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The dark truth about gender surgeries

'This is an alarmingly casual attitude toward major elective surgeries.' Credit: Getty

August 28, 2023 - 10:00am

Last week, the New York Times reported that gender surgeries almost tripled between 2016 and 2019. That includes over 27,000 operations to amputate or simulate breasts, over 16,000 genital surgeries, and over 6,000 facial surgeries. Almost 8% of patients undergoing gender surgeries were 18 or under. 

These numbers, researchers point out, are almost certainly an undercount. 

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s latest standards of care lists 54 potentially “gender-affirming” operations patients might undergo — from hairline advancement to upper lip shortening to calf implants. Brow lines and jaw lines can be reduced or augmented. Nipples can be kept or removed. The penis can stay but a neovagina, lined with colon tissue, can be added. Patients can even opt to cut everything off and be as smooth and unreal as a Ken doll. 

Since such cosmetic interventions can only imitate the appearance of the opposite sex, that means there’s no end to the procedures patients and their unscrupulous surgeons can pursue. Sure, you’ll never become, but you can always keep trying! 

This is where gender dysphoria starts to look a lot like body dysmorphia. Address one “problem area”, and the dysphoria doesn’t resolve: it migrates. Patients and surgeons end up playing a macabre game of whack-a-mole. As dysphoria migrates across the body, new markets for surgical intervention open up. And because surgery will never turn a male into a female or a female into a male, the market for body modification is bottomless. 

Plastic surgeons are meant to screen out patients who have impossible expectations for cosmetic interventions. But take away the impossible expectations and transition falls apart. 

Some of these surgeries have horrifying complication rates, like phalloplasties. But medical complications can be reframed as opportunities, too. When Vanderbilt University’s Clinic for Transgender Health opened its doors in 2018, one physician pointed out: “Female-to-male bottom surgeries
 these are huge money-makers.” 

As the number of detransitioners and regretters rise, “gender-affirming” clinicians must improvise to protect their revenue streams. They wax lyrical about “gender journeys” and shift to the slippery language of “embodiment goals”, which can always change. The target of surgical and hormonal interventions becomes whatever a patient desires today. The possibility that a patient’s desires may shift tomorrow — or curdle into regret — is no cause for concern. 

Last year two of the US’s leading gender clinicians, Johanna Olson-Kennedy and Jack Turban, contributed “dynamic desires for gender-affirming medical interventions” to the Newspeak dictionary. “Dynamic desires” means medical harm and regret. For Olson-Kennedy, the answer to surgical regret is more surgery. When asked about the possibility of regret and detransition, she mused: “What does that actually mean? Does that mean that someone has additional breast tissue that they would not want at a later point? But they could get that breast tissue removed if they absolutely need to.” Or maybe a patient had her breasts removed but “if you want breasts at a later point in your life, you can go and get them”.

This is an alarmingly casual attitude toward major elective surgeries. But it’s also a sign of the times. Everything is loosening and rolling downhill in one direction: toward ever more cosmetic interventions on healthy human bodies in the name of making the outside match the inside — whatever that means. 

Nonbinary patients — who might have avoided surgical interventions in favour of blue hair dye, personal “flair”, and interpersonal tediousness — chase an androgynous form that never existed in nature. There are even young people who shed their trans identities but insist on going through with “top surgery” or hysterectomies. 

In other words: it’s customise-your-meatsuit-o’clock. We’re normalising extreme body modification and the justifications (extreme distress, suicide prevention) are starting to fall away, replaced by a fatuous language of self-actualisation that hides its contempt for human limits under the whimsical dressings of gender play.


Eliza Mondegreen is a graduate student in psychiatry and the author of Writing Behavior on Substack.

elizamondegreen

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ben arnulfssen
ben arnulfssen
1 year ago

Why are these surgeons not looking at the world from behind bars?

Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

It does seem alarmingly at odds with the Hippocratic Oath

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

Because what you apparently pretend or imagine is real and relevant about these sugeries is not.

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

The binary is real whether you acknowledge it or not. There is a public service being done here. The mentally ill are being rendered sterile, so it’s “evolution in action.”

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim M

It is a bimodal distribution which is real, not a binary, and the genes which are associated with being transgender like those associated with being gay occur in a steady state rate throughout the whole population. Transgender people have no mental illness, but have a physical birth defect.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I thought it was there ineffable ‘gender identity’ which only they can see.

Xaven Taner
Xaven Taner
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

You people are as dangerous as Mengele, and should suffer the same consequences for your evil actions.

Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

It’s a genetic defect?? Does it run in families? Why is increasing so drastically, above all amongst teenage girls?

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Helen Hughes

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: ROGD

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Helen Hughes

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: ROGD

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Unfortunately, the supposed “bimodal” distribution of sex as a non-binary attribute is pure pseudoscience. Aka hooey.

For a true bimodal distriburion of a physical attribute, height is a good example: in two overlapping curves, one for for females and one for males. But in the overlap area of short males with tall females, the males are no less male, and the females are no less female.

As for genetics, there is no such thing as “transgender” or “gay” genes: more pseudoscience / science fiction.

Kids brainwashed into the belief they were “born into the wrong body”, because they display gender non-conforming behaviour, tend to have high rates of autism and/or latent homosexuality. They are more likely to be fostered, adopted or living in care homes, and to suffer high rates of emotional and /or physical abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse, by supposed caregivers.

Their resulting distress is all too easily exploited by the unscrupulous gender cult.

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I thought it was there ineffable ‘gender identity’ which only they can see.

Xaven Taner
Xaven Taner
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

You people are as dangerous as Mengele, and should suffer the same consequences for your evil actions.

Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

It’s a genetic defect?? Does it run in families? Why is increasing so drastically, above all amongst teenage girls?

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Unfortunately, the supposed “bimodal” distribution of sex as a non-binary attribute is pure pseudoscience. Aka hooey.

For a true bimodal distriburion of a physical attribute, height is a good example: in two overlapping curves, one for for females and one for males. But in the overlap area of short males with tall females, the males are no less male, and the females are no less female.

As for genetics, there is no such thing as “transgender” or “gay” genes: more pseudoscience / science fiction.

Kids brainwashed into the belief they were “born into the wrong body”, because they display gender non-conforming behaviour, tend to have high rates of autism and/or latent homosexuality. They are more likely to be fostered, adopted or living in care homes, and to suffer high rates of emotional and /or physical abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse, by supposed caregivers.

Their resulting distress is all too easily exploited by the unscrupulous gender cult.

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim M

It is a bimodal distribution which is real, not a binary, and the genes which are associated with being transgender like those associated with being gay occur in a steady state rate throughout the whole population. Transgender people have no mental illness, but have a physical birth defect.

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Pop onto X and if you follow certain accounts you can choose to see graphic evidence of the awful results of these surgeries.

Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
1 year ago

A side issue, here, but does Musk now own the rights to the letter X? It’s getting a bit scary…

Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
1 year ago

A side issue, here, but does Musk now own the rights to the letter X? It’s getting a bit scary…

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

The binary is real whether you acknowledge it or not. There is a public service being done here. The mentally ill are being rendered sterile, so it’s “evolution in action.”

Lesley van Reenen
Lesley van Reenen
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Pop onto X and if you follow certain accounts you can choose to see graphic evidence of the awful results of these surgeries.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

Because it’s a free country, what they are doing is perfectly legal, and people can spend their money on whatever they want.

AP News:
“In a review of 27 studies involving almost 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries, mostly in Europe, the U.S and Canada, 1% on average expressed regret. For some, regret was temporary, but a small number went on to have detransitioning or reversal surgeries, the 2021 review said.”
So, a fraction of 1% regret sufficiently to detransition.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Shaw
Eve Farrell
Eve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Problem is that many don’t return to the hospital or clinician to express regret, they just silently stop believing in the framework that led them to modify their bodies and move on as best they can. And what would a “reversal” surgery even entail? You cannot regrow breasts, a p***s, ovaries, uteri, testicles or facial bones; unsew a vagina; reskin a c******s. You can remove implants and the neophallus, I guess, but this is relevant for only a subset of patients. For many the last thing they want is to go under the knife again, along with the risk that always comes with any surgery and anaesthesia, and to be vulnerable to the same people who harmed them to begin with. There is also a recurring pattern of clinicians throwing their hands in the air and telling these patients that since they’re not seeking trans-related care, they can no longer be helped by them or funded by insurance – I very much wonder whether such outcomes are being recorded by all hospitals and clinics, or whether they are ignored, or described (as mentioned in the article) as part of a continuing “gender journey”.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the methodological and statistical gymnastics employed by much trans-related research. Some of it is obvious even to a layman, some of it is clearly laid bare by the sort of peer review that should have been done prior to publishing.

We do not allow surgeons to amputate the limbs of apotemnophiliacs even if they express a very strong and distressing sense of an inner “amputee identity”.

There will probably always be individuals that carry out amputations and castrations on themselves and each other, but it’s reasonable to say that surgery to damage a healthy body – especially this destructively – should not be labelled “healthcare” nor covered by insurance

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

AP has been a cheerleader for this sick ideology for years now. I somehow doubt that this unnamed ‘review’ is anything but trans propaganda.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Ha!
You just made that up.
Whatever.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

What’s made up is this alleged ‘review’.

John Murray
John Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

The NY Times just said last week:
“The number of people who detransition or discontinue gender treatments is not precisely known. Small studies with differing definitions and methodologies have found rates ranging from 2 to 30 percent. In a new, unpublished survey of more than 700 young people who had medically transitioned, Canadian researchers found that 16 percent stopped taking hormones or tried to reverse their effects after five years.” 

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

What’s made up is this alleged ‘review’.

John Murray
John Murray
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

The NY Times just said last week:
“The number of people who detransition or discontinue gender treatments is not precisely known. Small studies with differing definitions and methodologies have found rates ranging from 2 to 30 percent. In a new, unpublished survey of more than 700 young people who had medically transitioned, Canadian researchers found that 16 percent stopped taking hormones or tried to reverse their effects after five years.” 

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Ha!
You just made that up.
Whatever.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Legal does not translate to moral.

It may be legal in some states for a 50 yr old to have sex with a 16 yr old, that does not make it moral.

Nobody who wants to do this to themselves, particularly given the health impacts, can possibly be mentally well.

Certainly, no child is capable or consent to this evil.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Daniel P

Nobody under 18 should be treated or operated on
 agreed.
But what adults do with their body is their business.
As far as morality is concerned, well, morality is in the eye of the beholder.
Nobody should be imposing their morality on another adult.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Shaw
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Agreed that no-one under 18 should have so-called “gender ressignment” surgery — or be prescribed puberty-blocking hormones (unless to delay abnormally early puberty), nor cross-sex hormones which typically follow puberty blockers. (The same drugs are still being used for “chemical castration” of a generation of gay young people under the “trans” false flag, as were used when it was illegal to be gay. This is the true “conversion therapy”.)

Children, especially already distressed, gender non-conforming children, also need to be protected from indoctrination, particularly at school, from the proliferating abundance of lies and disinformation — however incoherent and contradictory — spread by the gender ideology cult.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Agreed that no-one under 18 should have so-called “gender ressignment” surgery — or be prescribed puberty-blocking hormones (unless to delay abnormally early puberty), nor cross-sex hormones which typically follow puberty blockers. (The same drugs are still being used for “chemical castration” of a generation of gay young people under the “trans” false flag, as were used when it was illegal to be gay. This is the true “conversion therapy”.)

Children, especially already distressed, gender non-conforming children, also need to be protected from indoctrination, particularly at school, from the proliferating abundance of lies and disinformation — however incoherent and contradictory — spread by the gender ideology cult.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Daniel P

Nobody under 18 should be treated or operated on
 agreed.
But what adults do with their body is their business.
As far as morality is concerned, well, morality is in the eye of the beholder.
Nobody should be imposing their morality on another adult.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Shaw
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

I agree. We live in a free country and adults should be allowed to change their body anyway they choose, as long as taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill. Children should not be allowed to undergo these life alteration surgeries either. I am very skeptical of a study, however, that says only 1% of patients express regret.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I disagree. These surgeries are not purely self-regarding acts. These actions harm all of society by perpetuating gender fraud and sterilisation.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I disagree. These surgeries are not purely self-regarding acts. These actions harm all of society by perpetuating gender fraud and sterilisation.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

By this logic, people should be allowed to submit to cannibalism based on advanced consent. I suspect the fraction of regret would be even lower than 1%!

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

And what are the figures for “lost to follow-up”? Much higher than one percent.

Desisters and detransitioners rarely return to gender clinics, who very seldom try to find out what happened to them. Keeping detransition statistics would damage the proselytising gender cause and recruitment rate. All that matters is sustaining profits.

Eve Farrell
Eve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Problem is that many don’t return to the hospital or clinician to express regret, they just silently stop believing in the framework that led them to modify their bodies and move on as best they can. And what would a “reversal” surgery even entail? You cannot regrow breasts, a p***s, ovaries, uteri, testicles or facial bones; unsew a vagina; reskin a c******s. You can remove implants and the neophallus, I guess, but this is relevant for only a subset of patients. For many the last thing they want is to go under the knife again, along with the risk that always comes with any surgery and anaesthesia, and to be vulnerable to the same people who harmed them to begin with. There is also a recurring pattern of clinicians throwing their hands in the air and telling these patients that since they’re not seeking trans-related care, they can no longer be helped by them or funded by insurance – I very much wonder whether such outcomes are being recorded by all hospitals and clinics, or whether they are ignored, or described (as mentioned in the article) as part of a continuing “gender journey”.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the methodological and statistical gymnastics employed by much trans-related research. Some of it is obvious even to a layman, some of it is clearly laid bare by the sort of peer review that should have been done prior to publishing.

We do not allow surgeons to amputate the limbs of apotemnophiliacs even if they express a very strong and distressing sense of an inner “amputee identity”.

There will probably always be individuals that carry out amputations and castrations on themselves and each other, but it’s reasonable to say that surgery to damage a healthy body – especially this destructively – should not be labelled “healthcare” nor covered by insurance

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

AP has been a cheerleader for this sick ideology for years now. I somehow doubt that this unnamed ‘review’ is anything but trans propaganda.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Legal does not translate to moral.

It may be legal in some states for a 50 yr old to have sex with a 16 yr old, that does not make it moral.

Nobody who wants to do this to themselves, particularly given the health impacts, can possibly be mentally well.

Certainly, no child is capable or consent to this evil.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

I agree. We live in a free country and adults should be allowed to change their body anyway they choose, as long as taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill. Children should not be allowed to undergo these life alteration surgeries either. I am very skeptical of a study, however, that says only 1% of patients express regret.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

By this logic, people should be allowed to submit to cannibalism based on advanced consent. I suspect the fraction of regret would be even lower than 1%!

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

And what are the figures for “lost to follow-up”? Much higher than one percent.

Desisters and detransitioners rarely return to gender clinics, who very seldom try to find out what happened to them. Keeping detransition statistics would damage the proselytising gender cause and recruitment rate. All that matters is sustaining profits.

Steve Farrell
Steve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

It does seem alarmingly at odds with the Hippocratic Oath

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

Because what you apparently pretend or imagine is real and relevant about these sugeries is not.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  ben arnulfssen

Because it’s a free country, what they are doing is perfectly legal, and people can spend their money on whatever they want.

AP News:
“In a review of 27 studies involving almost 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries, mostly in Europe, the U.S and Canada, 1% on average expressed regret. For some, regret was temporary, but a small number went on to have detransitioning or reversal surgeries, the 2021 review said.”
So, a fraction of 1% regret sufficiently to detransition.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Shaw
ben arnulfssen
ben arnulfssen
1 year ago

Why are these surgeons not looking at the world from behind bars?

Anthony L
Anthony L
1 year ago

I’m yet to be able to fathom how actual human beings can wake up every morning and perform these surgeries. I can read about it, I can even see pictures of it (not recommended), but I can’t imagine actually doing it to someone or having it done to yourself. It is something straight out of a literal hell-on-earth scenario, like stitching a mouth closed or turning your skin inside out. These people must actually be imbued with some supernatural evil. That’s all I can think of.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

MONEY! Lots and lots of MONEY.

Plus, in certain social circles it would make them celebrities, heroes even. Social status.

Never mind they are just greedy monsters seeking to pay for their next Land Rover.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Daniel P

“Gender reassignment” surgery is apparently more complex and difficult than open heart surgery. But no special skill is required from or, apparently, possessed by, these surgeons.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Daniel P

“Gender reassignment” surgery is apparently more complex and difficult than open heart surgery. But no special skill is required from or, apparently, possessed by, these surgeons.

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

They only care what their peers think of them. No ones’ opinions, even of former patients, matters.

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

Almost all the dominant institutions in the West either
are or are rapidly becoming psychopathic. In their non-work lives the people running them may be normal, but the institutions respond to incentives and the incentives demand psychopathic action toward everyone else.

Apply that paradigm to this and a hundred other things that you cannot understand, and it will all make sense.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

The most well-known “gender reassignment” surgeons are themselves trans-identified males. They can make lots of money from practising the same surgery that represented — possibly — their own perceived liberation: or take out their own regrets on others.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

MONEY! Lots and lots of MONEY.

Plus, in certain social circles it would make them celebrities, heroes even. Social status.

Never mind they are just greedy monsters seeking to pay for their next Land Rover.

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

They only care what their peers think of them. No ones’ opinions, even of former patients, matters.

Martin Johnson
Martin Johnson
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

Almost all the dominant institutions in the West either
are or are rapidly becoming psychopathic. In their non-work lives the people running them may be normal, but the institutions respond to incentives and the incentives demand psychopathic action toward everyone else.

Apply that paradigm to this and a hundred other things that you cannot understand, and it will all make sense.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Anthony L

The most well-known “gender reassignment” surgeons are themselves trans-identified males. They can make lots of money from practising the same surgery that represented — possibly — their own perceived liberation: or take out their own regrets on others.

Anthony L
Anthony L
1 year ago

I’m yet to be able to fathom how actual human beings can wake up every morning and perform these surgeries. I can read about it, I can even see pictures of it (not recommended), but I can’t imagine actually doing it to someone or having it done to yourself. It is something straight out of a literal hell-on-earth scenario, like stitching a mouth closed or turning your skin inside out. These people must actually be imbued with some supernatural evil. That’s all I can think of.

Marie Jones
Marie Jones
1 year ago

Some gay male friends of mine were involved in commemoration ceremonies for Alan Turing organised by the local ‘Pride’ organisation, which includes many ‘trans’ people.
We were talking about the cruelty of the chemical castration punishment meted out to Turing.
When I asked what they thought of young gay male teenagers being encouraged to go down a route of hormone blockers and oestrogen treatment, answer came there none.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

My daughter uses her fluent Arabic as a volunteer for an anti-FGM charity. I asked her why she doesn’t also campaign against transmengelism, but answer came there none.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=transmengele

Alison Wren
Alison Wren
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

Don’t let them forget that “puberty blockers” are the same drugs as given to Turing. Designed to block the release of testosterone (they work on oestrogens too of course) to minimise sexual drive and also stop puberty. Ghastly drugs.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Wren

No, Turing was not given any puberty blockers — they did not exist during the time frame in question.

Sharon Overy
Sharon Overy
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

The drugs referred to and used as puberty blockers are not designed and created for that purpose. They were developed for reproductive cancers in the middle-aged, particularly prostate cancer.

They’ve been used off-label to utilise the side effects – interrupting puberty in the young and chemical castration in sexual criminals.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sharon Overy

You are completely incorrect. They were developed to treat precocious puberty, what you are claiming are side effects are the intended effects. They were later used for gender dysphoria, certain cancers, and for endometriosis. They have no negative side effects known to be caused by the drugs either individually or as a class of drug. When used for gender dysphoria, they have the identical dosage and mechanism of action as that tested for efficacy and safety as when they were first developed and approved in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Sue Whorton
Sue Whorton
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

For my information can you cite the studies please? It seems to be opinion versus opinion and I would like to see real evidence before making a judgement. I will search Pubmed but if you already know the literature you might be able to point us to the correct information.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Whorton
Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Whorton

I have replied with several links, and Unherd has seen fit to not post it. Why don’t you try finding anything to excuse as being factual what you have claimed?

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Sometimes, it takes a while for posts to appear.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Sometimes, it takes a while for posts to appear.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Whorton
Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sue Whorton

I have replied with several links, and Unherd has seen fit to not post it. Why don’t you try finding anything to excuse as being factual what you have claimed?

Alex Carnegie
Alex Carnegie
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Thanks. Helpful. When you say there are no negative side effects, are you talking solely about physical side effects? My impression is that the controversy about teenage use of puberty blockers centres mostly on the psychological impact (in that it tends to reinforce the new gender identity which arguably might otherwise disappear with puberty in many cases) but also that this is new territory and no one is too sure of the long term physical side effects of blocking puberty. Any clarification would be useful.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Alex Carnegie

Objections to puberty blockers have no factual center. Puberty blockers for gender dysphoric youth have been in general use for 20 years, they are not new.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Alex Carnegie

Objections to puberty blockers have no factual center. Puberty blockers for gender dysphoric youth have been in general use for 20 years, they are not new.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

No side effects? What about osteoporosis, reduced brain function and infertility? Puberty is a normal part of human development. Convincing prepubescent children to take these noxious drugs is beyond evil.

Sue Whorton
Sue Whorton
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

For my information can you cite the studies please? It seems to be opinion versus opinion and I would like to see real evidence before making a judgement. I will search Pubmed but if you already know the literature you might be able to point us to the correct information.

Alex Carnegie
Alex Carnegie
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Thanks. Helpful. When you say there are no negative side effects, are you talking solely about physical side effects? My impression is that the controversy about teenage use of puberty blockers centres mostly on the psychological impact (in that it tends to reinforce the new gender identity which arguably might otherwise disappear with puberty in many cases) but also that this is new territory and no one is too sure of the long term physical side effects of blocking puberty. Any clarification would be useful.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

No side effects? What about osteoporosis, reduced brain function and infertility? Puberty is a normal part of human development. Convincing prepubescent children to take these noxious drugs is beyond evil.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago
Reply to  Sharon Overy

True: principally Leuprorelin (Lucrin).

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

Also sold under the brand name Lupron

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

Also sold under the brand name Lupron

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Sharon Overy

You are completely incorrect. They were developed to treat precocious puberty, what you are claiming are side effects are the intended effects. They were later used for gender dysphoria, certain cancers, and for endometriosis. They have no negative side effects known to be caused by the drugs either individually or as a class of drug. When used for gender dysphoria, they have the identical dosage and mechanism of action as that tested for efficacy and safety as when they were first developed and approved in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago
Reply to  Sharon Overy

True: principally Leuprorelin (Lucrin).

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Alan Turing was way past puberty and in his early 40s when in 1952 he was prosecuted for having gay sex. He was punished by “chemical castration”: ie by being forced to take Diethylsilbestrol (DES), in the same class of oestrogen drugs still used as a follow-on from puberty blockers. (Also used for men to treat prostate cancer, with a range of adverse side effects). Turing killed himself two years later.

Sharon Overy
Sharon Overy
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

The drugs referred to and used as puberty blockers are not designed and created for that purpose. They were developed for reproductive cancers in the middle-aged, particularly prostate cancer.

They’ve been used off-label to utilise the side effects – interrupting puberty in the young and chemical castration in sexual criminals.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Alan Turing was way past puberty and in his early 40s when in 1952 he was prosecuted for having gay sex. He was punished by “chemical castration”: ie by being forced to take Diethylsilbestrol (DES), in the same class of oestrogen drugs still used as a follow-on from puberty blockers. (Also used for men to treat prostate cancer, with a range of adverse side effects). Turing killed himself two years later.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Wren

Stop conflating what was imposed on Alan Turing with free will.
A ridiculous argument.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Wren

No, Turing was not given any puberty blockers — they did not exist during the time frame in question.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Alison Wren

Stop conflating what was imposed on Alan Turing with free will.
A ridiculous argument.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

“answer came there none.” <– That is because your predicate, “young gay male teenagers being encouraged to go down a route of hormone blockers and oestrogen treatment”, is not “real”, it does not occur often enough to have any relevance.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

File this one under “Never Happened”!

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago

Yup, that’s what happens to inconvenient opposition to a party line: break out the airbrush


Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

You believe that nonsense?!?! Man, you people are gullible!

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  RM Parker

You believe that nonsense?!?! Man, you people are gullible!

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago

Yup, that’s what happens to inconvenient opposition to a party line: break out the airbrush


Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

My daughter uses her fluent Arabic as a volunteer for an anti-FGM charity. I asked her why she doesn’t also campaign against transmengelism, but answer came there none.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=transmengele

Alison Wren
Alison Wren
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

Don’t let them forget that “puberty blockers” are the same drugs as given to Turing. Designed to block the release of testosterone (they work on oestrogens too of course) to minimise sexual drive and also stop puberty. Ghastly drugs.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

“answer came there none.” <– That is because your predicate, “young gay male teenagers being encouraged to go down a route of hormone blockers and oestrogen treatment”, is not “real”, it does not occur often enough to have any relevance.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie Jones

File this one under “Never Happened”!

Marie Jones
Marie Jones
1 year ago

Some gay male friends of mine were involved in commemoration ceremonies for Alan Turing organised by the local ‘Pride’ organisation, which includes many ‘trans’ people.
We were talking about the cruelty of the chemical castration punishment meted out to Turing.
When I asked what they thought of young gay male teenagers being encouraged to go down a route of hormone blockers and oestrogen treatment, answer came there none.

nick Crean
nick Crean
1 year ago

Mutilaters not surgeons

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  nick Crean

Dr Transmengele will see you now.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  nick Crean

Dr Transmengele will see you now.

nick Crean
nick Crean
1 year ago

Mutilaters not surgeons

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago

“And because surgery will never turn a male into a female or a female into a male, the market for body modification is bottomless. ”
Grisly double entendre.
“Nonbinary patients — who might have avoided surgical interventions in favour of blue hair dye, personal “flair”, and interpersonal obnoxiousness”
Superb piece of writing!

Last edited 1 year ago by Richard Craven
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

The term “double entendre” doesn’t exist in French! An English invention

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

The term “double entendre” doesn’t exist in French! An English invention

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago

“And because surgery will never turn a male into a female or a female into a male, the market for body modification is bottomless. ”
Grisly double entendre.
“Nonbinary patients — who might have avoided surgical interventions in favour of blue hair dye, personal “flair”, and interpersonal obnoxiousness”
Superb piece of writing!

Last edited 1 year ago by Richard Craven
Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago

“Gender-affirming care” = FGM for White people.

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

FGM for the mentally ill.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

For female mainly white people

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

FGM for the mentally ill.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Richard Craven

For female mainly white people

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago

“Gender-affirming care” = FGM for White people.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago

And why ‘bottom surgery’ instead of genital surgery? The gender bending operations have nothing to do with the bottom. A phrase that depersonalises, demeans and cutefies what is going on.

Last edited 1 year ago by Anna Bramwell
Romi Elnagar
Romi Elnagar
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Orwellian language is indeed a big part of the problem.

Mary Thomas
Mary Thomas
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

The term “bottom surgery” is commonly used by transgender people themselves, if you look it up. It’s not demeaning, it is seen as friendly and non-threatening.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Politics And The English Language 2.0

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

“Bottom” surgery is a coy diminution of the seriousness of genital surgery, which tends to affect patients adversely for life, in difficulty urinating etc.

Romi Elnagar
Romi Elnagar
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Orwellian language is indeed a big part of the problem.

Mary Thomas
Mary Thomas
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

The term “bottom surgery” is commonly used by transgender people themselves, if you look it up. It’s not demeaning, it is seen as friendly and non-threatening.

RM Parker
RM Parker
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

Politics And The English Language 2.0

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Anna Bramwell

“Bottom” surgery is a coy diminution of the seriousness of genital surgery, which tends to affect patients adversely for life, in difficulty urinating etc.

Anna Bramwell
Anna Bramwell
1 year ago

And why ‘bottom surgery’ instead of genital surgery? The gender bending operations have nothing to do with the bottom. A phrase that depersonalises, demeans and cutefies what is going on.

Last edited 1 year ago by Anna Bramwell
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

Although the author touched on it, it’s worth repeating that many of these surgeries are needed to address complications caused by the original surgery. The brutality of these operations is shocking.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

No, the complication rate for these surgeries is under 2%.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35690947/
It’s no more shocking than is fixing a harelip.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Here’s the money quote from the abstract you cited.

“Low serious complication rates within 30 days prove GAS to be safe.”

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

And that quote disproves you.

Last edited 1 year ago by Talia Perkins
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Are you saying 30 days is sufficient to evaluate the results of gender affirming surgery? There are plenty of studies out there underscoring the dangers of this type of invasive surgery.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

None of which you will show claim the dangers are untoward with respect to the results or concealed in any way from people requesting them, and you will not show a serious complication rate occurring on average more than 2% of the time. 30 days is certainly the time frame over which a serious complication requiring reoperation would likely manifest.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I actually have no issue with adults getting gender affirming surgery, as long as the taxpayer doesn’t foot the bill. My issue is with minors getting invasive surgery.

But still we have to be honest and accurate when it comes to these things. One of the most famous minors to get surgery, Jazz Jennings, will soon be getting her fourth surgery to address issues caused by the first surgery.

I did very little research, and the number I discovered was 36% for bottom surgery. The abstract you cite says 8% for bottom surgery, not 2%.

I don’t have time right now, but later I’ll link to some studies that show much higher rates of complications.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I actually have no issue with adults getting gender affirming surgery, as long as the taxpayer doesn’t foot the bill. My issue is with minors getting invasive surgery.

But still we have to be honest and accurate when it comes to these things. One of the most famous minors to get surgery, Jazz Jennings, will soon be getting her fourth surgery to address issues caused by the first surgery.

I did very little research, and the number I discovered was 36% for bottom surgery. The abstract you cite says 8% for bottom surgery, not 2%.

I don’t have time right now, but later I’ll link to some studies that show much higher rates of complications.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

None of which you will show claim the dangers are untoward with respect to the results or concealed in any way from people requesting them, and you will not show a serious complication rate occurring on average more than 2% of the time. 30 days is certainly the time frame over which a serious complication requiring reoperation would likely manifest.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Are you saying 30 days is sufficient to evaluate the results of gender affirming surgery? There are plenty of studies out there underscoring the dangers of this type of invasive surgery.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

30 days! What about ten years?

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

And that quote disproves you.

Last edited 1 year ago by Talia Perkins
Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

30 days! What about ten years?

Eve Farrell
Eve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Your own source does not say that. It has 8% for “bottom” surgeries, 3.5% for “top”, 2.1% for head/neck, and overall 6%. And it only looked at complications recorded in the system within THIRTY (30) DAYS post-op…

Romi Elnagar
Romi Elnagar
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

No, that’s not what it says.
“The overall complication rate was 6% (n = 247), 2.1% (n = 4) for head/neck procedures, 8% (n = 134) for bottom procedures, and 3.5% (n = 84) for top surgeries.”
Nowhere is there a 2% statistic cited.

Furthermore, the point that “low serious complication rates WITHIN 30 DAYS prove GAS to be safe…” is ridiculous because it excludes complications that may present at a later date. The statistic is not only meaningless and irrelevant, it is dangerous, misleading and frankly, deceptive.

TBH, the Trans Cult and advocacy of trans surgeries cannot rely on the TRUTH about anything, so trans advocates resort to distortions, lies, manipulations of data and language to achieve what they cannot achieve by outright bullying of gender critical proponents.

Last edited 1 year ago by Romi Elnagar
Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Romi Elnagar

Sane people need to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards this crap. Deny them everything, it’s 100% unscientific, made up bullshit.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Romi Elnagar

Sane people need to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards this crap. Deny them everything, it’s 100% unscientific, made up bullshit.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Here’s the money quote from the abstract you cited.

“Low serious complication rates within 30 days prove GAS to be safe.”

Eve Farrell
Eve Farrell
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Your own source does not say that. It has 8% for “bottom” surgeries, 3.5% for “top”, 2.1% for head/neck, and overall 6%. And it only looked at complications recorded in the system within THIRTY (30) DAYS post-op…

Romi Elnagar
Romi Elnagar
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

No, that’s not what it says.
“The overall complication rate was 6% (n = 247), 2.1% (n = 4) for head/neck procedures, 8% (n = 134) for bottom procedures, and 3.5% (n = 84) for top surgeries.”
Nowhere is there a 2% statistic cited.

Furthermore, the point that “low serious complication rates WITHIN 30 DAYS prove GAS to be safe…” is ridiculous because it excludes complications that may present at a later date. The statistic is not only meaningless and irrelevant, it is dangerous, misleading and frankly, deceptive.

TBH, the Trans Cult and advocacy of trans surgeries cannot rely on the TRUTH about anything, so trans advocates resort to distortions, lies, manipulations of data and language to achieve what they cannot achieve by outright bullying of gender critical proponents.

Last edited 1 year ago by Romi Elnagar
Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The long term health consequences are not just disturbing, they are frightening and grotesque.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Iatrogenic harm

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

No, the complication rate for these surgeries is under 2%.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35690947/
It’s no more shocking than is fixing a harelip.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The long term health consequences are not just disturbing, they are frightening and grotesque.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Iatrogenic harm

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago

Although the author touched on it, it’s worth repeating that many of these surgeries are needed to address complications caused by the original surgery. The brutality of these operations is shocking.

Mary Bruels
Mary Bruels
1 year ago

Other than the consent of the “patient”, how is this different from the experiments done by the Nazis?

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Mary Bruels

Assuming that a mentally ill person or a young minor CAN consent.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  Mary Bruels

Assuming that a mentally ill person or a young minor CAN consent.

Mary Bruels
Mary Bruels
1 year ago

Other than the consent of the “patient”, how is this different from the experiments done by the Nazis?

Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago

Remember when the fad-du-jour was anorexia? Of course it’s still with us, but not the in thing at the moment, that would be trans. But why didn’t we — don’t we — Affirm anorexia? Why not Affirm that a 12 year old girl who weights 60 pounds is fat and need to lose another 20 pounds? Identity is reality, so if the girl Identifies as fat, SHE IS FAT and it should be a crime to say otherwise. We could have Weight Affirming Care that helps girls shed that last 20 pounds. There’s money to be made. And why no anorexia flag? And why no Safe Spaces? Why no parades? Why no Anorexia Month?

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Ray Andrews

Because anorexia is a mental illness, a delusional inability to accurately identify the physical aspects of the self. Transgender people have no such delusion.

Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

“… to accurately identify the physical aspects of the self”
Would that not be the perfect description of trans? Is trans not, for example, the delusion that one is a boy irrespective of one’s XX chromosomes and female biology? If Identifying as male makes it so, irrespective of reality, then how on Earth does Identifying as fat not make it so, irrespective of my weighing 60 pounds?

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Ray Andrews

No, they can describe the physical aspects of the self which are visible with usual accuracy.
The equally physical parts which cannot be seen are what you are in denial of.

Last edited 1 year ago by Talia Perkins
Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

‘Phydical parts which can’t be seen is oxymoronic. As well as moronic.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I want a list of physical parts that cannot be seen, and by seen, I include things that can be seen with an x-ray, an MRI, or proved with a genetic test. I’m willing to entertain the idea that there’s such a thing as a female brain and that it can be distinguished from a male brain, and that this can contradict a person’s genetic makeup, but how do we establish that in a scientific, measurable way?

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

‘Phydical parts which can’t be seen is oxymoronic. As well as moronic.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

I want a list of physical parts that cannot be seen, and by seen, I include things that can be seen with an x-ray, an MRI, or proved with a genetic test. I’m willing to entertain the idea that there’s such a thing as a female brain and that it can be distinguished from a male brain, and that this can contradict a person’s genetic makeup, but how do we establish that in a scientific, measurable way?

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Ray Andrews

No, they can describe the physical aspects of the self which are visible with usual accuracy.
The equally physical parts which cannot be seen are what you are in denial of.

Last edited 1 year ago by Talia Perkins
Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Oh dear.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Oh no, not at all.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

“Transgender people have no such delusions” as the anorexic — that she is fat — is a great joke. It made me laugh, anyway. Because only “imposter syndrome” can make this true.

And original transsexuals never claimed to have changed sex anyway: they were realists.

For (usually) a woman to be deluded about her “too fat” body weight / size / shape under huge pressure from the fashion industry to be actually anorexic, is a recognised hazard for fashion models. As it is also for other girls horrified by the hypersexualised images of women in consumer advertising, plus the demeaning expectations of becoming a woman: not just on the lines of a 1950s sex role stereotype, but now hideously degraded by online porn.

But girls who might previously have become anorexic in defiance of these expectations now identify as “trans” instead. Plenty of trans-identified females accept they can never truly become males: but relief from the sexual attentions of men might not survive the enduring stress of imposter syndrome. Some find that coming out as a butch lesbian is a much greater relief: to be truly “themselves” — instead of the strain of pretending they have changed sex.

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

“… to accurately identify the physical aspects of the self”
Would that not be the perfect description of trans? Is trans not, for example, the delusion that one is a boy irrespective of one’s XX chromosomes and female biology? If Identifying as male makes it so, irrespective of reality, then how on Earth does Identifying as fat not make it so, irrespective of my weighing 60 pounds?

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Oh dear.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

Oh no, not at all.

Gabriel Mills
Gabriel Mills
1 year ago
Reply to  Talia Perkins

“Transgender people have no such delusions” as the anorexic — that she is fat — is a great joke. It made me laugh, anyway. Because only “imposter syndrome” can make this true.

And original transsexuals never claimed to have changed sex anyway: they were realists.

For (usually) a woman to be deluded about her “too fat” body weight / size / shape under huge pressure from the fashion industry to be actually anorexic, is a recognised hazard for fashion models. As it is also for other girls horrified by the hypersexualised images of women in consumer advertising, plus the demeaning expectations of becoming a woman: not just on the lines of a 1950s sex role stereotype, but now hideously degraded by online porn.

But girls who might previously have become anorexic in defiance of these expectations now identify as “trans” instead. Plenty of trans-identified females accept they can never truly become males: but relief from the sexual attentions of men might not survive the enduring stress of imposter syndrome. Some find that coming out as a butch lesbian is a much greater relief: to be truly “themselves” — instead of the strain of pretending they have changed sex.

Last edited 1 year ago by Gabriel Mills
Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Ray Andrews

Because anorexia is a mental illness, a delusional inability to accurately identify the physical aspects of the self. Transgender people have no such delusion.

Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago

Remember when the fad-du-jour was anorexia? Of course it’s still with us, but not the in thing at the moment, that would be trans. But why didn’t we — don’t we — Affirm anorexia? Why not Affirm that a 12 year old girl who weights 60 pounds is fat and need to lose another 20 pounds? Identity is reality, so if the girl Identifies as fat, SHE IS FAT and it should be a crime to say otherwise. We could have Weight Affirming Care that helps girls shed that last 20 pounds. There’s money to be made. And why no anorexia flag? And why no Safe Spaces? Why no parades? Why no Anorexia Month?

Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden
1 year ago

Transubstantiation is the term for converting these new ‘gendered souls’ into correspondingly altered bodies. Donna Haraway’s cyborgs are closer to the truth than Judith Butler’s Foucauldian spin on the construction of ‘sexed’ as well as sexual identity. That is, gender is an academic conceit until it encounters the operating theatre.
The freedom granted to plastic surgical interventions in the United States is then disastrous when matched to the wave of psychotherapeutic assessment of childhood/teenage mental complexes which simply apply ‘expressive liberalism’ – the creed that my truth is the only ‘subjectivity’ which matters (clinically here) – to conditions requiring long-term, nuanced diagnosis and treatment.

Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden
1 year ago

Transubstantiation is the term for converting these new ‘gendered souls’ into correspondingly altered bodies. Donna Haraway’s cyborgs are closer to the truth than Judith Butler’s Foucauldian spin on the construction of ‘sexed’ as well as sexual identity. That is, gender is an academic conceit until it encounters the operating theatre.
The freedom granted to plastic surgical interventions in the United States is then disastrous when matched to the wave of psychotherapeutic assessment of childhood/teenage mental complexes which simply apply ‘expressive liberalism’ – the creed that my truth is the only ‘subjectivity’ which matters (clinically here) – to conditions requiring long-term, nuanced diagnosis and treatment.

Dylan Blackhurst
Dylan Blackhurst
1 year ago

I find the whole transitioning phenomenon odd. Does its rise coincide with an online gaming world where you can literally be anyone (or anything for that matter) you want?
It’s almost like this virtual world has bleed into the real world with predictably macabre results.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago

No – it coincides with schoolteachers telling little children fairytales about sex. I have kids. They loved and looked up to their primary school teachers. The capture of the school system by progressives is appalling because it allows them to literally warp reality for children.

Eliza Mann
Eliza Mann
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Some teachers have helped this ideology along, but they didn’t start it. Online influences seem to be more important in implanting the idea in vulnerable young people that all their problems can be solved by transitioning genders.

Eliza Mann
Eliza Mann
1 year ago
Reply to  Peter Johnson

Some teachers have helped this ideology along, but they didn’t start it. Online influences seem to be more important in implanting the idea in vulnerable young people that all their problems can be solved by transitioning genders.

Eliza Mann
Eliza Mann
1 year ago

Yes, in many cases it does correspond to young people’s experiences in the virtual world, where they can pretend to be anyone they want.

Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
1 year ago

No – it coincides with schoolteachers telling little children fairytales about sex. I have kids. They loved and looked up to their primary school teachers. The capture of the school system by progressives is appalling because it allows them to literally warp reality for children.

Eliza Mann
Eliza Mann
1 year ago

Yes, in many cases it does correspond to young people’s experiences in the virtual world, where they can pretend to be anyone they want.

Dylan Blackhurst
Dylan Blackhurst
1 year ago

I find the whole transitioning phenomenon odd. Does its rise coincide with an online gaming world where you can literally be anyone (or anything for that matter) you want?
It’s almost like this virtual world has bleed into the real world with predictably macabre results.

Louise Henson
Louise Henson
1 year ago

‘First do no harm’ is yesterday’s news. ‘Follow the money’ is today’s hippocratic paycheck.
These ‘doctors’ should be struck off. And prosecuted. And if there isn’t a law under which to prosecute them yet, pass one. Fight fire with fire. Hoist them with their own petard. These ‘doctors’ are amoral ghouls.

Louise Henson
Louise Henson
1 year ago

‘First do no harm’ is yesterday’s news. ‘Follow the money’ is today’s hippocratic paycheck.
These ‘doctors’ should be struck off. And prosecuted. And if there isn’t a law under which to prosecute them yet, pass one. Fight fire with fire. Hoist them with their own petard. These ‘doctors’ are amoral ghouls.

Dr. G Marzanna
Dr. G Marzanna
1 year ago

I have no problem if people want to customise their meat suit. So long as they pay for it and don’t seek any special treatment because of it. I’m all for voluntary body modification no matter how hideous, so long as people take personal responsibility for it.
However todays gender dyspeptic and AGPs take no responsibility and want want taxpayers to pick up the tab for their fetish.

Dr. G Marzanna
Dr. G Marzanna
1 year ago

I have no problem if people want to customise their meat suit. So long as they pay for it and don’t seek any special treatment because of it. I’m all for voluntary body modification no matter how hideous, so long as people take personal responsibility for it.
However todays gender dyspeptic and AGPs take no responsibility and want want taxpayers to pick up the tab for their fetish.

Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago

“the market for body modification is bottomless.”
Ha!

Ray Andrews
Ray Andrews
1 year ago

“the market for body modification is bottomless.”
Ha!

Dumetrius
Dumetrius
1 year ago

Well, we do need to reduce the population, and this is basically castration, so . . .

Russell Sharpe
Russell Sharpe
1 year ago
Reply to  Dumetrius

On the contrary, we need to increase the population, or at least massively increase reproduction rates to sustain it, at least if we wish anything like a welfare state to continue. Mass immigration is a short-termist Ponzi scheme which will in the fullness of time collapse as such schemes always do, though not before it has done untold damage to social cohesion and mutual trust.

Last edited 1 year ago by Russell Sharpe
Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Russell Sharpe

You’re right of course, but I’m pretty sure Dumetrius’s comment is in the spirit of a Swiftian Modest Proposal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Russell Sharpe

The welfare state deserves to die. There are too many childless, elderly parasites.

Richard Craven
Richard Craven
1 year ago
Reply to  Russell Sharpe

You’re right of course, but I’m pretty sure Dumetrius’s comment is in the spirit of a Swiftian Modest Proposal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Jim M
Jim M
1 year ago
Reply to  Russell Sharpe

The welfare state deserves to die. There are too many childless, elderly parasites.

Russell Sharpe
Russell Sharpe
1 year ago
Reply to  Dumetrius

On the contrary, we need to increase the population, or at least massively increase reproduction rates to sustain it, at least if we wish anything like a welfare state to continue. Mass immigration is a short-termist Ponzi scheme which will in the fullness of time collapse as such schemes always do, though not before it has done untold damage to social cohesion and mutual trust.

Last edited 1 year ago by Russell Sharpe
Dumetrius
Dumetrius
1 year ago

Well, we do need to reduce the population, and this is basically castration, so . . .

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 year ago

Maybe it’s just God’s way of telling Americans they have too much money and lack the education to spend it wisely.

Hugh Bryant
Hugh Bryant
1 year ago

Maybe it’s just God’s way of telling Americans they have too much money and lack the education to spend it wisely.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

There’s an element of profiteering here that’s disappointing from the medical industry. Disappointing, but not shocking to someone as cynical as myself. Further, the doctors aren’t the only ones who exploit the gullible, the mentally ill, and the stupid. Once the doctors are done, then the lawyers get their turn at the trough. The doctors make the money doing the surgeries. Then the lawyers make money when people sue over the expensive complications that they weren’t sufficiently warned about. Get ready for the amusing sight of left-leaning lawyers and left-leaning doctors arguing about victimization and getting rich while the people they claim to care about continue to suffer.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Prove there is any complication rate for these surgeries higher than for any other.

Talia Perkins
Talia Perkins
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve Jolly

Prove there is any complication rate for these surgeries higher than for any other.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
1 year ago

There’s an element of profiteering here that’s disappointing from the medical industry. Disappointing, but not shocking to someone as cynical as myself. Further, the doctors aren’t the only ones who exploit the gullible, the mentally ill, and the stupid. Once the doctors are done, then the lawyers get their turn at the trough. The doctors make the money doing the surgeries. Then the lawyers make money when people sue over the expensive complications that they weren’t sufficiently warned about. Get ready for the amusing sight of left-leaning lawyers and left-leaning doctors arguing about victimization and getting rich while the people they claim to care about continue to suffer.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago

I got a feeling a lot of these doctors are going to end up as popular as abortionists.

Even many of us that support a right to abortion have no desire to know a doctor socially that does that for a living. It takes a certain kind of cold, callousness to be able to do that day in and day out.

Got a feeling that as more and more comes out about what is going on, there are going to be recriminations for a lot of the people involved and for these doctors, they will ultimately be shunned.

Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago

I got a feeling a lot of these doctors are going to end up as popular as abortionists.

Even many of us that support a right to abortion have no desire to know a doctor socially that does that for a living. It takes a certain kind of cold, callousness to be able to do that day in and day out.

Got a feeling that as more and more comes out about what is going on, there are going to be recriminations for a lot of the people involved and for these doctors, they will ultimately be shunned.

Ewen Mac
Ewen Mac
1 year ago

“The World Professional Association for Transgender Health”
And here’s where these perfectly well-adjusted chaps stand on castration fetishes and child abuse fantasies…
https://reduxx.info/academics-involved-with-top-transgender-health-authority-publish-paper-on-choosing-castration/

Ewen Mac
Ewen Mac
1 year ago

“The World Professional Association for Transgender Health”
And here’s where these perfectly well-adjusted chaps stand on castration fetishes and child abuse fantasies…
https://reduxx.info/academics-involved-with-top-transgender-health-authority-publish-paper-on-choosing-castration/

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago

What is the point of inviting people to “join discussion” when the system suppresses 99.99% of their posts. It’s tiresome and makes me question whether I should pay for a subscription

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  JP Martin

Ya. This is beyond frustrating. I wonder how many posts were deleted. What’s the point? When everyone follows the herd, the comment section is fine. The second there is controversy, comments get deleted. Maybe they should change the name of the site to Herd.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Plus, the controversial comments are always the most enjoyable to read (especially when I disagree with them)

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

Plus, the controversial comments are always the most enjoyable to read (especially when I disagree with them)

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
1 year ago
Reply to  JP Martin

Ya. This is beyond frustrating. I wonder how many posts were deleted. What’s the point? When everyone follows the herd, the comment section is fine. The second there is controversy, comments get deleted. Maybe they should change the name of the site to Herd.

JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago

What is the point of inviting people to “join discussion” when the system suppresses 99.99% of their posts. It’s tiresome and makes me question whether I should pay for a subscription

UnHerd Reader
UnHerd Reader
1 year ago

As more and more live their lives virtually there’s a certain logic to believing we can infinitely alter our avatars to match our mood.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

Very very funny to see a bunch of Trump cultists worrying about the mental capacity of others!

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Right, only ‘Trump cultists’ are opposed to this insanity. Methinks thou art a shithead.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago

Right, only ‘Trump cultists’ are opposed to this insanity. Methinks thou art a shithead.

Champagne Socialist
Champagne Socialist
1 year ago

Very very funny to see a bunch of Trump cultists worrying about the mental capacity of others!

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago

What adults want to do to their bodies is their own business and no one else’s.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

OK, so if an adult wants, say, his left arm amputated, a surgeon should be found to do it? Or does this only apply to breast removal and genital mutilation? As the author points out, they’re chasing an impossible goal, which of course is great news for the modern day Mengeles masquerading as ‘gender affirming surgeons’. You don’t seem to object at all to these grotesque procedures being performed on children.

William Shaw
William Shaw
1 year ago
Reply to  Studio Largo

Children are an entirely different matter. Don’t conflate them with adults.
Nobody under 18 should be having any surgical procedures or hormone treatment.
And no, I don’t object to an adult having radical surgery.
It’s their body, their money and their life.
Nobody has a right to impose their beliefs on others.
Adults are free to do as they please so long as they don’t hurt others.

Last edited 1 year ago by William Shaw
Daniel P
Daniel P
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

No person who is mentally fit would ever engage in such behavior.

If you are not mentally fit, then a doctor has an obligation, a duty, to decline to perform that surgery.

Studio Largo
Studio Largo
1 year ago
Reply to  William Shaw

Good to know that you oppose children being subjected to this sickness. As for beliefs being imposed on others, what about people being punished for not using ‘preferred pronouns’, or ‘deadnaming’ and ‘misgendering’ others? And don’t even tell me this is not going on. The examples are too numerous to list.