Netherlands Puberty Blocker Review Comes to Opposite Conclusion, Dismisses Cass Review

Yes of course. No one is saying that if your kid likes princess dresses they are trans. A parent would have to be rather unwell themselves to think this.
But if your child over a long period of time was expressing acute distress over being called a boy, was persistently insisting they were a girl and insisting you recognise them as that, etc etc, you might become concerned and start wondering how on earth to support them.

If it's really a reaction to a gendered society, it strikes me as quite odd that transgenderism should have increased in recent years when society in the Western world is less 'gendered' than it has ever been. If this is the reason, I would expect to see a lot more transgenderism in places like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and it diminishing in more equal societies.

It's not necessarily about sexism per se, it's about gendered categories. I don't see how we can ever completely eliminate those, because - (as gender critical philosophy persistently reminds us)- of the salience of human reproductive roles. As long as we have a society that recognises and gives any meaning/ recognition to these categories/ roles, there will be people who feel that they are in the wrong one.
We should always tell kids they are perfect as they are and it's society that has screwed up! This applies to so many things. But it won't necessarily alleviate gender dysphoria/ incongruence in those that have it,

Support would be initially asking them why they think that, and if they are very distressed at their sex taking them to a child psychologist to find out what is really going on and help them come to terms with their sex. Right?

*reproductive roles and the biological differences attached to these

How does that square with kids as young as 3 or 4 being transed precisely because they like princess dresses and playing with "girl toys" ?

As long as we have a society that recognises and gives any meaning/ recognition to these categories/ roles, there will be people who feel that they are in the wrong one.

When you talk about categories and roles, are you talking about sex (biology) or gender? I assume your reference to 'human reproductive roles' is referring to sex, which obviously can't be changed. If a man thinks he is in the 'wrong' category or role because he can't get pregnant, then he needs therapy to accept this, because people can't change sex.

If you're talking about gender - the gendered expectations which are imposed by society, then the answer is for society to continue to change to make whatever category/role people want to inhabit not dependent on sex. It's insane to try to make people look like the opposite sex just so that they can do something that a sexist society doesn't allow.

I'm talking about the meaning that society gives to categories based on different reproductive roles and the biological differences between people that are attached to these. So it's not that a 'man' thinks he's in the wrong category because 'he can't get pregnant', it's that society gives recognition and meaning to the concepts of 'male'/'female' based on biological differences. As long as society recognises these categories and gives meaning to them, there will be people who have gender dysphoria - a persistent sense that they are in the wrong one and the distress associated with this.

There are many things people feel very strongly are wrong in their life. There are many things they wish had been different at birth.

The only reason so-called "transgenderism" is treated as more real than these other longings is because in the 20th century our doctors had the hubris and lack of knowledge to believe they could "make" a man into a woman.

It is the existence of a supposed "treatment" that turned this one longing into a medical diagnosis, not the other way round.

Dr Az Hakeem, who has worked extensively in this field states that the number of transsexuals is small. Most of the adult trans-identified men are fetishistic transvestites and a small number are AGPs.

This may be true.

However, we should not be pandering to the delusion by accomodating such men "as if" they were women, because that is deeply insulting to and reductive of women.

We aren't a group defined by feeling a certain way about ourselves, or by the gender roles society may expect of us. Even if some or many of us have these things in common, they are not definitional factors but consequences of the actual defining difference between women and girls over all other humans, which is simply our sex.

Whatever trans people may "really" feel, the answer to it is not to redefine every other human on the planet into men and women based on an assumption about their minds simply so trans people can make sense of their own feelings.

It depends what you mean by "come to terms with their sex". Everyone has to come to terms with aspects of themselves. But if you mean that accepting one's sex will reliably resolve gender dysphoria and eliminate the associated distress, the evidence doesn't support that as a universal outcome. For some, gender dysphoria persists despite attempts to reconcile themselves with their sex, and continuing to ignore/ refuse this can increase a child's distress.

Calling it "pandering to the delusion" is unhelpful phrasing.
Gender dysphoria is a recognised medical and psychological condition that can cause profound distress. It isn't a case of someone choosing to believe something irrational or engaging in wilful fantasy. The clinical question is how best to alleviate that distress, not whether patients should be dismissed as "delusional".

Dr Az Hakeem is promoting harmful stereotypes about trans people.

We are talking specifically, in relation to the OP, about putting children on a medical pathway because of these feelings of dysphoria. However, as the blog you shared makes clear, the reasons for these feelings are complex. Two examples are trauma and an inability to come to terms with being gay. It shouldn’t need spelling out why, given these possible roots of discomfort particular caution should be taken in declaring any child ‘trans’

In addition, a previous review of the Dutch model showed that not all the children placed on blockers even had a diagnosis of GD.

You keep repeating that ‘cis’ children are put on blockers, but there are clear objective and measurable criteria. The same isn’t true of children who are put on blockers ‘because they are trans’. Like others, I’m not sure why you seem so keen to medicalise children and discredit any work that suggests that may not be the best approach.

Dr. Az Hakeem MBBS MSc FRCPsych who single-handedly developed and ran the country’s first Gender Dysphoria Psychotherapy Clinic, might be expected to have some expertise. He isn't actually judgemental about men with fetishes; his aim was to help all his patients.
Your dismissal of his testimony reflects a lack of openess on your part and, perhaps, a blindness to the fetishes that we can all see are obviously part of the 'trans' umbrella.

No. This is too important to be weaselly about language. We need to be clear about what is going on.

Are these people in any way actually closer to the opposite sex in some way than others of their sex, or do they just very deeply believe they are?

If the former, then for society to accommodate them "as if" they were the opposite sex in some way absolutely is pandering to the delusion. And it is forcing women to be complicit in that against our own needs and best interests.

Perhaps you believe this is a reasonable sacrifice for women to make? Perhaps you think women are selfish to expect to be seen as complete human beings whose own identity and needs matter when there are sad men we could be supporting?

If so, please own that. Don't hide behind "well maybe but you can't actually say that". It's dishonest and gets us nowhere. If you think something matters enough to do it then you should be confident enough that it is the right thing to do to talk about it honestly.

"If the former, " - darn it, should be "if the latter"

Disagreeing with someone's interpretation isn't the same as dismissing their expertise. Nor does one clinician's experience justify making sweeping statements about an entire group of people.

Just because they are harmful doesn't mean they are wrong or false.

A stereotype can contain an element of truth about some individuals while still being misleading when applied to an entire group. My objection is to taking characteristics observed in a subset of people and presenting them as representative of trans people as a whole, especially when doing so perpetuates harmful stereotypes with real world consequences.

I think I asked you earlier in the thread for some evidence to support this claim. Can you provide some now?

Those figures are not stereotypes drawn out of thin air, though. They are the direct statistics issued from Dr Hakeem's work. Saying you won't accept them just because you don't like what they say, is not serious or scientific in the least.

And yes, there are very much real world consequences to so many transwomen being fetishists, and we need to confront them, not sweep them under the rug.

It is not a 'sweeping statement about an entire group of people'. It is the recognition that trans-identified men are not a homogenous group. If you refuse to acknowledge that then, in my eyes, that devalues your opinions on this issue.

You're asking me to provide evidence for the absence of an effect. I'd turn the question around: what is the evidence that encouraging someone to "come to terms with their sex" reliably resolves persistent gender dysphoria?

As far as I'm aware, there isn't a robust body of research demonstrating that it does. By contrast, the existence of adolescents and adults with persistent gender dysphoria is well documented in the literature.
Meanwhile, on the contrary, the existence of adolescents and adults with persistent gender dysphoria is well documented in the literature. That, by itself, is inconsistent with the suggestion that simply "coming to terms with one's sex" is a reliably effective solution for everyone.

Steensma TD et al. (2013). Factors Associated With Desistence and Persistence of Childhood Gender Dysphoria: A Quantitative Follow-Up Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(6), 582–590.

de Vries ALC et al. (2014). Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment. Pediatrics, 134(4), 696–704.

Olson KR et al. (2022). Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition. Pediatrics, 150(2).