The absence of any discussion of the epidemic of gender transitioning among both sexes, but especially girls, is glaring and difficult to justify. Prof. Haidt discusses "gender" numerous times as a qualifier between males and females, without once mentioning the unprecedented increase in girls seeking gender TRANSITION services, first de…
The absence of any discussion of the epidemic of gender transitioning among both sexes, but especially girls, is glaring and difficult to justify. Prof. Haidt discusses "gender" numerous times as a qualifier between males and females, without once mentioning the unprecedented increase in girls seeking gender TRANSITION services, first described at the U.K.'s Tavistock gender service, beginning in around 2011 and continuing to the present day. The graph shows the rise:
The U.K. is just one country. There is a worldwide epidemic of transgender identification in children and adolescents, but especially girls, abetted by the medical establishment and even the public schools, which now tell first graders that they can be the sex of their choice. The coining of a new term, "ROGD" (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria) as the result of a study by Dr. Lisa Littman in 2018, took hold because therapists were seeing the phenomenon all over the world and recognized that a new form of social contagion was afoot.
If ever there was a bellwether for the uptick in mental illness in girls, this is it. A 5,337% increase deserves a mention, don't you think?
Tavistock is still open. As of February 2023: "One thousand children are still receiving treatment at the gender clinic, according to the Sunday Times, including prescriptions for puberty blockers for kids under 16-years-old. An additional 8,000 children are on the waiting list for the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS)."
Furthermore, Tavistock is not planning to close permanently. It's revamping: "“The decision to decommission GIDS in a planned and managed way was taken following advice from the Independent Cass review which made clear that children’s gender services should be led by specialist children’s hospitals going forward,” the NHS said in a statement.
“The phase 1 providers will include a London-based hub led by a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust providing the specialist mental health support, and a Northwest hub led by a partnership between Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.”
I don't see the gender clinics in the States closing either. What trans rights activists and doctors euphemistically refer to as "gender affirming care" is still the standard in most of the country. The Gender Mapping project (https://www.gendermapper.org/name-and-shame-doctors) shows over 400 gender clinics in North America alone.
P.S. I don't think anyone is saying that those who believe "gender affirming care" (by any definition) are suddenly changing their minds and now believing in the inherent harms to children. They may well just be moving off the 'front pages', so to say, to continue operating elsewhere under the political radar.
You might be right. But my experience has been that most people are not aware of the scope of the problem. When we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist, except for the anguished parents dealing with the issue every day. How many people read the PITT Substack? How many have even heard of it?
I talk to friends and family who sincerely believe I'm either wildly exaggerating or literally lying to them, that's how foreign and preposterous the ugly truths about gender medicalization are to them. Who could blame them?
Experts like Haidt have a responsibility to talk about this issue. He doesn't have to make it the centerpiece of his writing, but it should be there somewhere. It represents a big part of the overall puzzle of what is destroying the bodies and peace of mind of girls at the present time. It's both a symptom and a cause. Its reach is enormous, and more pernicious every day.
I too have had that experience in reactions to what I wrote to my acquaintances and an article I wrote in my Substack. E.g. people from rural districts aren't experiencing what is going on in the bigger cities, so they flat-out deny it's happening. They miss the contagion factor that comes especially with social media.
Oh I did not mean that the issue is not significant or should not be discussed. I just meant that the transgender crisis is part and parcel of the mental health crisis. I think he was explaining how that crisis occurred and is occurring. IOW the transgender crisis is an extension of the same causation.
I got that. You were saying that the trans issue is implied by the "larger" topic being discussed. And I agree with you there.
But I'm going to stand by my view that Haidt is falling down on the job. He has a responsibility to make the connection explicit. I say this because I know my liberals, and liberals don't think that being a "trans kid" or "trans teen" is a problem. They're not allowed to think that. It would be "transphobic," and they've twisted themselves in knots to avoid being seen as transphobic. Here's what they are required to believe: there's a brave and wonderful new phenomenon of "trans kids" who are coming into their own because we have created a more accepting culture through the Affirmative Model, through which they can thrive. Otherwise they would commit suicide. We don't want that, do we? Of course we don't. (Who would?)
So when Prof. Haidt refers to neurotic, anxious, depressed, mentally ill girls, he's not referring to trans kids. The other girls may be crashing and burning. But the Trans Kids are Alright.
You may know your liberals, Beeswax, but with all due respect, you don't know this one. I still think of myself as one and I believe that 'trans' anything is a monstrous problem and completely out of control. And I know many left of center people who feel the same way. This is emphatically not a blue or red issue. Try not to typecast everyone into little boxes, please.
Well, I’m very happy to hear it. I have not met any gender-critical liberals, except for the radical feminists. If I make the mistake of raising the issue, I get sheepish smiles and a quick, let’s change the subject. The liberals I know, and I know many, are shamefully ill-informed on the topic. (Could it be geographic? I’m in the northeast.)
All true about the trans kids. But don't you find this article provides a compelling rationale for that even if Haidt did not spell it out? I find it very refreshing. I like to understand why and I think these guys have hit several nails on the head. Just as it applies to the trans crisis, IMO much of it applies to many people. Teenage girls are not the only ones tied to their smart devices. And many of the older ones who did not grow up that way have embraced the use and the social media thereon to the extent that they might as well be teenage girls.
Yes, I agree, this article has a lot of merit. I'm not rejecting Haidt's research or the article as a whole. I read "Coddling" years ago, and have seen Haidt's excellent lectures about the "Righteous Mind." He's very astute and has a lot of original and good things to say. Maybe this is why his conscious decision -- I'm sure it's a choice, not an oversight...he's too smart for that -- to avoid trans altogether bothers me so much. Especially now, as kids are being escorted over the cliff in droves.
The spurious rationalizations and assertions of so-called trans identity may be malevolent fantasies, but the irreversible medical mutilation of children and adolescents, mostly female, is concrete and ongoing. The numbers continue to rise. It seems to me that to ignore it completely, given the subject of the study, is irresponsible.
That's one hypothesis. Another is that he's no fool. He decided not to touch trans with a 10-foot pole because he knew he would be labeled a right-wing transphobe and lose his job, and his research would go into the trash without anyone reading it.
The absence of any discussion of the epidemic of gender transitioning among both sexes, but especially girls, is glaring and difficult to justify. Prof. Haidt discusses "gender" numerous times as a qualifier between males and females, without once mentioning the unprecedented increase in girls seeking gender TRANSITION services, first described at the U.K.'s Tavistock gender service, beginning in around 2011 and continuing to the present day. The graph shows the rise:
"The total number of referrals for 2018/19 in England alone is 624 boys and 1,740 girls. In less than a decade there has been a 1,460% increase in referrals of boys and a staggering 5,337% increase in girls." https://www.transgendertrend.com/surge-referral-rates-girls-tavistock-continues-rise/
The U.K. is just one country. There is a worldwide epidemic of transgender identification in children and adolescents, but especially girls, abetted by the medical establishment and even the public schools, which now tell first graders that they can be the sex of their choice. The coining of a new term, "ROGD" (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria) as the result of a study by Dr. Lisa Littman in 2018, took hold because therapists were seeing the phenomenon all over the world and recognized that a new form of social contagion was afoot.
If ever there was a bellwether for the uptick in mental illness in girls, this is it. A 5,337% increase deserves a mention, don't you think?
I think Tavistock is (thankfully) closing this Spring. I hope all those in the States do likewise, and post haste!
Tavistock is still open. As of February 2023: "One thousand children are still receiving treatment at the gender clinic, according to the Sunday Times, including prescriptions for puberty blockers for kids under 16-years-old. An additional 8,000 children are on the waiting list for the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS)."
Furthermore, Tavistock is not planning to close permanently. It's revamping: "“The decision to decommission GIDS in a planned and managed way was taken following advice from the Independent Cass review which made clear that children’s gender services should be led by specialist children’s hospitals going forward,” the NHS said in a statement.
“The phase 1 providers will include a London-based hub led by a partnership between Great Ormond Street Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust providing the specialist mental health support, and a Northwest hub led by a partnership between Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.”
https://dailycaller.com/2023/02/20/gender-clinic-london-tavistock-puberty-blockers-kids-shut-down/
I don't see the gender clinics in the States closing either. What trans rights activists and doctors euphemistically refer to as "gender affirming care" is still the standard in most of the country. The Gender Mapping project (https://www.gendermapper.org/name-and-shame-doctors) shows over 400 gender clinics in North America alone.
Speculation may be all over the map (e.g. https://segm.org/UK_shuts-down-worlds-biggest-gender-clinic-for-kids), so it will be interesting to see who really does what.
P.S. I don't think anyone is saying that those who believe "gender affirming care" (by any definition) are suddenly changing their minds and now believing in the inherent harms to children. They may well just be moving off the 'front pages', so to say, to continue operating elsewhere under the political radar.
That’s what I assume will happen. They won’t go down without a fight.
I think it went without saying.
You might be right. But my experience has been that most people are not aware of the scope of the problem. When we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist, except for the anguished parents dealing with the issue every day. How many people read the PITT Substack? How many have even heard of it?
I talk to friends and family who sincerely believe I'm either wildly exaggerating or literally lying to them, that's how foreign and preposterous the ugly truths about gender medicalization are to them. Who could blame them?
Experts like Haidt have a responsibility to talk about this issue. He doesn't have to make it the centerpiece of his writing, but it should be there somewhere. It represents a big part of the overall puzzle of what is destroying the bodies and peace of mind of girls at the present time. It's both a symptom and a cause. Its reach is enormous, and more pernicious every day.
I too have had that experience in reactions to what I wrote to my acquaintances and an article I wrote in my Substack. E.g. people from rural districts aren't experiencing what is going on in the bigger cities, so they flat-out deny it's happening. They miss the contagion factor that comes especially with social media.
Oh I did not mean that the issue is not significant or should not be discussed. I just meant that the transgender crisis is part and parcel of the mental health crisis. I think he was explaining how that crisis occurred and is occurring. IOW the transgender crisis is an extension of the same causation.
I got that. You were saying that the trans issue is implied by the "larger" topic being discussed. And I agree with you there.
But I'm going to stand by my view that Haidt is falling down on the job. He has a responsibility to make the connection explicit. I say this because I know my liberals, and liberals don't think that being a "trans kid" or "trans teen" is a problem. They're not allowed to think that. It would be "transphobic," and they've twisted themselves in knots to avoid being seen as transphobic. Here's what they are required to believe: there's a brave and wonderful new phenomenon of "trans kids" who are coming into their own because we have created a more accepting culture through the Affirmative Model, through which they can thrive. Otherwise they would commit suicide. We don't want that, do we? Of course we don't. (Who would?)
So when Prof. Haidt refers to neurotic, anxious, depressed, mentally ill girls, he's not referring to trans kids. The other girls may be crashing and burning. But the Trans Kids are Alright.
You may know your liberals, Beeswax, but with all due respect, you don't know this one. I still think of myself as one and I believe that 'trans' anything is a monstrous problem and completely out of control. And I know many left of center people who feel the same way. This is emphatically not a blue or red issue. Try not to typecast everyone into little boxes, please.
Well, I’m very happy to hear it. I have not met any gender-critical liberals, except for the radical feminists. If I make the mistake of raising the issue, I get sheepish smiles and a quick, let’s change the subject. The liberals I know, and I know many, are shamefully ill-informed on the topic. (Could it be geographic? I’m in the northeast.)
All these kids are at risk for suicide, regardless of their "gender" crisis. That's what the Gender Affirmation people won't tell you.
And it will be years before we see meaningful data on that.
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/suicide-rate-highest-among-teens-and-young-adults
I cannot like that but I appreciate the info.
All true about the trans kids. But don't you find this article provides a compelling rationale for that even if Haidt did not spell it out? I find it very refreshing. I like to understand why and I think these guys have hit several nails on the head. Just as it applies to the trans crisis, IMO much of it applies to many people. Teenage girls are not the only ones tied to their smart devices. And many of the older ones who did not grow up that way have embraced the use and the social media thereon to the extent that they might as well be teenage girls.
Yes, I agree, this article has a lot of merit. I'm not rejecting Haidt's research or the article as a whole. I read "Coddling" years ago, and have seen Haidt's excellent lectures about the "Righteous Mind." He's very astute and has a lot of original and good things to say. Maybe this is why his conscious decision -- I'm sure it's a choice, not an oversight...he's too smart for that -- to avoid trans altogether bothers me so much. Especially now, as kids are being escorted over the cliff in droves.
I am not nearly as familiar with him as are you. But from your comment and others I suspect you are right and that it is a conscious decision.
And yet, the Gender Affirmation treatments continue. This is the new Opiate Crisis evolving.
more like lobotomy mania
The spurious rationalizations and assertions of so-called trans identity may be malevolent fantasies, but the irreversible medical mutilation of children and adolescents, mostly female, is concrete and ongoing. The numbers continue to rise. It seems to me that to ignore it completely, given the subject of the study, is irresponsible.
That's one hypothesis. Another is that he's no fool. He decided not to touch trans with a 10-foot pole because he knew he would be labeled a right-wing transphobe and lose his job, and his research would go into the trash without anyone reading it.