Keira Bell

[MarieIVanArkleStinks]

I'm not sure whether this issue has been debated on this board, as I haven't been posting/reading here for a few weeks. But the story is here:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/22/former-transgender-patient-tells-court-sex-change-clinic-putting/

and here:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7926675/Witness-court-battle-against-gender-clinic-reveals-happened-cry-help.html

TLDR: The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs the UK's only gender identity development service (GIDS) for children, is being sued over concerns that youngsters are being given "experimental treatment" without adequate assessments.

Keira's view as to her symptoms, and lack of warning about them:

I had symptoms similar to the menopause when a woman's hormones drop. I had hot flushes, I found it difficult to sleep, my sex drive disappeared. I was given calcium tablets because my bones weakened.

Keira claims she was not warned by the Tavistock therapists of the dreadful symptoms ahead. 'My female hormones had been flushing through my body and, suddenly, a curtain came down on them. It felt pretty bad,' she recalls.

And as to now:

'The treatment needs to change so that it does not put young people, like me, on a torturous and unnecessary path that is life-changing. I feel like I've been lied to because it did not make me feel any better.

As she struggles to return to life as a woman, she adds, with feeling: 'I don't want any more kids to suffer like me.

That poor woman. This is unconscionable, and the mere idea of the opposite side of this view even having a case to answer in court is so frightening it seems to be bordering on dystopia. In the meantime (and not directly applicable to FtoM transition) I know someone who is currently experiencing hideous, debilitating menopausal symptoms, and is unable to get HRT. There just isn't any available. Instead, her GP has prescribed her with ... Prozac.

I'm curious to know whether MtoF transitioners are experiencing the same issue.

Yes do carry on Oopster.

Clitoria
Your post really hits the nail on the head for me - thank you.

You don't develop treatments for conditions then say "hey look, we can treat this condition now, why don't you all get or develop it?". You're being ridiculous.

Not at all ridiculous.

There are many 'treatments' for conditions that cannot be cured (autism 'treatments' is big business).

There are treatments for conditions which didn't exist until a treatment was developed (look at the history of the DSM and how conditions were added once a pharmaceutical company found and registered a treatment).

If you think pharmaceutical companies are in it for the public good you are very naive. There's a strong history of drugs being re-branded and re-patented for a 'new' use once patents expire. Viagra is one, various contraceptive pills and anti-depressants too.

Thread about young woman being poorly treated by current system, so judicial review granted of current system, so that no other children are harmed.

Male bodied person decides it is a perfect arena to discuss how none of this is really an issue, and eventually gets around to calling the people discussing it misogynist slurs.

I just hope everyone reading is paying attention to what is happening in this thread. I have no idea why anyone would think that being pro-poor treatment for children and young people would be an argument to make, but I'm astonished that someone thinks the contributions on this thread dismissing Kiera's case will convince anyone that a judicial review is not a very sensible idea.

What did I miss?

Ihave no idea why anyone would think that being pro-poor treatment for children and young people would be an argument to make

No

Im a bit confused by that

When i took ds1 to the dr re depression we all agreed that medicalisation at that stage probably wasn’t the answer and therapy and watching him was the best thing to start with

I don’t understand why thats wrong

The same tactics being used against trans people were used against LGB people in the 80's

I really hate this comparison. I refuse to acknowledge any imagined similarities between myself (trying to prevent physical harm being done to children) and homophobes (who actively advocated doing physical harm to LGB people).

I brought up the topic in an online parenting group and was quickly called a Terf. For being concerned about safeguarding and concerned about Keira and others like her I was treated with hostility. The demographic of this group is “crunchy mamas” and it is the authoritarian left who are actively hostile towards us GC women. It was a woman who called me a Terf. Ffs

DuLang - just that we are all TERFs, bigots, trolls etc...

Siameasy That's very concerning. These women do not seem to understand child Safeguarding. For them to dismiss & try to smear someone who does & is sharing concerns represents an additional risk.

"The judge, Mr Justice Supperstone, told The Sunday Times it was 'plainly arguable' the clinic was acting unlawfully and has given permission for the high-profile trial in the divisional by July."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8061949/Woman-claims-rushed-taking-experimental-puberty-blocking-drugs.html

The same tactics being used against trans people were used against LGB people in the 80's, that were somehow wrong, perverts coming after your children, when all we want is the same as everyone else and that is just to be able to get on with our lives.

No.
A large number of people who were actually part of the fight for lesbian & gay rights in the 1980's are speaking out about the child Safeguarding issues, particularly out of concern for young lesbians.

April 2019 Lucy Bannermann for The Times:
'It feels like conversion therapy for gay children, say clinicians
Ex-NHS staff fear that homophobia is driving a surge in ‘transgender’ young people'
(extract)
Until now the specialists struggling to keep up with caseloads have stayed silent, but alarm over the number of adolescents being prescribed body-altering drugs, has prompted five former clinicians to speak out for the first time.

All five have resigned from the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in the past three years as a matter of conscience.

“This experimental treatment is being done not only on children, but very vulnerable children, who have experienced mental health difficulties, abuse, family trauma, but sometimes those [other factors] just get whitewashed,” one female clinician said. “If someone was suggesting plastic surgery or any other permanent change we’d be saying, hang on a minute.”

The clinicians have warned that complex histories and adolescent confusion over possible homosexuality are being ignored in the rush to accept and celebrate every young person’s new transgender identity.

Clinical psychologists carry out each initial assessment at the Tavistock. They are the gatekeepers who decide whether to refer transgender youngsters to the endocrine clinic for the next stage of treatment. Therapists once had months to work through underlying issues before making decisions on medical intervention, but the clinicians claim that young people are now routinely referred for hormone therapy after as few as three hour-long sessions.

They believe that physically healthy children are being medicated in response to pressure from transgender lobby groups and parental anxieties.

So many potentially gay children were being sent down the pathway to change gender, two of the clinicians said there was a dark joke among staff that “there would be no gay people left”.

“It feels like conversion therapy for gay children,” one male clinician said. “I frequently had cases where people started identifying as trans after months of horrendous bullying for being gay,” he told The Times.

“Young lesbians considered at the bottom of the heap suddenly found they were really popular when they said they were trans.”

Another female clinician said: “We heard a lot of homophobia which we felt nobody was challenging. A lot of the girls would come in and say, ‘I’m not a lesbian. I fell in love with my best girl friend but then I went online and realised I’m not a lesbian, I’m a boy. Phew.’” (continues)
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-feels-like-conversion-therapy-for-gay-children-say-clinicians-pvsckdvq2

Thanks Purple!

Same shit, different day, then!

Oh yes. Definitely