Thread by @jan_skelton

I do understand why people believe they are being kind and compassionate when they support paediatric transitioning.
But I also think that they are uninformed. And that this ignorance and virtue signalling is causing terrible harm to children. Thread👇🏼
independent.co.uk/voices/transge…

All these articles use “Through the Looking Glass” language which immediately conditions us to believe we are talking about a boy when we are really talking about a girl (or vice versa). But there is nothing kind or compassionate about being willing to lose sight of reality. 2/

This particular article gives no details about why the child in question identifies as the opposite sex. But hundreds of other articles do. With small children it’s usually about liking the toys, haircuts, clothes and activities more commonly associated with the opposite sex. 3/

Obviously the degree to which this is seen as a problem varies according to the degree to which the parents, or wider society, are wedded to fixed ideas about how boys and girls should behave. Trans ideology is sustained by a belief in prescriptive gender stereotypes & roles. 4/

A recurring theme in many accounts, including the TED talk given by Mermaids CEO Susie Green, is the discomfort of one or both parents about the child’s gender nonconformity. The fear that the child may grow up to be gay is often stated explicitly. 5/

Early onset gender dysphoria is not a new phenomenon. But people think of it, erroneously, as a fixed state. In fact research shows that the vast majority of gender dysphoric children become reconciled to their sex as they go through puberty.
And many do grow up to be gay. 6/

Teenage onset gender dysphoria *is* a new phenomenon. Also known as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) — a term coined by @LisaLittman1 — it was casually dismissed in Mulready’s article as ‘a term used to dispute the identities of transgender people.’ 7/

But surely ROGD warrants investigation. Referral rates to gender clinics have rocketed. Teenagers (especially girls) are identifying as trans in clusters or after prolonged exposure to online material. This has all the hallmarks of a social contagion. 8/

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

Perhaps you are thinking, but where’s the harm? If girls want to be boys or boys want to be girls, for whatever reason, why not? As long as they’re happy right? But this is where we need to keep a grip on reality. We may talk glibly about ‘transition’. But what does that mean? 9/

The treatment for gender dysphoria in children and young people has shifted in recent years from a policy of therapeutic support through puberty to experimental medicalised interventions: puberty blockers followed by cross sex hormones and surgeries. 10/

The full long term effects of these interventions are not known. But we do know we cannot literally turn boys into girls or vice versa. Children can be given cross sex hormones so as to develop some of the secondary sex characteristics of the opposite sex. But at what cost? 11/

The side-effects of puberty blockers and cross sex hormones include infertility, loss of sexual function, increased risk of cardiovascular illness, bone thinning, and atrophy of reproductive organs. Healthy children become lifelong medical patients. 12/

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

How much do these children understand? They are being told that they can self-declare their sex. So much of the media conversation is about being kind and validating identities. But is it kind and compassionate to put gender nonconforming children on this medicalised path? 13/

Over 35 clinicians have resigned from the Tavistock clinic because they feel the welfare of children has been put at risk by a political ideology pushing affirmation and ‘transition’ over evidence-based care. Many who remain are voicing concerns. 14/

Several legal cases are pending. Keira Bell feels that she was pushed towards ‘transition’ instead of appropriate psychological care — partly because clinicians who question clients’ beliefs about ‘gender identity’ may be accused of conversion therapy./15

crowdjustice.com/case/challenge…

Other detransitioners are speaking out about what happened to them as a result of being affirmed as the opposite sex instead of receiving appropriate psychological care. They were encouraged to have healthy body parts amputated and organs removed. 16/

standpointmag.co.uk/issues/februar…

As @jk_rowling says: ”I’ve been forced to the unhappy conclusion that an ethical & medical scandal is brewing...the time is coming when those who have uncritically embraced fashionable dogma, & demonised those urging caution, will have to answer for the harm they’ve enabled.” 17/

A girl who believes she is really a boy because she doesn’t conform to narrow gender stereotypes about femininity may well ‘thrive’ initially, when her belief is affirmed.
But for how long?
And at what cost? 18/

Isn’t it better to tell our children the truth?
No, you can’t change sex but you are absolutely bloody perfect, just the way you are. There is no right or wrong way to be a girl or a boy. Pursue your interests, dress how you want, love who you want, be yourself. 19/

So if you really want to be kind, if you truly care about the welfare of the children and young people caught up in all this, you will look beyond the silly nonsensical slogans and ask sensible questions. 20/

For a good overview of the issues this compassionate and much misrepresented essay by @jk_rowling is a good place to start. 21/

jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-r…

I have focused on children and young people in this thread but there are many other issues around gender identity ideology.

For more information follow:
@Transgendertrd @MForstater @HJoyceGender
@FondOfBeetles @Womans_Place_UK

Apologies to the people I haven’t mentioned. END

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…