BROADview in Brief

[Gender] War is over if you want it

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

It’s a bit strange to start off with a Reddit post this week, but a psychiatrist’s submission to the 450,000 members of the subreddit r/medicine was notable for a number of reasons. Titled The Chen 2023 Paper Raises Serious Concerns About Pediatric Gender Medicine Outcomes, it’s an in-depth critique of two recent papers (Chen and Tordoff) that claim to show benefits for youth gender medicalization. The author, who goes by u/toledozzz21, takes a firm stand that the papers don’t just leave open the question of whether gender-affirming healthcare (GAH) is helpful; they definitively prove that it is not: “The short-term effect of GAH is no longer an unanswered question. Its theoretical basis was strong in the absence of data, but like many strong theories it has failed in the face of data,” the author wrote. “Now that two studies have failed to report meaningful benefits we can no longer say, as we could as recently as 2021, that the short-term benefits are so strong that they outweigh the potential long-term risks inherent in permanent body modification. Some non-trivial number of patients come to regret these body modifications, and we can no longer claim in good faith that there are enormous short term benefits that outweigh this risk.” 

So what’s surprising about that beyond the fact a psychiatrist was willing to speak up with such a strong claim, albeit anonymously? A few things: it was cross-posted to r/psychiatry and other smaller Reddit communities; the original post received more than 1800 upvotes and has over 500 comments as of this writing; and moderators have allowed it to remain wherever it’s been posted. The latter is the most astonishing piece of the story to me because while discussing controversies in gender medicine has been taboo within the medical profession, nowhere has it been more taboo than on Reddit. 

I highly recommend reading the full post and browsing through the comments. One physician noted in r/psychiatry, “...if I was someone at the forefront of gender affirming care clinics, especially one who was behind initiating hormone treatment or even surgery for these types of cases, I would be absolutely scared shitless that here in a few years I would be swimming in malpractice cases.” I’m sure there will be journalist follow-ups to the post—Jesse Singal had raised questions about both the Chen and the Tordoff paper in the past. Even as is, the write-up could be helpful to parents who are in the midst of medical battles with their children’s healthcare providers.

Nonetheless, Oregon is expanding gender-affirming care in the state psychiatric hospital. 

Following up on the news out of England last week that Keir Starmer has figured out what a woman is, Helen Lewis wrote a terrific piece in The Atlantic informing us that the gender war is over in Britain. She examines the differences between the UK and the US and concludes that in America “.. the left must be able to defend trans rights without denying the meaningful differences between males and females. The right must be able to air concerns without demonizing trans people. Both liberals and conservatives should stop throwing around accusations of child abuse toward parents doing their best. The gender war can end—if the broad, tolerant middle asserts itself.” I hope Lewis is correct about the UK, but skirmishes no doubt will continue…not least because the British police have a strange habit of arresting people for LGBT speech they don’t like. Lewis interviewed Lisa for the article, and Lisa’s rationality shines through as usual. Meanwhile, though, apparently a third of Brits don’t know that trans women are, um, male. 

Unless the broad, tolerant middle starts drinking Bud Light, I’m afraid Anheuser Busch is in serious trouble. I must admit I’ve been astounded at the impact of the Dylan Mulvaney boycott. I’m all for expressing my disapproval of a company’s position when I disagree with something, but I’m troubled by the layoffs. Do you think this has gone too far?

Where were we in the sports news? Two weeks ago, I mentioned that the International Cycling Union and World Aquatics have decided to reserve the female category for females and move to open instead of a male category for all other athletes. They’ve now been joined by British Rowing and  Badminton England. There are sport-specific differences between how the open category functions, so be sure to look closely at the details if you’re drafting a policy yourself. 

The absence of similar rules in the United States Tennis Association has led to the president of the Wyoming Tennis Association stepping down to protest the inclusion of a male in the women’s draw for the Wyoming Governor’s Cup tournament. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova continues to voice her strong disagreement with the USTA’s gender-not-sex-based policy. 

A subscriber shared Soren Aldaco’s emotional account of her transition, detransition, and how she’s come to terms with the truth of her sex and her body. It was published both on Aldaco’s substack and in the Dallas Morning News. I wish her all the best for her physical and mental health and with her lawsuit. 

On a final note before your Friday happy hour celebrations: Gentlemen, beware of leaving your testicles in the fridge lest you lose them in a domestic dispute. 

What did I miss? Please share your thoughts in the comments below, pass along any tips or suggestions here, and have an excellent weekend!