We have conflicting narratives here, all about evil adults abusing children.
On the one hand Mermaids make apparently unsubstantiated claims about trans kids attempting suicide and harming themselves. In these narratives it is the evil Clinical Commissioning Groups who are responsible for withholding essential treatments and thus for the alleged suicides.
On the other, skeptical readers like myself are concerned that Mermaid’s activities constitute child abuse.
Some provisional thoughts re this:
In my personal experience there are many young people including minors with serious mental health problems who are desperate to escape the tormented world they inhabit. Many self-harm and some will attempt suicide.
Mermaids and other organisations dangle the promise of transition as a magical transformational experience. The hope of many of these extremely vulnerable young people is that hormones and surgery will fix everything. We know from the many and various de-transition narratives available on the net that sometimes the hormones and surgery make things much worse without helping the original mental health problems.
I have met some people who felt happier immediately following transition however the transition process involves a person joining a new “trans family”, a network, or overlapping networks of people connected in real life and via social media, where their new self and identity is validated by those in the network.
Previously ordinary, unremarkable people can suddenly become social media influencers with significant fame via publishing “transition” and other trans themed videos on youtube and other social media channels.
It is remarkable to me that, in an era where teens and young people live their lives via social media and value themselves in terms of how many “likes” and positive comments they receive, that none of the trans campaigning groups ever express any concerns or cautions about the potential for children and young people to come to harm or to make bad decisions based on social media fame, which can be transitory. Comments can shift from being adoring to hateful and trolling in the blink of an eye, so there is much pressure for the trans social media influencers to tow the party line. The risks of dissent are significant.
I do not doubt that changing one’s life from an ordinary person to a stunning and brave TV and social media star can be an exciting and gratifying experience. However should a person have doubts about their transition it seems that they are no longer welcome in their new trans family networks. Everyone has to tow the line in order for the “family’ to hold together. It is extremely difficult for people to leave behind their new family, especially as it is not uncommon for people to have left behind their family of origin or to have experienced conflict within their family of origin regarding their transition. In this way the trans networks can become cult like and it can be difficult for people to leave their new trans family.
Distinguishing features of cults include that dissent is not tolerated and that it is difficult to leave. Apostates are shunned and considered to be Judas like figures. I would feel much more supportive of the trans support and activist groups if were they more provisional and cautious in their narratives. The very certainty with which they provide unsupported claims and advocate life changing, experimental surgical procedures to vulnerable young people leaves me feeling extremely concerned that children and vulnerable young adults are being abused and subjected to unethical experimentation.
Another aspect of this issue that I have been thinking about is that of factitious disorder and factitious disorder imposed upon another (formerly Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy).
As readers will no doubt be aware this disorder is characterised by, in the case of factitious disorder, people adopting a significant degree of subterfuge and manipulation in order to gain access to hospital settings and adopting the role of patient. It is unremarkable for people with factitious disorder to endure multiple dangerous, painful and disfiguring surgeries and drug treatments as part of their quest.
This fascinating paper provides clear definitions of the differences between somatoform disorders, factitious disorder and malingering. (I am dubious about the validity of these categories and will explore this further in the thread about the screaming schoolgirls of Malaysia.)
The paper also lists some of the sophisticated and manipulative lengths some people will go to to obtain the status of a patient. Some people injure their genital and / or anal region, some inject themselves with noxious substances, some set to work on themselves with a nail file. Many endure painful and dangerous surgeries for no other reason than to experience the concerned attention of others that is central to the experience of being a patient in a hospital setting.
Fascinating details here
www.nzma.org.nz/journal/read-the-journal/all-issues/2010-2019/2011/vol-124-no-1342/article-kenedi
In factitious disorder imposed upon another a person in a position of power over another (usually a parent) will maliciously harm another person (usually their child) in order to feign or reproduce serious illness and force the child to endure unnecessary medical procedures in order to enjoy the excited concern and attention of medical professionals.
Interestingly it is not uncommon for people with FD and FDiA to have a background in nursing or the medical profession. This makes sense in terms of the fact that the subterfuge necessary for them to be successful in their quest necessitates a great deal of medical knowledge.
Possibly the most notorious case of FDiA in the UK is that of the nurse Beverley Alitt who was convicted of murdering 4 children and injuring several others.
I read a very disturbing memoir by the daughter of a mother with FDiA, it was titled “Sickened” and I would recommend the book although, of course, it makes for distressing reading. The book contains photos of the author’s medical notes as a child so the abuse against her by her mother is well documented. Interested readers can watch a video of the author here
Readers will recognise elements of FDiA in the behaviour of some mothers of some trans identifying people.
If, as it seems to me, it is true that extremely vulnerable children and young people with ipse-existing mpulses to self harm / suicide and also vulnerable children who are victims of FDiO are over-represented amongst populations identified as transgender, it would be unremarkable if this population experienced higher rates of actual and attempted suicide.
This does not mean that there are higher rates of attempted and actual suicides, it just means that, given pre-existing vulnerabilities, one would expect an increased rate of suicidal ideation in this group.
So, to conclude, there may well be higher rates of self-harm and suicides in trans identified groups. The conclusions to be drawn from this are diverse.
Certainly one way of looking at it would be to start be appreciating that there is a significant population of extremely vulnerable, extremely unwell children and young people in the UK who are in need of psychiatric help and support.
Could it be that these vulnerable minors are being offered the wrong kinds of support and being encouraged to consider themselves to be transgender as a magical transformative process that will solve everything?
Given that mental health services for adults and children in the UK are, in many locations, not fit for purpose and subjected to significant staff shortages and funding cuts I think that this is a hypothesis worth exploring further.
It may be that only time will tell, however the expense of this experiment is measured in irreversibly damaged bodies of vulnerable people. It is a very expensive price to pay.
Just sharing some thoughts on this issue.