Experts express “significant concerns” over transgender “medical scandal”

A group of experts including Irish psychotherapist Stella O’Malley have penned an editorial for science direct in which they expressed “significant concerns” over the “uncritical adoption” of gender ideology in health and social care education. 

The authors say the article was published “against the backdrop of growing public and professional concern about the care and treatment of gender dysphoria children and young people,”

They note ‘widespread concern’ about the safety and efficacy of the so-called gender affirmative model of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria whereby the patients’ expressed gender is uncritically affirmed – and say that “health and social care professions, organisations, practitioners and academics have, with some notable exceptions, been tacitly or openly supportive of practices which some refer to as the next major medical scandal.”

Citing the recent backlash experienced by singer Roisín Murphy after she publicly criticised elements of the affirmation model the authors state that it is “increasingly apparent that anyone who questions the narrative related to the treatment of gender dysphoria by, for example, raising concerns that one of the mainstays of treatment — puberty blocking drugs — may be harmful for the young people to who they are administered is liable to ‘cancellation.’”

The article also notes a “paradigm shift” related to the dissemination of a “radical set of ideas” whereby those who argue in favour of gender ideology deny that sex is an immutable characteristic instead claiming “that the biological categories of male and female are not mutually exclusive but exist on a spectrum presumably where some of us are somewhere between the two.” 

It is also stated that some believe that sex”is not immutable and that it is literally possible for a man to become a woman and vice versa. It is sometimes argued that this is because the desire to do this – to transition – is driven by the ‘fact’ that the person is somehow trapped within the wrong body. The mechanism by which this occurs is unclear.” 

“Given the radical nature and potential consequences of adopting the positions above, it should be of little surprise that there is a developing public and professional concern around the care of gender dysphoria in children and young people. Much of this is focused on the growing realisation that we are amid a medical scandal.” it says. 

The authors say their concern also stems from research which shows a “recent huge and unexplained rise in the numbers” of children and young people presenting with this gender dysphoria along with “the grossly disproportionate, and again unexplained, rise in the number of girls and young women in this group”,

They also flagged “the observation that many of these have co-existing mental health problems, a history of significant trauma and/or autism” saying it is crucial that those providing care have a “much clearer understanding of how, or if these factors are significant and related to the dysphoric experience,” 

“Underpinning this concern” they say, “is the fact that the dominant approach to care across much of the world is the affirmative model.” which they argue is “founded on the notion that those who experience gender dysphoria should be treated by confirming that their subjective perception that their physical body is misaligned with their identity.”

The article states that treatment for those experiencing gender dysphoria should “be built on comprehensive psychological assessment with strong, ongoing therapeutic support. It should be cautious and non-invasive.” and argues that “health and social care” should be driven by “educational preparation which is driven by evidence rather than ideology, or personal belief”

The authors conclude that it has “ become difficult to talk about sex and gender without fear of criticism and sometimes abuse and threat.”