From my perspective as a neuroscientist, let me make explicit some simple facts that those reading this essay understand intuitively: For all sexually reproducing organisms, sexual maturation is a central, overriding set of developmental processes. These processes involve all physiological systems, including, I might add, the central nervous system — that is, the brain. All drugs administered will have side effects, or unintended consequences. Some are minor; some can be fatal. The consequences of these side effects may not be evident for decades, as the organism ages. You cannot reach into a system pharmacologically and simply tweak a discrete process in which you are interested. Systemically administered hormones, for instance, have body-wide effects. To think otherwise is both willful ignorance and profound arrogance. Put simply, anyone with even the most rudimentary understanding of physiology is aware of the real and unavoidable consequences of hormone administration, especially to children. As a scientist, it is unclear to me why this issue remains debatable. As a biological psychologist, I do not understand why it is assumed that hormones will solve what is, in many cases, a set of psychological and cognitive challenges faced by young people. Unfortunately, the history of psychology is rife with such tragic misunderstandings. My heart goes out to those affected.
I am in Ontario Canada and I have a 22 yo daughter on testosterone. She injects herself once a week. She was given a prescription by a nurse practitioner in a gender clinic. They test her blood every quarter to “monitor” her testosterone levels.
Everything about this is a tragedy. And every medical professional who goes along with this is criminally incompetent.
And sorry, I realize this article is about girls — those under 18. My daughter is an adult. But this transition brain worm crawled into her head when she was about 14.
Yet another example of the "it's not happening; okay it's happening but it's rare; okay it's not rare and that's good and you're bigoted for objecting" chain of the MO of queer ideology.
It's remarkable how many parents are enthusiastic supporters of transing their kids. In Oregon, true believing parents seem more common than the ones who are devastated.
Oh, I know a number of sets of parents who are totally on board with transitioning, and were infuriated when the local gender clinic “paused” pediatric gender surgeries. My sense of them is that these are all good people who see themselves as “protecting our queer kids” from right wing bigots. When their kids say they are gay, the parents believe this is a real permanent state, and when their kids say they are trans, the parents think they should treat this like they do when the siblings claimed to be gay. That is, join advocacy and support groups and advocate aggressively for their children who want to have their breasts and penises cut off.
I do think that a fraction of the pro-GAC parents are narcissists like Jazz Jennings's mom, who "want to have a trans child." I haven't met any of these, thank God, but there are a lot of local parents who believe they are protecting their children by defending their access to GAC.
And, of course, at the bottom of all this is the reality that doctors really don't know just what is being treated here. Depression? We have other treatments for that, treatments that do not involve hair growth and voices breaking and the other problems that arise when women take synthetic hormones. Gender dysphoria? We are told again and again that one does not have to have gender dysphoria to be trans, so that's out as well.
The fact is, activists believe that anyone, of any age, who demands cross-sex hormones should be able to get them, with or without parental approval. They won't normally state this so baldly, although Ben Ryan has published some recordings of internal discussions amongst activists, recordings that make clear what they usually obfuscate. So we shouldn't be surprised at any of this.
> altered their sexual function, and affected their fertility
I understand that Colin has to be careful what he says but 'affected' ... how long can one take puberty blockers, then cross-sex hormones and not go sterile?
There is no way to prove or disprove any of this. It is unfalsifiable. And as long as it is framed as a right and a way to be your true, authentic self, people will keep pushing this insanity - until it finally becomes obvious that it was all a scam and that many thousands of young people are now not only infertile and sexually dysfunctional, but also have other health issues they would not have had - from incontinence to bone density problems to high cholesterol to more devastating things like strokes and cancer and liver and kidney problems. Then what will become of all of these victims of the scam? All those who finally realize they are not really the opposite sex of their bodies after all, and that they just have bizarre bodily characteristics that used to qualify people for freak shows (a horrible thing) will have to live with the visible changes and the health challenges and I suspect the perpetrators of this scandal will simply move on to other medical fields.
From my perspective as a neuroscientist, let me make explicit some simple facts that those reading this essay understand intuitively: For all sexually reproducing organisms, sexual maturation is a central, overriding set of developmental processes. These processes involve all physiological systems, including, I might add, the central nervous system — that is, the brain. All drugs administered will have side effects, or unintended consequences. Some are minor; some can be fatal. The consequences of these side effects may not be evident for decades, as the organism ages. You cannot reach into a system pharmacologically and simply tweak a discrete process in which you are interested. Systemically administered hormones, for instance, have body-wide effects. To think otherwise is both willful ignorance and profound arrogance. Put simply, anyone with even the most rudimentary understanding of physiology is aware of the real and unavoidable consequences of hormone administration, especially to children. As a scientist, it is unclear to me why this issue remains debatable. As a biological psychologist, I do not understand why it is assumed that hormones will solve what is, in many cases, a set of psychological and cognitive challenges faced by young people. Unfortunately, the history of psychology is rife with such tragic misunderstandings. My heart goes out to those affected.
This is a succinct and profound comment.
I am in Ontario Canada and I have a 22 yo daughter on testosterone. She injects herself once a week. She was given a prescription by a nurse practitioner in a gender clinic. They test her blood every quarter to “monitor” her testosterone levels.
Everything about this is a tragedy. And every medical professional who goes along with this is criminally incompetent.
And sorry, I realize this article is about girls — those under 18. My daughter is an adult. But this transition brain worm crawled into her head when she was about 14.
IMO it’s all bad, at every age.
Yet another example of the "it's not happening; okay it's happening but it's rare; okay it's not rare and that's good and you're bigoted for objecting" chain of the MO of queer ideology.
Precisely.
It's remarkable how many parents are enthusiastic supporters of transing their kids. In Oregon, true believing parents seem more common than the ones who are devastated.
Yes, Sandra. Those "supportive" parents are a noisy bunch.
I suspect there are publicly supportive parents that are privately despairing.
Parents who disagree with medicalization are fearful of estrangement or ostracization.
Oh, I know a number of sets of parents who are totally on board with transitioning, and were infuriated when the local gender clinic “paused” pediatric gender surgeries. My sense of them is that these are all good people who see themselves as “protecting our queer kids” from right wing bigots. When their kids say they are gay, the parents believe this is a real permanent state, and when their kids say they are trans, the parents think they should treat this like they do when the siblings claimed to be gay. That is, join advocacy and support groups and advocate aggressively for their children who want to have their breasts and penises cut off.
Yes, T piggybacks on LGB.
What do you make of these true believers?
See my reply above to Melissa R.
I do think that a fraction of the pro-GAC parents are narcissists like Jazz Jennings's mom, who "want to have a trans child." I haven't met any of these, thank God, but there are a lot of local parents who believe they are protecting their children by defending their access to GAC.
And, of course, at the bottom of all this is the reality that doctors really don't know just what is being treated here. Depression? We have other treatments for that, treatments that do not involve hair growth and voices breaking and the other problems that arise when women take synthetic hormones. Gender dysphoria? We are told again and again that one does not have to have gender dysphoria to be trans, so that's out as well.
The fact is, activists believe that anyone, of any age, who demands cross-sex hormones should be able to get them, with or without parental approval. They won't normally state this so baldly, although Ben Ryan has published some recordings of internal discussions amongst activists, recordings that make clear what they usually obfuscate. So we shouldn't be surprised at any of this.
> altered their sexual function, and affected their fertility
I understand that Colin has to be careful what he says but 'affected' ... how long can one take puberty blockers, then cross-sex hormones and not go sterile?
There is no way to prove or disprove any of this. It is unfalsifiable. And as long as it is framed as a right and a way to be your true, authentic self, people will keep pushing this insanity - until it finally becomes obvious that it was all a scam and that many thousands of young people are now not only infertile and sexually dysfunctional, but also have other health issues they would not have had - from incontinence to bone density problems to high cholesterol to more devastating things like strokes and cancer and liver and kidney problems. Then what will become of all of these victims of the scam? All those who finally realize they are not really the opposite sex of their bodies after all, and that they just have bizarre bodily characteristics that used to qualify people for freak shows (a horrible thing) will have to live with the visible changes and the health challenges and I suspect the perpetrators of this scandal will simply move on to other medical fields.