Well thought out and well written! Though I didn’t read the whole Cass Review…(I wonder how many critics did…) , I downloaded the whole report and skimmed through it. Lots of graphs , and and obviously very well researched. I agree that it left the doors open to “ those who might benefit” ,which is a bit of a cop out.
I still believe that the trans hysteria is one of easily influenced young people who are either indulging in “épater la bourgeoisie” , or have some more serious mental problems , like autism. Interestingly, Dr. Cass makes this statement:
“ Primary and secondary care staff have told us that they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach, and that this is at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake in all other clinical encounters.”
This alone should give one pause! ….This and the refusal by Tavistock Clinic to allow Dr. Cass to interview outcomes of 9,000 of former patients!
There is something very rotten about the so-called “ affirmative care” ! It should be called by its true name: a huge ( though highly profitable ) medical malpractice experiment.
It's even worse than malpractice, which is usually the result of a mistake or incompetence. There is something abt this paradigm which convinces educated people to replace their knowledge and experience with a nonsensical ideology. This frames deliberate harm as a desired outcome while allowing the person doing the harm to feel virtuous.
The complete denial of biological science is truly disturbing, and it seems that people who call themselves atheists are more likely to believe in trans. I call them Flat Earthers and they get a blank, hypnotized look and call me names. It’s all so bizarre.
The irony is so sharp it hurts. I saw one of them define gender in a back and forth with Peter Boghossian as a social construct. It should have ended there. Social constructs are not human attributes, but attributes of society. I couldn't watch anymore. I can't take people who think you have to treat every argument as credible without substantiation.
Joe Biden is either so stupid or so uninformed about the issue that he believes that mutilating gay children in the name of
"gender affirming care" is somehow like the civil rights struggle of the 1960's. He doesn't understand or care that this is exactly the approach that our sworn enemy Iran uses in its futile attempt to stamp out homosexuality.
Donald Trump is equally stupid and uninformed but he at least is surrounded by people who would do the right thing to save the children (ban gender affirming care for those under 18) even if for the wrong reasons. It's unbelievable but a vote for Trump in this case is a vote for sanity although I won’t be voting for him.
The darkest aspect of all of this is that the biggest advocates for adolescent "sex changes" is adult men. Some, Like Levine, because it validates them, some because it results in adults with permanently adolescent bodies.
I think a second Biden term is an existential threat. Who is actually making decisions? But I live in a very blue state, so I'm not sure how much it matters.
I agree totally with your premise. Since this all started with absolutely no evidentiary basis, it is hard to believe it will end by proving a lack of evidence for it.
Further, while I very much appreciate the Cass Review and Hillary Cass herself for the efforts to at least greatly slow down the abuse of teens, I am disappointed that Cass, in interviews, says things like (paraphrasing) "being 'trans' is as good an outcome as remaining 'cis.'" This is, of course, false. Cass may feel it necessary to say things like this so that her analysis of the scientific studies carries weight and is not attacked as being "transphobic" (another word that has been distorted), but I still feel that it is a mistake to say such things.
In fact, it is not "transphobic" in that it is no attack on those who have chosen to go down the route of medical transition to state - clear as a bell - that the avoidance of unnecessary surgeries and toxic chemicals is a better outcome. It is no attack on those who have had tumors removed or had chemotherapy or radiation to treat cancer if we could find a way to end the cancer without doing those things. If, for example, a certain healthy diet could rid the body of cancerous tumors, that would be a better outcome than surgeries, chemo and radiation, and it would not be an attack on those who have been through the surgeries, chemo and/or radiation to say it would be better not to need or have such treatments.
Of course, cancer itself is very destructive and usually life-threatening, while "gender dysphoria" is an unclear psychological ailment that is known to heal itself with time and maturity for most (and perhaps all before we had medical transition as an option). For the few, if any, who might not get through gender dysphoria without something more, we should be considering better treatments, such as humane therapeutic methods that might ease the emotional suffering and reconcile the body with the mind. Extreme body modification as a treatment for psychological ailments seems quite risky and questionable to me. The last time we did that, it was lobotomies, and that is not exactly looked upon favorably. I'm not saying chemical and surgical castration and other extreme body modifications are the same as lobotomies, but these are very extreme and should not be considered unless there is absolutely no other option and the patient is not able to function in society without it. I don't think we have determined that this is the case for anyone, and I don't think we will. The idea that a mental disorder requires extreme body modifications as the only treatment is quite questionable and must be looked upon with grave doubt.
We don't have to outlaw all medical transition, but we must make it illegal for ALL minors. For adults, it must be heavily regulated, not covered by insurance, private or public, and there must be a heavy campaign to enlighten the public that it is purely cosmetic, not a medical treatment. It must not be encouraged by any medical professionals, and the dangers must be highlighted, both in a public campaign and by any cosmetic surgeons or endocrinologists who provide for these cosmetic procedures. This must be treated like the extreme body modification that it is.
Sorry for the rant. You touched upon what I have been thinking for a long time.
No need to apologize. This is well stated. I think there is a great deal of value in people articulating their thoughts and doubts on this, and generally every subject with a strong narrative behind it. I think that Michael Knowles stated the goal well: the end of transgenderism. People dishonestly portrayed that as an attack on people when it was a call to respect the rights of the majority. Transphobia just means knowing there are two immutable sexes and refusing to say otherwise. Ending transgenderism means being able to accurately state reality without negative consequence for refusing to pretend men are women. It means no public moneys for adults mutilating their bodies. And it definitely means no more "sex changes" for children. If there are adults who still want to mutilate themselves, it should be between them and their doctor's ethics, as with the man who turned himself into a human lizard and the woman turning herself into a human cat.
Well thought out and well written! Though I didn’t read the whole Cass Review…(I wonder how many critics did…) , I downloaded the whole report and skimmed through it. Lots of graphs , and and obviously very well researched. I agree that it left the doors open to “ those who might benefit” ,which is a bit of a cop out.
I still believe that the trans hysteria is one of easily influenced young people who are either indulging in “épater la bourgeoisie” , or have some more serious mental problems , like autism. Interestingly, Dr. Cass makes this statement:
“ Primary and secondary care staff have told us that they feel under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach, and that this is at odds with the standard process of clinical assessment and diagnosis that they have been trained to undertake in all other clinical encounters.”
This alone should give one pause! ….This and the refusal by Tavistock Clinic to allow Dr. Cass to interview outcomes of 9,000 of former patients!
There is something very rotten about the so-called “ affirmative care” ! It should be called by its true name: a huge ( though highly profitable ) medical malpractice experiment.
It's even worse than malpractice, which is usually the result of a mistake or incompetence. There is something abt this paradigm which convinces educated people to replace their knowledge and experience with a nonsensical ideology. This frames deliberate harm as a desired outcome while allowing the person doing the harm to feel virtuous.
The complete denial of biological science is truly disturbing, and it seems that people who call themselves atheists are more likely to believe in trans. I call them Flat Earthers and they get a blank, hypnotized look and call me names. It’s all so bizarre.
The irony is so sharp it hurts. I saw one of them define gender in a back and forth with Peter Boghossian as a social construct. It should have ended there. Social constructs are not human attributes, but attributes of society. I couldn't watch anymore. I can't take people who think you have to treat every argument as credible without substantiation.
Joe Biden is either so stupid or so uninformed about the issue that he believes that mutilating gay children in the name of
"gender affirming care" is somehow like the civil rights struggle of the 1960's. He doesn't understand or care that this is exactly the approach that our sworn enemy Iran uses in its futile attempt to stamp out homosexuality.
Donald Trump is equally stupid and uninformed but he at least is surrounded by people who would do the right thing to save the children (ban gender affirming care for those under 18) even if for the wrong reasons. It's unbelievable but a vote for Trump in this case is a vote for sanity although I won’t be voting for him.
The darkest aspect of all of this is that the biggest advocates for adolescent "sex changes" is adult men. Some, Like Levine, because it validates them, some because it results in adults with permanently adolescent bodies.
I think a second Biden term is an existential threat. Who is actually making decisions? But I live in a very blue state, so I'm not sure how much it matters.
I agree totally with your premise. Since this all started with absolutely no evidentiary basis, it is hard to believe it will end by proving a lack of evidence for it.
Further, while I very much appreciate the Cass Review and Hillary Cass herself for the efforts to at least greatly slow down the abuse of teens, I am disappointed that Cass, in interviews, says things like (paraphrasing) "being 'trans' is as good an outcome as remaining 'cis.'" This is, of course, false. Cass may feel it necessary to say things like this so that her analysis of the scientific studies carries weight and is not attacked as being "transphobic" (another word that has been distorted), but I still feel that it is a mistake to say such things.
In fact, it is not "transphobic" in that it is no attack on those who have chosen to go down the route of medical transition to state - clear as a bell - that the avoidance of unnecessary surgeries and toxic chemicals is a better outcome. It is no attack on those who have had tumors removed or had chemotherapy or radiation to treat cancer if we could find a way to end the cancer without doing those things. If, for example, a certain healthy diet could rid the body of cancerous tumors, that would be a better outcome than surgeries, chemo and radiation, and it would not be an attack on those who have been through the surgeries, chemo and/or radiation to say it would be better not to need or have such treatments.
Of course, cancer itself is very destructive and usually life-threatening, while "gender dysphoria" is an unclear psychological ailment that is known to heal itself with time and maturity for most (and perhaps all before we had medical transition as an option). For the few, if any, who might not get through gender dysphoria without something more, we should be considering better treatments, such as humane therapeutic methods that might ease the emotional suffering and reconcile the body with the mind. Extreme body modification as a treatment for psychological ailments seems quite risky and questionable to me. The last time we did that, it was lobotomies, and that is not exactly looked upon favorably. I'm not saying chemical and surgical castration and other extreme body modifications are the same as lobotomies, but these are very extreme and should not be considered unless there is absolutely no other option and the patient is not able to function in society without it. I don't think we have determined that this is the case for anyone, and I don't think we will. The idea that a mental disorder requires extreme body modifications as the only treatment is quite questionable and must be looked upon with grave doubt.
We don't have to outlaw all medical transition, but we must make it illegal for ALL minors. For adults, it must be heavily regulated, not covered by insurance, private or public, and there must be a heavy campaign to enlighten the public that it is purely cosmetic, not a medical treatment. It must not be encouraged by any medical professionals, and the dangers must be highlighted, both in a public campaign and by any cosmetic surgeons or endocrinologists who provide for these cosmetic procedures. This must be treated like the extreme body modification that it is.
Sorry for the rant. You touched upon what I have been thinking for a long time.
No need to apologize. This is well stated. I think there is a great deal of value in people articulating their thoughts and doubts on this, and generally every subject with a strong narrative behind it. I think that Michael Knowles stated the goal well: the end of transgenderism. People dishonestly portrayed that as an attack on people when it was a call to respect the rights of the majority. Transphobia just means knowing there are two immutable sexes and refusing to say otherwise. Ending transgenderism means being able to accurately state reality without negative consequence for refusing to pretend men are women. It means no public moneys for adults mutilating their bodies. And it definitely means no more "sex changes" for children. If there are adults who still want to mutilate themselves, it should be between them and their doctor's ethics, as with the man who turned himself into a human lizard and the woman turning herself into a human cat.
Thanks for sharing.