Irreversible Damage
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Of course this was mercilessly attacked as transphobic, mostly not based on data, but based on feelings and the threats that these truths might hurt transgender kids. And that's true. There are certainly a small minority of transgendered kids that are going to be hurt by the stigma of 100,000 Rachel Dolezal's of transexualism diluting their truths, with fake #MeToo copycats. But while the far-left sees the world as binary (0 or 1), the rest of us can differentiate that there is both a legitimate condition AND peer pressure cliques/fads around Gender Dysphoria. This is the same as eating disorders and self-harm -- that both trended up (and down) at various times. The maladies and suffering is real, but they are symptoms of deeper issues. There is no doubt that some of it is physical (chemical, brain wiring, etc)... but there is no doubt that some of it is environmental, peer pressure, and not just "how they are wired" or how they were born. Unless you think something in the water suddenly made this problem 70x worse in Gen-Z than in prior generations -- and if so, we should try to discover what that is.
The data was based on a Lisa Littman study (from Brown University), that documented this Rapid onset gender dysphoria. It wasn't a controversy in the science, it was peer reviewed, published and everyone thought the methodology of interviewing a couple hundred parents of children with gender dysphoria (85% of whom were supportive of LGBTQ rights, etc), and noting the trends, was a good way to look for patterns.
Of course she had no challenges to her bonafides and the study before hand, but once she touched this hot button with data -- the activists attacked. The science didn't show what they wanted -- it showed that this was hugely anomalous (70x more frequent than before), which shows it is a social contagion, not a mental defect. It can't just be explained away as "now that we're more accepting" more people are coming out -- because there are no older women suddenly admitting that they were oppressed or coming out now that it is acceptable. There's an INCREASE in suicides (especially among these transgendered girls) instead of a decrease that you'd expect with more acceptance. Studies of kids that had top or bottom surgeries shows that they are highly remorseful later on in life, and have higher rates of depression and other psychological maladies. (And there's a huge overlay with girls on the autism spectrum -- having something to do with them fixating on things: like changing gender will cure their social ills). And so on.
So the science (observation) is not controversial. But to the political activists, it was HUGELY controversial! And since attacking the observations wasn't easy (there are no better studies showing contra-indicative results), they attacked Lisa Littman, Brown University (which apologized for publishing the truth), and anyone who dares mention this study or the observations. Without being able to refute it, other than a few anecdotes.
Conclusion
Planned Parenthood is of course supporting the idea that an underage girls can go in and get a doctors note from them to have their breasts removed or go through hormone therapy or other transitions, often without parental notification or approval. All based on self-diagnosis of the mentally ill.
The left will wrap themselves in the flag of "Civil Right" and LGBT-Jingoism. But if they really cared about the kids, they'd care about the outcomes of those who go through transition. They'd care to put checks and balances in place to prevent exploitation of the mentally ill to cause Irreversible Damage to their bodies. They'd be outraged by each and every person that was mutilated (at their own request) and later regretted it, as they found out the real problems were elsewhere.
Again, none of this is to deny that there's a very small percent of people that have severe pathological Gender Dysphoria. But it to recognize that impressionable children (especially socially influenceable girls) could be some percentage of the HUGE upward spike in transitioning kids, or upticks in transgenderism rates that belie science and common sense.
Written 2021.02.27