Transfacts
Parents are doing their own research. We’re getting educated, as activists suggested. But, you may be surprised by what we’ve found!
Click here for a table of: Transfacts
What you probably know:
Famous trans people (NY Times spread,”Jazz”, Caitlin Jenner, Sports Illustrated model), some have difficulties (e.g., Chelsea Manning). Gender dysphoria (“GD”, mind/body mismatch) is painful.
What you might know:
There’s been an explosive rise in gender dysphoria for ages <25 in last decade: UK, US, Netherlands, Sweden, etc., ~80% are natal girls. Many have stresses (e.g. trauma) and mental health issues; teen suicides are a big concern.
What you might not know:
It is unknown how to best help gender dysphoria.
It can go away on its own, it’s a developmental stage for ~80% with early childhood strong onset. For young children, social transitioning can make gender dysphoria persist (also here). It can also go away with ethical, supportive, explorative psychotherapy, since it can be caused by underlying mental health issues (e.g., OCD, autism,[+here], trauma, anxiety, distress (also here).
There is no definitive“test” to show for whom it will persist, even with trying time/psychotherapy, or when it stabilizes. The new adolescent strong onset group is big, unstudied, and often misinformed. There may be social contagion. Unlike those with childhood onset, it is completely unknown how many adolescent onset people might heal with time/therapy.
Medicalization is aggressive, experimental, and dangerous. It is often irreversible and involves lifetime (FDA off-label) drugs. Medicalization has not been shown to be:
X Necessary to heal gender dysphoria (time/psychotherapy sometimes succeed). Do not “conflate treatment, in the broadest sense, with physical intervention”
X Safe: there are known medical dangers to the heart (also here), bones, brain, endocrine, immune system, and fertility. Also unknown are the long term drug/surgery risks (high mortality is seen).
X Effective for improving mental health (including suicidality; mental health outcome evidence is low quality evidence ref,ref,ref). Even after transitioning, there is a similar psychopathology to those with mental issues.Research claiming otherwise is flawed (ref,ref, see also suicide risk essays: ref,ref,ref, ref). Some people are in fact harmed and there is an unknown rising number of people trying to undo their medical transitions (detransitioners). It’s often 4-10 years post medicalization when/if transition fails (here are some reasons/ issues). It’s reportedly painful.
The evidence used to justify medicalization is low quality or low quality certainty: (above and here) because of loss to followup, inappropriate populations, flawed measures, flawed analysis, and studies being too short term (<7-10 years) to catch known problematic outcomes. Outcomes are not being tracked in spite of huge numbers of young people being treated. (Some MDs report “success” because body/hormones were changed, not because the person’s mental distress was healed!) For the new affirmative model, a young person’s self-diagnosis drives medicalization, rather than expert exploration/therapy.
What you know that isn’t so:
FALSE: “Trans is the new gay” No. Gay is sexual orientation, trans is mind/body mismatch.
FALSE: “Being transgender is innate, biological, set before birth and therefore doesn’t change, it is merely discovered” No. For many, again, gender identity evolves, and there is no definitive test to determine who persists with gender dysphoria.
False corollary: “Trying to heal with counseling is like unethical gay conversion therapy.” No. This fallacy+suicide fallacy below underpins “affirmation”
False corollary: “The only reason trans people are unhappy is transphobia.” No. Transitioning doesn’t always help mental health, it mentally/physically harms some, some detransitioners report it was the wrong treatment for their problems.
FALSE: “Kids will suicide if don’t transition, one must help them medically transition to save them.”No. See above.
FALSE: Children/young adults with gender dysphoria get thoughtful careful evidence based healthcare. No. Affirmation is fast, a quick route to drugs (castrates MTF quickly), allows surgery even on minors (breasts are being removed for kids as young as 13)
Why didn’t you know?
Ask Drs. Zucker, Littman, Bell. Psychotherapist James Caspian. You can’t ask parents.
Now you know.
Some further information (there are many more resources than this):
www.segm.org, Trans Train I, 2, 3, Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast, Economist articles (Bell, puberty blockers, issues)