I am so frustrated with the almost total media blackout on these issues. The medical scandal of our lifetime is playing out in real time and in darkness. Before about 6 months ago, I thought it was just the right-wing media that had horrible blindspots ( to gun control or abortion, for example), but after my teen 'came out' as trans with no history of gender issues, I realized that we are not being well served with the simplistic narrative that we should affirm and medicalize all of these kids.
The more I researched, the more I discovered that there are plenty of people trying to figure this out, but all dissent is suppressed. What is NYTimes scared of? Do the editors really believe this new secular religion now being taught in schools and espoused by activists?
Like a lot of other prestige media outlets, the NYTimes has been held hostage by a young generation of newsroom staffers fresh out of elite colleges, steeped in trans/queer ideology and social justice activism. There is zero tolerance for alternative viewpoints which are deemed "dangerous" and "actual violence." Just look at what happened to former Opinion Editor James Bennet at the Times after he published an op ed by Tom Cotton. The young members of the newsroom went apoplectic claiming that Cotton's column literally put black staffers "lives in danger". This is how fragile and unable to deal with the world these young people are.
So the inmates are running the asylum and the adults in the room are nowhere to be found. This is precisely why most mainstream media won't touch the third rail of detransitioners or allow any deviation from the approved script on trans issues.
Here's a great chart of people who are on r/detrans (note that not everyone on this reddit is detrans, and that not every detrans person hangs out on reddit, some report not wanting to think about it again, having moved on with their lives): https://subredditstats.com/r/detrans
As a 66-year-old long-time reader of the MSM in many forms (but with no experience in the business), I'm not surprised this piece got turned down as an op-ed. It includes original reporting (Laura's story) that would presumably have to be fact-checked first; AFAIK, that's not the purview of the op-ed page editor. It also includes off-topic political jabs ("mainstream or left-wing media", "left and center media": what do these terms mean?) that make it more contentious than it needs to be. Your LA Times op-ed did not have these issues.
With 3% of college students identifying as transgender and around 2% of high school students doing the same, and medical interventions being so physically demanding, irreversible, and being started so young, one might think this topic would be getting careful and thoughtful scrutiny and discussion, to support people and to try to understand what is going on and how to best help them (as this substack points out, there is a lot to understand!).
The Washington Post op-ed pushing for careful assessments last month (for adolescents) was a huge breakthrough in getting better coverage of this topic by certain parts of the media. A fantastic first step. But it was just last month and there has not been follow-up. One article. I hope they follow up. And there is something very strange going on with the New York Times (and I have been an avid reader left wing reader of the NYT my entire life). Others have noticed it too, for this topic. https://pitt.substack.com/p/to-the-new-york-times-what-happened Both papers have published material which is factually incorrect and which they will not correct.
These two papers are among the "mainstream or left-wing" places where this topic should be discussed carefully and respectfully and thoroughly. Check out the New York Times and (earlier) Washington Post coverage of gender dysphoria and transgender issues and you will think you are in a different universe than that described in this essay.
(I believe the Wall Street Journal has been covering it in more detail, as has the Economist, the BBC and other UK news outlets.)
I am so frustrated with the almost total media blackout on these issues. The medical scandal of our lifetime is playing out in real time and in darkness. Before about 6 months ago, I thought it was just the right-wing media that had horrible blindspots ( to gun control or abortion, for example), but after my teen 'came out' as trans with no history of gender issues, I realized that we are not being well served with the simplistic narrative that we should affirm and medicalize all of these kids.
The more I researched, the more I discovered that there are plenty of people trying to figure this out, but all dissent is suppressed. What is NYTimes scared of? Do the editors really believe this new secular religion now being taught in schools and espoused by activists?
So much for the left 'believing the science'
"What is NYTimes scared of?"
Like a lot of other prestige media outlets, the NYTimes has been held hostage by a young generation of newsroom staffers fresh out of elite colleges, steeped in trans/queer ideology and social justice activism. There is zero tolerance for alternative viewpoints which are deemed "dangerous" and "actual violence." Just look at what happened to former Opinion Editor James Bennet at the Times after he published an op ed by Tom Cotton. The young members of the newsroom went apoplectic claiming that Cotton's column literally put black staffers "lives in danger". This is how fragile and unable to deal with the world these young people are.
So the inmates are running the asylum and the adults in the room are nowhere to be found. This is precisely why most mainstream media won't touch the third rail of detransitioners or allow any deviation from the approved script on trans issues.
Come to think of it, the NYTimes is probably more scared of twitter.
Thank you for taking my story, Lisa.
this should be published in MSM, but thanks for publishing it Lisa Davis!
Wonderful
Here's a great chart of people who are on r/detrans (note that not everyone on this reddit is detrans, and that not every detrans person hangs out on reddit, some report not wanting to think about it again, having moved on with their lives): https://subredditstats.com/r/detrans
it's going...up.
Given that people who don't detransition medically need lifetime hormones, one would think that it would be possible to keep track of who keeps taking them and who doesn't; at the moment hormones are given out so indiscriminately that no one knows how many people are getting them. Planned Parenthood doesn't require mental health assessment before starting people on hormones, for instance: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/health/2021/12/14/indiana-planned-parenthood-gender-affirming-hormone-care-now-available-sites/8719772002/ .
As a 66-year-old long-time reader of the MSM in many forms (but with no experience in the business), I'm not surprised this piece got turned down as an op-ed. It includes original reporting (Laura's story) that would presumably have to be fact-checked first; AFAIK, that's not the purview of the op-ed page editor. It also includes off-topic political jabs ("mainstream or left-wing media", "left and center media": what do these terms mean?) that make it more contentious than it needs to be. Your LA Times op-ed did not have these issues.
With 3% of college students identifying as transgender and around 2% of high school students doing the same, and medical interventions being so physically demanding, irreversible, and being started so young, one might think this topic would be getting careful and thoughtful scrutiny and discussion, to support people and to try to understand what is going on and how to best help them (as this substack points out, there is a lot to understand!).
The Washington Post op-ed pushing for careful assessments last month (for adolescents) was a huge breakthrough in getting better coverage of this topic by certain parts of the media. A fantastic first step. But it was just last month and there has not been follow-up. One article. I hope they follow up. And there is something very strange going on with the New York Times (and I have been an avid reader left wing reader of the NYT my entire life). Others have noticed it too, for this topic. https://pitt.substack.com/p/to-the-new-york-times-what-happened Both papers have published material which is factually incorrect and which they will not correct.
These two papers are among the "mainstream or left-wing" places where this topic should be discussed carefully and respectfully and thoroughly. Check out the New York Times and (earlier) Washington Post coverage of gender dysphoria and transgender issues and you will think you are in a different universe than that described in this essay.
(I believe the Wall Street Journal has been covering it in more detail, as has the Economist, the BBC and other UK news outlets.)
The nyt did publish the review of Trans by Helen Joyce, the only time it's pages mentioned most childhood onset desist.
And they haven't been fact checking their op eds before on this topic. it would be nice if they did. This fantastic article would then not be needed.
Thank you for this. The link to the study by Marchiano is broken.
Thanks for letting me know! Fixed.