My daughters have autism. In the increase of over 5000% of girls being referred to Tavistock, 35% are already diagnosed with autism. Compared to less than 1% of the general population with autism. Girls Will autism are just as disproportionately represented in the thousands of detransers out there
NC but regular poster, and apologies for a far too long post.
I have autism and I think if I was a teenager/child today I would be described as having dysmorphia and would be put on the transition pathway, very likely given puberty blockers. I really struggled with puberty and body changes and I still don't feel comfortable about my breasts even in middle age. Menopause was an incredible relief. Even after years of counselling and soul-searching, I'd have a mastectomy if it was safe and easy, and I think if I was younger I'd identify as nonbinary.
I don't see myself as trans or nonbinary for two reasons. Firstly I can see how autism has affected the way I see my body and made puberty and periods particularly hard to deal with, mainly because I find change and sensory issues difficult. Secondly I was lucky enough to grow up in the era of second wave feminism and have seen the personal as political for as long as I can remember, and I've always had an awareness that my issues with the physicality of womanhood are connected to the wider difficulty of being a woman in a patriarchal, sexist society. My discomfort is part of a much wider issue of women changing themselves to fit in with social expectations and pressures, whether that's to be more feminine (breast implants, hair removal) or, in the case of binding, to try and opt out of those expectations.
Only someone with no political awarenes could see breast binding as all about personal choice and feelings, when it's absolutely plain that there are larger issues at play. You just have to look at two points that have been raised here again and again: that far more girls than boys are identifying out of their biological sex, and secondly the expectations of being trans are clearly different for MTF than FTM so that a pp can say that 'transmen do not want breasts' when it would be transphobic to say something like 'transwomen don't want to have beards.'
So, that's a longwinded way to say that this is very much an issue that everyone in society is entitled to discuss and feel concern about, particularly those who are involved in safeguarding children, including all parents. It is not just a personal issue for the individuals concerned.
The other huge issue here is mental health support and the glaring inappropriateness of a service for teens with major MH issues being offered in a shop by people with absolutely no MH training or safeguarding awareness. To me Lush is a particularly awful choice because I've had the experience in more than one branch of them deliberately taking my young daughter aside from me and putting products in her basket without my consent, and this has happened to so many people I know that I believe they must train staff to do this.
Finally, I feel very strongly that whatever reasons are behind issues like binding and identifying out of womanhood, the common help would be putting a lot more resources into good quality mental health care for children and young people, not the shamefully underfunded services we have now. This would help girls who just need a lot of support to get through adolescence, but would also help those who do end up transitioning. If Lush cares about the girls it profits from, a better way to demonstrate that would be to donate some of their profits to young people's mental health services or good quality research into understanding dysmorphia.