For decades, disability law denied protection to people with gender dysphoria. Their lawyers deployed a roundabout theory that won them rights under sex discrimination law instead.
Further to your comments about the DSM and Robert Whitaker's work, which I read when it was first published, Dr, James Davis' book "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good", lays bare the fraud and political aspirations of the APA and its non-evidenced based Bible, the DSM. His meticulous research into the construction of the mythology surrounding the DSMs evolution into the very profitable fund raiser it has become for the APA, is brilliant and a must read. The APA and its affiliates should never be accused of practising evidence based medicine. Sound familiar??? As a psychotherapist blessed with a critical mind, I have always fought against the medical model and while it has been a lonely and often isolating journey, I find myself vindicated over and over again these days. Small consolation given the enormity of what the gender cult has forced us to deal with, but even tiny victories make life more bearable in the face of this.
The deep digging and thinking you are doing in these posts is terrific. In this post, this particularly caught my eye: “Most liberals and educated Americans don’t refer to trans identity as a mental illness because that’s “stigmatizing” or even bigoted.”
I am thinking, more and more, that this may be at the foundation of why so many liberals (and I write as a liberal) are getting the issues posed by “gender identity” completely wrong.
While compassion is appropriate toward people who have succumbed to the delusion that they are not their natal sex, many liberals make an egregious, ongoing error by mistaking that mental disorder for a civil right. That is, what we are seeing in the embrace of “gender identity” is not a civil rights issue, but manifestations of a mental health crisis, likely exacerbated by the extreme, multi-faceted trauma of living through a pandemic. This mental health crisis has many aspects, including
>deep and widespread psychological distress, particularly among youth, and within that cohort particularly among female youth;
>men with a mental disorder, though they may not wish to have it seen as such, that exhibits itself in extreme distress at having male bodies who are not only wishing, but now demanding, to be accepted as women; and
>mass hysteria exhibited in extreme, and sometimes violent, reactions to women, in particular, who are sex realists.
I am sure many more bullets could be added to this list, but the key point is this is NOT a civil rights issue and should not be treated as such.
Thank you thank you a million times thanks for the clear explanation of the mind vs body problem. i haven't even finished reading and I am already so frigging grateful for the disentanglement of the bewildering statements and positions all around.
Great series! Speaking of "janky" : The Grace Hopper Women in Science, Tech, Engineering and Math convention (Orlando this year, big fees to enter) included "non-binary" in their invites, who is eligible to attend. They were swamped by "gender fluid" men, sexually harassed, physically roughed up, as the men rushed the tables. Nope, none attended the talks. Fits in with the Norway story about a guy saying he's female to get into an engineering program--and succeeded. If "true trans' existed and men like my ex were "actually female" they would not be so strident, they would not use us and children as props.
In one Australian city a number of male police officers self-ID’d as non-binary so they could claim the higher uniform allowance that female officers receive. It’s the sort of opportunism that can so easily occur with this nonsense ideology.
Hilarious and sad. Just wow. I'm resorting to messaging in books and free advertising magazines, with either hand written truths (I call it Magazine Graffiti) or parts of articles I've printed out. The NY Post article about the Danish study results show, with a statistically significant subject number, that men who take estrogen have 95% more heart disease and strokes than the regular dudes in the control group and women who take testosterone have 63% higher rates of the same medical emergencies than regular ladies' control group. The mean age for the estrogen-taking men was 23 and the mean age for testosterone-taking women was 19. It will only get worse. Here's my anonymous messaging to Rockefeller Plaza in NYC, the entire magazine filled with quality research-based results:
Excellent writing. It’s very difficult to condense the issues and the manners of challenging reality but you’ve done well. It reminds me of the standard legal response to a query on a subject, “well, how do you define X”. Gender has no definition other than one subsumed to “whimsy”. The simultaneous definition of gender-fluid and gender assignment is the perfect paradox. Kudos,
i looked up body integrity dysmorphia (BID) this morning after seeing a case of it on a rerun of Grey's Anatomy--interesting article that suggested an anomaly in brain structure could be a cause...also ran into articles re phantom limbs...possibly some interesting connections there.
There are a number of dysmorphias which are semi-interchangeable, primarily male, emerge around puberty, and are based on the brain not perceiving the body realistically. It’s starting to occur, slowly, that scientists are finding cognitive (neural, brain) basis for the issues. Phantom limb is a perfect example. Transsexuals don’t won’t to be the opposite sex, in general, it’s that they don’t perceive themselves to be the sex they are, and the ‘opposite sex’ (a term I find atrocious: “complimentary” sex is more apposite) seems to be a reason. It’s not. Interestingly Selin’s article points out that one can be uncomfortable with one’s sexual organs but not be transsexual per se, which is entirely the point. I dislike having blond hair. But it doesn’t mean I want to be brunette.
You struck an electrifying point with the iatrogenic nature of the trans contagion. The contagion practically orders dysfunctional behavior across the board, while it steals the resources (time, inquisitiveness, learning, critical thinking) from previously noble endeavors. Sadly, whatever behavior is reinforced will increase.
I appreciated this analysis. A lot of good historical information about how the law has been involved in this question.
I think there *may* be a typo here?
“This wordsmithing aligned the DSM-V with Body Problem doctrine, as doctrine is durable and cannot be altered.”
Did you mean to say “gender identity” and not doctrine after “as” - “as doctrine is durable”?
By the definition of the DSM I could have gender dysphoria because I have a “desire to be the other sex”. I’m not significantly distressed(so maybe that would discount me) by the fact that I’m not a female and I’m relatively comfortable being male, but I still would like to have the experience of being a female (ideally the power to shape shift), just as I would like to have the experience of having the form of a dragon (again shapeshifting included). I have no fundamental attachment to my sex.
I consider the DSM to be mostly garbage. I think it’s pseudoscience. It’s an imaginative hazy taxonomy of psychological conditions and behaviors with an extremely dubious and pernicious conception of “mental illness” (I do think “brain illness” can validly explain some severe conditions though). It pathologizes a wide range human emotions and behaviors that should simply be considered part of a natural “healthy” domain of human diversity. Desires that cannot likely ever be gratified are part of the human condition, which is not an illness and does not and cannot be fixed by whatever quack cures “doctors” concoct.
“Gender identity” should be considered religion. The desires some people who identity as trans have should be considered, mostly, natural variability in human psychology. Severe distress about it should not be assumed to imply some sort of metaphysical reality about a persons “true gender.” I believe the medicalization of trans experiences and metaphysical conception of gender identity actually cause many people who identify as trans harm. And... I simply consider it erroneous, regardless of harm.
While I sympathize with people who do not want to be punished by their employers or the government for having the desire or believing they are the sex they are not, protection should not be granted to the point where people are obligated to affirm a person’s religious beliefs. The way activists are currently moving with what they want to carve out for “trans rights” *should* face the question whether they are are in conflict with the first amendment, both from a speech and religious perspective.
There was a time when the primary religious threat to peoples’ liberty came from Christians, now we have a new cult that’s trying to enforce their nonsensical ideas on the whole country. A lot of Christians are adopting the ideology as well.
I appreciate what you are doing. There really does need to be more people who are gay or trans who push back on the irrational aspects of the gender identity cult. I’m glad to add my voice. I’m bi and trans depending on the definition, black(black and white), and an [agnostic] atheist. Quadruple identity threat to the ideology. It’s unfortunate that even matters. But I suspect it will.
I conclude that the legal world is ahead of itself on this one.
Its like the Catholic church accusing Galileo of heresy by saying the earth isn't the center of the universe. The social media world and organizations like HRC are also backing themselves into a corner.
As the science sorts out the details, including an agreement by the anthropologist on the concepts, many judges, organizations and celebrities are going to find themselves at odds with the science. I especially think of the distance between JK Rowling and Danielle Radcliffe on this. Danielle Radcliffe is still in the trans-woman are woman camp. Even though that seems like a risky position to be taking right now.
Further to your comments about the DSM and Robert Whitaker's work, which I read when it was first published, Dr, James Davis' book "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good", lays bare the fraud and political aspirations of the APA and its non-evidenced based Bible, the DSM. His meticulous research into the construction of the mythology surrounding the DSMs evolution into the very profitable fund raiser it has become for the APA, is brilliant and a must read. The APA and its affiliates should never be accused of practising evidence based medicine. Sound familiar??? As a psychotherapist blessed with a critical mind, I have always fought against the medical model and while it has been a lonely and often isolating journey, I find myself vindicated over and over again these days. Small consolation given the enormity of what the gender cult has forced us to deal with, but even tiny victories make life more bearable in the face of this.
The deep digging and thinking you are doing in these posts is terrific. In this post, this particularly caught my eye: “Most liberals and educated Americans don’t refer to trans identity as a mental illness because that’s “stigmatizing” or even bigoted.”
I am thinking, more and more, that this may be at the foundation of why so many liberals (and I write as a liberal) are getting the issues posed by “gender identity” completely wrong.
While compassion is appropriate toward people who have succumbed to the delusion that they are not their natal sex, many liberals make an egregious, ongoing error by mistaking that mental disorder for a civil right. That is, what we are seeing in the embrace of “gender identity” is not a civil rights issue, but manifestations of a mental health crisis, likely exacerbated by the extreme, multi-faceted trauma of living through a pandemic. This mental health crisis has many aspects, including
>deep and widespread psychological distress, particularly among youth, and within that cohort particularly among female youth;
>an explosion in online pornography, propelled to new heights by the rocket fuel of isolation during the pandemic https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/sunday/pornhub-rape-trafficking.html
>men with a mental disorder, though they may not wish to have it seen as such, that exhibits itself in extreme distress at having male bodies who are not only wishing, but now demanding, to be accepted as women; and
>mass hysteria exhibited in extreme, and sometimes violent, reactions to women, in particular, who are sex realists.
I am sure many more bullets could be added to this list, but the key point is this is NOT a civil rights issue and should not be treated as such.
Thank you thank you a million times thanks for the clear explanation of the mind vs body problem. i haven't even finished reading and I am already so frigging grateful for the disentanglement of the bewildering statements and positions all around.
Great series! Speaking of "janky" : The Grace Hopper Women in Science, Tech, Engineering and Math convention (Orlando this year, big fees to enter) included "non-binary" in their invites, who is eligible to attend. They were swamped by "gender fluid" men, sexually harassed, physically roughed up, as the men rushed the tables. Nope, none attended the talks. Fits in with the Norway story about a guy saying he's female to get into an engineering program--and succeeded. If "true trans' existed and men like my ex were "actually female" they would not be so strident, they would not use us and children as props.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LFcWCzJBD8&t=914s
In one Australian city a number of male police officers self-ID’d as non-binary so they could claim the higher uniform allowance that female officers receive. It’s the sort of opportunism that can so easily occur with this nonsense ideology.
Hilarious and sad. Just wow. I'm resorting to messaging in books and free advertising magazines, with either hand written truths (I call it Magazine Graffiti) or parts of articles I've printed out. The NY Post article about the Danish study results show, with a statistically significant subject number, that men who take estrogen have 95% more heart disease and strokes than the regular dudes in the control group and women who take testosterone have 63% higher rates of the same medical emergencies than regular ladies' control group. The mean age for the estrogen-taking men was 23 and the mean age for testosterone-taking women was 19. It will only get worse. Here's my anonymous messaging to Rockefeller Plaza in NYC, the entire magazine filled with quality research-based results:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CtOcQ-Jk-8E
Excellent writing. It’s very difficult to condense the issues and the manners of challenging reality but you’ve done well. It reminds me of the standard legal response to a query on a subject, “well, how do you define X”. Gender has no definition other than one subsumed to “whimsy”. The simultaneous definition of gender-fluid and gender assignment is the perfect paradox. Kudos,
yup, she did a great job.
i looked up body integrity dysmorphia (BID) this morning after seeing a case of it on a rerun of Grey's Anatomy--interesting article that suggested an anomaly in brain structure could be a cause...also ran into articles re phantom limbs...possibly some interesting connections there.
There are a number of dysmorphias which are semi-interchangeable, primarily male, emerge around puberty, and are based on the brain not perceiving the body realistically. It’s starting to occur, slowly, that scientists are finding cognitive (neural, brain) basis for the issues. Phantom limb is a perfect example. Transsexuals don’t won’t to be the opposite sex, in general, it’s that they don’t perceive themselves to be the sex they are, and the ‘opposite sex’ (a term I find atrocious: “complimentary” sex is more apposite) seems to be a reason. It’s not. Interestingly Selin’s article points out that one can be uncomfortable with one’s sexual organs but not be transsexual per se, which is entirely the point. I dislike having blond hair. But it doesn’t mean I want to be brunette.
You struck an electrifying point with the iatrogenic nature of the trans contagion. The contagion practically orders dysfunctional behavior across the board, while it steals the resources (time, inquisitiveness, learning, critical thinking) from previously noble endeavors. Sadly, whatever behavior is reinforced will increase.
I appreciated this analysis. A lot of good historical information about how the law has been involved in this question.
I think there *may* be a typo here?
“This wordsmithing aligned the DSM-V with Body Problem doctrine, as doctrine is durable and cannot be altered.”
Did you mean to say “gender identity” and not doctrine after “as” - “as doctrine is durable”?
By the definition of the DSM I could have gender dysphoria because I have a “desire to be the other sex”. I’m not significantly distressed(so maybe that would discount me) by the fact that I’m not a female and I’m relatively comfortable being male, but I still would like to have the experience of being a female (ideally the power to shape shift), just as I would like to have the experience of having the form of a dragon (again shapeshifting included). I have no fundamental attachment to my sex.
I consider the DSM to be mostly garbage. I think it’s pseudoscience. It’s an imaginative hazy taxonomy of psychological conditions and behaviors with an extremely dubious and pernicious conception of “mental illness” (I do think “brain illness” can validly explain some severe conditions though). It pathologizes a wide range human emotions and behaviors that should simply be considered part of a natural “healthy” domain of human diversity. Desires that cannot likely ever be gratified are part of the human condition, which is not an illness and does not and cannot be fixed by whatever quack cures “doctors” concoct.
“Gender identity” should be considered religion. The desires some people who identity as trans have should be considered, mostly, natural variability in human psychology. Severe distress about it should not be assumed to imply some sort of metaphysical reality about a persons “true gender.” I believe the medicalization of trans experiences and metaphysical conception of gender identity actually cause many people who identify as trans harm. And... I simply consider it erroneous, regardless of harm.
While I sympathize with people who do not want to be punished by their employers or the government for having the desire or believing they are the sex they are not, protection should not be granted to the point where people are obligated to affirm a person’s religious beliefs. The way activists are currently moving with what they want to carve out for “trans rights” *should* face the question whether they are are in conflict with the first amendment, both from a speech and religious perspective.
There was a time when the primary religious threat to peoples’ liberty came from Christians, now we have a new cult that’s trying to enforce their nonsensical ideas on the whole country. A lot of Christians are adopting the ideology as well.
I appreciate what you are doing. There really does need to be more people who are gay or trans who push back on the irrational aspects of the gender identity cult. I’m glad to add my voice. I’m bi and trans depending on the definition, black(black and white), and an [agnostic] atheist. Quadruple identity threat to the ideology. It’s unfortunate that even matters. But I suspect it will.
I conclude that the legal world is ahead of itself on this one.
Its like the Catholic church accusing Galileo of heresy by saying the earth isn't the center of the universe. The social media world and organizations like HRC are also backing themselves into a corner.
As the science sorts out the details, including an agreement by the anthropologist on the concepts, many judges, organizations and celebrities are going to find themselves at odds with the science. I especially think of the distance between JK Rowling and Danielle Radcliffe on this. Danielle Radcliffe is still in the trans-woman are woman camp. Even though that seems like a risky position to be taking right now.