Society and pop culture is providing a lens through which young people with still developing brains interpret their experiences of discomfort with their bodies. This lens is distorting common, transient experiences. Gender dysphoria is a culturally-created phenomenon.
After Professor Lisa Littman of Brown University published a peer-reviewed paper on rapid onset gender dysphoria, it was slammed and the university pulled away from it. A book on the same issue, published six months ago, has been taken off the shelf at Target due to a single complaint. Transgender activists threaten free speech. We have not read the book, but are pleased to see this issue addressed. 
“In Irreversible Damage, Abigail Shrier provides a thought-provoking examination of a new clinical phenomenon mainly affecting adolescent females—what some have termed rapid-onset gender dysphoria—that has, at lightning speed, swept across North America and parts of Western Europe and Scandinavia.”
10 Reasons to ban transitioning in Children
Here are arguments as to why it would be wise to ban sex conversion treatments for children/teens. If you really care about children, you will be concerned:
- Research suggests that upwards of 80% of gender-dysphoric children will resolve their gender dysphoria and they will accept their bodies, unless their rejection of their natal sex is affirmed by their environment. A significant percentage of children and teens have depression at any given time, and a multiple reasons for this. There’s a strong chance that other issues that are causing the child’s unhappiness. Gender dysphoria happens to be a trendy diagnosis right now, and children are hyper aware of the larger culture.Children and teens often do not realize that a huge portions of teens feel awkward and depressed, too.
- The rational part of a young person’s brain is not fully developed until age 25 or so. Why interfere when the brain is developing? Given that some transgenders change their minds about conversion, a person shouldn’t be allowed to go through sex conversion before age 25. (Congress will probably change the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21, to protect children. So why shouldn’t we also protect children by banning sex conversion therapy for those under 21?)
- No one knows what causes gender dysphoria. While some subscribe to “brain sex” theories of causation (for which there is no proof) or believe that intrauterine hormone exposure causes the development of gender dysphoria, there are other possibilities, including childhood trauma, family dysfunction and sexual abuse or autism. Also a girl’s early breast development in girls can lead to unwanted male attention that results in girls feeling uncomfortable with their female bodies.
Dr. Joseph Berger, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, states that from “a scientific perspective,” being “transgendered” is a psychological issue of “emotional unhappiness” – and surgery is not the “proper treatment.” Good psycho-therapeutic counseling would be more appropriate than chemical and surgical treatments as responses to gender dysphoria, especially for children and teens.
- Suicide attempts among trans men are 46%, trans women, 42% and 45% among trans 18-24 year olds, according to the Williams Institute, which claims to conduct independent, non-biased research. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf . These rates vastly exceed the general population which has a 4.6% lifetime risk of suicide attempt, and the gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals who have a 10-20% risk.
With such high rates, it’s reasonable to suggest that the much of the dysphoria is not resolved by sex changes. In fact many individuals who undergo a sex change are probably misreading the real reasons for their dysphoria. The other possibility is that the sex change itself, with the surgery and use of drugs to unnaturally change the body, intensify depression and the desire to commit suicide.
- The medical community admits it has no idea whether turning healthy sexual development into a disorder and setting children and teens on a path of lifetime risky medical treatments will help them, and they have no idea if these children will grow up to regret their “transitions.” It appears that the major reason for fostering sexual transition is the amount of money that can made by those prescribing the hormones and doing the surgery.
- Puberty-blockers carry serious known health risks, and long-term effects are unknown. Kaiser Health News recently wrote about one of the primary puberty blockers administered to gender-dysphoric children: Lupron. Lupron is thought to cause osteopenia (bone-thinning), osteoporosis (bone loss), degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, and depression. Due to the number and nature of complaints received, the FDA is now reviewing the safety of Lupron.
- Using puberty blockers comes before the initiation of sex change. Supporters of puberty blockers argue that they are reversible and that they give children time to figure out their gender identity. What they don’t share is that the vast majority of children who take puberty blockers move on to cross-sex hormones. In contrast, as mentioned earlier, upwards of 80% of gender-dysphoric children who do not take puberty blockers or socially transition eventually accept their sex.
- There is a definite ethical problems with allowing children to make a decision in childhood which will prevent their ability to procreate when they’re adults. Several studies reveal that the majority of “trans” identifying adults desire to have their own biological children, and yet minors are being given cross-sex hormones that leave them permanently sterile. Many gender-dysphoric girls bind their breasts which carries serious health risks including compressed ribs, blood flow problems and increase the risk of developing blood clots and other complications.
- There is a growing “detransitioning” movement. Detransitioners are men and women of diverse ages who regret having taken cross-sex hormones and amputated healthy body parts. Many have come to understand the cause or causes of their gender dysphoria and feel sorrow over the irreversible damage they have done to their bodies. Their stories, available online, are painful to hear. Read the website sexchangeregret.com.
- Surgical Complications: A 2015 study showed that between 33% experienced of those who had a vaginaplasty experienced “changes in urine stream and heightened risk of urethral infection.” For girls who wish to transition, the results can be awful. It first requires a hysterectomy followed several months later by phalloplasty which requires skin grafts taken from the forearm or thigh to create a penis that has no capacity for producing an erection. If they decide to have penile implants, 50% of them will be removed due to complications
All surgeries carry risk, but teens and young adults are having these life-altering, risky procedures—not to treat a disease—but to mutilate healthy bodies.
One women speaks about daughter’s desire
“Wanting to protect my daughter’s health doesn’t make me a bigot,” declared one of the mothers who discussed her teen daughter’s gender dysphoria on 4thWave said:
“I interviewed approximately ten therapists by phone before finding one who understood that teenagers experiment with identities and that teenagers’ beliefs about who they are may change over time, something that used to be common sense and common knowledge.
This woman also explained how her daughter’s ideas were confirmed by the group:
“She first began experiencing gender dysphoria as a teenager. Four members of her pre-existing friend group also began identifying as transgender in their teens. Because I have expressed doubts about her transgender identity and voiced opposition to medical transition, she refuses to talk to me about those subjects much as a cult member refuses to listen to anything that contradicts his/her beliefs.”
Let this be warning. Certain universities and government bodies fund studies that affirm the pro-transgender bias rather than approaching things scientifically without bias. The University of Washington has a department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies with a special concentration in Transgender Studies. The whole purpose of this program is to be subjective and to design studies which will validate transgenderism. It’s not science, but an exercise in propaganda.
Letting Hollywood TV shows, i.e. “Orange is the New Black,” “Transparent” and Laverne Cox define truth, rather than rigorous science, is a big mistake.
What goes in California may go everywhere
A law passed two years ago in California will sanction tax-paid gender reassignment surgery for foster children as young as 12. This California law, AB 2119 was written to “provide that the rights of minors and non-minors in foster care include the right to be involved in the development of case plan elements related to placement and gender affirming health care, with consideration of their gender identity.” This presumably well-meaning law has placed children as young as 12 ahead of caring foster parents in making decisions.
American College of Pediatricians came out against this policy. Read our previous article, Shouldn’t sex conversion treatments for children be banned?
Will it be the end of girls’ sports?
There’s a growing awareness that allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, even a year after they’ve taken the transitioning hormones, is unfair to girls who compete. The case, which involves a rule in Connecticut, will be taken up by the Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court backs up the right of transgender athletes, it will essentially nullify Title IX and the validity of girls sports.
