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Justdad7 is another important information source to follow in Canada about the issues surrounding the unwarranted sterilization of children in the name of transgender ideology.
A Different Model of Care – justdad7’s Substack.
The major difficulty with the application of the mature minor doctrine in gender medicine is that the case law assumes that the minor is making decisions under the guidance of a doctor who is following the conventional medical model with clear diagnostic criteria and treatment goals. Practice in gender clinics is very different.
In the case of a disease like cancer, the diagnosis is usually confirmed by multiple objective tests including diagnostic imaging, laboratory tests and tissue biopsies. There are also objective measures of the effectiveness of treatments, such as shrinkage of the tumour. A doctor will recommend a treatment that is likely to cause sterility or other serious side effects only after making a firm diagnosis and concluding that the benefit of the treatment outweighs the risks.
In gender medicine, there is no known biological marker for transgender identity. The diagnosis of gender dysphoria under the DSM-5 depends entirely on self-reported symptoms which are largely tied to conformity to social stereotypes of male and female.
Furthermore, while a DSM-5 diagnosis may still be required in some places for insurance purposes, the WPATH SOC8 recommends relying in the ICD-11 diagnosis of Gender Incongruence. The definition of gender incongruence of childhood is similar to the DSM-5 diagnosis of gender dysphoria, but does not require the presence of distress. For older patients, the definition reads:
Gender incongruence of adolescence and adulthood is characterized by a marked and persistent incongruence between an individual´s experienced gender and the assigned sex, which often leads to a desire to ‘transition’, in order to live and be accepted as a person of the experienced gender, through hormonal treatment, surgery or other health care services to make the individual´s body align, as much as desired and to the extent possible, with the experienced gender. The diagnosis cannot be assigned prior the onset of puberty. Gender variant behaviour and preferences alone are not a basis for assigning the diagnosis.
The concept of ‘experienced gender’ is entirely subjective, with no possible test other than self-declaration. In other words, if a teenagers claim to have a transgender identity and wants medical transition badly enough, they should have it.
It is also difficult for a doctor to inform a patient of the prospects of success of a gender affirming treatment because there are no clear criteria for measuring success. The goal of transforming a body into one of the opposite sex is unobtainable but success might be measured in how close an approximation the treatment achieves.
However, patients seek to transform their bodies in the hope of relieving their mental distress. A good cosmetic result from a treatment is pointless if the patient still feels miserable and distressed by their body. The evidence that gender transition helps to improve mental health is low quality. Ultimately, the conventional measures of success are irrelevant to the new model of gender medicine where the “goals have shifted from reducing suffering to achieving personal ‘embodiment goals.’”
Informed consent in gender medicine therefore raises different issues from the conventional medical model. In conventional treatment, the minor’s decision making is being guided by a doctor who has made a diagnosis and determined that a treatment is in the patient’s best interest. In gender medicine, it is necessary to ask whether a minor should be entitled to proceed with risky and irreversible treatments based on a sense of personal identity which is unfalsifiable but may prove to be transitory.
No idea is sacred in a society that values freedom of speech and expression. Yet, if one questions the tenets of trans-ideology then seemingly all bets are off. Disrupting one’s professional career, receiving threats, losing opportunities to speak are all possible consequences of questioning trans-ideology. That fact in itself should give pause to anyone who fancies calling themself progressive. Robert Jensen writing for commondreams.org writes eloquently on this topic.
“To be clear: Humans do create cultural meaning about sex differences. Humans who have a genetic makeup to produce sperm (males) and humans who have a genetic makeup to produce eggs (females) are treated differently in a variety of ways that go beyond roles in reproduction.
In the struggle for women’s liberation, feminists in the 1970s began to use the term “gender” to describe the social construction of meaning around the differences in biological sex. When men would say, “Women are just not suited for political leadership,” for example, feminists would point out that this was not a biological fact to be accepted but a cultural norm to be resisted.
To state the obvious: Biological sex categories exist outside of human action. Social gender categories are a product of human action.
This observation leads to reasonable questions, which aren’t bigoted or transphobic: When those in the transgender movement assert that “trans women are women,” what do they mean? If they mean that a male human can somehow transform into a female human, the claim is incoherent because humans cannot change biological sex categories. If they mean that a male human can feel uncomfortable in the social gender category of “man” and prefer to live in a society’s gender category of “woman,” that is easy to understand. But it begs a question: Is the problem that one is assigned to the wrong category? Or is the problem that society has imposed gender categories that are rigid, repressive, and reactionary on everyone? And if the problem is in society’s gender categories, then is not the solution to analyze the system of patriarchy—institutionalized male dominance—that generates those rigid categories? Should we not seek to dismantle that system? Radical feminists argue for such a radical change in society.
These are the kinds of questions I have asked and the kinds of arguments I have made in writing and speaking. If I am wrong, then critics should point out mistakes and inaccuracies in my work. But if this radical feminist analysis is a strong one, then how can an accurate description of biological realities be evidence of bigotry or transphobia?
When I challenge the ideology of the transgender movement from a radical feminist perspective—which is sometimes referred to as “gender-critical,” critical of the way our culture socially constructs gender norms—I am not attacking people who identify as transgender. Instead, I am offering an alternative approach, one rooted in a collective struggle against patriarchal ideologies, institutions, and practices rather than a medicalized approach rooted in liberal individualism.
That’s why the label “TERF” (trans-exclusionary radical feminism) is inaccurate. Radical feminists don’t exclude people who identify as transgender but rather offer what we believe is a more productive way to deal with the distress that people feel about gender norms that are rigid, repressive, and reactionary. That is not bigotry but politics. Our arguments are relevant to the ongoing debate about public policies, such as who is granted access to female-only spaces or who can compete in girls’ and women’s sports. They are relevant to concerns about the safety of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions. And radical feminism is grounded in compassion for those who experience gender dysphoria—instead of turning away from reality, we are suggesting ways to cope that we believe to be more productive for everyone.
Now, a final prediction. I expect that some people in the transgender movement will suggest that my reproduction/respiration analogy mocks people who identify as transgender by suggesting that they are ignorant. Let me state clearly: I do not think that. The analogy is offered to point out that an argument relevant to public policy doesn’t hold up. To critique a political position in good faith is not to mock the people who hold it but rather to take seriously one’s obligation to participate in democratic dialogue.
In a cancel culture, people who disagree with me may find it easy to ignore the argument and simply label me a bigot, on the reasoning that because I think a certain ideology within the transgender movement is open to critique, I obviously am transphobic.“
Parents are starting to overcome the stigma around the transing of children. Lynn Meagher is just one brave example of individual parents speaking out against the corrosive trans narrative that can endanger children.
“But one thing is very clear. The reason so much energy is put into silencing me is because I’ve publicly spoken, in my own name, on a topic that is currently forbidden to be discussed in the public square. I know hundreds of parents who are very concerned about their kids. They are watching their kids struggle. They tell me that as soon as their child announced that they were transgender, there was almost always a very discernable and concerning shift in their mental health and in their personality. Far from becoming happy, well adjusted and free to be themselves, their kids have often dropped out of school, quit their jobs, and become extremely depressed. And in almost every case, this has been accompanied by a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the child and the parent. These parents are not only unable to find help for their kids, in many cases they are not even able to talk about it.
The type of parent blame and shame displayed above is used to force parents to comply with every type of demand that kids make surrounding this issue. Use my pronouns, don’t deadname me, buy me a binder, take me to a trans-affirming therapist, give me puberty blockers and hormones, or I’m going to call you a hateful bigot and cut you out of my life. As you can see, this behavior is encouraged by the trans affirming culture in which we now find ourselves. Parent receive this treatment from physicians, psychologists, friends, neighbors, family members, the media, and teachers. One dad recently shared with me that during a family therapy session he was addressed by the therapist, who said, “So it looks like you are the only one with a problem here.”
We know that in areas of cultural debate, it’s the narratives that win the war. Very rarely is anyone brought to a larger understanding of a difficult topic by reading articles or studies, no matter how well they are done. We come to empathize and form an opinion when we are confronted with real life stories from ordinary people. We begin to identify with those stories, to listen and hear them. We begin to realize that what happened to that person was unjust. We begin to empathize, and then we realize that it could have been us. We could have suffered, in much the same way.
This is why the stories of detransitioners, and the stories of parents and families broken apart, are so essential. I did not post on Twitter that day looking for sympathy. I write because my story is representative of countless other stories that I have heard, time and time again. None of these parents are able to publicly tell of their heartbreak, but when we get behind closed doors, the wounds are deep. They are fresh and raw and painful. And in most cases, these parents keep their pain to themselves. They go to work every day, pretending everything is fine. They don’t talk to their neighbors, their friends, their faith community, or even their family. They know that there will not be understanding to be had. They know they will be questioned, doubted, shamed, and blamed. They know that others will reach out to their kids and offer “support”, reinforcing the idea that the parents are the abusers, the bullies, and the ones who should be banished. These parents carry the weight of their fear and grief alone.
But more and more, parents are speaking up, and more organizations are being formed to help them do that. The parents are starting to write blogs, articles, and letters. They are appearing on podcasts. They are writing stories for others to share and read in their places. This is really important, because the prevailing narrative is that there is only one response to take when your child announces a transgender identity. Get on board and affirm, or you risk suicide. Not only is this not true, but it’s abusive.
There is another way. Most parents realize when this happens that it just doesn’t feel right. Even if you’ve been a progressive left leaning gay affirming Democrat all your life, you know your own kid, and you know it’s not true. The truth is, loving and determined communication and parenting will do a lot to help kids find their way out of this. There are many parent support groups out there. If you are need of support, feel free to email me. I can help you get connected.
Until then, I will not let the bully trolls silence me, and we will continue to speak up. #parentsspeak”
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