One of the promises of all the main parties in the current Scottish elections is to improve the rights of transgender people. Indeed there seems to be almost universal agreement among most of the parties, social commentators on the transgender issue. That is why I have put “debate” in quotation marks as we are experiencing a very rapid change in our approach to gender and are doing so with very little debate at all, and anyone who does seek to question the direction of travel is quickly labelled a bigot. Moreover, political parties, the media, and education authorities all seem to be moving in the same direction.
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP) recently published a report entitled “Gender Ideology Harms Children”. I think it would be helpful to look at the current zeitgeist in the light of this report and to ask some serious questions. This is particularly important as the gender issue is one that will increasingly affect children, a BBC report says that the number of referrals to a gender identity clinic for young people has experienced a doubling in referrals.
I would suggest that first you read the ACP report, it is short so it won’t take long. First, let me say something about the ACP. As far as I can tell, despite its name it is not a national body in the sense that the BMA is, and it is a socially conservative body , but it does consist of fully qualified pediatricians. Moreover the points made are backed up by references, and some of the points are definitely based on scientific truth. So it is definitely worth considering the issue in the light of the points they make.
The report starts with the opening paragraph:
The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.
Treating gender dysphoria
So let's consider perhaps the fundamental point of the current approach. Transgenderism is concerned with people who experience gender dysphoria, ie people who experience dysphoria with their biological sex. Now the current approach is that in this situation where there is a conflict between psychological and physical state the solution is to seek to change the physical state, this being done by taking cross-sex hormones, and possibly by gender reassignment surgery. Now there are two very important points to consider:
The common approach in most situations where one's perception of reality is at odds with the physical reality is to consider that this is a problem that needs to be approached as a psychological issue. With the matter of gender dysphoria we seem to be adopting the very opposite approach. We need to ask ourselves why this is considered to be the best approach to take.
The taking of hormones and undergoing gender reassignment surgery does not actually change the sex of a person. If the person was born male they will still have xy chromosomes. On a very practical level, a person born male will still be prone to prostate problems when they get older. In short, there is a limit to the extent to which the physical reality can actually be changed.
In the light of this one has to ask if the current approach is actually the best way of helping people who experience gender dysphoria. The report refers to reports of high suicide rates in people who use cross-sex hormones and undergo gender reassignment surgery, even in LGBTQ friendly countries such as Sweden. Now one has a healthy caution about all such studies, but it does at least mean we should ask questions.
Surely we should ask ourselves if the current approach is the best way to really help people who experience gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria and children
This is the primary reason for my writing on this issue. There is an increasing move to instruct our children that transgenderism is good and that the, until now, accepted definitions of gender are wrong. This is a very serious matter and we need to be sure that we are going in the right direction.
To appreciate how serious the issue is one only needs to consider that one of the approaches can be to give children puberty blocking drugs. So the approach is to give a child drugs that inhibit the normal healthy functioning of the body. If this is to be considered a good approach for a child one needs to be darn sure that you are right. Moreover, according to the report, puberty inhibiting drugs can have harmful side-effects, and in the longer term cross-sex hormones have serious health risks as well.
The report refers to studies that say the majority of children who experience gender dysphoria to actually “grow out of it”. Now this does not mean we should ignore the problem if a child does suffer from gender dysphoria, but it does mean that we should seriously question the current approach. Children are very impressionable, which is one of the reasons all societies seek to protect children, and there is a serious risk that the current direction we are going in will cause harm to our children. Indeed the report goes so far as to call that approach child-abuse, and one can see why they do this.
So I do believe there are serious questions need to be asked of the direction we are going in. However, there is also another matter that does need to be addressed. Part of the motivation of the current approach is a desire to stop bullying of people, and children in particular, who experience gender dysphoria. This is an entirely laudable desire. Bullying wherever and for whatever reason it occurs is abhorrent and we should do what we can to stop it, but there seems to be a serious risk that the current approach is built on a lie, and if it is it will ultimately lead to failure and cause serious harm to children in the process. We are actually made male and female. So maybe we need to find a different way of dealing with the bullying problem. Also, we need to address the gender stereotyping issue.
