Thread by @TwisterFilm

1./ Are children ever 'born in the wrong body'? A thread about schools, puberty blockers and children's brains. For years the idea of 'born in the wrong body' was a staple of trans activism. Now even Munroe Bergdorf has rushed to disown the phrase.👇

2./By a TOTAL coincidence the UK govt recently decided to ban activists from schools who tell kids they could be 'born in the wrong body'. Here's Munroe saying she always knew her body wasn't right and it needed "adjusting". Isn't that just the same idea in different words?👇

3./ In this BBC video for primary schools 9 year olds are told "sometimes the feelings you have are the same as your body parts. And sometimes they're not". Isn't THIS just the same as 'wrong body'? If you're suspicious ...then you're right to be. 👇

4./ Moments later an activist celebrates their medical adjustment. "I feel all the pieces fit now. Everything makes sense a bit better." Is the taxpayer-funded BBC effectively promoting a solution to girls who experience discomfort with their bodies: a double mastectomy?

5./ In this video from @mygenderation whose materials are often shown in schools a trans man bemoans going through the "wrong puberty". Wouldn't a kid be forgiven for thinking their BODY that's going through a 'wrong puberty' is also a 'wrong BODY'? Different words, same idea?

6./ In another video from @mygenderation a trans activist waxes lyrical about hatred of his body at age 11 when menstruation began. Powerful imagery like this raises a critical ethical dilemma. How do we help kids who may turn out to be trans without confusing the ones who won't?

7./ Every child can feel extreme discomfort going through puberty. Promoting the idea of 'wrong puberty' risks selling a simplistic one size fits all explanation to the 99.4% of kids who are grappling with all the usual problems of puberty and who won't grow up trans.

8./ What's worse a 'wrong puberty' is often presented as the first stage in a life-time journey of "self-creation" using powerful hormones. The effects of hormones are celebrated online by the likes of @mygenderation even if initially they had to be bought illegally.👇

9./ Many LGBTQ+ groups suggest a 'wrong puberty' is so terrifying it must be prevented by prescribing 'puberty blocker' hormones. They insist these are entirely reversible and totally safe. But are they and can we trust these advocates anyway? thetimes.co.uk/article/chemis…

10./ After two of the leading doctors who prescribe puberty blockers online were suspended by the GMC for breaching guidelines they upped sticks and moved abroad. Their business was also ruled by a Judge to have breached the Care Standards Act. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7…

11./ So what ARE Puberty Blockers? Their story begins with "discoveries concerning the hormone production of the brain". Yes, the BRAIN; an organ you'll hear next to nothing about from puberty blocker advocates. nobelprize.org/prizes/medicin…

12./ Andrew V Schally won the Nobel Prize for showing how the brain regulates the production of crucial reproductive hormones through its control of the pituitary gland. To say this is a minutely sensitive process is an understatement: the pituitary is the size of a pea.

13./ In 1969 he'd used vast numbers of pig and lamb brains to retrieve a few micrograms of 'Gonadotrophin Releasing Hormone' secreted by the hypothalamus into the pituitary. GnRH triggers the pituitary to release two key hormones (Luteinising and Follicle Stimulating Hormone)

14./ At the onset of puberty a sophisticated courtship dance ensues between GnRH which causes levels of these two key hormones (LH and FSH) to rise which triggers the development of the testes and ovaries. They then produce oestrogen, testosterone and progesterone.

15./ These hormones in turn send signals back to the brain to modulate levels of GnRH, LH and FSH. It's a complex wonder of nature. You might think the fact it's all governed by the BRAIN makes a mockery of the idea someone can have a male body and a female brain. But hey ho.

16./ Schally soon realised he could manufacture a version of GnRH to cut testosterone production & thereby stifle prostate cancer. Various GnRH drugs were duly licensed to treat cancer. It's these anti-cancer GnRH analogues that are NOW being used as puberty blockers. In kids.

17./ GnRH analogues had severe side effects but Schally argued we shouldn't worry about them. That's because until then the only effective treatment for adult men with prostate cancer was castration. Unsurprisingly, to patients the benefits of GnRH seemed to far outweigh risks.

18./ That was true too when it was found GnRH drugs could treat a pathological condition that affects a tiny minority of kids who start 'puberty' as young as 5 or 6. Even then some kids were unable to cope with the side effects. researchgate.net/publication/13…

19./ In the 1990s Britain's foremost expert on transsexuality Russell Reid began experimenting with the GnRH analogue Goserelin. Here he is writing (later) to the Times supporting its use in the 'chemical castration' of paedophiles. thetimes.co.uk/article/anti-l…

20./ It was in 1994 that Dutch scientists treated the first normal adolescent (a girl known as B who wanted to be a boy). They announced the case had been a huge success and developed the protocol which is to this day the basis of care of adolescents who say they are trans.

21./ But what success? Michael Biggs revealed in this essay on the bad science behind puberty blockers that at the age of 35, B put down his high levels of depression to "shame about genital appearance and feelings of inadequacy in sexual matters". p9 👇 users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/Bigg…

22./ Biggs' essay is also a powerful indictment of the incompetence, shoddy research and overstated claims of @TaviAndPort our leading Gender Identity clinic. As @ripx4nutmeg & @BBCNewsnight confirmed the Tavi's own research actually undermines the case for puberty blockers.

23./ The Tavi's own initial results appear to show that many kids on puberty blockers after a year suffer from MORE self-harm, loathing of their body and behavioural problems than they did before. Their 'wrong' body feels more 'wrong' in other words. But there's worse.👇

24./ When Schally first discovered the role of GnRA and even when the first unlicensed use of puberty blockers began much less was known about the adolescent brain than is known now and in particular its impact on teen behaviour. Let's go on a journey inside the brain.

25./ Advocates of puberty blockers say the drugs allow kids to think and decide. But the BRAIN does our thinking and deciding and it's enmeshed in the process of puberty in breathtaking ways. Plus in adolescence our brains are changing dramatically.👇(More thread on the way.😉)

Rest of thread 26-50 here. Sorry it's a huge subject and this is just scratching the surface 🤷‍♂️

https://twitter.com/TwisterFilm/status/1317539496464875520?s=20