He’s the one who has stopped the genital mutilation at JHU, yes. A very quick google on the issue of psychiatrists associated with trans skepticism finds at least 4. You don’t seem real clear on how psychiatry works. The DSM is not based on “science”. The classifications are based on opinion. There is no definitive hard test for “transgender state”. Even conditions like schizophrenia, which seemingly is a clear diagnosis, is hard to distinguish from bipolar with psychotic features, and schizoaffective disorder. Schizophrenia itself has basically 3 “factors” or strong presentations of features. There are no blood tests for most psychiatric disorders. So, when “science” is trotted out in this area, my well-formed and professional opinion is to be skeptical.
So if you woke up tomorrow morning with the wrong genitalia you would consider yourself to have a mental illness? Really?
You would go to one of your psychiatric colleagues and ask them to convince you that you had changed gender? Really?
This is really, really simple. Some girls are born with an outie and some boys are born with an innie. This happens. This. Actullay. Happens. How could this not happen? The list of things that go wrong is endless. How could every other damn thing that could possibly go wrong, sometimes go wrong, except this one thing? Why would genitalia development be the one and only thing that always goes perfectly right 100% of the time?
What the hell are you thinking? Seriously, you have a PhD, you are a smart person, I respect that, I know that is very difficult and a real achievement. I actually really want to know what the hell you are thinking.
And specifically HOW do you know that it happens for real, vs happens as a delusion? What specific evidence is being used in these cases? Strong feelings do not count. Some people have strong feelings that they are powerful, and that their ideas can influence others through radio waves. Some people have strong feelings that they should do violent acts because of voices. Strong feelings are not evidence.
Because I think that it is a delusion, and furthermore the delusion is causing harm. In some cases, physicians are prescribing hormones for young persons which can permanently alter their reproductive status. In addition, the majority of children (<= 18) who consider the notion of txg eventually (by 21) revert to the gender of birth.
I think that the whole thing is malpractice, and people are going to be permanently scared by it. For a long time, psychiatrists did lobotomies. Today, we regard that as a barbaric practice. Will gender reassignment surgery be seen as the same in 20 years? We don’t know.
Here is what is needed - a specific test which can distinguish between a guy->girl and a guy->guy. It might be a blood test. It might be hormone levels. It needs to be biologically based, because there is a strong “social-norming” component going right now. You can also call that “wishful thinking”. I was thinking the other day about a research project into hormone therapy and suicide. This project is currently impossible, since no one would admit to suicidal feelings, as it would imperil the whole trans agenda. Little research of any value will come out for the next 3-4 years due to the politicization of the issue.
I have to call BS on this PhD claim of his. I would expect quite a bit more sophistication in reasoning and written communication than has been put on display for us. Also, who else but a quack throws around the words “trans agenda”?
Just at several little pubs in Augusta and Damariscotta, Maine. Two doors each labelled ‘rest room.’ No gender label. Same at Jimmy Worthing’s smelt shacks in Randolph, Maine. Two little cubbyholes, non-gender. When it’s 15 degrees and you need to No. 1, apparently nobody cares which door you use. So if smelt camp bathrooms in Maine are unisex, then how is NC seeing this as a high hurdle?
OK, I get that it could sometimes be a delusion (I don’t know the technical meaning of that word, but I get the general idea) and you do not want to do harm, and so you want to be very careful. That makes sense, and I agree. And I get that you cannot reach into the mind of a child and look at the gender switch setting, and so you (the doctor) can never know with certainly. And I get it may be more like a dial from all boy to all girl, with several settings in between. Or even two dials, nature and nurture (again, layman terms but you get my general idea). And those dials may move over time, especially from childhood to adulthood. So I am starting to see your dilemma.
And of course it would be great if you could scan a child’s brain or do a blood test and extract gender information. But any claim to be able to do that must meet the highest standards, because if wrong then harm is done. And I agree that psychiatry has done great harm in the past by accepting bad science. So I get that you are skeptical and you want to double check any claim yourself, that makes sense.
But genitailia misdevelopment happens, it happens partially and it happens totally and sometimes doubly. Saying it never happens is not real. I get the dilemma, I get the caution, especially with children. But saying it never happens is not real.
By the way this is why I love TPM. Real dialog with smart people. It’s past my bedtime, but thanks for your time.
I actually agree with that. While having no details it may be possible that my wife’s mom’s best friend was hermaphriditic, and had corrective surgery to assign her to a female gender. That is not the same though as transgender.
But for the fact that the vast majority of trans people live much more healthy, productive lives once their trans identity has been established and treatment is allowed to progress. And the fact that denying trans identity actually results in more dysphoria, more discomfort, and more damage to that person’s life.
I suggest that you actually speak to real trans people instead of trying to push your anti-trans agenda by citing 4 “skeptics” in a pool of, what, thousands? There are people who devote their entire lives to understanding what makes trans people trans, and science, yes ACTUAL science not just the DSM, has found physical similarities in brain structures that match trans people’s chosen gender. There does not exist some sort of “trans industry” that encourages trans people to undergo radical surgery and months of recovery just for shits and giggles. I suggest you read up on the WPATH Standards of Care and learn what steps trans people need to undergo before beginning treatment. You, and Dr. McHugh, seem to think that helping trans people transition somehow benefits certain doctors who casually throw away their professional ethics when that is most certainly NOT the case.
There is only one agreed-upon treatment for transgenderism and gender dysphoria: transition. And yes, I am VERY clear on how psychiatry works since I hold a Bachelor of Science in psychology. The DSM is used as a guide for treatment and is based on a tremendous amount of case studies, both positive and negative. If it were the case that so many trans people became unhappy with transition and that transgenderism is a “delusion” as you say, then don’t you think the DSM would reflect that? The DSM removed gender dysphoria from the list of delusions in the last version and that was PRECISELY because treating it as a delusion was causing so much harm to people.
The psychiatry industry finally wised up. It’s too bad you can’t…
If McCrory loses, the new executive in question would be Roy Cooper, the current Attorney General who flatly refused to defend this law, forcing McCrory to hire outside counsel.
He’d probably fire the wingnut lawyers and enter into a consent decree with the Feds.
Holy crap. Just got around to listening to this. Wow. Powerful.
And I think I know who gets Scalia’s seat if the idiots keep refusing to confirm Garland until Hillary is inauguarated.
Thanks to North Carolina, major legal questions about how civil rights law applies to transgender people will be hashed out in a case about their access to bathrooms.
Oh what pleasant joy seeing the dick headed republicans reap the full rewards of their stupid fucking “law”.
Sadly as clear and levelheaded as her statement was, just as with folks that didn’t and still don’t want the races to mix, there are many folks that will not go quietly along with this. I was too young to fully understand most of the civil rights issues that went on, but silly me to think I’d missed living in interesting times.