A bombshell article by @writingblock challenges claims by activists that the science supporting the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors is "settled" and that the use of puberty blockers and hormones in transgender kids is "evidence based." 🧵⬇️ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
Many argue that giving puberty blockers and hormones to trans minors is uncontroversial & backed by high-quality science. Block's reporting disputes this. Swedish health authorities, for example, say the risks "currently outweigh the possible benefits". 2/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
@glaad, in its recent protest before the @nytimes building, echoed a common refrain: that "the science is settled" regarding giving puberty blockers and hormones to trans-identifying minors. @writingblock's peer-reviewed reporting challenges this claim. 3/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
The prescription of hormones to trans-identifying minors is often framed as a choice of life on meds vs death by suicide. But researchers have not actually shown that hormonal treatment for gender dysphoria impacts death by suicide. 5/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
@HRC said in a press release today that "ALL gender-affirming care is age appropriate and medically necessary." But in the UK, health experts found there's "scarce & inconclusive evidence to support clinical decision-making" for kids with dysphoria. 6/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
Mark Helfand of Oregon Health & Science University criticized @wpath's recommendations for treating #transgender minors, including a lack of grading system to assess the quality of scientific evidence backing the guidelines. #trans 7/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
At an October meeting of the AAP, @writingblock reports, @DrScottHadland of Harvard Med said, "Ten thousand pediatricians stand in solidarity for trans and gender diverse kids & their families to receive evidence-based, lifesaving, individualized care." 8/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
Gordon Guyatt (@GuyattGH) of McMaster University found "serious problems" with the Endocrine Society's guidelines for treating #trans kids, such as making strong recommendations based on weak evidence--meaning they should not be called "evidence based". 9/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
In contrast to @DrScottHadland, @GuyattGH said, "When there's been a rigorous systematic review of the evidence" about treating #trans kids "and the bottom line is 'we don't know,' anybody who then claims they *do* know is not being evidence based." 10/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
While myriad medical organizations in the US back prescribing puberty blockers & hormones to trans-identifying minors, standards abroad are very different. Sweden did systematic reviews in '15 and '22, found evidence was "insufficient and inconclusive."11/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
The Endocrine Society (@TheEndoSociety) commissioned 2 systematic reviews for its clinical practice guideline for treating #trans adolescents with sex steroids and found the quality of the evidence regarding health risks was "low" or "very low". 12/ press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/february/t…
@MattWalshBlog, who doesn't so much debate the science behind care for trans minors as douse the field with gasoline & set it on fire, has made the topic so combustible in Tennessee, he teed up the politicization of #HIV prevention there, I reported: 14/ nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-ou…
@writingblock's assessment of the evidence backing standards of care for treating gender dysphoria in #trans minors comes a week after activists (eg: @glaad) and writers have pressured @nytimes to refrain from the type of reporting she has done. 16/ glaad.org/new-york-times…
The emailed responses to this thread are starting to come in. This is new: now I'm a Nazi and have autism to boot.
More charming exchanges with the readers of this tweet thread. Have a good one, @zunetopia.
Kindly do not come to this thread disrespectfully. I will not tolerate malicious statements toward anyone and the misgendering of transgender people.
Also, for anyone coming to this thread who thinks they know who I am, what I think or believe or what I'm about, do take note that I do not share my personal opinions about many issues on Twitter. I invite you to read my reporting on LGBTQ issues: benryan.net/lgbtq.html
@HRC will fly an airplane banner down the Hudson River protesting @nytimes coverage of #transgender issues today:
@Esqueer_ claims @writingblock can’t count, but the figure she cited in her BMJ article is the total number of minors receiving hormones and puberty blockers during that period, whereas the chart refers only to puberty blockers.
I get a lot of venomous emails, but I’d say this one regarding my tweet thread about the strength of the science behind the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors is one of the most heinous. Sadly for this person’s hopes, I was cured of cancer and have a 5% recurrence chance.
Also: it sucks for that person, but no one dies of testicular cancer anymore.
@meetzow wants me to die because I am engaging in science reporting and have illuminated the weakness of the science backing the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.
Also, gay people on Twitter get hit with a lot of tweets like this in the Musk era: @UIgliori
People tweet this to suggest that reduced stigma is the sole reason for the apparent tripling in trans identification between older adults & youths. But I think we can agree that gender identity is far more complex and driven by more complex factors than left vs right-handedness.
If only this @ryanlcooper@TheProspect podcast had brought on academic experts to discuss youth gender care science. Instead, @RottenInDenmark provides a misleading overview that, for example, fails to note Finland & Sweden disagree with the US on this. 1/ prospect.org/podcasts/02-20…
@RyanCooper claims that what @jessesingal says about youth gender care science "makes no sense scientifically." Except Singal knows the science better than just about anyone, as he assiduously demonstrates. And his coverage is way more nuanced than Hobbes claims. 2/
My favorite is @ryanlcooper saying the best thing for science journos to do is: "You go into the studies to talk to the scientists, you don't talk to individual people, who may and probably do have an ax to grind," as he interviews two individual non-scientists about science. 3/
Hobbes himself is extraordinarily ideological, meanwhile. 4/
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How Harvard Teed Up the False Claim That the 'Vast Majority of Minors Getting Gender-Affirming Surgeries Are C-s Kids'
🧵: I report: An opaquely written @Harvard press release prompted false reporting that gynecomastia surgeries for boys are vastly more common than gender-affirming surgeries for trans kids.
How Harvard Teed Up the False Claim That the 'Vast Majority of Minors Getting Gender-Affirming Surgeries Are C-s Kids' benryan.substack.com/p/how-harvard-…
GIDS Dissident, Dr. @MaxDavie, takes down latest post criticizing Dr. Hilary Cass, vanishes from Twitter
🧵: After attacking Dr. Hilary Cass in a paper posted in a Google doc, claiming she recommended @AbigailShrier's Irreversible Damage, then backpedaling the claim, then writing a blog post once again criticizing the Cass Review author, claiming she was dead set on a randomized controlled trial of puberty blockers for pediatric gender dysphoria that he saw as unethical, Dr. Max Davie has stripped his blog site of that posting and vanished from X.
Along the way, he accused me of journalistic malpractice after he emailed me accusations about one of his critics and I published them. He said he told me the information in confidence, but as I told him, he never said anything about it being off the record.
The background:
Cass Review Author Denounces As 'Baseless' And 'Cynical' Dissidents' Claim That She Touted Abigail Shrier's Scathing Polemic On Trans Kids benryan.substack.com/p/cass-review-…
Here is the archive of @MaxDavie’s since deleted blog criticizing Hilary Cass. archive.is/kKY0M
'Rubbish'—Finland's Top Pediatric Gender Psychiatrist Derides Exposé Claiming Her Clinic Provided Shoddy, Cruel Care
🧵The prime target of Evan Urquhart's scathing reporting about Finland's pediatric gender clinics characterizes his article as "intentional defamation."
'Rubbish'—Finland's Top Pediatric Gender Psychiatrist Derides Exposé Claiming Her Clinic Provided Shoddy, Cruel Care benryan.substack.com/p/rubbishfinla…
On July 30, American journalist Evan Urquhart published on his independent news site, @AssignedMedia, a scathing account of a handful of young Finnish transgender people who had sought care for gender dysphoria through the nation’s gender-clinic system. Cowritten with the Finnish writer Esa Kalliomäki, the article boldly asserted: “Former patients say rude staff, uncomfortable questions about masturbation, years of assessment with no therapeutic support, and abrupt dismissals without any treatment made the experience a living hell.” benryan.substack.com/p/rubbishfinla…
Could the new mpox threat cause significant harm in the U.S.?
🧵: I spoke for @NBCNews with experts about how key differences between central Africa and the U.S. and how they predict this might make mpox behave differently in the U.S. ⬇️
Could the new mpox threat cause significant harm in the U.S.?
🧵An apparently more dangerous strain of mpox circulating rapidly in a number of countries, with the first reported case outside of Africa reported this week in Sweden, I report for @NBCNews. nbcnews.com/health/health-…
As concerns mount about a type of mpox spreading across Africa that’s believed to cause more serious illness, infectious disease experts expressed cautious optimism that this branch of the virus would not spread as broadly in the U.S. or cause health impacts as severe.
I just interviewed top experts about mpox. There are multiple reasons why they’re cautiously optimistic that it won’t spread as widely or have as severe of an impact in the U.S. as in Africa. They stressed mpox is not spreading casually there. None recommended doing this to kids:
Here’s one thing that is important for mpox risk reduction at this time: Men with multiple sex partners should get both doses of the Jynneos mpox vaccine.
The experts I talked to said that clade 1 of mpox is spreading in Africa
▶️Through sex, both among female sec workers and some gay men
▶️From animal spill overs in rural areas
▶️Through very close household contact.
I cannot stress more strongly that one should not take cues about mpox from @TRyanGregory. The "OK, Doomer" newsletter by @JessicaLexicus he's sharing here, which is crafted to stoke fear and panic about mpox, is hosed down with errors, which I'll point out in this thread.🧵⬇️
The "OK, Doomer" writer @JessicaLexicus omits the fact that this Lancet paper she referenced said: “Based on the available evidence, the likelihood of human-to-human MPXV respiratory transmission appears to be low.”