I try not to "debate" bad faith actors but it's very important to understand how unscientific and distorted The Australian's campaign agains trans people actually is. So what's "social contagion theory"? (1/9)
Social contagion argues that queer ppl "make kids trans" through social media. The latest version kicks of in 2018 w/ a paper which claims "Reports suggest the share of girls among teens suddenly declaring themselves trans during puberty may be 80%"
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl… (2/9)
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl… (2/9)
Scientists immediately disputed the theory as discrepancies began to emerge. In a minor scandal, the paper underwent post-publication retraction and revision to heavily qualify its claims
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
theconversation.com/why-rapid-onse… (3/9)
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
theconversation.com/why-rapid-onse… (3/9)
In response to The Oz's reporting, the Australian Psychological Society (representing thousands of medical professionals) explicitly refuted the social contagion conspiracy theory. Essentially, it's about as scientific as anti-vaxxer nonsense
bit.ly/2vf1UpP (4/9)
bit.ly/2vf1UpP (4/9)
The "harms" angle mostly originates from *a single* blog-post which is controversial, disputed and is not peer-reviewed
blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotligh…
bioethics.net/2019/03/an-evi… (5/9)
blogs.bmj.com/bmjebmspotligh…
bioethics.net/2019/03/an-evi… (5/9)
Based on when particular names, terms and theories appear in the reporting, I assume that Oz journos found these unreliable sources by reading Geoff Holloway's submission to the Health Minister early on in the anti-trans campaign
bit.ly/31FWX5v (6/9)
bit.ly/31FWX5v (6/9)
Hollway's has links to anti-trans group Women Speak Tasmania and transphobe John Whitehall supported the submission. The submission uses numerous unscientific, unrecognised and ultra-conservative sources... (7/9)
e.g. the "American College of Paediatricians" which is anti-LGBTI adoption and pro-conversion therapy, as well as the "Association of American Physicians and Surgeons" which believes HIV does not cause AIDS & that vaccines cause autism (8/9)
Tl;dr there is no reliable evidence for "social contagion theory", "rapid-onset gender dysphoria" or for harms related to affirmative trans healthcare. They are conspiratorial myths designed to delegitimise trans people and malign the LGBTI community (9/9)
.@Bernard_Lane Can see you're replying to other tweets... any reason you don't want to "openly debate" social contagion anymore?
... and this is why it’s futile to “debate” people acting in bad faith. They demand reasons but don’t care about them, they yell about facts but ignore them. It’s all just a game to them
