Leaked documents from World Professional Association for Transgender Health practitioners reveal a medical profession in the grips of an ideology-driven social contagion
Typo? "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH does not appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners ..." Do you mean "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH [delete does not] appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners"?
To head off potential confusion: The way you structured the sentence in paragraph 3 about the pantheon of popular delusions reads as if Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) is included in the delusions, but I’m certain you mean that the spike in Trans Identification is the delusion. In paragraph 6 you make it clear that ROGD is the rational observance of the phenomenon of primarily teenage females suddenly claiming transgender identities in droves. Thanks for all you have done to shed light on this lightning rod of a topic!
You raise some valid points here. Unfortunately, your post fails to capture the complexity of the issue because, as long as it is, it overlooks one simple word.
Suicide.
And therein lies the problem.
I'm sure there are plenty of people in the medical profession who are too eager to do gender therapy. They think they're doing something noble, and they get carried away. It happens. Same reason why some (not all) climate scientists get carried away and go beyond the "look, this is happening, and it's going to require some serious adjustments" pragmatism to "OMGZ EARTH WILL DIE!" hyperalarmism.
But you simply can't talk about this issue without discussing the main impetus for considering gender therapy before age 18.
Again ... suicide.
I have a close relative who came out at age 14. Talk therapy started immediately. Hormone therapy didn't start for a few more years. She may be 21 before she gets surgery.
She's alive today because she learned in her tweens that there are other people like her. Take away that information, and she's probably dead.
This is an anecdote, yes. But the stats on suicidal ideation suggest she's not alone.
Does that mean we need to start giving 8-year-olds a bunch of hormones? I doubt it. But do we need to have deliberate, cautious conversations when kids are 14 or even 12? Of course.
I'd like to think that the amount of research time you spent on this post would suggest you're taking this topic seriously. Alas, no. To quote: "presumably to enhance his—sorry, her—erections."
Ha ha ha ha. That's funny. Except that the very simplest of gestures -- not surgery, not hormones, but simply acknowledging how someone's brain is wired and respecting it -- can be the difference between life or death.
We may not have all the details on that. I doubt the medical community has studied the brains of people who took their own lives while struggling with their own gender issues. Decades ago, they never would've voiced those issues at all, so they struggled and died in silence.
Skepticism sometimes means recognizing that no one knows everything, and we all have to approach the issue with humility. That's not what I'm reading here. I hope you can show that you're capable of this approach, or I'll need to take my leave of your work.
Great recapitulation. I'd almost forgotten some of these once-popular misconstrued destructive cultural trends. I had a friend who was steam-rollered by
the multiple personality scam thanks to an unscrupulous psychiatrist called Eugene Bliss. He wrote a book titled "Andrea Through a Prism" that described Mary R as a multiple personality, though she denied it. She was a brilliant dedicated person who was, ironically, a pioneer for protecting women with mental illness in supportive housing. Not long after the book was published i think she committed suicide although her cause of death was not disclosed.
I must have missed the phenomenon some years ago when a number of people who would later go on to join WPATH must have clearly been - "assigned idiot" - at birth. The amoral recklessness exhibited by these "professionals" is really quite breathtaking. Needless to say I long to hear their testimony as part of class action lawsuits files agains WPATH and ANY organization utilizing their protocols.
Agree with many posts here. Think people involved in this issue, once adults of “sound mind” should be able to do what they decide with their own bodies/personhood. I’m 75 years old; and I do wonder why/how this issue has grown to such proportions, pretty much only over the past 10-15 years, tho. “Something” has changed…
That is correct. The part of the brain that controls physiological responses is called the hypoyhalamus, and if its normal development during gestation is interfered with, the result can be inappropriate sexual responses and emotions later in life.
Chemical released into the environment from plastc manufacturing are so much like estrogen that if a woman eats or drinks something containing them at the critical stage of her pregnancy the fetus gets a false signal and fails to develop proper sexual responses.
Autopsies done on homosexual men show malformation of the hypothalamus compared to normal men. That is why homosexuality is so resistant to treatment by psychological means. So far, no effective treatment is known. Much research needs to be done, but it must be done by neurologists and biochemists, not psychologists.
Although untold numbers of homosexuals and other sexually confused individuals are already adults and probably cannot be cured, such disorders could be prevented, at least in large part, by tight environmental protection legislation.
These chemicals have been put into our food and water supply in huge amounts over recent decades and the great increase in the number of people suffering from homosexuality and delusions of belonging to the other sex is a direct result. Homosexuals and so-called ''transexuals'' should be considered as victims of environmental pollution, not as a social or psychological issue.
According to your graph 2010 is where the switch between more females experienced gender dysphoria. Your words say 2015. You would think an article talking about sloppy science wouldn't be sloppy?
The problem with including DARE into this list is that EUDAP's drug prevention program: Unplugged, is effective and uses a very similar educational curriculum.
You know a delusion has a mass hold when anti-delusion commentators fail to mention it. Psychiatry is the most popular contemporary scientism, and genuine heretics like Thomas Szasz and Richard Feynman are among the few who challenge its bogus claims.
So disappointed. I was very excited to learn about Skeptic.com recently, as this world is so full of gaslighting, snake oil, and selfishness.
I was shocked by the lack of professionalism in this article. It is so clear that the author has an agenda and is cherry-picking juicy items, often without sharing context. I appreciate these comments, which appear to have taken more time and thought to complete than the article (including those in support)!
Does Erin have a “side” in this? Sure she does. But note the attempts to be scientific, thorough, and Skeptical. I would have expected a sober, balanced discussion considering the risks and benefits of gender-affirming care from a self-proclaimed skeptic. Just another hack with his own personal agenda. Unsubscribe with me, y’all!
once you read the actual evidence and not the highly editorialized content, this amounts to a large pile of much ado about nothing. What you end up with is a rather normal set of discussions among clinicians about best practices and specific patients/cases of interest or focus.
I am disappointed that you are disrespectful of the people you write about, use inflammatory language, appeal to emotion, and misrepresent and mischaracterize the content and evidence, and add your own rather loaded commentary that is there to be hurtful and inflammatory. You very carefully select your straw men to knock down, to say nothing of the complete lack of a constructive approach.
You have fallen short of not only your own position as a skeptic who follows the data/evidence/science, but also short of your own ever expanding moral circle. In doing so you ultimately undermined the article's credibility and potential to contribute to a meaningful discussion on the topic, as well as your own.
I now find that it is reasonable to question whether your approach in this article reflects a broader pattern in your work or if it is an isolated incident. One hopes the latter, but expects the former.
The only thing you do manage to highlight, as do the professionals in those screenshots, is that there is a gaps in data that is being identified and filled. But as opposed to helping with that endeavor, or making a call for others to help so we can do this better and do it right, I suppose it is easier to insult, denigrate, and induce fear, uncertainty, and doubt to fuel the clicks and stoke the fires of anger. So not a skeptic, but cosplays as one while grinding your axes.
BTW, you write, "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH does not appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners; instead, “gender affirming care” calls for them to go along ..."
I believe you have one too many "not"s in the above.
There is another aspect to this subject that is seldom mentioned: the biological pre-natal brain damage caused by a pregnant woman ingesting hormone-mimicking chemicals released into the environment in the manufacture of plastic. If taken in by the fetus at the stage when the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls physiological responses, including sexual response, is forming, these artificial substances can affect sexual behavior in the adult.
These environmental contaminants have multiplied enormously in recent decaeds, and the huge increase in numbers of homosexuals is a predictable result. The more recent phenomena of people thinking they belong to the other sex is likewise a symptom of pre-natal poisoning. Both homosexuals and ''transexuals'' are victims of the rush to deploy new technologies before there is sufficient information on potential consequences.
Typo? "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH does not appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners ..." Do you mean "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH [delete does not] appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners"?
To head off potential confusion: The way you structured the sentence in paragraph 3 about the pantheon of popular delusions reads as if Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) is included in the delusions, but I’m certain you mean that the spike in Trans Identification is the delusion. In paragraph 6 you make it clear that ROGD is the rational observance of the phenomenon of primarily teenage females suddenly claiming transgender identities in droves. Thanks for all you have done to shed light on this lightning rod of a topic!
You raise some valid points here. Unfortunately, your post fails to capture the complexity of the issue because, as long as it is, it overlooks one simple word.
Suicide.
And therein lies the problem.
I'm sure there are plenty of people in the medical profession who are too eager to do gender therapy. They think they're doing something noble, and they get carried away. It happens. Same reason why some (not all) climate scientists get carried away and go beyond the "look, this is happening, and it's going to require some serious adjustments" pragmatism to "OMGZ EARTH WILL DIE!" hyperalarmism.
But you simply can't talk about this issue without discussing the main impetus for considering gender therapy before age 18.
Again ... suicide.
I have a close relative who came out at age 14. Talk therapy started immediately. Hormone therapy didn't start for a few more years. She may be 21 before she gets surgery.
She's alive today because she learned in her tweens that there are other people like her. Take away that information, and she's probably dead.
This is an anecdote, yes. But the stats on suicidal ideation suggest she's not alone.
Does that mean we need to start giving 8-year-olds a bunch of hormones? I doubt it. But do we need to have deliberate, cautious conversations when kids are 14 or even 12? Of course.
I'd like to think that the amount of research time you spent on this post would suggest you're taking this topic seriously. Alas, no. To quote: "presumably to enhance his—sorry, her—erections."
Ha ha ha ha. That's funny. Except that the very simplest of gestures -- not surgery, not hormones, but simply acknowledging how someone's brain is wired and respecting it -- can be the difference between life or death.
We may not have all the details on that. I doubt the medical community has studied the brains of people who took their own lives while struggling with their own gender issues. Decades ago, they never would've voiced those issues at all, so they struggled and died in silence.
Skepticism sometimes means recognizing that no one knows everything, and we all have to approach the issue with humility. That's not what I'm reading here. I hope you can show that you're capable of this approach, or I'll need to take my leave of your work.
Cheers.
Great recapitulation. I'd almost forgotten some of these once-popular misconstrued destructive cultural trends. I had a friend who was steam-rollered by
the multiple personality scam thanks to an unscrupulous psychiatrist called Eugene Bliss. He wrote a book titled "Andrea Through a Prism" that described Mary R as a multiple personality, though she denied it. She was a brilliant dedicated person who was, ironically, a pioneer for protecting women with mental illness in supportive housing. Not long after the book was published i think she committed suicide although her cause of death was not disclosed.
Great piece overall, but I don't think a witch craze is an example of an economic bubble. No big deal, but it is a bit distracting.
I must have missed the phenomenon some years ago when a number of people who would later go on to join WPATH must have clearly been - "assigned idiot" - at birth. The amoral recklessness exhibited by these "professionals" is really quite breathtaking. Needless to say I long to hear their testimony as part of class action lawsuits files agains WPATH and ANY organization utilizing their protocols.
Agree with many posts here. Think people involved in this issue, once adults of “sound mind” should be able to do what they decide with their own bodies/personhood. I’m 75 years old; and I do wonder why/how this issue has grown to such proportions, pretty much only over the past 10-15 years, tho. “Something” has changed…
That is correct. The part of the brain that controls physiological responses is called the hypoyhalamus, and if its normal development during gestation is interfered with, the result can be inappropriate sexual responses and emotions later in life.
Chemical released into the environment from plastc manufacturing are so much like estrogen that if a woman eats or drinks something containing them at the critical stage of her pregnancy the fetus gets a false signal and fails to develop proper sexual responses.
Autopsies done on homosexual men show malformation of the hypothalamus compared to normal men. That is why homosexuality is so resistant to treatment by psychological means. So far, no effective treatment is known. Much research needs to be done, but it must be done by neurologists and biochemists, not psychologists.
Although untold numbers of homosexuals and other sexually confused individuals are already adults and probably cannot be cured, such disorders could be prevented, at least in large part, by tight environmental protection legislation.
These chemicals have been put into our food and water supply in huge amounts over recent decades and the great increase in the number of people suffering from homosexuality and delusions of belonging to the other sex is a direct result. Homosexuals and so-called ''transexuals'' should be considered as victims of environmental pollution, not as a social or psychological issue.
According to your graph 2010 is where the switch between more females experienced gender dysphoria. Your words say 2015. You would think an article talking about sloppy science wouldn't be sloppy?
How the f--- does a skeptic un ironically quote the phrase "moral arc"? A modicum of skepticism should not let that concept survive.
The problem with including DARE into this list is that EUDAP's drug prevention program: Unplugged, is effective and uses a very similar educational curriculum.
You know a delusion has a mass hold when anti-delusion commentators fail to mention it. Psychiatry is the most popular contemporary scientism, and genuine heretics like Thomas Szasz and Richard Feynman are among the few who challenge its bogus claims.
So disappointed. I was very excited to learn about Skeptic.com recently, as this world is so full of gaslighting, snake oil, and selfishness.
I was shocked by the lack of professionalism in this article. It is so clear that the author has an agenda and is cherry-picking juicy items, often without sharing context. I appreciate these comments, which appear to have taken more time and thought to complete than the article (including those in support)!
Compare his piece to this article on the same topic: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/fact-check-216-instances-of-factual
Does Erin have a “side” in this? Sure she does. But note the attempts to be scientific, thorough, and Skeptical. I would have expected a sober, balanced discussion considering the risks and benefits of gender-affirming care from a self-proclaimed skeptic. Just another hack with his own personal agenda. Unsubscribe with me, y’all!
once you read the actual evidence and not the highly editorialized content, this amounts to a large pile of much ado about nothing. What you end up with is a rather normal set of discussions among clinicians about best practices and specific patients/cases of interest or focus.
I am disappointed that you are disrespectful of the people you write about, use inflammatory language, appeal to emotion, and misrepresent and mischaracterize the content and evidence, and add your own rather loaded commentary that is there to be hurtful and inflammatory. You very carefully select your straw men to knock down, to say nothing of the complete lack of a constructive approach.
You have fallen short of not only your own position as a skeptic who follows the data/evidence/science, but also short of your own ever expanding moral circle. In doing so you ultimately undermined the article's credibility and potential to contribute to a meaningful discussion on the topic, as well as your own.
I now find that it is reasonable to question whether your approach in this article reflects a broader pattern in your work or if it is an isolated incident. One hopes the latter, but expects the former.
The only thing you do manage to highlight, as do the professionals in those screenshots, is that there is a gaps in data that is being identified and filled. But as opposed to helping with that endeavor, or making a call for others to help so we can do this better and do it right, I suppose it is easier to insult, denigrate, and induce fear, uncertainty, and doubt to fuel the clicks and stoke the fires of anger. So not a skeptic, but cosplays as one while grinding your axes.
Excellent, as usual. Thanks.
BTW, you write, "Unfortunately, watchful waiting and compassionate support is not a practice that WPATH does not appear to recommend to medical and psychological practitioners; instead, “gender affirming care” calls for them to go along ..."
I believe you have one too many "not"s in the above.
There is another aspect to this subject that is seldom mentioned: the biological pre-natal brain damage caused by a pregnant woman ingesting hormone-mimicking chemicals released into the environment in the manufacture of plastic. If taken in by the fetus at the stage when the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls physiological responses, including sexual response, is forming, these artificial substances can affect sexual behavior in the adult.
These environmental contaminants have multiplied enormously in recent decaeds, and the huge increase in numbers of homosexuals is a predictable result. The more recent phenomena of people thinking they belong to the other sex is likewise a symptom of pre-natal poisoning. Both homosexuals and ''transexuals'' are victims of the rush to deploy new technologies before there is sufficient information on potential consequences.