As s mother of a 15-year-old girl who has for the most part desisted from the trans identity she held over the last year and a half, I do not rest easy, not for one minute of one day. I am the lead of a local groups of parents of Rapid Onset Dysphoric Kids and two days ago FIVE new families joined. That is a record no one will celebrate. That means that five more kids may be harmed by the medical community and may hopefully join the ranks of those whose name is
Please look at this article in "The Times" about the interim report, published on Thursday 10th March, from Dr Hilary Cass about the UK's child and adolescent "Gender Identity Development Service" or GIDS at the Tavistock Clinic in London.
Dr Cass recommends that these "gender-troubled" children be treated more professionally, with proper scientific recording of all discussions including between psychiatrists and other specialists, decisions with parents, follow-up care and discharge to adult services, etc. etc. to become more like other mental health conditions. The aim is to bring treatment for GD up to the scientific, reliable standard for other mental health conditions. To that end she recommends psychiatric services to be spread out into more local services - which should mean that there will no longer be the "hothouse" atmosphere at the Tavistock, where psychiatrists pursued their own pet projects without proper NHS controls.
Please read this article: https://archive.ph/RuVTF "Tavistock gender clinic not safe for children, report finds - England’s only specialist service for young people who identify as transgender is criticised in an NHS report".
There is, as you would expect, a lot of relief among GC parents, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, and campaigners. We have been vindicated by Dr Cass, a Consultant pediatrician.
Thank you for this! I love this newsletter, even though I am not a parent. These accounts are so sad and so distressing. At the same time, the courage and determination to change the tide from the parents at PITT is heartening. And I must add: the enormous courage from detransitioners who are sharing their experiences and commitment to healing themselves is also heartening, whether shared anonymously or not. Along with the sadness, emotional trauma, "lost" years and physical damage, there is also a ray of hope. Human beings are amazing. Anyone can heal, even from great trauma, and detransitioners are beautiful and brave and amazing humans. It is hard to climb out of a cult and it takes insight and bravery to do so. They deserve support and love, and the world also needs to hear their individual experiences, for of course they are not a monolithic group. Even if they are not sharing their stories publicly, they are going against the tide to heal themselves and to help warn others of the dangers of gender ideology. Detransitioners' stories provide the best hope that we can turn this boat around--or at least in a better direction.
Thank you for posting this. Praying for your daughter and all other children and families going through this nightmare. I am so grateful we have a safe place to come to.
I like the term used in one of those excerpts - "gender expression". I haven't heard it in a long while, but that is what I grew up with - that idea of "playing with" gender stereotypes. Long hair, makeup and blouses didn't make men into women; short hair, giant shoulder(pad)s and Doc Martens didn't make women into men. Those inversions of the expected dress-code just challenged societal norms, and did it very effectively. It was about style, an expression of personality, not identity.
Sadly, there are so many more of these stories. There is a lack of funding for any research on detransitioners. Why? Insurance companies still deny coverage for much-needed physical and mental health care for detransitioners. Why? On Detrans Awareness Day, these are questions to ask. Start a conversation, post on social media, email your legislators. This growing community needs our help now. Let's be brave and start asking for it.
It is so frustrating that the same people who discredit Littman's first study because "she talked to parents, not trans people" will discredit this study because "if they desisted/detranstioned, they're not really trans."
It is frustrating, but it's to be expected. Gender ideology is a religion in the sense that it's based on beliefs that are untethered from the real world. Once we take science and objective reality out of the picture, it becomes not only easy, but mandatory, to ignore evidence to the contrary. The fact that Littman, an experienced gynecologist and public health researcher, did her initial study at all, marked her as a heretic. How dare she question the pseudo-scientific orthodoxy of gender ideology?
Science denial is a hallmark of gender ideology, and it has corrupted the field of human biology. But that doesn't mean that Littman's research is worthless. Littman is a brave and pioneering woman, whose initial study enabled medical researchers as a group to have their first honest conversation about the epidemic of transitioning they were seeing but did not understand. And she's not done! She introduced the term ROGD into the lexicon, and its relevance is reasserted every day by parents who now have a word for what is happening to their kids, and young people recognize themselves as ROGD and either desist or detransition on their own.
Please look at this article in "The Times" about the interim report, published on Thursday 10th March, from Dr Hilary Cass about the UK's child and adolescent "Gender Identity Development Service" or GIDS at the Tavistock Clinic in London.
Dr Cass recommends that these "gender-troubled" children be treated more professionally, with proper scientific recording of all discussions including between psychiatrists and other specialists, decisions with parents, follow-up care and discharge to adult services, etc. etc. to become more like other mental health conditions. The aim is to bring treatment for GD up to the scientific, reliable standard for other mental health conditions. To that end she recommends psychiatric services to be spread out into more local services - which should mean that there will no longer be the "hothouse" atmosphere at the Tavistock, where psychiatrists pursued their own pet projects without proper NHS controls.
Please read this article: https://archive.ph/RuVTF "Tavistock gender clinic not safe for children, report finds - England’s only specialist service for young people who identify as transgender is criticised in an NHS report".
There is, as you would expect, a lot of relief among GC parents, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, and campaigners. We have been vindicated by Dr Cass, a Consultant pediatrician.
The full report is here: https://cass.independent-review.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/The-Cass-Review-Interim-Report-Final-Bookmarked.pdf
Please spread this far and wide. Thank you.
Thank you for this! I love this newsletter, even though I am not a parent. These accounts are so sad and so distressing. At the same time, the courage and determination to change the tide from the parents at PITT is heartening. And I must add: the enormous courage from detransitioners who are sharing their experiences and commitment to healing themselves is also heartening, whether shared anonymously or not. Along with the sadness, emotional trauma, "lost" years and physical damage, there is also a ray of hope. Human beings are amazing. Anyone can heal, even from great trauma, and detransitioners are beautiful and brave and amazing humans. It is hard to climb out of a cult and it takes insight and bravery to do so. They deserve support and love, and the world also needs to hear their individual experiences, for of course they are not a monolithic group. Even if they are not sharing their stories publicly, they are going against the tide to heal themselves and to help warn others of the dangers of gender ideology. Detransitioners' stories provide the best hope that we can turn this boat around--or at least in a better direction.
Thank you for posting this. Praying for your daughter and all other children and families going through this nightmare. I am so grateful we have a safe place to come to.
I like the term used in one of those excerpts - "gender expression". I haven't heard it in a long while, but that is what I grew up with - that idea of "playing with" gender stereotypes. Long hair, makeup and blouses didn't make men into women; short hair, giant shoulder(pad)s and Doc Martens didn't make women into men. Those inversions of the expected dress-code just challenged societal norms, and did it very effectively. It was about style, an expression of personality, not identity.
thank you! 💔
Thank you!
Sadly, there are so many more of these stories. There is a lack of funding for any research on detransitioners. Why? Insurance companies still deny coverage for much-needed physical and mental health care for detransitioners. Why? On Detrans Awareness Day, these are questions to ask. Start a conversation, post on social media, email your legislators. This growing community needs our help now. Let's be brave and start asking for it.
See Lisa Littman, MD, MPH, whose paper on detransitioners was published last October in the Archives of Sexual Behavior:
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10508-021-02163-w.pdf
It is so frustrating that the same people who discredit Littman's first study because "she talked to parents, not trans people" will discredit this study because "if they desisted/detranstioned, they're not really trans."
It's so glaringly the No True Scotsman fallacy.
It is frustrating, but it's to be expected. Gender ideology is a religion in the sense that it's based on beliefs that are untethered from the real world. Once we take science and objective reality out of the picture, it becomes not only easy, but mandatory, to ignore evidence to the contrary. The fact that Littman, an experienced gynecologist and public health researcher, did her initial study at all, marked her as a heretic. How dare she question the pseudo-scientific orthodoxy of gender ideology?
Science denial is a hallmark of gender ideology, and it has corrupted the field of human biology. But that doesn't mean that Littman's research is worthless. Littman is a brave and pioneering woman, whose initial study enabled medical researchers as a group to have their first honest conversation about the epidemic of transitioning they were seeing but did not understand. And she's not done! She introduced the term ROGD into the lexicon, and its relevance is reasserted every day by parents who now have a word for what is happening to their kids, and young people recognize themselves as ROGD and either desist or detransition on their own.
And I will add this one (lead author, Dr Robert D'Angelo): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01844-2
Kris, you can cut & paste. That's not hard to do. But I guess you risk ostracism? Life exists post-ostracism, I can testify to that.