The Social Contagion Of Transgenderism
Is your kid truly trans -- or looking for a way to fit in or feel special?

That's a forbidden question -- but it's one that needs to be asked, because the hormones that go with transitioning can have some terrible, terrible effects.

Lisa Marchiano writes at Quillette:

As a therapist, I have spoken with hundreds of parents of teens who have announced a trans identity "out of the blue," and I can corroborate Littman's initial findings. The majority of these parents have a daughter aged 14 or 15 - an age at which teens are particularly susceptible to peer influence. These teens often have one or more of the following factors that contribute to their social struggles: they are academically gifted; they are on the autism spectrum; they are same-sex attracted; they have experienced trauma or major disruption; they have other mental health diagnoses such as anxiety or depression; they have a learning disability. Parents often report that their child made a sudden announcement about being transgender after spending increased time on social media sites focused on trans issues, and/or having one or more peers come out as trans. Some teens have even admitted to their parents that they have come out as trans "to fit in."

...To point out that a diagnosis has a socially constructed component is not to assert that it isn't real, that its sufferers are "crazy," or that they don't deserve compassion and treatment. Acknowledging the reality of the social construction of psychiatric diagnosis does, however, allow us a wider range of options to choose from when deciding how to address the attendant suffering.

In therapy, we pay attention to cognitions because our thoughts influence how we respond to things. Cognitive therapists often point out that there is the thing that happens, and then the story we tell ourselves about that thing. A psychiatric diagnosis can be a story we tell ourselves about the feelings we have. The diagnostic criteria for childhood gender dysphoria in the current DSM includes such items such as the following:

In boys (assigned gender), a strong rejection of typically masculine toys, games, and activities and a strong avoidance of rough-and-tumble play; or in girls (assigned gender), a strong rejection of typically feminine toys, games, and activities.

According to the DSM, then, not liking girly things as a child could mean that I have gender dysphoria. But for any individual, alternative explanations should be ruled out before life-altering interventions are prescribed. For example, researchers have noted that cross-gender play and clothing preferences in childhood are associated with adult same sex sexual orientation. Symptoms that some see as evidence of being transgender can also be an early expression of being lesbian or gay. Given that research indicates that the majority of cross-sex identified kids will desist if left alone, and that most of these will grow up to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual, it seems prudent in many cases to wait and see.

Teens who declare themselves trans often push to get on hormones (again, with terrible side-effects and harms that come with) right away -- and there's a whole movement enabling this.

I think Dr. Debra Soh is one of the important voices of reason in this area. She writes in the Globe and Mail:

Recent statistics estimate that six in every 1,000 adults are transgender (a number that has doubled in the last decade), and as many as one in every 100 people might have a difference of sex development (a medical condition formerly called "intersex").

Without question, these individuals deserve dignity and respect. At the same time, it isn't a far cry to assume the vast majority of children will grow up to identify as their birth sex.

Anyone who tries to speak to this knows what happens next: You get called a hateful bigot. Parents, in particular, are told that 41 per cent of transgender people have attempted suicide and their child will become part of this statistic.

However, the researchers behind that statistic acknowledged the limitations of their study; they didn't ask respondents about other mental-health conditions, nor whether they identified as transgender, at the time of their suicide attempt.

After the 2015 passing of Ontario's Bill 77 - the Affirming Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Act - which incorrectly conflated unethical therapies aiming to change sexual orientation with those exploring gender identity, clinicians are unable to have honest conversations with parents about their children, out of fears of losing their license to practice. This has important implications for a child's well-being, because social and medical transitioning often aren't appropriate solutions.

Children presenting with gender dysphoria, whatever the reason, deserve to be treated with love and compassion. This includes adolescents for whom transitioning is deemed the best way forward, should alternative approaches be ruled out.

But by taking children's words at face value, the adults in the room are denying them the help they need. The goal of successful policy and medical treatment should be to improve the lives of those who are struggling, not to pat ourselves on the back for being open-minded and progressive.

On a related note, there's a piece in Teen Vogue, "9 Things People Get Wrong About Being Non-Binary: There's no such thing as 'looking non-binary,'" by Suzannah Weiss.

A bit of it:

When people see me or hear my name, they usually assume I'm a woman and go by she/her pronouns. But they'd only be partially right. I do identify as a woman, but I also identify as non-binary (yes, you can be both -- more on that later) and go by they/them as well. Unfortunately, this is an identity that many people still misunderstand.

Non-binary sex educator and therapist Aida Manduley, MSW defines a non-binary person as "someone who does not identify as a man or a woman, or solely as one of those two genders." It's often used as "an umbrella term for other identities that fall outside the man/woman dichotomy and may be more specific," they add. "However this person identifies their gender, it does not neatly follow the binary of man and woman."

That definition's pretty broad because being non-binary means different things to different people. To me, it means that I reject the whole concept of gender. Growing up, I never felt people were wrong when they called me a woman, but it felt like a label imposed on me rather than one that fit. Then, in college, I learned about non-binary identity, and that did fit. Sure, I have likes and dislikes that some might label "feminine" or "masculine," but I don't feel any need to label them that way. The gender binary has made me feel pigeonholed, and I don't want to identify with it.

"Sure, I have likes and dislikes that some might label "feminine" or "masculine," but I don't feel any need to label them that way."

We all do -- "have likes and dislikes that some might label 'feminine' or 'masculine'"...

However this person's are fetishized as being meaningful in a way the rest of ours aren't.

Could it...could it possibly have something to do with being young and not having done much in the world, and grasping for an identity?

I can't know that it is, but I have to wonder about this trend of announcing oneself to be trans or "non-binary" or "gender-fluid" as of late. Are we seeing slews of 50-something executives coming out this way? I don't think so.

A quote from Australian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Roberto D'Angelo from Marchiano's piece:

People I have seen often have a fantasy that transitioning would make them into a "new person," free of all the old difficulties. I think the social contagion aspect may relate to the availability of the trans narrative as a compelling solution to pain and distress.