TwistedReach
Thanks for the link. The Tavistock quotes GIRES. Who were very unprofessional in their dealings with the intersex society. So much so that the society had to write a public letter asking them to desist from harassing them. They also went to great pains to reiterate that intersex sex is not the same as transgender. Something that the transgender activists constantly fail to respect.
I'm not sure that the people who run GIRES, (who are highly influential in terms of government policy) are entirely neutral. Neither are they highly qualified. He has an MBA, she is a physiotherapist.
They themselves say:
"Gender identity refers to a person’s sense of fitting into social categories".
So going against cultural expectations.
And they agree that being trans is not something that is identifiable, and therefore verifiable.
"It is not always possible to know whether gender non-conforming behaviors in a child are actually a reflection of gender dysphoria, or whether they are related to some other possible outcome, such as being gay, lesbian or bisexual. Usually, at the onset of puberty, the outcome becomes clearer to the child, and therefore to the relevant adults, including clinicians if they are already involved."
But at the same time say that people who realise they're not trans after all should not form any kind of decision about whether to treat people in the first place.
"The argument that the possibility of ‘desistance’ exists, is neither relevant nor a rational excuse for withholding cross-sex hormones. ‘Desistance’ should be completely detached from decisions about cross-sex hormones."
Also they make a further claim that hormones cures autism. I have no idea whether this is true, but if it is, surely this should be front-page news?
"Anecdotally, young people who have been successfully treated, are often described as having no residual ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder]. The symptoms have disappeared once the dysphoria has been treated."
So either hormones cures autism, or autism can be synonymous with gender dysphoria?
I don't think anyone is denying that children with autism who think they are trans must be very distressed. It's obvious.
But separating, or trying to make a distinction, between gender dysphoria and autistic children who think they are trans, is surely vital.
I must admit GIRES leaves me very confused.
Claiming it's social, claiming it's autism, yet knowing that gender dysphoria exists in and of itself.
I understand that they can only go on information that is entirely subjective, and therefore only relies on statistics, not a medical diagnosis. But when the treatment is so severe, untested and has such a lifelong consequences it's irresponsible, in my opinion.
They don't know why it exists, they have several theories, but nonetheless they treat it with a sledgehammer. Which does little to reduce the overall distress of the person, anyway.
For the record, the reason why many women profoundly disagree with the ideology, is not because of confused young children. Neither is it because they think that gender dysphoria doesn't need further research and treatment.
It's because a great deal of the people who come under the trans umbrella are autogynephilic. Which is highly misogynistic and indeed it does pose a great threat to women.
Separating out the different layers that now currently come under the word transgender, would be enormous service to both youngsters and people suffering from gender dysphoria. And women in general.