'Rapid-onset gender dysphoria' is a poisonous lie used to discredit trans people' guardian article

[Bespin]

amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/22/rapid-onset-gender-dysphoria-is-a-poisonous-lie-used-to-discredit-trans-people?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet&__twitter_impression=true

I've "discussed" this on Twitter with various TRAs who tend to say "oh I didn't tell anyone or do anything until I was a teen because my parents were so awful".
So this means they did not meet the diagnostic criteria for GD until they were a teenager.
But they now say that yes they are and always have been gender dysphoric i.e. meeting the diagnostic criteria - the criteria which include obligatory visible expressions of dysphoria/gender non-conformity in order to be met in full.

Thing is, you can't have it both ways.
You can't have diagnostic criteria which you meet now, didn't meet then, and then complain that the criteria are wrong. Either you go by the criteria (and you are now officially GD) or you scrap the criteria entirely (and go for new ones which, according to these TRAs, would probably be entirely subjective - no, that is not going to wash in the DSM).

However personally I would argue that the criteria do NOT indicate gender dysphoria in most young people - because having long hair (as a boy), having friends of the opposite sex, and playing with non-gender-stereotyped toys should NOT be indicators of gender dysphoria.

As I'm not an expert, I don't really know what SHOULD be in a set of criteria but at a minimum I'd say it has to include some expression (as in, expressed to another person) of dissatisfaction with the child's actual body. And I don't think any of the stereotyping stuff should be in any more. And I also don't think that leading questions should count (i.e., if a boy says "I want long hair" and the parent or therapist asks "do you think you might want to be a girl?" that should NOT count as expressing dissatisfaction).

So we are left with: child does not express the wish to physically transition/dissatisfaction with body. Adolescent does express this wish. I think that's at the core of this and there need to be studies of how prevalent this is AMONG THOSE WHO EXPRESS GENDER DYSPHORIA AS ADOLESCENTS.

@bespin you work with children? How does that correlate with you citing an article by someone who talks as demonstrated in QuietContraryMary's post.

You, who work with children, and are so keen to dismiss distressing experiences of children on the basis of a person like that?

What is wrong with you?

A 2015 US study found that 4.3% of people 18 and below visit the emergency room for sport-related injuries.

I’d keep an eye on that figure.

Now that male bodied athletes will be playing contact sports against female bodied athletes that percentage is going to go through the roof.

As I'm not an expert, I don't really know what SHOULD be in a set of criteria but at a minimum I'd say it has to include some expression (as in, expressed to another person) of dissatisfaction with the child's actual body.

This part of the diagnostic criteria seems to have vanished from discussion.

Most, for instance, aren’t dissatisfied with their bodies. Many of them are plastering photos of their bodies all over the Internet.

Most, for instance, aren’t dissatisfied with their bodies. Many of them are plastering photos of their bodies all over the Internet.

I'd say that was less true of teens and of girls/women except for pictures of pre/post surgery; of course there's still the issue of whether a body dysphoria is really a gender dysphoria.

Autism is a lifelong condition. If there were clusters of teenagers suddenly exhibiting autistic traits I’d like that looked into.

It wouldn’t undermine my ‘identity’ (whatever that is) as an autistic if it was discovered that there were people presenting with similar traits but who had an entirely different history.

Autism is defined by the traits, not the etiology. There may, in fact, be many causes. The same is true for gender dysphoria. And until it has been studied, one of those causes may be social contagion.