I would put THIS Substack on the list. In fact I always recommend it when discussing gender issues with friends. Lisa is so nuanced and empathetic in her writing. There are a few other sources that I follow that have accurate information but the tone is angry or confrontational in a way that makes it easier to dismiss as “transphobic.” Lisa makes it clear she is trying to get at the truth while still being respectful of all the various points of view in the debate.
I would like to see reporters covering the issue of gender care for young people read Hannah Barnes’ Time to Think and the lessons learned from the rise and fall of the Tavistock gender clinic. In publications like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is no acknowledgment of developments in the UK and few if any references to changing policies in other European countries. Inconvenient facts are ignored or explained away.
They need to look at the Tik Tok quizzes that tell young women uncomfortable with their changing bodies that they are transgender, they need to look at the trans influencers on Instagram promoting the joy of testosterone . They need to look at the intersection of social media and gender ideology impacting impressionable youth.
Lisa, this is a great list. The challenge is always to include everything relevant, but keep it short enough for people to follow through. I would, however, like to see the media and professionals interview parents and family members of these kids. Those of us who have been trying to navigate the waters, help our children deal with their pain, and at the same time feeling isolated if we don't immediately champion the affirmative-care model. Or maybe champion it initially, and then find that the child has started down a road with no exit signs. Many well-meaning people do not understand the devastation wrought on families; the very real pain and anger, and grief, most of all. This impacts not only the distressed youth, but the entire family fabric. I can think of nothing that has been more destructive to American families, on a multi-generational level.
There is so much good information at this point that should cause these people--hello there, you used to be my people too--to pause and reflect. But I think Lisa covered the most crucial ones. Her top suggestion of LISTEN TO DETRANSITIONERS is rightly #1. Just listen to them! A lot of them. More emerge every day. In a recent Oregon legislative hearing, a Democratic lawmaker said dismissively and arrogantly that he simply did not believe one of the stories of a detransitioner. It is so shocking to hear this sneering callousness from the party that I used to belong to, the party that that is supposed to care for the vulnerable, the party that supposedly believes in science. If your disbelief is genuine, then you should go about PROVING it. Prove it and write to Lisa with your receipts.
You won't be able to. As Lisa says, the pain of these folks is real. They exist. The damage done to them is unconscionable. Here is a list of resources for detransitioners on Genspect, which includes some Twitter handles and Youtube channels of some detransitioners trying to prevent harm to others:
The BMJ articles which deal with "US major medical associations" and the evidence base--
Caring for young people with gender dysphoria | The BMJ, Editor's Choice, 2023
“The US, however, has moved in the opposite direction. An investigation by The BMJ finds that more and more young people are being offered medical and surgical intervention for gender transition, sometimes bypassing any psychological support (doi:10.1136/bmj.p382).5 Much of this clinical practice is supported by guidance from medical societies and associations, but closer inspection of that guidance finds that the strength of clinical recommendations is not in line with the strength of the evidence. The risk of overtreatment of gender dysphoria is real.”
Gender dysphoria in young people is rising—and so is professional disagreement | The BMJ, Block, 2023
“More children and adolescents are identifying as transgender and are being offered medical treatment, especially in the US—but some providers and European authorities are urging caution because of a lack of strong evidence.”
Reuters Investigates Youth in Transition (Terhune, Respaut, Colvin,Rigby)- a whole series
As children line up at gender clinics, families confront many unknowns (2022, Oct):
“But when families decide to take the medical route, they must make decisions about life-altering treatments that have little scientific evidence of their long-term safety and efficacy.”
“Experts in gender care say more specific research is needed to determine whether medically transitioning as a minor reduces suicidal thoughts and suicides compared with those who socially transition or wait before starting treatment’”
Number of transgender children seeking treatment surges in U.S. (2022, Oct)
Putting numbers on the rise in children seeking gender care (2022, Oct)
Gender imbalance emerges among trans teens seeking treatment (2022, Nov)
Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care (2022, Dec)
“hard evidence on long-term outcomes for the rising numbers of people who received gender treatment as minors is very weak.”
The Economist Briefing:
The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weak (April, 2023)
“But that is another way of saying that it is impossible to justify the current recommendations about gender-affirming care based on the existing data.”
Also, some of the medical articles:
Abbruzzese et al, 2023, The Myth of "Reliable Research" in Pediatric Gender Medicine: A critical evaluation of the Dutch Studies-and research that has followed
Levine & Abbruzzese, 2023, Current Concerns About Gender-Affirming Therapy in Adolescents
And if possible also the 2022 articles by Levine, Abbruzzese and Mason.
It seems to me that some understanding of autogynephilia and its relationship to gender identity is useful. It's something I am struggling to understand but it's certainly a piece of the puzzle.
This piece and the follow-up piece from Rose, an SJW lesbian mother who socially transitioned her sons and had an awakening, are both insightful and thoughtful pieces. She did an interview with Triggernometry that was great.
Also, the most powerful bit of reading I've seen comes from gender clinic whistleblower, Jamie Reed:
She's also a former gender ideology acolyte. She's a lesbian married to a transman, so no one can claim she's an outsider. What she saw at the clinic changed her mind completely about what's being done to children. She also did an excellent interview with Triggernometry.
The so-called "community" doesn't want to hear from cis, straight, hetero-normative people, so these are 2 excellent resources to start with.
I would add: listen to the very real and serious harm caused to young people because they were needing quality and appropriate mental health treatments but couldn’t get it because of what happens with diagnostic overshadowing the moment any issue of gender identity is raised. There is very real mental and physical harm that happens to these kids even if they never get to the point of medicalizing
I’d suggest reading the papers at StoneButchDisco.com and listening to the SBD podcast -- butch lesbians and butch lesbian detransitioners discussing the deep pressure to transition for lesbians. Among them are ex-college professors/teachers talking about how academia and queer theory’s ahistorical takes on gender heighten the strength of an ideology that erases sex class consciousness and (they have seen with their own eyes) directly hinders the ability of college and advanced high school women and girls to theorize from the ground of their own bodies. (And more to the point, rewards academics who do the purification ritual of vocally dismissing those women who try; for instance, signaling that “lesbian” and other competing frameworks of thought belong in the cultural past.)
People need to realize that the battle against trans ideology is NOT a left vs. right or believer vs. nonbeliever issue. The media portrays it this way. The fact is that real people from across the political spectrum are waking up to the dangers of this ideology. Kara Dansky, self described "radical feminist" and President of the U.S. chapter of Women's Declaration International (WDI), has been very active in legislating against transgender activism. People should be aware of her and her hard work: https://www.karadansky.com/about
And the US media doesn't cover the fact that many of the European countries (those where "gender affirming care" originated) have reversed course on this model. Leo Sapir is a great source for all of this:
This post is so timely and necessary. I think there is benefit to keeping the list short, though I am glad to see additional resources and information in the comments, too. I want to underscore two things:
I endorse putting BROADview on the list. Your Substack is the first place I point to, for all the reasons other commenters have mentioned. Second, re this bullet point: “They read media articles from multiple political perspectives on the same subject.” On this one, it might be helpful to give two or three concrete samples. Jesse Singal and Leor Sapir are both excellent. I have also pointed people to the London Times and the Economist, as well as individual journalists/commentators such as Kathleen Stock and Victoria Smith (and of course Helen Joyce), wherever they appear.
I highly endorse Lisa’s inclusion of Helen Joyce’s foundational book “Trans,” and of course Hannah Barnes’s Time to Think. I also often recommend Kathleen Stock’s “Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism.” Stock is a philosopher and former professor (hounded out her job for saying sex is real). Her book offers, among other things, many insights into what happened in the halls of academe that helped get us into this fix. Stock also writes for the UK online magazine Unherd. Her most recent article, “How the Trans Census Fooled Britain,” provides a typically smart and witty take on the mess sex and gender miscategorizations can make in compiling critical data: https://unherd.com/2023/04/how-the-trans-census-fooled-britain/
In addition to everything you noted, please also Read the original Dutch study of 70 children upon which all of these “treatments” are based and listen to the creators of that study talk on Gender a Wider Lens. Then Read all of the subsequent studies and really look at the statistics, the methods and the analysis. And if you can still see these, read the story of Kai Shapley’ mother and listen to Susie Green’s Ted talk. Watch some YouTube videos that glorify transition and consider how a young vulnerable teen will be affected by them. Also step back and think about what “gender identity” means, and try to find a non-circular definition that is not based on stereotypes and that could possibly justify medical interventions.
Thanks, Lisa. It's such a great list, one I will share, and is a great lens through which to think about the debate around bans. I think I'd want to add something about social transition (including it explicitly in your definition of gender affirming care) and the statistics around social transition and persistence and I'd want clinicians, journalists or teachers who cite suicide statistics to talk to people whose job it is to treat suicidality in order to learn that gender affirming care is not an effective or appropriate treatment for suicidal ideation.
Don't know which would be the best article, but something on "follow the money," would be nice. Because this push-to-convert is not just coming from the kids.
I would put THIS Substack on the list. In fact I always recommend it when discussing gender issues with friends. Lisa is so nuanced and empathetic in her writing. There are a few other sources that I follow that have accurate information but the tone is angry or confrontational in a way that makes it easier to dismiss as “transphobic.” Lisa makes it clear she is trying to get at the truth while still being respectful of all the various points of view in the debate.
I would like to see reporters covering the issue of gender care for young people read Hannah Barnes’ Time to Think and the lessons learned from the rise and fall of the Tavistock gender clinic. In publications like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is no acknowledgment of developments in the UK and few if any references to changing policies in other European countries. Inconvenient facts are ignored or explained away.
They need to look at the Tik Tok quizzes that tell young women uncomfortable with their changing bodies that they are transgender, they need to look at the trans influencers on Instagram promoting the joy of testosterone . They need to look at the intersection of social media and gender ideology impacting impressionable youth.
Lisa, this is a great list. The challenge is always to include everything relevant, but keep it short enough for people to follow through. I would, however, like to see the media and professionals interview parents and family members of these kids. Those of us who have been trying to navigate the waters, help our children deal with their pain, and at the same time feeling isolated if we don't immediately champion the affirmative-care model. Or maybe champion it initially, and then find that the child has started down a road with no exit signs. Many well-meaning people do not understand the devastation wrought on families; the very real pain and anger, and grief, most of all. This impacts not only the distressed youth, but the entire family fabric. I can think of nothing that has been more destructive to American families, on a multi-generational level.
There is so much good information at this point that should cause these people--hello there, you used to be my people too--to pause and reflect. But I think Lisa covered the most crucial ones. Her top suggestion of LISTEN TO DETRANSITIONERS is rightly #1. Just listen to them! A lot of them. More emerge every day. In a recent Oregon legislative hearing, a Democratic lawmaker said dismissively and arrogantly that he simply did not believe one of the stories of a detransitioner. It is so shocking to hear this sneering callousness from the party that I used to belong to, the party that that is supposed to care for the vulnerable, the party that supposedly believes in science. If your disbelief is genuine, then you should go about PROVING it. Prove it and write to Lisa with your receipts.
You won't be able to. As Lisa says, the pain of these folks is real. They exist. The damage done to them is unconscionable. Here is a list of resources for detransitioners on Genspect, which includes some Twitter handles and Youtube channels of some detransitioners trying to prevent harm to others:
https://genspect.org/detransitioner-resources/
Just LISTEN to them.
The biggest medical scandal of the young 21st century is unfolding while we watch.
Thank you!
How about:
The BMJ articles which deal with "US major medical associations" and the evidence base--
Caring for young people with gender dysphoria | The BMJ, Editor's Choice, 2023
“The US, however, has moved in the opposite direction. An investigation by The BMJ finds that more and more young people are being offered medical and surgical intervention for gender transition, sometimes bypassing any psychological support (doi:10.1136/bmj.p382).5 Much of this clinical practice is supported by guidance from medical societies and associations, but closer inspection of that guidance finds that the strength of clinical recommendations is not in line with the strength of the evidence. The risk of overtreatment of gender dysphoria is real.”
Gender dysphoria in young people is rising—and so is professional disagreement | The BMJ, Block, 2023
“More children and adolescents are identifying as transgender and are being offered medical treatment, especially in the US—but some providers and European authorities are urging caution because of a lack of strong evidence.”
Reuters Investigates Youth in Transition (Terhune, Respaut, Colvin,Rigby)- a whole series
As children line up at gender clinics, families confront many unknowns (2022, Oct):
“But when families decide to take the medical route, they must make decisions about life-altering treatments that have little scientific evidence of their long-term safety and efficacy.”
“Experts in gender care say more specific research is needed to determine whether medically transitioning as a minor reduces suicidal thoughts and suicides compared with those who socially transition or wait before starting treatment’”
Number of transgender children seeking treatment surges in U.S. (2022, Oct)
Putting numbers on the rise in children seeking gender care (2022, Oct)
Gender imbalance emerges among trans teens seeking treatment (2022, Nov)
Why detransitioners are crucial to the science of gender care (2022, Dec)
“hard evidence on long-term outcomes for the rising numbers of people who received gender treatment as minors is very weak.”
The Economist Briefing:
The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weak (April, 2023)
“But that is another way of saying that it is impossible to justify the current recommendations about gender-affirming care based on the existing data.”
Also, some of the medical articles:
Abbruzzese et al, 2023, The Myth of "Reliable Research" in Pediatric Gender Medicine: A critical evaluation of the Dutch Studies-and research that has followed
Levine & Abbruzzese, 2023, Current Concerns About Gender-Affirming Therapy in Adolescents
And if possible also the 2022 articles by Levine, Abbruzzese and Mason.
And your articles!!!
It seems to me that some understanding of autogynephilia and its relationship to gender identity is useful. It's something I am struggling to understand but it's certainly a piece of the puzzle.
https://open.substack.com/pub/pitt/p/true-believer?r=i2gm3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
This piece and the follow-up piece from Rose, an SJW lesbian mother who socially transitioned her sons and had an awakening, are both insightful and thoughtful pieces. She did an interview with Triggernometry that was great.
Also, the most powerful bit of reading I've seen comes from gender clinic whistleblower, Jamie Reed:
https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids
She's also a former gender ideology acolyte. She's a lesbian married to a transman, so no one can claim she's an outsider. What she saw at the clinic changed her mind completely about what's being done to children. She also did an excellent interview with Triggernometry.
The so-called "community" doesn't want to hear from cis, straight, hetero-normative people, so these are 2 excellent resources to start with.
I would add: listen to the very real and serious harm caused to young people because they were needing quality and appropriate mental health treatments but couldn’t get it because of what happens with diagnostic overshadowing the moment any issue of gender identity is raised. There is very real mental and physical harm that happens to these kids even if they never get to the point of medicalizing
I’d suggest reading the papers at StoneButchDisco.com and listening to the SBD podcast -- butch lesbians and butch lesbian detransitioners discussing the deep pressure to transition for lesbians. Among them are ex-college professors/teachers talking about how academia and queer theory’s ahistorical takes on gender heighten the strength of an ideology that erases sex class consciousness and (they have seen with their own eyes) directly hinders the ability of college and advanced high school women and girls to theorize from the ground of their own bodies. (And more to the point, rewards academics who do the purification ritual of vocally dismissing those women who try; for instance, signaling that “lesbian” and other competing frameworks of thought belong in the cultural past.)
People need to realize that the battle against trans ideology is NOT a left vs. right or believer vs. nonbeliever issue. The media portrays it this way. The fact is that real people from across the political spectrum are waking up to the dangers of this ideology. Kara Dansky, self described "radical feminist" and President of the U.S. chapter of Women's Declaration International (WDI), has been very active in legislating against transgender activism. People should be aware of her and her hard work: https://www.karadansky.com/about
Kara's substack:
https://karadansky.substack.com/
And the US media doesn't cover the fact that many of the European countries (those where "gender affirming care" originated) have reversed course on this model. Leo Sapir is a great source for all of this:
https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-new-low
https://www.city-journal.org/article/how-to-regulate-pediatric-gender-medicine
https://www.city-journal.org/article/oregons-reckless-medicine
This post is so timely and necessary. I think there is benefit to keeping the list short, though I am glad to see additional resources and information in the comments, too. I want to underscore two things:
I endorse putting BROADview on the list. Your Substack is the first place I point to, for all the reasons other commenters have mentioned. Second, re this bullet point: “They read media articles from multiple political perspectives on the same subject.” On this one, it might be helpful to give two or three concrete samples. Jesse Singal and Leor Sapir are both excellent. I have also pointed people to the London Times and the Economist, as well as individual journalists/commentators such as Kathleen Stock and Victoria Smith (and of course Helen Joyce), wherever they appear.
I highly endorse Lisa’s inclusion of Helen Joyce’s foundational book “Trans,” and of course Hannah Barnes’s Time to Think. I also often recommend Kathleen Stock’s “Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism.” Stock is a philosopher and former professor (hounded out her job for saying sex is real). Her book offers, among other things, many insights into what happened in the halls of academe that helped get us into this fix. Stock also writes for the UK online magazine Unherd. Her most recent article, “How the Trans Census Fooled Britain,” provides a typically smart and witty take on the mess sex and gender miscategorizations can make in compiling critical data: https://unherd.com/2023/04/how-the-trans-census-fooled-britain/
In addition to everything you noted, please also Read the original Dutch study of 70 children upon which all of these “treatments” are based and listen to the creators of that study talk on Gender a Wider Lens. Then Read all of the subsequent studies and really look at the statistics, the methods and the analysis. And if you can still see these, read the story of Kai Shapley’ mother and listen to Susie Green’s Ted talk. Watch some YouTube videos that glorify transition and consider how a young vulnerable teen will be affected by them. Also step back and think about what “gender identity” means, and try to find a non-circular definition that is not based on stereotypes and that could possibly justify medical interventions.
Thanks, Lisa. It's such a great list, one I will share, and is a great lens through which to think about the debate around bans. I think I'd want to add something about social transition (including it explicitly in your definition of gender affirming care) and the statistics around social transition and persistence and I'd want clinicians, journalists or teachers who cite suicide statistics to talk to people whose job it is to treat suicidality in order to learn that gender affirming care is not an effective or appropriate treatment for suicidal ideation.
Don't know which would be the best article, but something on "follow the money," would be nice. Because this push-to-convert is not just coming from the kids.