Thread by @dr_tey

Since some have asked: here are my thoughts on the @nytimes magazine story about trans adolescents:

As @chasestrangio so perfectly put it: this is one hell of a moment to publish this kind of story.

I have met just about every expert cited in that article, and people say what they say. As the saying on opinions goes…..

The frame of this article is fundamentally off-base on several accounts. First of all, there is little disagreement on the need for medical treatment for trans-identifying youth. All major medical governing boards know it can be an essential part of their well-being.

The *only* point of contention is about the line between “support” and “gatekeeping.” Treating them medically is the ethical stance. Period.

The idea that a trans teen enters therapy to think about gender for the very first time seems, to me, naive. In families where exploration is a neutral act, kids will try on different gendered options, before finding a resting place. Few kids live in such an environment.

So most exploration is internal. The question of whether youth who assert a trans identity have been thinking about it for minutes, months or years is a question only that child can answer.

In the 15 yrs I’ve been in conversation with providers of affirming care, I heard few tales of regret Even Ken Zucker told me he had only one patient in his whole career he would consider putting in that category, and he wasn’t even sure the person “regretted” the initial choice

We cannot compare this generation of trans kids to *any* previous generations to make *any* rhetorical point. Feminine boys were brought en masse to psychologists for “cure” throughout the 20th c. That is not the same as coming for affirmative care.

We don’t know if there are more or fewer assigned boys or assigned girls who are trans. We just don’t. People perhaps come out earlier. Perhaps people who would not have come out in the past do now. We don’t know how many people feel trans and never tell anyone.

That said, If there are more assigned girls coming out as trans or non-binary now, that merely means that girls are considering their masculinity more carefully and in conversation with clinicians- not that somehow there is no room to just be a tomboy. There is plenty of room.

If you take away the fear of violent physical and psychological punishment, it’s possible more people will come out as trans. That’s actually a good thing.

For a look inside families affirming gender, to see what that looks like, check out my book. ucpress.edu/book/978052027…

For a look at the history of gender nonconformity and it’s management, check out this book by @gp_jls upress.umn.edu/book-division/…