All human societies are prone to moral panics and bizzare fads: sudden outbursts of ?the madness of crowds?. From millenarianism and spiritualism to UFO cults, all manner of strange beliefs have at times obsessed millions of otherwise rational people. Some, like goldfish-swallowing and flagpole-sitting, have been more or less harmless (unless, of course, you happened to be an unfortunate goldfish). Others were truly dangerous, such as the rash of suicides inspired by Goethe?s The Sorrows of Young Werther.
There is mounting evidence that the recent wave of ?transgenderism? (or ?trans-trenderism? as even some transsexuals have dubbed it) is yet another social fad. Unlike seances or dance marathons, this is a creepy social fad that an increasing number of clinicians are warning will damage a generation of children. Perhaps indelibly. Quote:
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?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. End of quote.
It may seem bizarre that the fundamentalist Islamic state of Iran leads the world in sex-reassignment surgery, but the underlying logic is horrifically simple. Fundamentalist Islam absolutely abhors homosexuality. Forcing homosexual men to have sex change operations just ?eliminates? the problem. There are grave concerns that many supposedly ?transgender? children are simply confused and frightened homosexuals. Quote:
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.? End of quote.
The ?transgender? lobby tub-thumps about ?inclusion?, but too often acts as the most intolerant bully-gang of bigots not wearing pointy hoods or brown shirts. They mercilessly persecute women?s groups, whom they slander as ?TERFs?. Worse, they appear to be tacit homophobes, hell-bent on their own horrifying version of ?conversion therapy?. Quote:
?Several clinicians suspected that some of the ?transgender? adolescents were reacting to homophobia at home.
?For some families, it was easier to say, this is a medical problem, ?here?s my child, please fix them!? than dealing with a young, gay kid,? the third female clinician said. At the service?s ?family days?, a parent was allegedly heard saying that they did not want their child to have gay friends because they ?didn?t want them mixed up in that hedonistic lifestyle?. ?It is converting people into heterosexuals,? one of the clinicians said?Young people ?repeatedly? confided their own ?disgust? that they may be gay, according to the clinician. End of quote.
?Conversion therapy? for homosexuals is usually regarded as the preserve of the religious right: it turns out that the ?progressive? left have their own brand of conversion therapy. One that?s damaging a generation of children, perhaps beyond repair. Quote:
?I would talk about it as an ?atrocity?. I know that sounds quite strong, but it felt as if we were part of something that people would look back on in the future, and ask, what were we thinking? In the future I think there will be lots and lots of de-transitioners who feel their bodies were mutilated as young people and who will ask, why did you let me do this? It is very disturbing???When you start them on puberty blockers, you?re putting them on a pathway that could lead to sexual dysfunction problems and, for the younger kids, will definitely make them infertile.? End of quote.
Families and young people are unable to give informed consent to these procedures when they are actively misled by activists who insist that these procedures are ?harmless?.
But, ?progressives? are spruiking their latest mania with as little thought or care as ever for the consequences. If a generation of children are mutilated in their service of their faddish ideology, who cares? It?s all for the greater good, as always. Quote:
The whole service should have been halted when the number of ?transgender? cases first exploded, one of the clinicians said. ?That?s the point we should have stopped because we didn?t know what we were doing?
?If they are getting it wrong?then they will have to ask themselves, what the f*** have we done to thousands of children?? End of quote.
thetimes