I think a "Quick Start" guide is a great idea. One feature that would be helpful in it: a list of the most frequently cited "pro-affirmation" studies, with a breakdown of their flaws. It may also be useful to include studies that are sometimes attacked by TRAs and LGBT advocates as being flawed, such as the Littman ROGD one and the studies on desistance, and acknowledge *their* strengths and weaknesses, too.
So many people argue the "pro" position by saying "studies show X and Y." We need to be able to respond by saying: "Alright, which studies are you talking about? Because that study you mention that is often touted as showing X? It actually shows Z."
This would all be great. I also think a refutation of some of the common talking points could be helpful, too. Those are things that people who aren’t really following all this are most likely to see and believe because they are seen in headlines and random social media posts, and they often take them as the gospel truth
Thank you for mentioning that! I think I even recall hearing the Wider Lens hosts mention the searchable database and the tags, but this is the first time I checked it out firsthand.
The avoidance of the future sexual function and inability to breastfeed 'topics' is very disheartening. Some consistent facts and language on this topic may be helpful as yes, it can feel awkward to discuss a child's future sexual function. And perhaps this responsibility falls more heavily on women. But, if one believes that an 8 year old girl is not mature enough to say "I'm confident I won't care about having orgasms or breastfeeding" then awkward we must be. Perhaps that brings up another area for discussion: adults who are mocked as oppressive or disrespectful for understading child psychological development when they believe they have more foresight and better critical thinking than an 8 year old. In the rightful attempt to respect a child's autonomy (to perhaps pick out their own clothes and decide their own activities) it has gone too far. Enjoy your Fridays everyone.
Totally agree. I was 21 when I was pregnant with my first, and I hadn’t even thought once (to my recollection) about breastfeeding until I was about 25 weeks pregnant and my sister asked me if I planned to breastfeed, to which I responded “uhhh I guess? That’s what you do right?”. Fast forward 12 years, I’m a lactation consultant, have breastfed all my children, and it’s been my greatest life passion to help others. If you’d asked me when I was 8, 13, or even 20 if I would have cared this much about breastfeeding I would have probably gone “huh?”
"Huh?" sounds about right. I think asking young children to participate in the decision about their future fertility makes about as much sense as asking them to save their ice cream money for retirement (or even college fund). (Just think about it, Susie. The $2 will grow so much in the next 60 years).
i can not like your comment enough. i had four planned pregnancies but my sister was always definite about not wanting kids. she actually actively disliked babies and small children. at 40 she got pregnant (unplanned) and ended up having a home birth, breastfeeding and 12 years later her much loved daughter is her life's main focus.
Life changes and so do our priorities. Anyone who thinks a child knows what they want for the long term is crazy. It’s insane to me that anyone with children could think otherwise.
It’s interesting that the same people who accuse us of being “creepy” for raising concerns like this are often the same people fighting to keep books and sex ed lessons in schools that explicitly teach how to perform various sexual acts because kids need that info and it’s wrong to keep it from them.
Yes, good point moominmama, my phrasing above would not be age appropriate of course, but I hope people understand the spirit of "as an adult I know things about growing older that you don't understand yet and that's why my opinion is important"
A child that age can discuss all they want but cannot make that decision reliably, I believe. I don't the
Ink they have the comprehension. Even a 20 year old woman is not, according to studies, able to predict very well her future interest in childbearing, hence the medical reluctance and "gatekeeping" for elective hysterectomies at that age.
It would certainly be a bit creepy to actually talk to an 8 y.o. about his/her future orgasms. However, I don't think anybody is suggesting we do that when making such health decisions.
“Finally, Scientific American continues its abandonment of science with yet another article claiming to debunk ROGD. It’s a new cohort. It’s a different kind of patient. Why spend so much time fighting this reality instead of navigating it?”
Yes! I don’t understand seeing ROGD as a threat. When reports came out about TikTok-induced tics, neurologists didn’t say it invalidated the diagnosis of Tourette’s or erased people with Tourette’s.
And yes, please a quick intro! It would be even more useful if all the sources are either publications accepted by the left or medical journal articles.
I've just agree to a discussion for Tammy Peterson's YouTube channel on the topic of children who ideate a cross-sex persona and then drop it when something else becomes more interesting. These were 5-6 year olds, early 2000s, and all had complicated lives. We teachers praised them for cooperation, concentration and creative work in academics and did not allow the ideation to take over all class discussion. We had gay teachers and gay couples in the school community. No one made a huge big deal out of the various family configurations, because if we did that, the children who lived in the projects with grandma would have to also start talking about their family configuration, bringing up the extreme grief felt about the father who got shot in a drug deal or the mother who was shooting up and lost custody. Those children, if you ask me, are neglected, when the glitter woo curriculum takes over. Not exactly "intersectional." Children have the right to be taught academics in school. We are losing a generation to glop glop indoctrination masquerading as academics.
I just want to declare my appreciation, which grows with every communication from BROADview. Along with thoughtful and thorough coverage of gender issues by Kate and Lisa, there is the added bonus of the "Comments" section. Too often, I feel utterly deflated when I read the responses from other readers (on other posts). Here, on BROADview, I feel among the like-minded. Thank you all for restoring a little faith.
Yes, please, we need some basic explainer pieces to point people to--people who have been absorbing the mainstream coverage. An index would be helpful.
Sometimes I scan this or other Substacks for an “entry level” piece and I’m not sure what to select.
A “Start Here” post? Something that doesn’t scare off a normie who’s been convinced that questioning is bigotry.
Dollars and sense, I second you on the need an “entry level” piece for “people who have been absorbing the mainstream coverage.” This was just brought home to me yet once again on reading Brian Beutler’s weekly newsletter this week, on which many friends and acquaintances of mine rely for “accurate” judgments. As any who has time to look at this will see, Beutler is definitely part of the problem: https://mailchi.mp/crooked.com/big-tent-20828?e=4b66a7e85f
Kate, your round-ups get better and better, and your interspersed questions and commentary are superb. Re trying to keep up (or revisiting articles to reread or reference to others), maybe this is a bridge too far, but could an alpha-by-topic index page be useful here?
A question, also, about “the unknown outcomes for adolescent brain development.” Is it puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or both, that are potentially implicated here? I ask because I had a recent conversation with a friend who has come a long way in her understanding (yay), but feels strongly that the age limit for consent should be 18, rather than, say 25, based on full brain maturity. I would like for her to step back a bit on that to better understand the harms to brain development of these pseudo-science procedures before coming to a view. Is there a lay-friendly article from a neutral source anywhere that lays this out?
It is well established that the brain undergoes a “rewiring” process that is not complete until approximately 25 years of age.5 This discovery has enhanced our basic understanding regarding adolescent brain maturation and it has provided support for behaviors experienced in late adolescence and early adulthood. Several investigators consider the age span 10–24 years as adolescence, which can be further divided into substages specific to physical, cognitive, and social–emotional development.
This paper also mentions how testosterone and estrogen are crucial to the process of brain maturation. How are kids supposed to make more mature, informed decisions when those hormones are blocked? Do synthetic hormones have the same brain developing effects, especially when they are opposite sex hormones? Is just one synthetic opposite sex hormone enough to allow for complete brain maturation? We don’t know, and the studies aren’t being done to allow anything remotely near informed consent, including for an 18-year-old. Also, as anyone who has raised kids into young adulthood, you know there is a huge difference in your kid’s maturity, decision making, and problem solving skills just making the small steps from age 18 to 20.
Thanks for this link. Hormones play such a bigger role in our bodies than just physical development of secondary sex characteristics, its easy to forget that sometimes. The practices and procedures are exponentially outpacing the research. Research in this area is of course difficult ethically, but that is not a reason to downplay the need.
Puzzle therapy, thank you so much for both the link and explanatory note. Your comments on what is known/not known and the questions you raise about synthetic hormones are particularly appreciated. Thanks to you, I can be better “armed” to discuss the age limit issue with others.
"We don’t know, and the studies aren’t being done to allow anything remotely near informed consent, including for an 18-year-old. " Thank you for this link and for your thoughtful summary. How do we communicate this to the teens and young adults themselves?
I wish I knew, because anyone who has raised or worked with teens and young adults knows they are 100% certain they know everything better than any old, out-of-touch adult, that were just trying to scare them with things that will never happen to them, and that they will never change their minds about anything. At least everyone knew that about teens and young adults until 15 minutes ago.
Puzzle Therapy: you may not want at all to do this, which I FULLY understand, but if you and Lisa are game, I would be so grateful for a post by you on these issues. You clearly have both a depth and breadth of knowledge from which we could all benefit. Mark me totally appreciative of your insights, no matter what.
You are very kind and generous in your compliments. I’m not really an expert, just a person who has spent a lot of years working with and raising kids and who handles my abundant anxiety with too much reading and research. I’m glad to point people to the sources where I find my information if it helps anyone
I'm enormously grateful to you for that, and I will put what you've shared to the best use I can in my small sphere. It is such a shame (vast understatement) how many parents have had to become quasi experts just to keep your children safe. I hope for a better future, and soon.
We know what car insurance companies think of 18 year olds with cars. And 18 is too young to get an elective hysterectomy given how it's been seen that interest in childbearing changes.
Yes, there are many kinds of good points to make, these among them. I am looking for something specific to the issue of brain development, though, which is the import of my question.
Susan, this may not be exactly what you're looking for, but when my daughter was insisting she had a "male brain" (sadly, she may still think that), an endocrinologist sent me this article (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27070350/). Carole Hooven's book might address testosterone and the brain.
Thank you, Suzanne! While a bit over my head, I can see it is definitely relevant to helping folks develop an appreciation for the complexity of child development into maturity and how dangerous it is to tamper with the natural processes of biological maturation with these drugs.
Gender Quick Start Guide would be great. I’d love something to send to family or friends who are either oblivious or skeptical that this is a real issue.
The article you linked from equality Texas pushes several of the common talking points. I’m always surprised that people still claim that puberty blockers are completely reversible. And the whole “every major medical organization supports this” thing... what is the best response to that? I see it all over the place. I find most of those organizations are just political, but a lot of our family members believe those groups are the end all, be all for everything.
Great round up as always. I’m right of center, and I always appreciate seeing that there is room to come together on this issues. I appreciate having a resource that isn’t just from conservative people to point others to, especially when they start to say the right are the only people who care about all this.
I love this newsletter so much. But I really wish you (and Blocked and Reported too) would stop using the AI image function. It's confusing and misleading. Photos are important. Images matter just like words do. You wouldn't let AI write your headlines (at least I hope you would not) so please stop letting AI create the lead images. Thank you!!!
Thank you, thank you Kate! I agree with Susan - these just get better and better. They're comprehensive, thoughtful and while I'm often alarmed (deep breaths needed here too), I'm sometimes chuckling, which is much needed.
Love the idea of a "start here" offering. Somewhere in the ICONS materials online there was a myth-busting chart that looked like a good potential model for a "quick start" guide. Or, something like the program for the Genspect conference would offer a wide-ranging list of "quick start" topics: legal, medical, education, sports.
As Australian progressive political activists of a certain stripe are known to consider any challenge to the affirmation-only model of youth gender medicine to be "misinformation", it is not hard to imagine how this could end badly.
I would love to see a quick start guide. I certainly found Lisa's edits to yesterday's NYT article shareworthy, as well as her 'politically non-binary' article. I typically point people to Genspect (https://genspect.org/our-position/). Their "position statement" explains a lot, and then they have several 'guides' for different audiences, such as 'parents', 'friends and family', schools, clinicians, etc. They link to reputable research, and their 'stats for gender' section is searchable by topic.
I just read the Billboard article accusing Alice Cooper of repeating anti-trans talking points, including his saying that there is no conclusive evidence about the ameliorating powers of "gender affirming care" on mental health.
And the article links to the Tordoff Feb22 article as support for why he is wrong and therefore, transphobic:
And Jesse Singal wrote a great examination of that Tordoff study:
"Researchers Found Puberty Blockers And Hormones Didn’t Improve Trans Kids’ Mental Health At Their Clinic. Then They Published A Study Claiming The Opposite. (Updated)
One thing that stands out to me about how the Left has refused to allow journalists to question gender identity to the point of making it heresy to do so, is how political polarization has removed people from questioning the dogma produced by their own side. The combined trauma of having had Trump as president in the role of an abusive husband, followed by the fear induced by the pandemic seems to have bled out every last shred of skepticism for any given liberal narrative because, in this era of fake new, the Republicans cannot be right about anything. So making gender identity something the Right objected to makes it that much more a sacred cow of the Left.
As for getting normies up to speed that is why I wrote my primer to the gender wars—The Unexpected Penis.
I think a "Quick Start" guide is a great idea. One feature that would be helpful in it: a list of the most frequently cited "pro-affirmation" studies, with a breakdown of their flaws. It may also be useful to include studies that are sometimes attacked by TRAs and LGBT advocates as being flawed, such as the Littman ROGD one and the studies on desistance, and acknowledge *their* strengths and weaknesses, too.
So many people argue the "pro" position by saying "studies show X and Y." We need to be able to respond by saying: "Alright, which studies are you talking about? Because that study you mention that is often touted as showing X? It actually shows Z."
This would all be great. I also think a refutation of some of the common talking points could be helpful, too. Those are things that people who aren’t really following all this are most likely to see and believe because they are seen in headlines and random social media posts, and they often take them as the gospel truth
Agreed! I sometimes go to Genspect's "Stats for Gender" for this, which can be helpful.
Thank you for mentioning that! I think I even recall hearing the Wider Lens hosts mention the searchable database and the tags, but this is the first time I checked it out firsthand.
The avoidance of the future sexual function and inability to breastfeed 'topics' is very disheartening. Some consistent facts and language on this topic may be helpful as yes, it can feel awkward to discuss a child's future sexual function. And perhaps this responsibility falls more heavily on women. But, if one believes that an 8 year old girl is not mature enough to say "I'm confident I won't care about having orgasms or breastfeeding" then awkward we must be. Perhaps that brings up another area for discussion: adults who are mocked as oppressive or disrespectful for understading child psychological development when they believe they have more foresight and better critical thinking than an 8 year old. In the rightful attempt to respect a child's autonomy (to perhaps pick out their own clothes and decide their own activities) it has gone too far. Enjoy your Fridays everyone.
Totally agree. I was 21 when I was pregnant with my first, and I hadn’t even thought once (to my recollection) about breastfeeding until I was about 25 weeks pregnant and my sister asked me if I planned to breastfeed, to which I responded “uhhh I guess? That’s what you do right?”. Fast forward 12 years, I’m a lactation consultant, have breastfed all my children, and it’s been my greatest life passion to help others. If you’d asked me when I was 8, 13, or even 20 if I would have cared this much about breastfeeding I would have probably gone “huh?”
"Huh?" sounds about right. I think asking young children to participate in the decision about their future fertility makes about as much sense as asking them to save their ice cream money for retirement (or even college fund). (Just think about it, Susie. The $2 will grow so much in the next 60 years).
i can not like your comment enough. i had four planned pregnancies but my sister was always definite about not wanting kids. she actually actively disliked babies and small children. at 40 she got pregnant (unplanned) and ended up having a home birth, breastfeeding and 12 years later her much loved daughter is her life's main focus.
Life changes and so do our priorities. Anyone who thinks a child knows what they want for the long term is crazy. It’s insane to me that anyone with children could think otherwise.
It’s interesting that the same people who accuse us of being “creepy” for raising concerns like this are often the same people fighting to keep books and sex ed lessons in schools that explicitly teach how to perform various sexual acts because kids need that info and it’s wrong to keep it from them.
Yes, good point moominmama, my phrasing above would not be age appropriate of course, but I hope people understand the spirit of "as an adult I know things about growing older that you don't understand yet and that's why my opinion is important"
A child that age can discuss all they want but cannot make that decision reliably, I believe. I don't the
Ink they have the comprehension. Even a 20 year old woman is not, according to studies, able to predict very well her future interest in childbearing, hence the medical reluctance and "gatekeeping" for elective hysterectomies at that age.
It would certainly be a bit creepy to actually talk to an 8 y.o. about his/her future orgasms. However, I don't think anybody is suggesting we do that when making such health decisions.
“Finally, Scientific American continues its abandonment of science with yet another article claiming to debunk ROGD. It’s a new cohort. It’s a different kind of patient. Why spend so much time fighting this reality instead of navigating it?”
Yes! I don’t understand seeing ROGD as a threat. When reports came out about TikTok-induced tics, neurologists didn’t say it invalidated the diagnosis of Tourette’s or erased people with Tourette’s.
And yes, please a quick intro! It would be even more useful if all the sources are either publications accepted by the left or medical journal articles.
I've just agree to a discussion for Tammy Peterson's YouTube channel on the topic of children who ideate a cross-sex persona and then drop it when something else becomes more interesting. These were 5-6 year olds, early 2000s, and all had complicated lives. We teachers praised them for cooperation, concentration and creative work in academics and did not allow the ideation to take over all class discussion. We had gay teachers and gay couples in the school community. No one made a huge big deal out of the various family configurations, because if we did that, the children who lived in the projects with grandma would have to also start talking about their family configuration, bringing up the extreme grief felt about the father who got shot in a drug deal or the mother who was shooting up and lost custody. Those children, if you ask me, are neglected, when the glitter woo curriculum takes over. Not exactly "intersectional." Children have the right to be taught academics in school. We are losing a generation to glop glop indoctrination masquerading as academics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VWQsCtcQkk&t=40s
I just want to declare my appreciation, which grows with every communication from BROADview. Along with thoughtful and thorough coverage of gender issues by Kate and Lisa, there is the added bonus of the "Comments" section. Too often, I feel utterly deflated when I read the responses from other readers (on other posts). Here, on BROADview, I feel among the like-minded. Thank you all for restoring a little faith.
Yes that’s is a great idea. But what a editing job. There is actually so much out there.
How about in question form
Like
1. Kid a will kill themselves if not allowed to transition. Then the pro evidence vs for evidence. Sources and links
2. Gender identity exists
3. Trans ideology is part of queer theory
What is queert theory.
Etc.
And, here's Leor Sapir's review of Azeen Ghorayshi's piece on Jamie Reed and Wash U. https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-slow-trek-back-to-truth
Yes, please, we need some basic explainer pieces to point people to--people who have been absorbing the mainstream coverage. An index would be helpful.
Sometimes I scan this or other Substacks for an “entry level” piece and I’m not sure what to select.
A “Start Here” post? Something that doesn’t scare off a normie who’s been convinced that questioning is bigotry.
Dollars and sense, I second you on the need an “entry level” piece for “people who have been absorbing the mainstream coverage.” This was just brought home to me yet once again on reading Brian Beutler’s weekly newsletter this week, on which many friends and acquaintances of mine rely for “accurate” judgments. As any who has time to look at this will see, Beutler is definitely part of the problem: https://mailchi.mp/crooked.com/big-tent-20828?e=4b66a7e85f
Kate, your round-ups get better and better, and your interspersed questions and commentary are superb. Re trying to keep up (or revisiting articles to reread or reference to others), maybe this is a bridge too far, but could an alpha-by-topic index page be useful here?
A question, also, about “the unknown outcomes for adolescent brain development.” Is it puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or both, that are potentially implicated here? I ask because I had a recent conversation with a friend who has come a long way in her understanding (yay), but feels strongly that the age limit for consent should be 18, rather than, say 25, based on full brain maturity. I would like for her to step back a bit on that to better understand the harms to brain development of these pseudo-science procedures before coming to a view. Is there a lay-friendly article from a neutral source anywhere that lays this out?
It is well established that the brain undergoes a “rewiring” process that is not complete until approximately 25 years of age.5 This discovery has enhanced our basic understanding regarding adolescent brain maturation and it has provided support for behaviors experienced in late adolescence and early adulthood. Several investigators consider the age span 10–24 years as adolescence, which can be further divided into substages specific to physical, cognitive, and social–emotional development.
This paper also mentions how testosterone and estrogen are crucial to the process of brain maturation. How are kids supposed to make more mature, informed decisions when those hormones are blocked? Do synthetic hormones have the same brain developing effects, especially when they are opposite sex hormones? Is just one synthetic opposite sex hormone enough to allow for complete brain maturation? We don’t know, and the studies aren’t being done to allow anything remotely near informed consent, including for an 18-year-old. Also, as anyone who has raised kids into young adulthood, you know there is a huge difference in your kid’s maturity, decision making, and problem solving skills just making the small steps from age 18 to 20.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/
Thanks for this link. Hormones play such a bigger role in our bodies than just physical development of secondary sex characteristics, its easy to forget that sometimes. The practices and procedures are exponentially outpacing the research. Research in this area is of course difficult ethically, but that is not a reason to downplay the need.
Puzzle therapy, thank you so much for both the link and explanatory note. Your comments on what is known/not known and the questions you raise about synthetic hormones are particularly appreciated. Thanks to you, I can be better “armed” to discuss the age limit issue with others.
"We don’t know, and the studies aren’t being done to allow anything remotely near informed consent, including for an 18-year-old. " Thank you for this link and for your thoughtful summary. How do we communicate this to the teens and young adults themselves?
I wish I knew, because anyone who has raised or worked with teens and young adults knows they are 100% certain they know everything better than any old, out-of-touch adult, that were just trying to scare them with things that will never happen to them, and that they will never change their minds about anything. At least everyone knew that about teens and young adults until 15 minutes ago.
Puzzle Therapy: you may not want at all to do this, which I FULLY understand, but if you and Lisa are game, I would be so grateful for a post by you on these issues. You clearly have both a depth and breadth of knowledge from which we could all benefit. Mark me totally appreciative of your insights, no matter what.
You are very kind and generous in your compliments. I’m not really an expert, just a person who has spent a lot of years working with and raising kids and who handles my abundant anxiety with too much reading and research. I’m glad to point people to the sources where I find my information if it helps anyone
I'm enormously grateful to you for that, and I will put what you've shared to the best use I can in my small sphere. It is such a shame (vast understatement) how many parents have had to become quasi experts just to keep your children safe. I hope for a better future, and soon.
We know what car insurance companies think of 18 year olds with cars. And 18 is too young to get an elective hysterectomy given how it's been seen that interest in childbearing changes.
Yes, there are many kinds of good points to make, these among them. I am looking for something specific to the issue of brain development, though, which is the import of my question.
Susan, this may not be exactly what you're looking for, but when my daughter was insisting she had a "male brain" (sadly, she may still think that), an endocrinologist sent me this article (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27070350/). Carole Hooven's book might address testosterone and the brain.
Thank you, Suzanne! While a bit over my head, I can see it is definitely relevant to helping folks develop an appreciation for the complexity of child development into maturity and how dangerous it is to tamper with the natural processes of biological maturation with these drugs.
Gender Quick Start Guide would be great. I’d love something to send to family or friends who are either oblivious or skeptical that this is a real issue.
The article you linked from equality Texas pushes several of the common talking points. I’m always surprised that people still claim that puberty blockers are completely reversible. And the whole “every major medical organization supports this” thing... what is the best response to that? I see it all over the place. I find most of those organizations are just political, but a lot of our family members believe those groups are the end all, be all for everything.
Great round up as always. I’m right of center, and I always appreciate seeing that there is room to come together on this issues. I appreciate having a resource that isn’t just from conservative people to point others to, especially when they start to say the right are the only people who care about all this.
I love this newsletter so much. But I really wish you (and Blocked and Reported too) would stop using the AI image function. It's confusing and misleading. Photos are important. Images matter just like words do. You wouldn't let AI write your headlines (at least I hope you would not) so please stop letting AI create the lead images. Thank you!!!
Thank you, thank you Kate! I agree with Susan - these just get better and better. They're comprehensive, thoughtful and while I'm often alarmed (deep breaths needed here too), I'm sometimes chuckling, which is much needed.
Love the idea of a "start here" offering. Somewhere in the ICONS materials online there was a myth-busting chart that looked like a good potential model for a "quick start" guide. Or, something like the program for the Genspect conference would offer a wide-ranging list of "quick start" topics: legal, medical, education, sports.
To anyone who hasn't already seen this article from Leor Sapir on the New York Times article on the Missouri gender clinic, I highly recommend it. https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-slow-trek-back-to-truth
Meanwhile, in Australia:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/labor-misinformation-law-a-dangerous-proposition-for-society-20230825-p5dzcm.html?fbclid=IwAR2UqiK166hEG5g1UdwtP0Mysvo1WK4-cXA7ox7tQUtjYBrV_sdZyby_8wI
As Australian progressive political activists of a certain stripe are known to consider any challenge to the affirmation-only model of youth gender medicine to be "misinformation", it is not hard to imagine how this could end badly.
I would love to see a quick start guide. I certainly found Lisa's edits to yesterday's NYT article shareworthy, as well as her 'politically non-binary' article. I typically point people to Genspect (https://genspect.org/our-position/). Their "position statement" explains a lot, and then they have several 'guides' for different audiences, such as 'parents', 'friends and family', schools, clinicians, etc. They link to reputable research, and their 'stats for gender' section is searchable by topic.
I just read the Billboard article accusing Alice Cooper of repeating anti-trans talking points, including his saying that there is no conclusive evidence about the ameliorating powers of "gender affirming care" on mental health.
And the article links to the Tordoff Feb22 article as support for why he is wrong and therefore, transphobic:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2789423
And Jesse Singal wrote a great examination of that Tordoff study:
"Researchers Found Puberty Blockers And Hormones Didn’t Improve Trans Kids’ Mental Health At Their Clinic. Then They Published A Study Claiming The Opposite. (Updated)
A critique of Tordoff et al. (2022)"
https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/researchers-found-puberty-blockers
Are there any solid studies backing up any aspect of "gender affirming care"?
One thing that stands out to me about how the Left has refused to allow journalists to question gender identity to the point of making it heresy to do so, is how political polarization has removed people from questioning the dogma produced by their own side. The combined trauma of having had Trump as president in the role of an abusive husband, followed by the fear induced by the pandemic seems to have bled out every last shred of skepticism for any given liberal narrative because, in this era of fake new, the Republicans cannot be right about anything. So making gender identity something the Right objected to makes it that much more a sacred cow of the Left.
As for getting normies up to speed that is why I wrote my primer to the gender wars—The Unexpected Penis.