Argument with son about trans stats

[molotovcupcakes]

My son and I don’t usually talk about trans issues and I know he thinks I’m wrong about everything.
He said that the regret rate of transitioning is only 1% and cited this study that he googled - I’m sure it’s much higher,does anyone know any sources for this?
He also believes that the rate of suicide attempts of trans people is 40% and so transitioning is a net good- this is from TikTok.
Im quite shocked frankly at how many of these messages he has picked up and I wondered if anyone knew any sites with stats that refute this.

Why do you want to force him to agree with you? 'can't you see I am right' is odd

@Nolongerlight - I agree wholeheartedly.

The current 'people are what they say they are' and the old 'no debate' chestnut actively forbids critical thought.

I find it astonishing & chilling in equal measures that our kids are being taught to swallow any old guff without question, and to actively turn on those who dare question anything - bigot/'phobe/terf/karen etc.

Mine are 8 & 10 and already hear the phrase 'use your critical thinking!' and 'but who benefits from doing that?' regularly - I'm a right bundle of laughs 🤣

Yeah, good opportunity to learn a bit about statistics here OP. I'd take the tack that I'm very interested and this could be the turning point for my enlightenment. But could he just clarify these couple of things for me please....

I'd ask questions about where the stat came from he's quoting - what follow up methodology was used - is there any bias in reporting/data collection - get him into More of Less radio 4 - it's eye opening for media misuse of statistics - I think Freakanomics have podcast as well.

I wouldn't argue back - as that tends to entrench and harden positions - but ask questions though having data helps with that.

What's the context for this discussion?

To play devil's advocate here, let's say the regret rate is 1% and the suicide rate is 40%.

What does he think society needs to do as a consequence of this?

Good point, and good question for him OP.

Sounds like something an early teen might think.

How old is your son? I'd ask him first if he seriously thinks Tik Tok i s a robust reliable source of information.

This. You both need to inform yourselves properly. And also, why create angst around it.

I think I would be tempted to say something like, "If a girl was thinking of breaking up with her boyfriend and he threatened to kill himself if she did, should she stay with him for that reason? If she broke up with him and he actually did kill himself, would it be her fault for not staying in a relationship that was making her unhappy? To what extent is she responsible for his mental wellbeing?"

If you get to the point where your son agrees that it isn't fair for this girl to have to stay with her boyfriend because he has threatened to kill himself if she doesn't, then ask the same question about trans people.

What should the rest of society be doing to stop trans people from killing themselves?

Better mental health support? Absolutely, yes.

Women and girls accepting all their spaces being made mixed sex because otherwise some trans women and trans girls might be upset? No. Why is that their responsibility?

I'd also bring up the correlation vs causation point another PP referred to. If there's a correlation between being trans and having poor mental health, then arguably the rates of suicide or attempted suicide or self harm among trans people need to be compared against the rates among people suffering from conditions such as depression, not against perfectly healthy, happy people.

Either way, the answer is better mental health support.

If a man said he was suffering from clinical depression but that getting changed next to women makes him feel better, we wouldn't allow him to use women's changing rooms on that basis, would we? We wouldn't consider that it was women's responsibility to let him see their boobs so that he could feel better. So why is it women's responsibility to make trans women feel better by sharing their single sex spaces with them?

@molotovcupcakes

He said that the regret rate of transitioning is only 1% and cited this study that he googled

The key criteria with young people transitioning shouldn't be "regret rate" anyway. What matters is whether you are typically going to be helping people and getting a better outcome.

Sometimes i love the fact that nothing disappears forever on the internet!