Woman's Hour today is interviewing someone from the Tavistock about puberty blockers

[nauticant]

It'll be interesting to get a sense of how Emma Barnett thinks the discussion should be handled.

It's on now.

It's Dr David Bell being interviewed. Good.

Listening...

Did you hear the way Barnett read out the introduction to this segment AbsintheFriends? It sounded like she had been heavily scripted.

Concerns very clearly set out. These, coming from an expert working inside the clinic, would be impossible for any right-thinking person to dismiss as 'transphobia'

Just turned the radio on and heard this. Came on to find the thread.

I missed that bit nauticant. Will go back and listen later.

She's given him a good chance to speak without interruption, which is good, and quite surprising given her interviewing style.

And he's mentioned detransitioners!

I feel this is a very balanced interview.

Why is it Woman’s Hour though? Why is this only a concern for women? Surely it’s a concern for all parents.

Glad he's talking about homophobia.

"I think to say a child is trans is an error." Powerful stuff.

Oooh. Saying that people cannot be ‘born in the wrong body’.

I love that he is saying that to label a child as trans puts them on a path way.
He’s so right. There is so much else to look into before for rubber stamping as trans and sending them on their way.

Why is it Woman’s Hour though? Why is this only a concern for women? Surely it’s a concern for all parents

I'm just glad they're covering it. It's so bloody long overdue.

(And I'd bet that, rightly or wrongly, it's mothers who bear the emotional and practical brunt of dealing with distressed children. I know when my dd was dealing with complex MH issues it was me not DH who went with her to all her CAMHs appointments and sat for countless hours, day and night, talking and listening to her.)

I like that he is saying that there is less exploration of sexuality, as in whether children could be gay; it is all about 'gender' these days which can only lead to diagnosis of gender dysphoria etc.

Oh just turned on - he is talking about group A and group B and how we mustn't force children into one or the other.

(group A = people who go on to continue to feel this way as adult = trans
group B = kids who will decide at 18-19 that they are not trans, but are rather gay or gender non conforming etc)

and he is talking about the pressure he has had.
Good for him

Outlining the fear of being labelled transphobic when raising serious and legitimate concerns.

This is a really useful interview.

I like the way he's able to formulate his statements and replies keeping in mind what will be clear to the audience.

Contrast that with the statement provided by the Tavistock (who declined to appear on the programme).

Really compelling testimony. This will cause a furore.

pity she read out that VERY LOOOONG statement from Tavistock with no come back. Some of what is in that statement is obviously not what is happening on the ground

An excellent and very balanced interview.

And yes, I do appreciate that this is Woman’s Hour because it’s mother’s who will be dealing with this, still winds me up though.

What a long and rambling statement from the Tavistock. An awful lot of words when they could have just said MOVE ALONG. NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

pity she read out that VERY LOOOONG statement from Tavistock with no come back. Some of what is in that statement is obviously not what is happening on the ground

If I recall correctly, in the statement the Tavistock sneakily reformulated the High Court's finding that nearly all children and young people on puberty blockers go onto cross-sex hormones into only 50% go from puberty blockers to physical interventions.

Thanks for the heads up on this, I will listen later.

I think it's great. It's not so long ago where Jane Garvie did a WH on this which was heavily biased towards TRAs. Things are moving on.