral damage. Your endocrine guidelines/statements do just that and it’s intentional.

We are a trans-inclusive organization that cares about the obsession with passing being worshipped over brain development, bone health, genital development, avoiding severe and experimental bottom surgeries, and fertility.

This will be on our website. We will provide documentation of this to anyone who later feels they were harmed by the doctors in your organizations following substandard informational guidelines and want them held accountable. This has been successfully done in the UK. Don’t assume there isn’t an intense motivation to hold those accountable in the US. Don’t assume you are immune.

We aren’t the only people/organization/group concerned about this international issue. And some of them are trans.

https://segm.org

https://rethinkime.org

https://detranscanada.com

https://www.gccan.org

https://lgballiance.org.uk (with chapters in the US, Canada, Poland, and Australia)

https://www.transgendertrend.com

Supporting parents of children with gender dysphoria

https://genderreport.ca

_____________________________________

Our board

https://www.genderhq.org/about

A list of supporters

https://www.genderhq.org/letter-signatures 

References:

Adams, N., Hitomi, M., & Moody, C. (2017). Varied Reports of Adult Transgender Suicidality: Synthesizing and Describing the Peer-Reviewed and Gray Literature. Transgender Health, 2(1), 60-75. doi:10.1089/trgh.2016.0036

Holt, A. (2020, December 1). Puberty blockers: Under-16s 'unlikely to be able to give informed consent.' BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-55144148

Correction to Bränström and Pachankis. (2020, August). The American Journal of Psychiatry. Retrieved from https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.1778correction

Biggs, M. (2019, July 29). The Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers. Retrieved from http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/Biggs_ExperimentPubertyBlockers.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2X8HdzFfeUnaY0995EiTh9-gYCBKz5FmHG98PTdMjbXgZd5IhhGvl6uhY

Brunskill-Evans, M. (2018, June 21). A Woman’s Place is Standing Her Ground. Retrieved from http://www.heather-brunskell-evans.co.uk/body-politics/1114/

D’Angelo, R., Syrulnik, E., Ayad, S, Marchiano, L., Kenny, D.T., Clarke, P. One Size Does Not Fit All: In Support of Psychotherapy for Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sex Behavior (2020). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01844-2

Endocrine Society (2020, December 16). Discriminatory policies threaten care for transgender, gender diverse individuals. EurekAlert. Retrieved from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/tes-dpt121120.php

Endocrine Society, Pediatric Endocrine Society. Transgender Health: Suporting Gender Diverse Youth to Improve their Health, Well-being, And Safety. Retrieved from https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/endocrine/files/advocacy/position-statement/transgender_health_minors_fact_sheet.pdf

Endocrine Society, Pediatric Endocrine Society. Endocrine Society and Pediatric Endocrine Society Transgender Health Position & Statement (2020). Retrieved from https://www.endocrine.org/-/media/a65106b6ae7f4d2394a1ebeba458591d.ashx

Endocrine Society (2020, December 16). Discriminatory policies threaten care for transgender, gender diverse individuals. EurekAlert. Retrieved from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/tes-dpt121120.php

Jewett, C., & Kaiser Health News. (2017, November 30). Women Fear Drug They Used To Halt Puberty Led To Health Problems. Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/women-fear-drug-they-used-to-halt-puberty-led-to-health-problems/

Lipson, S.K, Raifman, J., Abelson, S., Reisner, S.L. Gender Minority Mental Health in the U.S.: Results of a National Survey on College Campuses. American Journal of Preventative Medicine 53(3), 293–301. doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2019.04.025

Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137(3), e20153223. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3223

PRWeb. (2014, September 5). Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon, Gary Alter, MD, Performs Gender Reassignment Surgery on Youngest Transsexual Patient in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/09/prweb12141694.htm

Strang, J.F., Janssen, A., Tishelman, A., Leibowitz, S.F., Kenworthy L, McGuire, J.K., Edwards-Leeper, L., Mazefsky, C.A., Rofey D., et al. (2018) Revisiting the Link: Evidence of the Rates of Autism in Studies of Gender Diverse Individuals. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 57(11), 885-887. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.04.023

TLDEF's Trans Health Project (2020, December 17). Endocrine Society. Retrieved from https://transhealthproject.org/resources/medical-organization-statements/endocrine-society-statements/

van der Miesen, A., Cohen-Kettenis, P., de Vries, A. (2018) Is There a Link Between Gender Dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 57(11), 884-885. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2018.04.022

Walch, A., Davidge-Pitts, C., Safer, J.D., Lopez, X., Tangpricha, V. Iwamoto, S.J. (2020, December 16). Proper Care of Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons in the Setting of Proposed Discrimination: A Policy Perspective. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgaa816

Please Join a Letter Writing Campaign in Honor of JK Rowling & Her Bravery in Raising Concerns about Large Increases in Medically Altered Youth with Gender Dysphoria

Did you know that JK Rowling’s and Harry Potter’s birthdays are coming up soon?

Many of us have felt heartened and grateful for JK Rowling’s recent contributions to the discussion around gender ideology. Rowling shares a birthday with her beloved literary progeny – July 31. Harry Potter fans will recall that the boy wizard receives his first Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his 11th birthday. When his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon refuse to let him see the letter, more and more “letters from no one” begin to arrive, finally inundating his aunt and uncle.

The Hogwarts’ motto is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), but sometimes sleeping dragons do indeed need to be tickled. We thought we would show our support for Joanne on her birthday by sending “letters from no one” to The Guardian, the BBC, and The New York Times. All we are asking for is constructive dialogue in the mainstream media. Please download the letter, print it three times, and send it to the New York Times, the BBC, and the Guardian in time for it to arrive around July 31. Alternatively, you may copy the text (printed below) and paste it into an email. Or better yet, do both! You may feel free to sign it and give a brief description of yourself, or you may simply send without signing.

Once you’ve printed your letter, please take a picture of it and post the photo on social media using the hashtags #ItsNotHateToWantDebate and #HappyBirthdayJKR. Tag in the journalists and the outlets. And please help spread the word!

Let’s send as many letters to each of these media outlets as Hogwarts sent to Harry at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia’s house. 

Looking forward to seeing you at Hogwarts!

For a downloadable PDF of the letter, click here.

To copy and paste the letter into an email, see the text of the letter below. 

___________________________________________

To the BBC, The Guardian and The New York Times:

We are writing to request that you widen your scope when reporting on gender diversity. A progressive society is characterised by a respect for thoughtful discussion and we hope that journalistic outlets of your stature could explore multiple perspectives on these important questions rather than stifling debate by covering only one side.   

In her recent personal essay, J.K. Rowling outlined her concerns that extremist ideology was negatively impacting vulnerable groups. She highlighted several pressing aspects of this issue that have received scant coverage in the liberal media. The international reaction to Rowling’s essay demonstrated both the lack of public awareness about these issues and the urgent need for honest and respectful dialogue. 

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry begins to receive numerous copies of his Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his birthday on July 31 – which is also Rowling’s birthday. These letters marked a new beginning for the fictional boy wizard. We hope these letters that you are receiving will signal to you that there are many from across the political spectrum who wish to have a good-faith discussion about gender ideology and its impact on women, children, adolescents, and also on lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. 

It is our hope that together we can help to usher in a new beginning where we can have important conversations that until now have been substantially ignored by the liberal mainstream media. Given our mutual desire to support gender non-conforming individuals, we believe that it is vitally important for leading media to cover these crucial and under-reported stories. 

• The extraordinary growth in the number of adolescents with gender dysphoria

• The link between increasingly rigid gendered expectations and gender dysphoria in childhood

• The social pressures on lesbian, gay and bisexual youth to conform to sex role stereotypes and/or change their bodies

• The complex issues facing the growing number of detransitioners

• The potential impact the enshrinement of gender identity has upon sex-based rights, single-sex spaces, and sports for women and girls

After receiving his letters, Harry travelled to Hogwarts on September 1. We would like to follow up with you in early September to see how we might bring more nuance and depth to the current coverage about gender issues.

Hope to see you at Hogwarts!

#ItsNotHateToWantDebate                #HappyBirthdayJKR

The Guardian

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The New York Times

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BBC

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Case of Teen Girl Desisting from Gender Dysphoria Highlights Conflicts and Dangers Around Pediatric Medical Transition

A parent sent an email to Gender Health Query about a teenage girl who met DSM diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria. One parent and the mental health and medical professionals were all enthusiastic to medically alter this girl's body, who eventually outgrew her feelings. The story highlights conflicts that are arising between parents around their child's trans declaration, the involvement of the courts, and how early medical treatment endangers grey area children/teens/young adults.

Slightly edited (for anonymity) and posted with permission:

Subject: My daughters desistance

Message: Briefly, I would like to share that my daughter, who has recently desisted, had identified as transgender (FTM) for over 2 years, from age 13-15. During this entire period, she regularly pressured me and my ex that she needed medicalization with hormones. I very carefully resisted the pressure while showing support. My ex, however, was very supportive and showed eager willingness to allow her to medicalize. My ex also used my resistance to medicalization to try to show family court I was not supportive of my daughter's coming out as TG. My ex exploited this (along with some parent/child conflict) in an attempt to limit my parental rights and parenting time. This was a source of great conflict, for us as co-parents. Throughout her court challenge, a few mental health professionals were brought to the case to give opinions. We also hired an LGBTQ "specialist" for therapy for my daughter. All the mental health pro's recommended the affirmation approach and encouraged seeking out consultation for puberty blocking or hormone therapy. At one point, in the presence of my child, I asked the LGBTQ specialist if she, and my daughter, had discussed testosterone therapy and its side effects. She replied that, yes, they had. I asked, "Have you had the conversation about how 'T' has irreversible side-effects." The "specialist" flatly denied that this was true, to me, in front of my child. She stated that the effects of T are reversible. I know that this is not true, as I had done diligent research on TG medicalization. I was appalled that a therapist claiming to be a transgender specialist would be so uninformed. She was also unaware of what WPATH was.

Recently, My daughter has desisted and is back to identifying as her natal gender. The cessation of the two years of identification happened almost as fast as her coming out as TG two years prior. It terrifies me to think that, had I lost parenting rights/decision making during my ex's court challenge, my daughter may have been allowed to medicalize her transition. It terrifies me that there is a mental health community (who may have very little understanding/training/information) that is encouraging medicalization of children.

Through the process of transition, I reluctantly consented to a consultation at the Children's Hospital Transgender Clinic here in ****. I consented under pressure from my ex with her court case. I felt I had to show that I was supportive of my child's TG identification. Fortunately, there was a 6+ month waitlist for a consultation. I fear if we had gone to our consultation, the TG Clinic might have recommended hormone therapy. This would give my ex more professional backing (along with other mental health professionals opinions) to either pressure me to consent to medicalization or, worse, the court to limit my parental decision-making rights. Luckily my daughter desisted before her name came up on the waitlist.

When I called the Transgender clinic to remove my daughter's name from the waitlist, I asked the staff member if the TG Clinic kept data and statistics of children who were in the program, or on the waitlist, who had dropped out due to desistance. She said she was not aware of any data collection of that type. There seems to be so much disinformation on desistance rates for TG kids. I feel desistance rates are under-reported. I feel, during this era where child referrals to TG clinics have skyrocketed (particularly for teen FTM's), there needs to be reliable data collection on desistance rates to be used for additional research. Also, this data would be most useful in making clinical decisions on whether or not to medicalize certain age groups, like teenagers. I have no idea how trans gender clinics are accredited, but perhaps keeping accurate data on program desistance rates should be a condition of accreditation.

I'm appreciative of this web site and organization. I'm thankful to share. I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on desistance rates data collection.

Sincerely,

****

Thanks to The Australian and Bernard Lane for Publishing Our Comments About the Affirmative Model

News Commentary

Bernard Lane has been writing articles about transgender issues for The Australian. Those articles can be found listed under his BIO.

Lane included GHQ statements for an article about conversion therapy laws and how these will be used to immediately affirm the significant increases in trans-identified youth:

“Health chiefs can’t ignore ‘global epidemic’ of transgender teens”

Here is the quoted GHQ commentary:

Justine Kreher, from a new US-based LGBT group Gender Health Query worried about overdiagnosis of gender dysphoria and medicalisation of minors, said most LGBT people were not aware of the risks.

“The evidence is strong that early social transition (living as the opposite sex) and use of hormone blockers will lead to the over-medicalisation — or “conversion” — of LGB minors who would have outgrown gender dysphoria with maturation,” she said.

“It’s already happening as known cases are mounting. The question is, how high will the percentage be?”

Gender Health Query’s international board includes trans adult Miranda Yardley and lesbian feminist philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith from the University of Melbourne.

Ms Kreher, also a board member, said LGBT lobbies and progressive media refused to discuss “the reality that for many gender-nonconforming youths, or even adults, there isn’t a clear line between gay and trans”.

“Trans people argue transition as a minor is a human right (but troubled) LGB people would argue the right to mature and accept oneself, without being medically defaced by the psychology and medical profession, is a human right.”

Ms Kreher said activist promotion of medicalised gender change had been “extremely effective in inducing suicide terror in the public”.

“People should take suicide risk seriously, but it is also exaggerated and employed to manipulate people to not care about serious risks to minors who may (grow out of gender dysphoria) with time,” she said.

“These risks include sterilisation, loss of sexual function, impacts on bone and circulatory health, and a reduction in IQ if they take hormone blockers.”

The article included commentary from mental health professionals expressing similar concerns:

The internationally recognised sex researcher, Ray Blanchard, joined online debate about the Queensland bill, tweeting: “Conversion therapy laws are Trojan Horses, ostensibly about banning attempts to change sexual orientation in adults, actually about banning therapy to help gender-dysphoric children and youth become comfortable with their anatomic sex”.

And:

Dr Parry pointed out that many children grew out of gender dysphoria, becoming “more comfortable with birth gender or a same-sex orientation”. Clinicians say this is a reason to be cautious about medical interventions.

Psychologist Dianna Kenny, who treats gender dysphoric youth, told the committee that trans activists “vehemently denied the role of social contagion in the spread of gender dysphoria in young people because it flies in the face of their flawed ideology that children are the experts regarding their own gender identity”.

Dr Kenny, a specialist in developmental psychology and a former professor at Sydney University, said beliefs and attitudes were especially contagious in centralised social networks.

“This network is highly centralised with only one voice — the trans activist lobby — being heard above the desperate cries of terrified parents and horrified academics, doctors, psychologists and psychotherapists.”

She said this social contagion was affecting not just children and adolescents but also medical practitioners, legislators and educators.

The article confirms this is mainly affecting young females:

There were at least 216 patients on controversial puberty blocker drugs (up 108-fold over six years).

The clinic refuses to reveal birth sex data but 94 per cent of the 84 under-18s on opposite-sex hormones were taking testosterone, meaning they were born female.

Thanks to the paper and author for airing our concerns.

References

Lane, B. (2020, February 11) “Health chiefs can’t ignore ‘global epidemic’ of transgender teens.” The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/health-chiefs-cant-ignore-global-epidemic-of-transgender-teens/news-story/5849a55ba47884befdc9eb72d25d32d7

Detransition and Gender Dysphoria

News Links

Detransition and regret rates appear to be increasing. Most regretters appear to be biological females and lesbians. Below are several links to articles about desistance and detransition.

1) This research paper acknowledges the complications in treating gender dysphoria in minors. Cases of desistance are reviewed.

“‘Taking the lid off the box’: The value of extended clinical assessment for adolescents presenting with gender identity difficulties:”

Abstract

As the number of young people referred to specialist gender identity clinics in the western world increases, there is a need to examine ways of making sense of the range and diversity of their developmental pathways and outcomes. This article presents a joint case review of the authors caseloads over an 18-month period, to identify and describe those young people who presented to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) with gender dysphoria (GD) emerging in adolescence, and who, during the course of assessment, ceased wishing to pursue medical (hormonal) interventions and/or who arrived at a different understanding of their embodied distress. From the 12 case‘Taking the lid off the box’: The value of extended clinical assessment for adolescents presenting with gender identity difficultiesTaking the lid off the box’: The value of extended clinical assessment for adolescents presenting with gender identity difficultiess identified, 2 case vignettes are presented. Implications for the development of clinical practice, service delivery and research are considered.

2) Finland plans to study transition regret and detransition.

“Study aims to chart transition regret in Finland:”

"I wish I'd never done it"

Twenty-seven year-old Nita said her mental health problems were not adequately addressed before she began a medical female to male transition.

Nita said she's not alone and that she knows several people who have transitioned back to their original gender.

Irreversible effects

Nita began transitioning to male in her 20s, saying she approached transitioning lightly, akin to getting a tattoo. To make her body more masculine, Nita took testosterone and had a mastectomy.Study aims to chart transition regret in Finland

“The whole trans process injected meaning into my life. There was a constant goal to work towards,” she explained. “Now it bothers me that I’m a 27-year-old woman who sounds like a teenage boy.”

3) Carey Callahan has been an outspoken detransitioned women who is part of a group for individuals who have, or want to seek, medical transition services called Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network. She addresses the libertarian transition environment under “informed consent.”

“Gender identity is hard but jumping to medical solutions is worse:”

The day I knew I should quit my job answering phones at the transgender health-care clinic in California was the day a caller (let’s use the name Betty) threatened her in-home caretaker with a knife during the call. As the caretaker begged our clinic’s nurse to track down Betty’s doctor and tell him that Betty was having a psychotic episode, Betty stood between her and the apartment’s front door with a kitchen knife. Betty had poorly controlled paranoid schizophrenia, and often called the clinic agitated, alternately whispering and screaming about government agents stalking her. Betty was also a trans woman whom most people regarded as male, the sex of her birth. 

The clinic followed the “informed-consent” protocol: its mission was to provide transgender patients who otherwise lacked access to health care with injections, skin patches and pills of feminising or masculinising hormones without having to pass through a series of requirements and assessments—known as “gatekeeping”—that restricted access in the past.

In medicine broadly, informed-consent refers to the ethical requirement that a clinician administering a treatment communicate to the patient the anticipated risks and benefits, as well as reasonable alternatives to the treatment. Yet for transition medicine in America, informed-consent programmes do not require clinical documentation, beyond patient reports, of the patient’s gender dysphoria over time (ie, a feeling of mismatch between one’s biological sex and gender identity) and readiness for medical interventions. 

Gatekeeping horror stories are notorious in the transgender community.

4) Lisa Marchiano is an LCSW who works with detransitioned people.

“The Ranks of Gender Detransitioners Are Growing. We Need to Understand Why:”

The young women with whom I have worked became trans identified during adolescence. They frequently did so in the context of significant family dysfunction or complex psycho-social issues. Sexual assault and sexual harassment were common precursors. A majority had an eating disorder at the time they became trans identified. Since detransitioning, most now understand themselves to be butch lesbians. In our work together, they traced complex histories of coming to terms with their homosexuality. Some faced vicious homophobic bullying before they announced their trans identification…

Dismissing detransition as a “panic” stirred up by biased media outlets does a grave disservice to the real men and women who are struggling through the difficult experience of detransition. It isn’t good science—or good journalism—to ignore a category of people simply because their pain is politically inconvenient.

5) The BBC has also recently covered the topic of detransition here and here.

6) Dr. Lisa Littman is doing a research study on desistance and detransition.

7) A video on “Detrantransition and Retransition” from National LGBT Health Information.

8) Several videos below cover individuals’ experiences with transition regret:

“A Woman's Place is marching on together (Leeds, 22nd November 2019) Thomasin Pick”

“Thoughts on butch erasure (FTM detransition)”

9) Storm Ryan, a well-known trans Youtuber, is very alarmed at the exploding numbers of trans-identified teens.

“my last trans vid ever”

Personal Historical Observations from a Trans Person on Social Media

From Social Media

Older transgender individuals have interesting observations about the evolution of trans activism and the trans community itself. Much has changed in the last ten years. We provide a link to this thread from “Radically Trans” who can be found on Twitter @Transradically:

Transgender As A Form Of Social Contagion.

I'm going to cover five different periods of time, and what I believe are four different changes within society. The backstory is needed to set up the first change, and I'll cover the ways in which that change increased exposure.

1). Before mid-to-late 90's.
2). Rise of Transgender and adding "T" to LGB.
3). Butch Lesbian out-migration
4). Rise of social media and self-identification.
5). Development of ROGD as a phenomenon.

News in Detransition

News

Over the last several weeks, there have been multiple articles on the once rare and under studied topic of detransition.

Charlie Evans is a bisexual woman and is starting a detransition advocacy organization. This is an article by Evans on Medium:

“The medicalization of gender non conforming children, and the vulnerability of lesbian youth”

More from her can be found here https://medium.com/@charlie.evans

This is a link to the crowdfunded page for the detransition advocacy organization:

“The Detransition Advocacy Network”

And a petition asking the public health service in Britain to study and support detransitioners:

“Support Detransitioners at the National Institutes of Health”

Two articles about detransition and Charlie Evens:

'Hundreds' of young trans people seeking help to return to original sex”

“Why is the progressive world so hostile to detransitioners?”

Evans identified as male for nearly a decade, but then changed her mind. And Evans is not alone. She says she has been in touch with hundreds of other young people who have detransitioned, mostly people in their early 20’s. Some of these individuals have had full gender reassignment surgery, and regret it. All are trying to figure out how to move forward and live happy, healthy lives.

There is a new detransition resource in Sweden:

“För mer kunskap och stöd kring detransition”

This is a Dutch documentary on detransition:

“Transgender Regret - A Dutch Documentary”

Below is a video of a story of a detransitioned woman who fit the definition of DSM-5 gender dysphoria from childhood and transitioned as an adult. She believes transition helped prevent her from committing suicide but also run from her butch identity:

“Thoughts of a detransitioned woman”

A personal story of homophobia and transition regret:

“I Spent a Year as a Trans Man. Doctors Failed Me at Every Turn”

At the time, you wouldn’t have been able to tell I was gay just from looking at me. I had long, blond hair, wore makeup, and carried myself rather femininely. But in my head, I knew I was gay—though I was more of a self-loathing gay. 

The truth is, I didn’t like gays, and didn’t want to be associated with them. Yet there I was, dating only other girls…

At age 18, I started seeing a bunch of transgender men’s “success stories” on Instagram. The trans men talked about how something had always “felt off” with them, and they said people couldn’t tell they had been the opposite sex after their transition.

Their stories all seemed to have a happy ending—and it made me rather jealous. 

Here I was getting frowned upon for holding hands with my girlfriend in public, feeling like I’m constantly being judged by everyone, while transgenders could date their same-sex significant other while looking like the opposite sex. 

I resented that and began to envy the transgenders. I looked into it for myself.

Stonewall UK added to the discourse by attempting to debunk some recent narratives emerging about detransition and attributing it to transphobia. These points run contrary to most recent stories about detransition. Many deransitioners claim they never report their detransition to any official entity and that they feel transition was a mistake:

”Dispelling myths around detransition”

Jesse Singal, who has been reporting on the contentious issue of pediatric medical transition and detransition, discussed some problems with the Stonewall UK statement on his personal blog:

”LGBT People Deserve Accurate Information From LGBT Organizations: But they aren't getting it”

The blog is behind a paywall, but he posted some of his commentary on social media:

Andrew Sullivan is joining the ranks of LGB people who are concerned about tranistion regret in LGB and other youth. He has written an article about detransition called “The Hard Questions About Young People and Gender Transitions:”

The widespread consensus today is that detransitioning is so rare even mentioning it borders on transphobic. But in reality, absolutely no one knows how rare detransitions are currently — the small set of research studies detransition skeptics present as evidence that it is very uncommon all come from vastly different contexts, in some cases decades-old, and arguably don’t capture what’s going on in 2019. These women live every day with the consequences of their decision: tenacious facial hair (one has to shave every three days) and body hair, deeper voices, permanently enlarged clitorises. They also suffer from the effects of “binding,” i.e. wearing a breast corset of sorts, to flatten their chests, so they can pass more easily as men. “I have back issues, lower lung capacity, and permanent dents around my shoulders,” one told me. “Every now and again, I have to push a rib back in to breathe,” another recounts. “I have permanent bruising,” another explains. “Serious back issues,” says another, who cannot carry a backpack for long without pain. “We get ‘sir’ed at Dunkin’ Donuts every time,” one joked…

By their own accounts, they had been adamantly trans in their teens. “I was the student trying to get a professor fired because he wouldn’t allow theyand them to be used for a singular person in my papers … I threatened my parents and friends with suicide. It became part of my identity to be suicidal. I screamed at my parents about this, even though I knew I wasn’t going to kill myself.” One went by the pronouns xe and xer and flew into a rage if she was misgendered. Once they had transitioned, and felt miserable nonetheless, they felt that this too was just part of being transgender. One talked of “the hunger to suffer.” Another spoke of “using your pain to validate your own destruction.”

A website called Canadian Gender Report has posted an informal survey of the r/detrans sub Reddit. Given that there is no formal attempt to study detransition at this time, informal surveys such as this one, and the one referenced, are the only efforts available to help understand this population.

References:

Canadian Gender Report. (2019, October 17). From trans to detransitioner – what can we learn from this growing trend? Retrieved from https://genderreport.ca/detransitioners-what-can-we-learn/

Evans, C. (2019, Septmember 9). The medicalization of gender non conforming children, and the vulnerability of lesbian youth. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@charlie.evans/the-medicalization-of-gender-non-conforming-children-and-the-vulnerability-of-lesbian-youth-10d4ac517e8e

Emmons, L. (2019, October 10). Why is the progressive world so hostile to detransitioners? The Post Millennial. Retrieved from https://www.thepostmillennial.com/why-is-the-progressive-world-so-hostile-to-detransitioners/

Lockwood, S. (2019, October 5). 'Hundreds' of young trans people seeking help to return to original sex. Sky News. Retrieved from https://news.sky.com/story/hundreds-of-young-trans-people-seeking-help-to-return-to-original-sex-11827740

Russell, N. (2019, October 8) What The First Nonbinary American Wants The Supreme Court To Know About Transgenderism. The Federalist. Retrieved from https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/08/what-the-first-nonbinary-american-wants-the-supreme-court-to-know-about-transgenderism/#.XZyM1mqNpSM.twitter

Singal-Minded. (2019, October 9). LGBT People Deserve Accurate Information From LGBT Organizations. Retrieved from https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/lgbt-people-deserve-accurate-information

Stella, C. (2016, September 3). Female detransition and reidentification: Survey results and interpretation. Retrieved from https://guideonragingstars.tumblr.com/post/149877706175/female-detransition-and-reidentification-survey

Stonewall UK. (2019, October 9). Dispelling myths around detransition. Retrieved from https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/dispelling-myths-around-detransition

Sullivan, A. (2019, November 1). The Hard Questions About Young People and Gender Transitions. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/11/andrew-sullivan-hard-questions-gender-transitions-for-young.html?utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=di&utm_source=tw

Thoughts of a detransitioned woman. (2019, September 27). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=aVse3ZKD9hA

Wright, S. (2019, October 7). I Spent a Year as a Trans Man. Doctors Failed Me at Every Turn. The Daily Signal. Retrieved from https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/10/07/i-spent-a-year-as-a-trans-man-doctors-failed-me-at-every-turn/

Two new studies on Gender Dysphoria in Minors

News

We are updating our site with two new studies about minors with gender dysphoria, one that shows a slight improvement in mental well-being in more recent cohorts, and one that calls into question the efficacy of social transition.

The researchers in the Netherlands, who started the hormone blocker to cross-sex hormone protocol, released a study called “Re-evaluation of the Dutch approach: are recently referred transgender youth different compared to earlier referrals?”

The Dutch clinic is seeing large increases in the number of females seeking transition. This is the case in all western countries.

Arnoldussen (2019)

They comment on this increasing number of females:

One suggested theory to explain this shift is that it is easier for birth-assigned females to be open about their transgender feelings, since they experience less stigma when they behave masculine than birth-assigned males who behave in a more feminine manner [16, 31, 32, 33].

Gender clinicians rarely consider the alternative, that masculine girls are bullied for being masculine and don’t value themselves as gender nonconforming girls. Several detransitioned lesbian/bi youth have said this was the case for them and there is evidence homophobic bullying of gender nonconforming youth (also never referenced in these studies) fuels trans identification.

Contrary to other studies with high rates of mental health issues, they note a slight improvement in their recent cohort:

In addition, although we hypothesized that is was possible that present referrals had more psychological problems, the opposite seems the case. Our analyses showed that psychological functioning of the referred adolescents improved somewhat over time. This could be explained by a subtle improvement in externalizing problems and better peer relations. It might be the case that it has become easier to openly identify as transgender in recent years, so that recent referrals do not have to stand up as fiercely for themselves as earlier referrals. In addition, they seem more accepted by peers.

The clinic expresses no concern about social contagion, as other scientists/doctors are, and attribute these increases to more youth coming out and feeling accepted. They also cite superficial similarities to earlier cohorts and recent cohorts, including a large increase in females, to possibly insinuate the groups are the same.

This may suggest that in the early years, only the tip of the iceberg of the actual number of transgender youth was presented to a transgender clinic and this iceberg has come to surface in recent years.

Wong (2019), "Childhood social gender transition and psychosocial well-being: A comparison to cisgender gender-variant children," is another recent study examining the mental health of youth who have been socially transitioned. The sample size is decent, 266 children. Unlike the Trans Youth Project studies often used to justify early social and medical transition, this study has a control group. And unlike Olson (2016), these socially transitioned young people may not have significantly improved mental health.

A quote from the results, emphasis ours:

Results: There was little evidence that psychosocial well-being varied in relation to gender transition status. Parents of CGV children were generally accepting of childhood gender variance, but only poor peer relations predicted lower psychological well-being among these children. Conclusion: Socially transitioned children appear to experience similar levels of psychosocial challenges as CGV children. While further research is needed to evaluate possible effects of childhood social gender transition on well-being, this study suggests experiences of psychosocial challenges among gender-variant children require monitoring irrespective of transition status, and relationships with peers may be especially important to consider.

They report peer relations is a key factor. Poor peer relations actually drives some children towards trans-identification as cited above. It’s worth exploring if more acceptance for gender-variant behavior reduces the need for medical transition to conform to heterosexual gender and sexuality norms.

References:

Arnoldussen, M., Steensma, T.D., Popma, A. et al. Re-evaluation of the Dutch approach: are recently referred transgender youth different compared to earlier referrals? European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 1-9 doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01394-6

Lane, Bernard. (2019, September 25). Trans care inquiry backed. The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/doctors-back-inquiry-on-kids-trans-care/news-story/6f352bc99da430b194620a2605e8a50d

Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137(3), e20153223. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3223

Wong, W. I., van der Miesen, A., Tjonnie G., F., MacMullin, L., & VanderLaan, D. (2019). Childhood social gender transition and psychosocial well-being: A comparison to cisgender gender-variant children. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology,7(3), 241-253. doi.org/10.1037/cpp0000295

Non-Binary Identity, A Familiar Story in the New Yorker

News Commentary

An article in The New Yorker called “A Year without a Name” about a female with a non-binary identity follows a pattern of other non-binary identity stories. The writer struggles with self-hatred, identity instability, body dissociation, and confusion.

Twenty years later, my girlhood was dissolving, with no clear alternative in place. I felt less embodied than ever, less able to gather myself into one person. And yet the idea of “transitioning”—changing my name, starting hormones, getting surgery—sucked me into a thought circuit with no end and no exit.

The concerning issue here is that some of these descriptions may indicate other mental health problems than gender dysphoria alone. These issues could also be related to body dysmorphic disorder and borderline personality disorder (known for identity instability). Plastic surgery does not help body dysmorphic disorder in the long run. Other examples showing a similar pattern in non-binary-identified people of depression, anxiety, identity instability, and an unhealthy need for validation can be found on GHQ here.

More examples of identity instability in The New Yorker article:

I taped the name to the wall inside my closet, so I’d have to look at it whenever I changed clothes. Sometimes I admired the shapes of the letters; sometimes I averted my eyes. Cyrus remained a stranger whose ways I was trying to understand. How would he wear his hair? Would he be on time? Would he be a vegetarian? Would he buy steak at the grocery store and cook it alone? Would he meditate? Would he have sex with strangers and tell no one it had happened? Would he have sex with men? Would he wear sneakers? Would he value success? Would he keep his word? Would he lift weights? Would he go running whenever he wanted, even in the dark, even when it was raining? What truth did the name contain? Was Cyrus inside of me already, or had I invented him?

There are a few studies that show those with non-binary identities have worse mental health than binary trans people. From the APA website (emphasis ours):

The lack of cultural visibility of non-binary identities may make the identity development process more difficult for non-binary individuals. Further, even after coming to terms with their own identity, they may face additional stress from having to frequently “come out” as non-binary, even in LGBTQ contexts, and from being mis-gendered or misunderstood.

Research on the mental health of people with non-binary gender identities is limited and generally includes only those who also identify as transgender. From this research, it appears overall, non-binary people may face both greater levels of minority stress and unique forms of minority stress, in comparison to binary transgender peers, a factor which has been (associated with higher levels of suicidality (Tebbe & Moradi, 2016). it appears that non-binary transgender people experience greater risk for negative mental health outcomes than their binary transgender peers (James, Herman, Rankin et al, 2016). For example, in one study, over half of the respondents reported clinical levels of depression and over one third of the respondents reported clinical levels of anxiety (Budge, Rossman, & Howard, 2014).

Researches tend to blame “minority stress” for an increase in problems among non-binary-identified people rather than consider there are serious mental health issues the person and therapist needs to explore internally. This puts the blame on the many people in society who do not believe there are “dozens of genders,” who don’t want to be forced to use the multiple pronouns that go along with these identities. And it calls into question the right they have to hold these views.

References:

Dunham, C.G. (2019, August 12). A Year without a Name. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/19/a-year-without-a-name

Webb, A., Matsuno, Budge, S., Krishnan, M., Balsam, K., & American Psychological Association (2015). Non-Binary Gender Identities: Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://www.apadivisions.org/division-44/resources/advocacy/non-binary-facts.pdf

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Post By a Detransitioned Female About Youth, Mental Illness, & the Internet That Mental Health Professionals Should Read

News Commentary

A young, detransitioned woman has written two articles about how trans identification, eating disorders, and mental illness in general, are justified and fueled by Internet culture and by Tumblr (a blogging platform many young people use) in particular. Some of these subjects are covered on sections on social influences on the GHQ website (here and here and here).

GHQ covers in the linked sections the data that shows an increase in mental illnesses in young females, including increases in self-harming, suicide attempts, and hospital admittance. Mental health professionals and parents should be aware of what is happening with mental health and the influences of the internet. Many metal health issues, including suicide risk and eating disorders, are known to work as social contagions. Helena, the author, writes very perceptively and eloquently and has put her discussion in the context of other research on these issues.

“Tumblr — A Call-Out Post”

“How Mental Illness Becomes Identity: Tumblr, a Callout Post, Part 2”

References:

Tumblr — A Call-Out Post. (2019, March 20). Retrieved from https://4thwavenow.com/2019/03/20/tumblr-a-call-out-post/

How Mental Illness Becomes Identity: Tumblr, a Callout Post, Part 2. (2019, August 13). Retrieved from https://4thwavenow.com/2019/08/13/how-mental-illnesses-become-identities-tumblr-a-callout-post-part-2/

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

An Example of The Education Profession Enthusiastically Promoting Student Chest Binding, a Harmful Practice

News Commentary

This post covers an example of the enthusiastic embrace many educational entities currently have of narratives that validate the body dysmorphia of teenage girls around trans/genderqueer identity. There is an increasing number of girls chest binding and girls identifying as trans or non-binary. Mackin, a company providing educational materials to schools, circulated a book suggestion via email to teachers and other contacts.

A description of the company:

For more than 35 years, Mackin has provided library and classroom materials for grades PK-12. Working with over 18,000 publishers and an age-appropriate database of nearly 3 million print titles and more than 2 million digital titles, Mackin supplies print books, eBooks, read-alongs, audiobooks, databases, videos and more, along with digital content management and custom collection analysis services.

A true partner in education, Mackin’s continued success and unblemished reputation is known by thousands of teachers, administrators, and librarians across the country and throughout the world.

Below is an image of the book Some Girls Bind that was endorsed by School Library Review:

Below is a description of the book:

Jamie knows that she isn't like other girls. She has a secret. She binds her chest every day to feel more like herself. Jamie questions why she is drawn to this practice and why she is afraid of telling her friends, who have their own secrets. Could she really be genderqueer?

Chest binding is not a safe activity, according to Peitzmeier et al., 2017:

Over 97% reported at least one of 28 negative outcomes attributed to binding.

Girls should be encouraged to wear sports bras, not to bind, for safety reasons. And with such a long list of psychic contagions and socially contagious body harming fads, fomenting and celebrating breast hatred by validating this behavior that used to be very rare may do more harm than good.

A section on the GHQ website covering the culture’s current positive promotion of chest binding can be found here.

An article about the previously unheard of numbers of females binding in school can be found here.

Another example of the cultural promotion of binding to female youth can be found in a recent Cosmopolitan article called “A Complete Beginner's Guide to Chest Binding.”

References:

James, R. (2019). Some Girls Bind. New York, NY: West 44 Books.

Moore, L. (2016, March 21). A Complete Beginner's Guide to Chest Binding. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved from https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a55546/how-to-bind-your-chest/

Peitzmeier, S., Gardner, I., Weinand, J., Corbet, A., Acevedo, K. (2017). Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: a community-engaged, cross-sectional study. Culture, Health, and Sexuality 19(1), 1-12. doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2016.1191675

Transgender Trend. (2016, August 3). Breast Binders In UK Schools. Retrieved from https://www.transgendertrend.com/breast-binders-in-uk-schools/

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Psychologist Ken Zucker Releases a New Paper on Gender Dysphoria

News Commentary

Psychologist Ken Zucker has released a paper called “Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria: Reflections on Some Contemporary Clinical and Research Issues” discussing various issue around gender dysphoria covered on the GHQ website. These include the increase of natal females reporting they have gender dysphoria, suicidality, rapid onset gender dysphoria, and debates surrounding treatment.

Below is one quote regarding an explanation Zucker and other gender clinicians have for the increase of natal females identifying as trans or non-binary:

For example, per- haps behavioral masculinity (or behavioral “androgyny”) in birth-assigned females is subject to less social ostracism than behavioral femininity in birth-assigned males. If this conjecture is correct, then perhaps fewer birth-assigned males feel com- fortable coming out as transgender and, therefore, are less likely to present at specialized gender identity clinics. It is conceiva- ble, therefore, that, with further destigmatization, it will become easier for birth-assigned males to “come out” as transgender and the sex ratio will move closer to parity. Another possibility is related to the observation that gender-variant/gender noncon- forming behavior is more common in birth-assigned females than in birth-assigned males (from childhood onwards). If this is, in fact, the case, then it would imply that there would be a greater percentage of birth-assigned females at the “gender- atypical” side of the bell curve. In the contemporary era of increased destigmatization, perhaps more of these females are self-identifying as transgender or some other gender-variant self-identity and, as a result, more are presenting at specialized gender identity clinics.

There is a third and fourth possibility Zucker did not mention in this paragraph (although ROGD is mentioned later). The third is there are more females identifying as trans because of social contagion. There is historical evidence young females are prone to social contagions and body dysmorphia. The fourth is that same-sex attracted females and other “tomboys” in general are more prone to internalized homophobia or general insecurity about their gender. This is the opposite possibility Zucker mentions. It is that it is not socially acceptable to be a gender non-conforming girl or woman and this drives the transition, rather the social acceptability of being a trans-identified female. Some female desisters and detransitioners have cited anti-homosexual attitudes or fears around the treatment of females as part of the issues they had around their gender. This section reviews some of those statements, as well as a study that shows homophobic bullying increases trans identification.

Zucker discusses the sensitive topic of suicide risk in trans youth. Suicide risk is heavily promoted to enforce a view the affirmative model is the best mode of treatment. He has found that the suicide risk in gender dysphoric youth is about the same as the risk for any youth with any other mental health problem presenting for treatment:

Based on a variety of measurement approaches (e.g., standard- ized parent or self-report questionnaires, structured psychiatric diagnostic interview schedules, etc.), it has been found that adolescents referred for gender dysphoria have, on average, more behavioral and emotional problems than non-referred adolescents, but are more similar than different when compared to adolescents referred for other mental health concerns

He addresses the various explanations for the increased risk of suicidality:

There are several ways to conceptualize the elevated rate of co-occurring mental health issues among adolescents with gender dysphoria. In some instances, it may be that the gen- der dysphoria has emerged as secondary to another, more “primary” mental health diagnosis, such as autism spectrum disorder or borderline personality disorder, or as a result of a severe trauma (e.g., sexual abuse). Another explanation is that gender dysphoria is inherently distressing, i.e., the marked incongruence between one’s felt gender and somatic sex—even within psychosocial milieus that are largely “affirming/support- ive”—which leads to clinically significant symptoms such as anxiety or depression. A more common explanation (and one that is often favored by “gender-affirming” clinicians and theo- rists) is that the co-occurring mental health issues are simply secondary to factors such as family rejection or social ostracism within the peer group vis-à-vis the gender dysphoria (see, e.g., Grossman, Park, & Russell, 2016; Janssen & Leibowitz, 2018; McDermott, Hughes, & Rawlings, 2017).

In this section GHQ discusses the use of suicide terror in promotion of the affirmative model and how this discourse actually violates every suicide prevention groups policies on how suicide (which is socially contagious) should be discussed.

In this broader context of co-occurring mental health issues, concern about suicide risk has become a topic of intense focus in recent years (see, e.g., Tanis, 2016). On the Internet, for example, one might come across the comment made by some parents “I would rather have a trans kid than a dead kid” (see, e.g., Biggs, 2018; Digitale, 2017; “I’d Rather Have a Living Son Than a Dead Daughter,” 2016) and instances of completed suicide receive intense media scrutiny (e.g., Bever, 2016; Savva & Small, 2019). Indeed, Karasic and Ehrensaft (2015) asserted that completed suicides are “alarmingly high”—a statement which, in my view, has no formal and systematic empirical basis. In fact, I would argue that the statement itself is alarming.

He cites some studies that show support for the youth’s transition reduces suicide risk. GHQ also covers some of this information here.

From a treatment perspective, therefore, one can consider both non-specific and specific factors that might reduce the risk of suicidality. Regarding the latter, for example, it has been argued that (perceived) social support of an adolescent’s transgender identity reduces the risk of suicidality (Bauer, Scheim, Pyne, Travers, & Hammond, 2015). In another com- munity-based study, it was found that the number of social settings in which adolescents felt comfortable in using their preferred name was associated with less suicidal ideation and behavior (Russell, Pollitt, Li, & Grossman, 2018). Lastly, in a clinic-based study, Allen, Watson, Egan, and Moser (2019) reported that commencement of “gender-affirming” hormonal treatment was related to a decrease in self-reported suicidal feelings.

He discusses the issue of rapid onset gender dysphoria and the resistance to discourse around what could be causing it, sometimes by mental health and medical professionals even.

It is not entirely clear to me why some clinician and “armchair” critics have been so skeptical about the possible veridicality of ROGD. Perhaps because Littman (2018) advanced a set of hypotheses about predisposing psychosocial factors in its genesis, the objection is that this disrupts an essentialist model of gender dysphoria and, therefore, has therapeutic implications.

He also addresses the reality that some of the increasing numbers of young people coming out as trans are also desisting or detransitioning:

Because ROGD appears to be a new clinical phenome- non, we know very little about its subsequent developmental course, i.e., its “natural history.” For example, we know very little about rates of persistence versus desistance, which, in my view, is a critical issue in thinking about the applicabil- ity of the Dutch model with regard to the therapeutic care of these youth. At present, there are some compelling examples of desistance or even “detransition,” but right now this is largely in the form of individual testimony and parent’s report (see, e.g., “It’s not conversion therapy to learn to love your body: A teen desister tells her story,” 2017; Pique Resilience Project at https://www.piqueresproject.com/; Rae, 2017; Wil- liams, 2019). Thus, we urgently need systematic data on this point in order to inform best practice clinical care.

Since control groups are considered unethical he has some ideas about how to determine desistance overtime before the initiation of medical treatment:

Suppose, for example, an adolescent had to wait for a year, if not longer, to be seen for a baseline assessment. (Thus, they already have had time and space to continue to think about their gender identity, albeit without hormonal suppression and probably without ongoing psychosocial therapeutic support.) If one collected baseline data at the time of referral, and not the time of assessment, one could argue that if the adolescent continued to experi- ence gender dysphoria after sitting on a waiting list for a long time, this would, perhaps, be an argument for the institution of hormonal suppression. For those adolescents who, while on a wait-list, remitted with regard to their gender dysphoria, it is likely that they would not choose to even be seen for an assessment. Thus, one could use long wait-list times as a type of control as a partial way to evaluate the stability of the gender dysphoria.

Lastly, one could consider recommending exploratory psychosocial treatment without social transition and hormo- nal suppression, particularly if the case formulation is that the gender dysphoria has emerged in the context of other psy- chosocial factors or as a result of other mental health issues. Given the substantial uncertainties about best practice care for these youth, the frontline clinician will have to weigh carefully the benefits and risks of various treatment options and proceed with caution.

References:

Allen, L. R., Watson, L. B., Egan, A. M., & Moser, C. N. (2019). Suicidality and well-being among transgender youth after gender- affirming medical interventions. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology. doi.org/10.1037/cpp0000288

Bauer, G. R., Scheim, A. I., Pyne, J., Travers, R., & Hammond, R. (2015). Intervenable factors associated with suicide risk in transgender persons: A respondent driven sampling study in Ontario, Canada. BMC Public Health, 15(525). doi. org/10.1186/s12889-015-1867-2.

Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

Russell, S. T., & Fish, J. N. (2016). Mental health in lesbian, gay, bisex- ual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology,12, 465–487. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153

Zucker, K. (2019). Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria: Reflections on Some Contemporary Clinical and Research Issues. Archives of Sexual Behavior doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01518-8

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

A Damning Review of the Justifications for Puberty Blocker Use in the U.K.

News

Oxford professor Micheal Biggs has been vocal in criticizing the protocols for treating gender dysphoric minors at the Gender Identity Development Service in the United Kingdom. He has completed a review of the decisions that have been made by the Tavistock clinic around the use of puberty blockers and a move towards an affirmative model titled “The Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers.”

The first quote provides the history of the use of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria:

In 1994 a 16-year-old girl who wished to be a boy, known to us as B, entered the Amsterdam Gender Clinic. She was unique for having her sexual development halted at the age of 13, after an adventurous paediatric endocrinologist gave her a Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone agonist (GnRHa). Originally developed to treat prostate cancer, these drugs are also used to delay puberty when it develops abnormally early: in girls younger than 8, and boys younger than 9. The endocrinologist’s innovation was to use the drug to stop normal puberty altogether, in order to prevent the development of unwanted secondary sexual characteristics—with the aim of administering cross-sex hormones in later adolescence. Dutch clinicians used B’s case to create a new protocol for transgendering children, which enabled physical intervention at an age far below the normal age of consent (Cohen-Kettenis and Goozen 1998).

His review is not positive:

This paper describes the origins and conduct of this study and scrutinizes the evidence on its outcomes. It draws on information obtained by requests under the Freedom of Information Act to the Tavistock, to the NHS Health Research Authority, and to University College London (UCL). I will argue that the experimental study did not properly inform children and their parents of the risks of triptorelin. I will also demonstrate that the study’s preliminary results were more negative than positive, and that the single published scientific article using data from the study is fatally flawed by a statistical fallacy. My conclusion is that GIDS and their collaborators at UCL have either ignored or suppressed negative evidence. Therefore the NHS had no justification for introducing the Dutch protocol as general policy in 2014

The paper addresses the fact that the hormone blocker protocol has been called reversible and that this has not actually been proven and is very likely not true. GHQ covers the many statements by affirmative model advocates that blockers are “fully reversible” and the actual serious consequences of blockers here.

The paper also describes the reality that the blocker to cross-sex hormone protocol stunts genital growth:

One further absence deserves emphasis. The 2005 Symposium had noted the paradox that blocking a boy’s puberty left him with stunted genitalia, which were then not sufficient to transform into a pseudo-vagina. 

This necessitates a more drastic vaginoplasty surgery. We cover the ramifications of this protocol.

Biggs goes on to criticize the Tavistock professionals:

Three years after the experiment began, Carmichael announced success to the tabloid press. “Now we’ve done the study and the results thus far have been positive we’ve decided to continue with it” (Mail on Sunday, 17 May 2014). Her statement was at best misleading.

Biggs on bone density, something the GHQ website covers here:

The authors state reassuringly that bone density did not decline in absolute terms. This is misleading, because growing children need density to increase (Laidlaw 2018). The abstract acknowledges that the children experienced a decline relative to the norm for their age group, and this decline was especially marked for girls. By year three, the average girl on GnRHa had lower bone density than 97.7% of the population in her age group. Surely this raises serious concerns?

A graph:

He describes on the psychological outcomes (particularly in females who are coming out as trans in unprecedented numbers) and what appears to be an intention to spin them in the most positive way possible, despite some negative findings:

Diligent searching has uncovered unpublished results on the psychological effects. Most revealing is an appendix to Carmichael’s report to the Tavistock’s Board of Directors (GIDS 2015).4 It tracks 30 of the children on triptorelin, measuring changes after one year of the drug regime; presumably the remaining 14 subjects had not completed their first year on the drug.5The text is sometimes internally inconsistent and occasionally contradicts the tabulated figures, suggesting that the appendix was prepared in haste. But we can summarize those changes that were reported as statistically significant (p-value < .05). Only one change was positive: “according to their parents, the young people experience less internalizing behavioural problems” (as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist). There were three negative changes. “Natal girls showed a significant increase in behavioural and emotional problems”, according to their parents (also from the Child Behavior Checklist, contradicting the only positive result). One dimension of the Health Related Quality of Life scale, completed by parents, “showed a significant decrease in Physical well-being of their child”. What is most disturbing is that “a significant increase was found in the first item ‘I deliberately try to hurt or kill self’” (in the Youth Self Report questionnaire). Astonishingly, the increased risk of self-harm attracted no comment in Carmichael’s report. Given that puberty blockers are prescribed to treat gender dysphoria, it is paradoxical that “the suppression of puberty does not impact positively on the experience of gender dysphoria” (measured by the Body Image Scale). When differentiated by sex, the impact was positive for boys on one aspect of body image, but negative for girls on two aspects.

Another problematic example:

The abstract proclaims that “adolescents receiving also puberty suppression had significantly better psychosocial functioning after 12 months of GnRHa ... compared with when they had received only psychological support” (Costa et al. 2015: 2206). The literature treats this article as providing evidence in favour of puberty blockers (e.g. Butler et al. 2018; Heneghan and Jefferson 2019). But the abstract is misleading: the analysis actually failed to detect any difference between children who were given GnRHa and those who were not

The paper ends with a suggested ban on hormone blockers and more extensive research:

What, then, is to be done? Richard Byng (2019) recently demanded a moratorium on the use of GnRHa for children suffering from gender dysphoria until there is robust evidence that this drug regime is safe and effective. A team of independent researchers must be given access to all the data from the 2011 experiment. They will need expertise in statistics, psychiatry, and endocrinology; most importantly, they must have no vested interests in the promotion of GnRHa. Given that this experiment has been used since 2014 to justify the provision of these drugs to children under the NHS, the outcomes of this experiment—on all the physical and psychological measures that were collected—must be published urgently.

Update 08/18/19: Adding information on late puberty and lack of bone density “Teenagers who identify as transgender taking powerful ‘puberty blocker’ drugs ‘may suffer from weaker bones in the future’”

Update 10/22/19: The study has been cleared of ethics concerns by the Health Research Authority but criticisms continue.

References:

Adams, S. (2019, August 17). Teenagers who identify as transgender taking powerful ‘puberty blocker’ drugs ‘may suffer from weaker bones in the future.’ Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7368017/Teenagers-identify-transgender-taking-puberty-blocker-drugs-suffer-weaker-bones.html

Biggs, M. (2019, July 29). The Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers. Department of Sociology and St Cross College, University of Oxford. Retrieved from http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/Biggs_ExperimentPubertyBlockers.pdf

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Mental Health Professionals Write a Letter in Support of Lisa Littman's Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria Research

News

Several clinicians have stated in a letter to editor to Archives of Sexual Behavior they are observing rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). This is a term used by Lisa Littman, a physician and researcher who published a ROGD study (Littman, 2018).

Lisa Littman’s study was removed by Brown University because trans actvists didn’t like some of the implications of the study. These were that there were large increases of females identifying as trans, that social contagion may be a factor, and they were coming out in statistically unheard of clusters. PlosOne, who published the study, also re-reviewed the paper due to activist pressure.

The letter to the editor is called “In Support of Research Into Rapid‑Onset Gender Dysphoria”:

As clinicians used to working in the field of child and adolescent gender identity development, dealing directly with the very significant distress caused by gender dysphoria, and considering deeply its multifactorial and heterogeneous etiology, we note the current debate arising from Littman’s (2018) description of a phenomenon she described as Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria. Littman’s paper on the subject was methodologically critiqued in this journal recently (Restar, 2019). While some of us have informally tended toward describing the phenomenon we witness as “adolescent-onset” gender dysphoria, that is, without any notable symptom history prior to or during the early stages of puberty (certainly nothing of clinical significance), Littman’s description resonates with our clinical experiences from within the consulting room.

Reference:

Hutchinson, A., Midgen, M., Spiliadis, A. (2019, June 12). In Support ofResearch Into Rapid‑Onset Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01517-9

Klinghoffer, D. (2018, September 5). Suppressing Science at Brown University. Evolution News. Retrieved from https://evolutionnews.org/2018/09/suppressing-science-at-brown-university/

Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Another Study Confirms a Link Between Autism & Gender Dysphoria

News

Studies and gender clinic observations have noted that autism spectrum individuals are greatly over represented in youth seeking treatment for gender dysphoria. More research is needed in this area. GHQ covers the GD/autism link here and here and here.

EurekaAlert has reported on a new study from Anglia Ruskin University, (Stagg, 2019), that confirms this pattern:

It found that 14% of the transgender and non-binary group had a diagnosis of autism, while a further 28% of this group reached the cut off point for an autism diagnosis, suggesting a high number of potentially undiagnosed individuals.

There is an increase of trans-identified females and many are on the autism spectrum:

These figures were primarily driven by high scoring amongst those whose assigned gender was female at birth, supporting recent evidence that there is a large population of undiagnosed women with an autism spectrum disorder.

The study highlights some personality traits of autism spectrum individuals that may influence how they relate to their gender:

The authors also found higher levels of systematising (a tendency to analyse, control and use rule-based systems) and lower levels of empathy amongst the transgender and non-binary group, characteristics often found in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder.

And:

"People with autism are also more likely to seek unequivocal answers to the complex issues surrounding gender identity. Our study suggests it is important that gender identity clinics screen patients for autism spectrum disorders and adapt their consultation process and therapy accordingly."

References:

Study finds transgender, non-binary autism link. (2019, July 16). EurekaAlert. Retrieved from https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/aru-sft071619.php

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Professionals from Various Backgrounds Described as "Whistleblowers" are Releasing a Book Challenging the Affirmative Model Used in Britain.

News

The Daily Mail has published an article about a book being released by an array of health professionals and academics challenging the ethics of the affirmative model used in Britain and rapidly being adopted (see here and here) everywhere in the West.

Their opinions will be highlighted in an upcoming book called Inventing Transgender Children And Young People:

The book warns:

-Doctors are failing to tell young people they are 'sacrificing' their chance to have children by taking powerful sex-change drugs;

-Psychologists are scared to question transgender ideology;

-Clinicians who resist diagnosing children as transgender face accusations of transphobia;

-Britain's only NHS child gender service is failing to acknowledge other reasons for youngsters wanting to change sex, such as autism;

-Teenagers who have 'normal feelings' of discomfort with their bodies are being classified as transgender.

Many worries and negative opinions are expressed by social science, mental health, and medical professionals:

A whistleblower from Britain's only NHS gender clinic for children said: 'I'm really angry at what's happening to these children. What I've witnessed feels incredibly distressing and disturbing and like something that should be stopped.'

The psychiatrist, who last year produced a critical internal report on GIDS which branded the service 'not fit for purpose', further warned: 'Many services have championed the use of medical and surgical intervention with nowhere near sufficient attention to the serious, irreversible damage this can cause and with very disturbingly superficial attitudes to the issue of consent in young children.'

One of the NHS gender specialists said: 'I keep thinking about all of the children, adolescents and families who are being harmed by the one-dimensional discussion and the attack on truth and on thinking and on what we know about adolescent well-being.'

Another added: 'I'm angry with all the grown-ups, all the clever people, all the thoughtful people, who are letting this happen.' One of the issues causing 'turmoil' at the clinic is the prospect that children are being rendered infertile by the medication prescribed for them.

Some of the other comments reflect issues raised by GHQ about medical consequences, the increasing numbers of females coming out as trans, trans activist pressure influencing professionals, and homophobia fueling trans identification.

The Gender Identity Services in Britain denies that they are behaving unethically and that they aren’t properly informing youth about the risks:

Last night a spokesman for GIDS insisted the service took a 'thoughtful and safe approach'. He said an internal review in response to concerns about the clinic's practices had made recommendations to address certain issues.

'However, we strongly refute the blanket and generalised criticisms of the service,' he said.

References:

Manning, S. (2019, July 13). The book that dares to take on transgender myths told to children: Experts reveal psychologists are scared to question transgender ideology, GPs are afraid of being branded transphobic and teens are being wrongly diagnosed. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7244783/Academics-medical-experts-fears-children-number-seeking-sex-change-operations-sky-rockets.html

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

The U.K. Government Will Commission Research into Adolescent Gender Identity

News

The United Kingdom Government has issued a press release in response to large increases in youth, particularly female youth, seeking treatment for gender dysphoria.

“Government set to begin next phase of gender transition research” was issued by the Government Equalities Office and posted on the GOV.UK site:

In 2018/19, 2,590 children and young people were referred to GIDS, with the service continuing to see an increasing number of girls referred. Nearly three quarters of those referred last year were female, mostly of adolescent age.

Whilst the number of referrals last year still represents only a small fraction of the UK population (0.05% or around 1 in 1,900 of 13-17 year olds), it is clear that more young people, particularly adolescent girls, are seeking support around their gender identity from health services.

And:

What it is not clear is what might be driving these increases. Despite a wide variety of theories, there is little hard evidence to support these at present.

That is why the government has been reviewing existing evidence, including information from other countries, to better understand whether the trends seen in the UK are also happening elsewhere. Following on from this, the GEO will now commission brand new research to explore the nature of adolescent gender identity and transitioning.

And:

This trend of higher numbers of adolescent girls presenting as transgender was also observed in responses to the government’s own National LGBT Survey. Of the 2,040 trans respondents aged 16-17, 39% identified as trans men, compared to 10% trans women. 51% identified as non-binary.

We cover that survey and others in a discussion of the increase in females coming out as trans/non-binary.

References:

Government Equalities Office (UK). (2019, July 8). Government set to begin next phase of gender transition research. Retrieved https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-set-to-begin-next-phase-of-gender-transition-research?utm_source=ea10e16a-f79d-4af9-866f-394cecd72fd4&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Royal College of General Practitioners Has Issued a Position Statement Expressing Alarm About Treatments of Children with Gender Dysphoria

News

The Royal College of General Practitioners, described as “highly influential” in this Daily Mail article, has issued a position statement warning about the lack of evidence of safety of current protocols used to treat trans-identified minors, whose numbers are increasing drastically.

Here are some quotes from the article “GPs risk causing transgender storm after issuing unprecedented warning over 'lack of evidence' on treatments that pave way for children to have a sex change”:

And it says there needs to be far more research into the pros and cons of treatment, including medical intervention being compared with a 'wait and see' approach…

And it says there needs to be far more research into the pros and cons of treatment, including medical intervention being compared with a 'wait and see' approach…

Last night, doctors said it was the first time a major UK medical institution had called into serious question how transgender patients are treated on the NHS…

The number of 13-year-olds seeking treatment at England's only child gender identity clinic has risen by 30 per cent in just one year, while referrals for 14-year-olds are up 25 per cent, recently released figures show.

For the first time, most patients are under 15.

Equally significantly, girls wanting to transition to being male dominate, making up 74 per cent of patients at the Tavistock Clinic in London.

The original policy statement can be found on the RCGP.org website.

More information on the increasing numbers of females identifying as trans can be found on our website here.

Statements that indicate clinicians themselves acknowledge they are experimenting on minors can be found here.

References:

Adams, S. (2019, July 16). GPs risk causing transgender storm after issuing unprecedented warning over 'lack of evidence' on treatments that pave way for children to have a sex change. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220897/GPs-risk-transgender-storm-issuing-unprecedented-warning-lack-evidence-treatments.html?fbclid=IwAR0wz9KZm5QEb76K0fPs4AJP_j50rq4Qd6MttA5Hr-kCj9DVeySRJgmFX9k

Royal College of General Practitioners. (2019, June). The role of the GP in caring for gender-questioning and transgender patients. Retrieved from https://www.rcgp.org.uk/-/media/Files/Policy/A-Z-policy/2019/RCGP-transgender-care-position-statement-june-2019.ashx?la=en

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Female Minors are Now 74% of Patients at the Tavistock Gender Clinic in Britain

News

Gender Health Query has a section that extensively covers the dramatic increase in females who are coming out as trans or “non-binary,” binding their breasts, and seeking medical transition. And anecdotally, they appear to be expressing more regret.

Why are so many females coming out as trans/non-binary?

Gender clinics show large increases of female teens & young adults with gender dysphoria. Plastic surgeons report they are doing many more FtM & non-binary surgeries. Social contagion is a likely factor.

Now new figures from the Tavistock gender clinic in Britain have been released and are discussed in the London Times article “Surge in girls switching gender.” 74% of their minor patients are females. This is up from 6% last year.

Many are very young:

The number of 13-year-olds seeking treatment rose by 30% in a year to 331.

Officials in the UK are starting to believe they need to investigate this:

In 2010-11, 43% of patients were girls and five years ago 58% were. Last year the equalities minister, Penny Mordaunt, ordered a review into the surge in girls seeking transition, but little has been heard of it since.

There appears to be conflicts internally at the clinic:

In a leaked report earlier this year, David Bell, a former governor of Gids’s parent trust, said the clinic was exposing young patients to “long-term damage” because of its “inability to stand up to the pressure” from “highly politicised” campaigners and families demanding fast-track gender transition.

Transgendertrend, a site tracking the rise in children and teens transitioning, created a chart breaking down the age ranges of the increasing numbers of females:

Transgendertrend: chart from Tavistock UK gender clinic date, age breakdown, females

Transgendertrend chart from Tavistock UK gender clinic date, large increase in females teens

The London Times published a follow up article “Penny Mordaunt: It’s vital we look into surge in girls wanting to change gender.”

A relevant quote:

In early outcomes after the injections started in 2011 at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) in London, there was “no overall improvement in mood or psychological wellbeing” in the cohort. More than a quarter reported that their mood was worse.

All the children, aged between 12 and 15, wanted to stay on the drugs, according to the presentation by Polly Carmichael, director of Gids. Many went on to receive cross-sex hormone treatment after the age of 16, the next step in changing gender.

Gids said the full findings from the six-year study into the 44 children were being prepared for publication.

Update 06/08/19: A UK government inquiry about these increases has been announced.

Update 06/15/19: “Dr Miriam Stoppard: Gender change fears over trans-clinic kids need addressing” is a related article written by a doctor calling for more research on safety and a proper screening process.

References:

Government Equalities Office. (2019, July 8). Government set to begin next phase of gender transition research. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-set-to-begin-next-phase-of-gender-transition-research?utm_source=ea10e16a-f79d-4af9-866f-394cecd72fd4&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Stoppard, M. (2019, July 8). Dr Miriam Stoppard: Gender change fears over trans-clinic kids need addressing. The Times [London]. Retrieved from https://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/dr-miriam-stoppard-gender-change-17514465.amp?fbclid=IwAR0MFfaGFrVoFwixFTLZBTIwe4gPWsKH399foXiA0BGAVf1MwYCB6HHwzWM&__twitter_impression=true

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.