Love this article and the connections you make here. My only disagreement is with this statement-- “...the similarities between Jewel’s story and the stories of many transgender people (especially trans-identifying youth) cannot be denied. Years of suffering due to great discomfort with their own bodily identity...Check...” What I’m seeing at my daughter’s progressive suburban high school is that the very many, mostly girls, who identify as trans did not suffer with gender dysphoria for years or even at all. At the very least Jewel, crazy as she is, felt this way since age six. Trans is a social contagion. Straight kids are living closeted lives the same way gay kids did years ago. Trans is their ticket to the glorified oppressed minority. From the looks of it after reading your article, trans ableism could very well be the next big thing that crushes the souls of so many parents. Imagining my daughter with a beard and no breasts is devastating enough. Imagining her needing (desiring) a cane or wheelchair is too much to bear. Munchausens syndrome run amok for the parents who bring their babies to gender clinics. Okay enough rambling. Thank you!
Very well written article, and I agree with the other commenter who wrote that the trans epidemic is largely affecting teens whose suffering has little to do with gender and everything to do with loneliness, anxiety, and too much time spent online. But transition is the special of the day, every day, the cure for whatever ails them. We grow into adults slowly, with much pain and awkwardness. Imagine what a trip it must be to think you can be a new person almost overnight by taking hormones and getting surgery, and grown ups will even help you do it! I wish this article didn’t contain the terms Woke Left and WokeMindVirus. The people who need to be convinced that there’s something rotten going on are my fellow lefties, but the inclusion of those terms means I can’t share this article with them. Thank you for writing it.
Everywhere in the media there is always talk about cliché cliché cliché and that it's bad, but clichés aren't bad in themselves. Clichés are only bad if they are forced. But it's boys who are forced to be quiet, when boys want to fight or have fun fights, they are forbidden. And many also say everything would be social, but there are also studies that say something different. There are also neurobiological facts. Well, then of course there are people who say that society reinforces the neurobiological facts, but then of course there are other people who say something else, you should accept the differences between boys and girls, it's not that bad , when boys and girls are different. Equal rights and tolerance also means accepting that you are different, that you want to make them the same, but that is not tolerance. And also the gender neutral upbringing makes me extremely angry, I find the upbringing quite hostile to boys.
Nice article and a very important comparison. I do think there is one side sort of overlooked, though: I am in full agreement that any type of distress over one's self, physical or otherwise, should be treated psychologically first. But. Sadly, effective psychological treatment is incredibly difficult to access for myriad reasons, and even what would be considered the most effective psychological treatment is not very effective at all for some conditions, nor for the most severe presentations of many other conditions. I am no expert on BIID, but what I have read on the topic seems to indicate that that condition is one that is often profoundly resistant to any of the treatments we have today. Much like the severe cases of gender dysphoria, like the transsexuals of the 70s. Also like many of the most severe and long-standing cases of eating disorders. (The NYT also ran an article about palliative care for individuals with severe treatment-resistant anorexia, in which the goal shifts from curing the illness to maximizing quality of life). In cases where the illness has persistent for decades, has not improved with psychotherapy, AND is causing severe impairment in quality of life and functioning, there is an argument to be made that extreme measures such as amputating a limb may be warranted as a form of palliative care. In other words, some medical and psych professionals feel that just like all areas of medicine, there are some cases that simply will not respond to curative treatment. In those cases, my personal opinion is that there may be justification for doing what will most maximize quality of life, even if it impairs physical function to some extent.
Of course, that's assuming the person is really suffering, has been for years and years, and has attempted more traditional and less extreme forms of treatment first. Where the gender world really lost me was when they began insisting that there should be no gatekeeping at all. And where the extremists in the field began advocating for impairing physical function even when the gender identity really isn't causing distress. To say that we should not try to help people be comfortable in their healthy functional bodies because that would be trans genocide is simply unethical. But by the same token, if that has been attempted-really legitimately attempted-and is not working AND the patient is in severe distress throughout, at some point it seems it might be time to consider other options. Denying that that is ever appropriate seems akin to demanding that all cancer patients continue chemo, even when the cancer is still advancing and they are obviously dying, and refusing to treat their pain with narcotics at the end of their life because "they might get addicted".
Love this article and the connections you make here. My only disagreement is with this statement-- “...the similarities between Jewel’s story and the stories of many transgender people (especially trans-identifying youth) cannot be denied. Years of suffering due to great discomfort with their own bodily identity...Check...” What I’m seeing at my daughter’s progressive suburban high school is that the very many, mostly girls, who identify as trans did not suffer with gender dysphoria for years or even at all. At the very least Jewel, crazy as she is, felt this way since age six. Trans is a social contagion. Straight kids are living closeted lives the same way gay kids did years ago. Trans is their ticket to the glorified oppressed minority. From the looks of it after reading your article, trans ableism could very well be the next big thing that crushes the souls of so many parents. Imagining my daughter with a beard and no breasts is devastating enough. Imagining her needing (desiring) a cane or wheelchair is too much to bear. Munchausens syndrome run amok for the parents who bring their babies to gender clinics. Okay enough rambling. Thank you!
Very well written article, and I agree with the other commenter who wrote that the trans epidemic is largely affecting teens whose suffering has little to do with gender and everything to do with loneliness, anxiety, and too much time spent online. But transition is the special of the day, every day, the cure for whatever ails them. We grow into adults slowly, with much pain and awkwardness. Imagine what a trip it must be to think you can be a new person almost overnight by taking hormones and getting surgery, and grown ups will even help you do it! I wish this article didn’t contain the terms Woke Left and WokeMindVirus. The people who need to be convinced that there’s something rotten going on are my fellow lefties, but the inclusion of those terms means I can’t share this article with them. Thank you for writing it.
The Atlantic wrote about this two decades ago.
A New Way to Be Mad - The Atlantic
Everywhere in the media there is always talk about cliché cliché cliché and that it's bad, but clichés aren't bad in themselves. Clichés are only bad if they are forced. But it's boys who are forced to be quiet, when boys want to fight or have fun fights, they are forbidden. And many also say everything would be social, but there are also studies that say something different. There are also neurobiological facts. Well, then of course there are people who say that society reinforces the neurobiological facts, but then of course there are other people who say something else, you should accept the differences between boys and girls, it's not that bad , when boys and girls are different. Equal rights and tolerance also means accepting that you are different, that you want to make them the same, but that is not tolerance. And also the gender neutral upbringing makes me extremely angry, I find the upbringing quite hostile to boys.
Nice article and a very important comparison. I do think there is one side sort of overlooked, though: I am in full agreement that any type of distress over one's self, physical or otherwise, should be treated psychologically first. But. Sadly, effective psychological treatment is incredibly difficult to access for myriad reasons, and even what would be considered the most effective psychological treatment is not very effective at all for some conditions, nor for the most severe presentations of many other conditions. I am no expert on BIID, but what I have read on the topic seems to indicate that that condition is one that is often profoundly resistant to any of the treatments we have today. Much like the severe cases of gender dysphoria, like the transsexuals of the 70s. Also like many of the most severe and long-standing cases of eating disorders. (The NYT also ran an article about palliative care for individuals with severe treatment-resistant anorexia, in which the goal shifts from curing the illness to maximizing quality of life). In cases where the illness has persistent for decades, has not improved with psychotherapy, AND is causing severe impairment in quality of life and functioning, there is an argument to be made that extreme measures such as amputating a limb may be warranted as a form of palliative care. In other words, some medical and psych professionals feel that just like all areas of medicine, there are some cases that simply will not respond to curative treatment. In those cases, my personal opinion is that there may be justification for doing what will most maximize quality of life, even if it impairs physical function to some extent.
Of course, that's assuming the person is really suffering, has been for years and years, and has attempted more traditional and less extreme forms of treatment first. Where the gender world really lost me was when they began insisting that there should be no gatekeeping at all. And where the extremists in the field began advocating for impairing physical function even when the gender identity really isn't causing distress. To say that we should not try to help people be comfortable in their healthy functional bodies because that would be trans genocide is simply unethical. But by the same token, if that has been attempted-really legitimately attempted-and is not working AND the patient is in severe distress throughout, at some point it seems it might be time to consider other options. Denying that that is ever appropriate seems akin to demanding that all cancer patients continue chemo, even when the cancer is still advancing and they are obviously dying, and refusing to treat their pain with narcotics at the end of their life because "they might get addicted".