Are Drs & HCP secretly or unconsciously GC?

[whatsallthisthenhuh]

I will say I'm not 100% up to speed on all this, but I'm naturally leaning GC. Sex is obviously binary, single sex spaces are necessary, APG is a very real thing etc.

I listened to a podcast this morning of a very prominent US gynaecologist talking all things female health - periods, hormones, menopause etc. The most common descriptor from both guest and host seemed to be "people with" although "women" did (naturally) sneak in every so often.

It just made me think, the basis of medicine is so grounded in biology. There's a reason sex of patient is confirmed in 999 calls. Men and women present very differently with heart attacks. Different sexes respond differently to different medications. And in and on. I'm not a medic, but these are the things I know.

For Drs and HCPs on the TWAW end of the debate, how to they square that circle? In practice, to they treat according to biological sex despite their position on this?

It just seems like such an obvious disconnect that I can't get my head around it.

I have family members in the NHS and they've always taken the 'be polite and respectful' approach to healthcare. Many patients they see are worried or embarrassed with their issues so i think they generally stay neutral and reassuring in the face of it. Saying that, one family member had to deal with a testicular issue for a man in a dress and privately was a little 🙄😆. Despite the medics in the US and the strange situation with UK endocrinologists I believe nearly all but activist front line care workers are GC without realising it. Most are too busy to be political and keep up with the latest fads ime.

'gender critical' seems to mean that when sex matters, facilities need to be organised around sex; not feelings or the stereotypes associated with sex.

I'm horrified that we have reached a point where medical staff need to treat reality as a belief, or keep this a secret.

The NHS accepts there is a risk to patients health if they don't disclose their birth sex but doesn't seem to be able to do anything sensible about it, even though self ID is not the law.

I have a family member who is a HCP. She has no clue about gender ideology or what it’s doing.
I spoke to her about it, she was shocked, but immediately returned to lala land and stuck her head in the sand.

I’ve met a couple of male GPs who seem to role model Adrian Harrop for some bizarre reason.
Women tend to be on the GC side when pushed, but mostly rely on “NHS guidelines say xyz” and “be kind”.

Edited to add that teachers I know are similar. No matter what they believe very few seem willing to make a stand. I don’t know why it I find it disappointing, both on a friendship level and the fact that they are all in some capacity or other working with potentially vulnerable children and should know better.

I have a GP friend who seems to have made a u-turn in her thinking over the last couple of years. Above all, for her, sex matters in a medical sense - you can't change sex. She always knew this, but I think somehow previously had subconsciously separated out the relevance for work and medical aspects from any other conversation around sex and gender ID. It seems she has now seen the light.

Last time I went to my GP's the doctor was wearing a pro-noun badge, and there was a massive poster up for a gender clinic.
You have just reminded me I need to chance to a different practice.

No one actually thinks TWAW though, they just think we should call them women. They don't actually believe they are a biological woman.

That means you can know full well biologically trans women aren't women but can ignore that part when it comes to granting them rights. They would obviously treat them as their biological sex it comes to medications. That's the point of terms such as "chest feeders". It allows you to treat trans people as their sex without having to say they are women.

There's also a lot of misogynistic men in the medical profession, ultimately people who don't really give a shit about women and their rights.

Then there's an element of being kind and respectful, and wanting to be seen as a good person. And an element of fear as well.

But most doctors I know would privately I guess believe that trans woman was not a woman in the biological sense, but would still call them that to be 'respectful". And either don't know or don't care enough about the other side of the argumenet

I'd say GC means being critical of gender. Gender in both the traditional conservative/ religious stereotypes-must-match-your-sex way, and gender identity change-body-and-language-to-match-your-stereotypes way.

Lots of people aren't GC but are sensible on gender identity.

I do think most people understand biological reality more or less, despite the best attempts of mainstream media to obfuscate facts.

Some people have chosen to maintain a pretence that sex is irrelevant. I see those people as religious, Gender Ideology is their faith based religion. But when you analyse the actions of even the most pious they rarely actually act as if they genuinely think sex is irrelevant. Celebrity surrogacy is the obvious one!

I'm a member of a doctors only forum.

A few years ago it was totally 'be kind'

It's now overwhelmingly GC.

My experience is that most haven't given it any thought, then their first thought is being kind, but a short conversation gets to WTF!!!!

I think this is exactly it. You can use a she pronoun for a trans woman whilst being well aware she doesn’t have periods, can’t carry a child etc.

I think lots have fallen into "be kind" because they know that TW aren't really W but think it is "kind" to allow them to think they are.

The consequences of this were not immediately apparent/ don't affect them.

However in the past 2 months things are being talked about much more openly.

I work in a children's hospital and the safeguarding aspect has only just registered with some people - I've been banging on about it for around 2 years but pre Cass report I think everyone just dismissed me as being gobby and bigoted.

I've now got a WhatsApp I forward with a list of recommended reading!

Can't wait to go out for dinner with my friend who was full on TWAW and has an influential NHS senior leadership role to see if/how her views have shifted post Cass. Last time we talked our views were incredibly divergent hopefully Cass will have shifted them a bit. She is very bright but totally failed to appreciate the feelings/ risks to anyone other than the poor beleaguered discriminated-against trans community.

It's also worth realising that a lot of NHS staff work in hospitals and are a bit clueless about what happens in people's homes.

When you have cared for an asylum speaker dying of cancer, living in a one room mouldy flat with his whole family, the 'most vulnerable community' stuff falls a bit flat.

There are loads of vulnerable communities out there and it isn't a game of top trumps.

I have lots of doctor friends. One is full on, but there are kids who everyone knows are gay from childhood, this is the same.
One is, there are DSD so it's basically a spectrum.
The rest are quite sensible.

About two years ago I had a chat with a GP who is a friend of a friend. Nice man, very pleasant and easy-going. This topic came up and he said he'd got a bit of a name as a doctor who would prescribe cross-sex hormones. Other GPs in the area were less likely to do so. I understood it that he was treating adults, mainly males. He didn't seem under any illusion that they were anything but male, or that it was anything other than a psychological condition.
When I mentioned the lack of evidence on efficacy or safety he honestly looked like it had never occurred to him. He didn't seem to care very much, just had a "sure give them what they want" type attitude. It was so strange.

In my experience, knowing a good number of HCPs/doctors - yes. Yes, they are. Every last one is completely aware of what biological sex is, but beholden to NHS rules.

Following the rules through gritted teeth while raging about it outwith work, or quietly organising, challenging and working to get biological sex as the basis of treatment.