I didn't listen to the whole interview, but the end section was an uncomfortable listen - it seems that the need for external acceptance/validation of gender nonconformity goes beyond the trans individual.
This is the whole point/problem, isn’t it.
From what Jesse asked, he was basically saying
“When my child was diagnosed as trans, I was so ignorant on the subject that I relied on those charities, who reassured me that it was all fine and that I was doing the right thing.
But if you are correct and those charities were wrong, that means we might have done harm to our child. We can’t afford for them to be wrong.”
And perhaps add in there a tinge of “There it was in the back of my mind the whole time. A feeling that this wasn’t quite right and I didn’t listen and now I’m so far invested that any challenge is almost unbearable.”
If he was fully confident that he’d done the right thing and that it was all fine, then Robert Webb’s opinion would mean nothing to him and he would dismiss it easily.
The fact that this is so emotive for Jesse Thorne is very suggestive of cognitive dissonance. He was basically asking Robert Webb to take it back, presumably because he both has some respect for Robert Webb’s opinion and at the same time can’t afford to.
I wonder if we will ever reach a place where these heavily invested parents will stop being angry with the world and start being angry with the doctors. I guess that will depend on whether their children end up living long and prosperous lives in their medicalised identity, or whether it all falls apart.
The angriest people, in my experience, are generally those who feel guilty or worried they might be getting something wrong and can’t bear anything that challenges their position. They can often lash out at whoever is nearest. I think that’s exactly what we’re dealing with here.