I am not an award winning journalist and you’ve never heard of me. I’m barely even a writer. What I am is a US citizen incredibly concerned with the ability of the powerful to determine the bounds of discourse with little challenge. To the degree that there is challenge, the speaker and thoughts are eliminated for “violating the Terms of Service.” Often the only violation is a refusal to accept conventional wisdom without examination. For example, despite how much remains unknown around the coronavirus and the evolution of official opinions, accounts are still being suspended for questioning official pronouncements.
We haven’t begun to grasp how damaging the subjective reality defying internal world building of the moment will prove. It’s likely that I will write repeatedly about gender ideology and trans rights activism. I can’t emphasize this enough: gender ideology and trans rights activism isn’t about the material well being of trans people. When I write about these things, it’s in support of trans people. There is nothing more anti-trans than trans activism. If it’s not clear observe a trans rights activist communicating with someone who doesn’t believe that a man can become a woman but supports trans women. There is nothing that’s meant to be convincing or even conciliatory toward shared positions. The method of dialogue, abusive and insulting, works well to turn opinion against trans people. Observed enough, it becomes difficult to believe that’s not the point. Not the worst of it.
I’m only beginning to wrestle with the implications of the American Academy of Pediatricians , American Psychiatric Association, and The Endocrine Society all endorsing gender affirmation therapy for children and adolescents. What that means is that the children are treated on the subjective basis of their self assessment that they were born in the wrong body. Gender affirmation therapy attempts to bring the body in line with the subjective self-assessment through pharmaceuticals and surgery. There is a push to give children puberty blockers followed by cross-sex hormones with the notion that the treatment is reversible if the patient is wrong. It’s not clear what reversible means with decreased bone density, decreased body size and immature genitalia. The health risks are numerous and include the possibility of infertility and impotence.
Not giving children drugs and surgery that cause irreparable harm to otherwise healthy bodies is construed as a form of child abuse, evoking anti-gay hysteria of the past. But unlike homosexuality, the vast majority of children identifying as trans will “get over it” or be cured by the puberty activist want treated like a pathology.
The problem is that caution over this fact and disagreeing too loudly with gender ideology results in banishment from public discourse. Three medical associations on the other side of a disagreement might typically mean you’re wrong. Perhaps sentiment is now scientific. In the case of gender affirming therapies, there’s little scientific evidence to support them. Considering the risks there should be strong positive affirmation, but there has been too little study. Instead we’re running a live experiment on our children.
I will eventually return to writing about politics, it’s just that, like the media I’m bored by Biden having Trump’s policy goals with more belligerence.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.
Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
Join the crew
Be part of a community of people who share your interests.
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
