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Staff editor @nytimes, @bokatlindell asks good questions in his opinion piece. Why all the laws targeting trans issues? Party-politics aside, what's the debate? Yet his answer is disappointingly, squarely political: "it's the right-wing conspiracy." /1 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/opinion/transgender-children-sports-medical.html?searchResultPosition=2
As a life-long democrat, let me answer these questions, Twitter-style.
1. Why now? In the last 5 yrs, there has been a massive increase in youth self-id as trans. We r talking 2+ million in US alone today, vs. a few thousand for decades prior. A truly unprecedented phenomenon /1
1. Why now? In the last 5 yrs, there has been a massive increase in youth self-id as trans. We r talking 2+ million in US alone today, vs. a few thousand for decades prior. A truly unprecedented phenomenon /1
2. Coinciding with this shift (which baffles even the most experienced gender experts who worked with this population for 30+ yrs), is a huge push for pathologizing of gender-non-conforming behaviors, and medicalizing youth with experimental hormones and surgeries. /2
3. These interventions do provide psychological relief to some people in the short term. But not a single quality study was able to demonstrate lasting benefits. The only one that claimed to have done so had to recently corrected, finding zero benefit. /3 https://segm.org/ajp_correction_2020
4. Until recently, the average age of transitioners was 30-35. The experiment on youth is only a few years old. It's known as the "Dutch Protocol". No long-term outcomes yet. The results are already conflicting: the UK study could not replicate the positive Dutch results). /4
5. Nearly every activist gender doc, including Jack Turban (whom @nytimes loves--even though he is still in training, with an ego far outpacing his experience or knowledge), is being paid by Big Pharma, which stands to profit from the proliferation of medicalizaiton of minors. /5
6. The money is trans healthcare is huge. 2% of kids with gender dysphoria (a conservative estimate ) means BILLIONS of dollars alone:
1. 40 million US youth * 2% = 800,000
2. Puberty blockers = 30K per year (min)
3. 800,000*30K=24 billion per year.
Am I wrong? Check my math./6
1. 40 million US youth * 2% = 800,000
2. Puberty blockers = 30K per year (min)
3. 800,000*30K=24 billion per year.
Am I wrong? Check my math./6
7. It's easy to blame this all on politics in the US, and I don't doubt politics ARE at play on both sides. But what about the UK? They just did a major systematic review and found no evidence for these interventions for youth. They cautioned about harm./7 https://segm.org/NICE_gender_medicine_systematic_review_finds_poor_quality_evidence
It would be really great if @nytimes began to cover these complex issues with the nuance that it deserves. Because in a few years, there will be tens of thousands of Keira Bells. Most are too young for the experimental and life-altering decisions (re castration, amputations)./8
