This is super-informative, thanks. Also, a "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" reference is in my view NEVER out of place.
I didn't know that Johns Hopkins had ever stopped engaging in these treatments, but I am not surprised that it has resumed them. The sad reality is that gender ideology, like everything else in our culture, has become politicized in a (heh) binary way. You are either skeptical of these ideals, and thus are a Trump voter, or you are supportive, and therefore voted for Barack Obama. (Or whatever Democrat.) There's no space for anything else. Hell, I choked down gender ideology for years because I thought the alternative was to become conservative. I never really believed, but since I am a long-time liberal, I felt that I had to act as if I did. So it's quite natural to me that JHU has gone back to these treatments; to do otherwise is to join the Manhattan Institute, don a MAGA hat and hope for all trans people to die.
These days, I have become more courageous and more open about my skepticism. I think you can despise Donald Trump, be pro-choice, support Medicare for all, and STILL think that gender "medicine" isn't really medicine at all. I figure that if more of us on the left speak up, we won't have to cede gender skepticism to the right.
This has been a remarkable series of articles - scrupulously documented and thorough.
I had not looked at the 1988 Cohen-Kettenis study until you linked it here. It found 1 in 7 post-op MtF patients attempted suicide. That's a high number. I think it's possible that for some patients, these interventions do reduce suicidality but it's also clear that a great many remain in distress. This maps onto what I see among my students, most of whom have only taken hormones (apart from the natal females who've had top surgery, which is a rapidly growing number due mostly to its rise among those who identify as nonbinary).
The central standard that's lacking in youth gender medicine, in my view, is that we have no way of being reasonably sure which young people will continue to identify as trans well into adulthood. That's even more fundamental than the lack of standardization in diagnostic criteria. I find it hard to imagine that there will *ever* be a way to make a solid diagnosis! First, this would presume that there's such a thing as a "trans child," which I've come to doubt. Secondly, young people's identities are in flux, and pinning a "trans" label on a child or adolescent often brings the normal process of identity development to a screeching halt.
This is super-informative, thanks. Also, a "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" reference is in my view NEVER out of place.
I didn't know that Johns Hopkins had ever stopped engaging in these treatments, but I am not surprised that it has resumed them. The sad reality is that gender ideology, like everything else in our culture, has become politicized in a (heh) binary way. You are either skeptical of these ideals, and thus are a Trump voter, or you are supportive, and therefore voted for Barack Obama. (Or whatever Democrat.) There's no space for anything else. Hell, I choked down gender ideology for years because I thought the alternative was to become conservative. I never really believed, but since I am a long-time liberal, I felt that I had to act as if I did. So it's quite natural to me that JHU has gone back to these treatments; to do otherwise is to join the Manhattan Institute, don a MAGA hat and hope for all trans people to die.
These days, I have become more courageous and more open about my skepticism. I think you can despise Donald Trump, be pro-choice, support Medicare for all, and STILL think that gender "medicine" isn't really medicine at all. I figure that if more of us on the left speak up, we won't have to cede gender skepticism to the right.
Those clinicians are not scientists, they are sorcerers.
It absolutely fits Lili Elbe's surgeon at the least, with no hyperbole.
Goalpost shifting. Really a ridiculous concept. Thanks for writing about this
This has been a remarkable series of articles - scrupulously documented and thorough.
I had not looked at the 1988 Cohen-Kettenis study until you linked it here. It found 1 in 7 post-op MtF patients attempted suicide. That's a high number. I think it's possible that for some patients, these interventions do reduce suicidality but it's also clear that a great many remain in distress. This maps onto what I see among my students, most of whom have only taken hormones (apart from the natal females who've had top surgery, which is a rapidly growing number due mostly to its rise among those who identify as nonbinary).
The central standard that's lacking in youth gender medicine, in my view, is that we have no way of being reasonably sure which young people will continue to identify as trans well into adulthood. That's even more fundamental than the lack of standardization in diagnostic criteria. I find it hard to imagine that there will *ever* be a way to make a solid diagnosis! First, this would presume that there's such a thing as a "trans child," which I've come to doubt. Secondly, young people's identities are in flux, and pinning a "trans" label on a child or adolescent often brings the normal process of identity development to a screeching halt.
That's a great point. Maybe I'll add a word about that, later.