R4 Today about the Tavistock report/resignation

Oh good

He was supposed to be on Today with Gina Rippon.

She's on tomorrow! Too much news today

twitter.com/ginarippon1/status/1099956728748277760?s=20

Baron Cohen was the driver behind the "extreme male brain" theory in autism, which I think is largely debunked now.

I'd love to hear this conversation!

I wonder if ARC in Cambridge are looking into this issue as it affects autistic young people. I hope so. The overlap between HFA and GID is so significant and I find it hard to believe autistic teenagers are being properly served by current services.

Gina Rippon also has researched autism.

parentingsciencegang.org.uk/web-chats/how-different-are-womens-and-mens-brains/

There was a lot of pressure coming from certain group to introduce it – families were travelling abroad because they knew it was available in Holland and America. As a service, we didn't have the evidence one way or the other, so the best way to do it was as part of a research study.

This is a very odd line to take. There is no evidence one way or the other of the efficacy or appropriateness of treatment. Parents who have enough money to do so will take their children abroad for the treatment. The NHS decides to give in to the pressure and offer the treatment, despite the lack of evidence.

Is this how the NHS usually decides which treatments to offer? Do they normally decide based on how much pressure there is from patients or their parents rather than on the evidence?

twitter.com/BBCTomFeilden/status/1099790049468731392

I am assuming Gina Rippon (no gendered brains) got bumped from Today? We had Tavistock, intro of sex education and lots of Olivia Coleman, but couldn't find anything.

It’s a longtime since I was involved with any research, are submissions to local or national research and ethics committees publically available?

Wow! How did that research get past the the ethics committee?

2016 Vice interview with Dr Polly Carmichael:
'Meeting the Doctor Who Runs the Only NHS Clinic for Trans Children
Dr Polly Carmichael helps children as young as three experiencing gender dysphoria, so has naturally become a tabloid punching bag.'
(extract)
VICE: Hi Polly. Your clinic is under a lot of scrutiny at the moment. You've been accused of "messing with God" by offering hormone blockers to young children – is that a new thing, or is it just that people have more awareness of these issues now?
Dr Polly Carmichael: Hormone treatment was around in the 1980s. It's been available in Holland and over here for many, many years. At that stage, it was available at the end of puberty – so not before the age of 16.

So why are blockers being used on kids under the age of 16 now?
We started introducing the blocker in the early stages of puberty here in 2011. There was a lot of pressure coming from certain group to introduce it – families were travelling abroad because they knew it was available in Holland and America. As a service, we didn't have the evidence one way or the other, so the best way to do it was as part of a research study.

The idea is that if you intervene in that early stage, you won't have experiences of secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts or [the] Adam's apple. So If the young person decides that this is the pathway they wish to follow, they won't later on be having to undertake procedures like top surgery." (continues)

www.vice.com/amp/en_uk/article/exkb4m/meeting-the-doctor-who-runs-the-only-nhs-clinic-for-trans-children

Groups being GIRES & Mermaids?

So just adult then female
Are we not adults but have as females to travel with adults
How does that work

I wonder if ARC in Cambridge are looking into this issue as it affects autistic young people. I hope so. The overlap between HFA and GID is so significant and I find it hard to believe autistic teenagers are being properly served by current services.

hmm - Caledonian Sleeper conundrum. That's a whole other thread too.

I agree Justin did a thorough interview and asked proper questions.

I also like his tweet just now.

2015 Channel 4 News

'Inside the online gender clinic of a pioneering & controversial doctor'
A doctor who prescribed cross-sex hormones to a twelve-year-old child says she's in no doubt it was the right thing to do.

Former GP Helen Webberley, who now runs a private online gender clinic, says she's already advised more than 2000 adult patients in the space of just 18 months - claiming many were frustrated by delays with NHS services.

But Dr Webberley says the reception she's received from some parts of the profession hasn't been entirely welcoming.'

Dr Webberely qualifies professionals who are 'not entirely welcoming' as being akin to 'the transgender mafia'

The failings of the NAS are a whole other thread I suppose. It would be interesting to investigate what a parent of a kid with asd would bectold if they actually did call mermaids.one for any investigative journos who happen to be reading

Hopefully not the National Autistic Society, who despite complaints from members, still signpost to Mermaids.

There are reserves of knowledge and experience that can be drawn on in this field, especially in relation to asd which is a huge factor in the surge in referrals. I’d very much like to know which experts in that field the Tavistock are working with.

We will be seeing a lot of back-pedalling soon...well done those already questioning the lobby groups and standing up to intimidation. People will be falling over themselves to disassociate from them, and the harmful and abusive ideas they have promoted.

clinicians need to be able to manage cases on an evidenced based basis without pressure from lobby groups".

Political lobby groups. Very political lobby groups.

*But governments are funding the lobby groups. The Lottery is funding lobby groups. We are paying for clinicians to be harassed into experimenting on children."

By political groups. Funded to chase one particular political view as if it is the only one, and not only as if it is superior to any other view but with punishment for even debating it. Or debating where it clashes with the laws of the UK. Or debating which other population groups and issues such as safeguarding are harmed by it. Intimidation and paid political lobbying funded by the tax payers .

This is so wrong it's gobsmacking. Happening in plain sight. And pretty much every MP has been told about it.

The ideological framework which Tavistock GIDS was founded on is the same basis as the narrative espoused by TRA lobby groups, charities and individuals.

Some medical experts are rightly questioning this:

BMJ Published 29 October 2018
'Redesigning gender identity services: an opportunity to generate evidence'
authors: Richard Byng, general practitioner and professor in primary care research, Susan Bewley, emeritus professor of obstetrics and women’s health, Damian Clifford, consultant liaison psychiatrist, Margaret McCartney, general practitioner and freelance writer
(extracts)
"A recent feature in The BMJ implied that new services are all that’s needed to improve transgender healthcare. Providing timely, sensitive services for all, including those who decide to not pursue treatment or detransition, is important. But the article did not question the steep rise in referrals of mainly young women or the potential harms of medical overdiagnosis and overtreatment" (continues)

"Regulated medical practitioners should follow a framework of evidence, not simply respond to client expectations. Creating that evidence to inform quality standards is an ethical imperative. We need research to explore the interplays between gender identity, mental health and neurodevelopmental problems, sexual orientation, autogynephilia, and unpalatable gender roles" (continues)

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3410257-BMJ-article-We-need-research-to-explore-the-interplays-between-gender-identity-mental-health-and-neurodevelopmental-problems-sexual-orientation-autogynephilia-and-unpalatable-gender-roles

see current thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3463920-Lets-go-back-to-2007?pg=4

That thread is an eye-opener.

The comment that worried me most was te one PC made abotu ont eh job training. She said there is no training for this, so effectively they are practicing and expereimenting on children.

Yes this happens often in specialist services, for example sen schools. You need experienced mentors working along side you and in-house training.

My query is, I'd really like to see the safeguarding guidelines that they follow.

Any safeguarding guidelines. On any of this. For any setting.

In evidence to another Commons inquiry in 2015, Mermaids argued that GIDS should make such drugs available much more quickly

I'm pretty sure that's not what they (Mermaids) told the National Lottery...

"While I thought dr Carmichael did come over as a bit slippery I did have sympathy with her point that clinicians need to be able to manage cases on an evidenced based basis without pressure from lobby groups".

But governments are funding the lobby groups. The Lottery is funding lobby groups. We are paying for clinicians to be harassed into experimenting on children.

Cut the funding. Let clinicians do their jobs without being harassed by state-sponsored lobby groups. Prosecute those who harass and threaten clinicians.

There is nobody overseeing this who is even trying to join the dots. It is like the entire government has disappeared. Apart from the parts who are doling out money to lobby groups - that part is very effective.