Gender Disaffirmation and Sexual Mutilation, Part 3–The Research

I have tried to gather here some of actual research on supposed gender dysphoria care, which is largely designed by the provider community not to help children but to persuade them that any issues they have are because they are the “wrong” gender and need to ruin their entire lives by getting care that hurts them but benefits providers.  Patients and their families are not given full information about the risks of sexual mutiliation, which is what puberty blockers and surgery are, and the benefits are exaggerated.  No child could possibly give informed consent to such care, and no adult should be permitted to give it on their behalf, due to its irreversible nature.  And alternatives such as good mental health treatments are ignored or skipped.

And people should understand, aside from the immense mental health damage done to anyone by disaffirming a core, unchangeable fact of their identity, that they were born biological male or female and should accept that and be happy with; these gender disaffirmation treatments are irreversible and have lifelong negative health effects, including raising the risk of cancer and multiple other diseases.  But what the research also increasingly demonstrates is that these extreme, ideologically driven treatments do nothing to improve mental health and satisfaction with life, almost certainly because made-up gender dysphoria wasn’t the problem to begin with.  Most significantly, these children are not told that they will never have children and never have an enjoyable sex life.

I mentioned that the whackos are out to get your kids and get them early.  This horrifying article describes how made-up gender dysphoria is being “diagnosed” at an earlier age.  The authors seem to think this is a good thing. What is really happening is that the whackos are determined to warp children at as early an age as possible, before it is too late and they come to their senses.  (Gen. Psych. Article)

Most importantly, here is a study which reviews some of the early research supposedly supporting gender disaffirming care, giving you the perspective on how non-existent the science is.  The authors dismantle the poor methodology of Dutch studies supposedly showing benefit and point out the lack of any credible research supporting sex transitions for youth.  This is a great place to start.  (Overview Research)

While ideology rules over science in the US, in other countries medical journals have noted the lack of evidence to support sexual mutilation and the harm it may do to young people, and the failure in the US to even attempt counseling before engaging in drug and surgical interventions.  (BMJ Editorial)  A longer British Medical Journal article further notes the complete lack of any evidence for the benefits of these extreme interventions, which is completely contrary to the more general approach in medicine to only offer treatments with few risks and clear benefits.  (BMJ Article) 

And in fact there is clear evidence demonstrating that these extreme treatments of young people have no benefit.  The whackos in the transgender activist mob love to claim that you have to let young children be mutilated or they will commit suicide.  The reality is that the gender confusion push is causing mental illness.  This study among the military found that following these radical interventions, there was no improvement in the mental health of young people.  In fact, they needed more mental health drugs and care.  It is absurd to imagine that this destruction of the core identity of any person is going to be beneficial to their mental health.   (JSM Article)

This older study from Sweden following a cohort that had sexual mutilation surgery found they had higher overall death rates (likely from the extreme harm to physical health caused by messing with hormones), higher suicide rates and greater use of mental health services.  The authors try to ignore the obvious conclusion, that probably these patients would have been better off never being sexually mutilated.  (PLOS Study)

And a more recent similar study from Denmark also finds no benefit from gender disaffirmation, as individuals subjected to these treatments have higher death and suicide rates.  (JAMA Article)

And here is a study showing that when you encourage children, in this case boys, to just wait before doing anything and you treat their other mental health issues, the so-called gender dysphoria disappears within a few years.  These were very young children at initial “diagnosis” but within a few years 88% no longer reported these feelings.   (Frontiers Study)

This blog post summarizes some of the research of negative physical health effects from gender disaffirming treatment, of which there are many, including cognitive ones.   The conclusion drawn is inescapable, these treatments should be viewed as experimental in young people, if not everyone.  (BMJ Blog)

And here is an article describing the admission by one of the despicable so-called physicians who promote these garbage treatments to very young children admitting that they cause very serious health issues.  (Mail Article)

This article describes how a study originally pimped by the American Journal of Psychiatry as showing benefits to gender disaffirming care had to be retracted due to inaccuracies; i.e., the study was basically fraudulent and actually showed no benefit.  (PD Article)

This study from Germany among transgender and non-binary persons finds high levels of loneliness, isolation and other indicators of failure to live a productive and happy life.  But again completely fails to link that to what is inevitable when you gender disaffirm someone’s biological identity they were born with–they almost certainly will be unhappy because you have caused a mental illness, not fixed one.  (PubMed Article)