Ashley Boyd was trusted with children. A male nurse, he served as trans liaison officer at Great Western Hospital and chaired Swindon and Wiltshire Pride until 2023. Last week, the Nursing and Midwifery Council found that Boyd had carried out unnecessary testicular examinations on multiple child patients for his own sexual gratification, despite repeated warnings from colleagues. He has since lost his job. At the time of writing, he has not been convicted of a criminal offence.

Boyd was not a marginal figure operating in the shadows. He was embedded in a network that presents itself as necessary for children’s wellbeing. Swindon and Wiltshire Pride has since sought to distance itself, insisting that Boyd’s role did not involve direct contact with children. This is a curious defence for an organisation that markets its annual Pride event as family-friendly, goes into schools to teach about LGBTQIA+ identities, and welcomes all ages to its community hub.

Cases like Boyd’s are routinely dismissed as aberrations. They are not. They are the foreseeable result of a safeguarding culture that has been inverted. Today, caution itself is treated as a potential hate crime, and safeguarding whistleblowers risk being recast as threats. This is what happened to the Reverend Randall, who questioned the teaching materials of Mermaids and was referred to the counter-terrorism programme Prevent.

In the name of not offending grown men who claim to have always known they were trans, the medicalised fiction of the “trans child” needed to be invented. To forestall interrogation, exaggerated claims about suicide and bullying are routinely deployed to silence and shame critics. To combat this confected crisis, a growing cadre of queer “experts”, often with little relevant clinical or safeguarding experience, is presented as indispensable. Swindon and Wiltshire Pride claims, as do many similar organisations, that using children’s preferred pronouns and names “significantly improves mental health outcomes” and “reduces the risk of suicide by 50%”. This is, to put it politely, manipulative bullshit.

Not so long ago, adults who sought unusual access to children were met with a suspicious side eye. Any group proposing to enter schools to discuss sex with pupils would have faced rigorous scrutiny. The idea that twerking drag queens might dispense moral or educational wisdom to children would not merely have seemed eccentric, but disqualifying. This was not prudishness, but hard-won caution. Successive scandals had taught us that those who abuse children exploit whatever routes are available to them, whether by claiming to “liberate child sexuality”, as with the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), or by cloaking themselves in good works.

A veritable parade of Pride organisers and queer educators has now appeared in courtrooms and headlines. The most notorious case remains Stephen Ireland, former chair of Pride in Surrey, a dangerous predator who was quickly championed as a pillar of the community and praised by the police.

What links these cases is not chance, but deference. Many professionals now fear the ‘phobia’ label more than they fear opening the door to potential abusers or dangerous ideologies. Swindon and Wiltshire Pride’s record illustrates how judgment and adult responsibility are waived away by enthusiasm for all things Pride and sparkly.

Last year, The Telegraph reported that the group distributed materials in primary schools explaining an array of sexual and gender identities, resources also promoted by the local council. Each identity was represented by a flag, apparently sourced from My Umbrella, a project affiliated with Reading Pride that explicitly aims to “raise awareness across sexuality, gender, romantic and fetish spectrums.” Although its website is currently undergoing maintenance, My Umbrella previously catalogued 312 flags representing so-called identities and kinks, including “age play” and “slave play.” The site is linked to numerous LGBTQAI+ organisations in receipt of public funding, among them Swindon and Wiltshire Pride. At a time when classic works of literature are routinely removed from classrooms lest they distress children, the unremarked exposure of pupils to concepts lifted straight from niche pornography is treated as entirely uncontroversial.

This is how safeguarding breaks down. And it matters, because what is most shocking about child sexual abuse is not that it occurs, but how routine it is. Child protection, therefore, rests on a deliberately uncomfortable principle: no one is above suspicion.

That principle was forged amid painful historical lessons. As society edged towards accepting gay men and lesbians, and as the grip of the church on public life loosened, the pro-paedophilia lobby sought to attach itself to that struggle. Groups such as PIE in Britain and the North American Man-Boy Love Association in the United States framed child sexual abuse as the next frontier of liberation, borrowing the language of civil rights and leeching off the work of gay rights activists. Both homosexuality and the inclination to abuse children can be described as marginal sexual orientations, but this ought to be where the comparison ends. Many gay men and lesbians fought fiercely to expel these groups, recognising that their presence was morally abhorrent and politically catastrophic.

This was the backdrop to Section 28, an undeniably homophobic and misdirected law that barred local authorities from promoting homosexuality or teaching its acceptability as a family relationship in schools. Its rhetoric was crude and unjust. Yet it did not arise from pure invention. It was responding badly and indiscriminately to a real attempt to blur the boundary between adult sexuality and childhood.

The controversy surrounding Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin captured this tension. The children’s book, intended to promote tolerance, included photographs of two adult men topless with a young girl, including one in which she sits between them in bed. Any discomfort was, and indeed still is, dismissed as reactionary. In hindsight, some of that unease was not irrational, but an intuition that boundaries were being tested under the banner of progress.

Some of those pushing hardest were paedophiles. Others were naive liberals convinced they were advancing children’s rights. While the most overtly dangerous elements were eventually marginalised, the underlying idea that child sexuality exists, and that it should be liberated or curated by adults, never disappeared.

It has resurfaced today in a new guise, and shame over the homophobia of legislation like Section 28 has made it harder to challenge. Many of the arguments now used to legitimise the medicalisation of gender non-conforming youth closely parallel those once advanced by PIE and NAMBLA. Youth transition charity Mermaids insists that children’s capacity to consent to potentially permanent medical interventions should be guided by ‘stage not age’. It is also worth asking what sort of adult would seek to halt children’s bodies from maturing and why. Details from the trial of Pride in Surrey’s Stephen Ireland revealed that he shared grotesque fantasies with his boyfriend about dosing boys with oestrogen and using suction cups on their chests to mimic breast growth.

Safeguarding was never meant to flatter adults or indulge fashionable causes. It exists because no one is above suspicion. Not priests. Not teachers. Not nurses. Not campaigners. Not charities. Not people waving the right flags.

What has gone wrong is not inconsistency, but inversion. Adult egos and ideological demands too often outweigh the duty to protect children. In schools, in hospitals, in charities, and in council-funded organisations, scrutiny is recast as cruelty, and parental oversight is framed as a threat. The child, supposedly at the centre of the system, becomes the least powerful voice in the room. If safeguarding is to mean anything at all, it must apply without fear or favour, above all to those who insist they should not be questioned.

Jo Bartosch is a journalist, assistant editor at The Critic, and co-author of Pornocracy.

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

The post Queer “Experts”, “Trans Kids” and the End of Safeguarding appeared first on Genspect.

One of the most obnoxious ploys in the trans activists’ playbook is to label any non-affirming treatment for gender distress as “Conversion therapy.” Not only does this criminalize genuinely exploratory therapy, but it also perpetuates the misconception that trans identification is “just like the struggle for LGB rights”.

As Genspect has emphasised, transition is arguably the ultimate conversion therapy for same-sex attracted people. Don’t like feeling attracted to your own sex? Change your body to appear as the other. The solution of choice — transition — for repressive regimes like that of Iran under the Mullahs should not be made standard practice anywhere. Unfortunately, this is what the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is attempting to do, and why Genspect wholeheartedly supports the Athena Forum’s new Europe-wide campaign.

The Athena Forum is encouraging citizens to contact their national delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) ahead of a planned vote on a draft resolution on “conversion practices.”

The draft, proposed by UK Labour MP Kate Osborne, was adopted by the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination in December 2025. It recommends that member states enact legislation prohibiting “conversion practices,” defined as any attempt to change, repress, or suppress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The resolution is scheduled for debate and a plenary vote on 29 January 2026.

Athena Forum argues that the proposal broadens the definition of “conversion” to include any non-affirming response to a child’s self-declared gender identity. They warn that this could impact therapists providing exploratory therapy, educators, parents offering guidance, and others, potentially leading to restrictions on professional practice and family decision-making.

The organization has released a policy brief outlining concerns about the effects of such bans, particularly for children with additional health or social challenges and for lesbian and gay adolescents.

Faika El-Nagashi, Director of Athena Forum and a former Austrian Green MP, put it this way:

“The proposed resolution is a pure ideological overreach. It seeks to criminalise therapists, teachers and parents who do not affirm a child as transgender, while mandating training programmes, public campaigns and sex-education curricula centred on gender identity and expression. This is a transactivist Trojan horse.”

Genspect joins Athena in urging citizens to contact their national PACE representative directly to make their voice heard. As part of the campaign, a template is available on here for citizens to email their national PACE representatives directly.

Athena Forum further notes that the label “conversion therapy” traditionally refers to abusive practices historically directed at lesbians and gay men—practices already criminalized in many European countries as forms of coercion, assault, or deprivation of liberty. The current draft applies the term to myriad situations, such as verbal discussion, non-affirmative therapy, or parental objections in cases involving minors.

The Forum is also reaching out directly to PACE delegates, recommending that the text be returned to the committee for additional review, debate, and evidence-based evaluation.

Read Athena’s briefing on conversion therapy bans here.

Athena Forum is a European initiative working to protect sex-based rights in law, policy, and public discourse, and to promote evidence-based approaches and open debate. Founded by Faika El-Nagashi, it focuses on the rights of women, children, lesbians, and gay men.

For more information, visit Athena Forum.

The post Make Your Voice Heard on So-Called Conversion Practices in Europe appeared first on Genspect.

For reasons of long habit and relentlessly crushed optimism, I was listening to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s RN in the car yesterday. (RN stands for Radio National, a.k.a. Rainbow Nation.) A talk by the progressive atheist philosopher A.C. Grayling from the Melbourne Writers’ Festival was being aired on “Big Ideas”. It was a defence of what Grayling called “wokism”, as centred around upholding trans rights as human rights.

What struck me in listening to it was what very shoddy reasoning and factually false claims Grayling was happy to put forward. Even so, what he said was fawningly applauded by the Melbourne Writer’s Festival crowd and lauded by the ABC presenter endorsed by ACON (our Stonewall).

Grayling was purporting to “make peace in the culture war” by defending trans rights as human rights against those he characterized as the Far Right and despicable opponents of Progress. In other words, the supposedly convivial “peace” that Grayling is offering to both sides in the culture war is the total annihilation of all opposition to Progress. Grayling is on record in proposing that democratic processes should be rigged to prevent referendums on anti-progressive options like Brexit taking place at all. He also argues that democratic processes should not permit the election of anti-progressive politicians like Donald Trump. Apparently, it’s a no-brainer to work out who should win in any contest between Grayling and the adult voting majorities of the United Kingdom and the United States. Of course, Grayling knows better than the majority of Brits and Americans who should represent them politically. So, the “democracy” that Grayling advocates is one in which elite academic progressives always hold and impose power, while the popular conservative majority should have no say in what happens to them. Whatever that is, it is not liberal democracy. A philosopher should know this.

Grayling goes on to make the simply false claim that all that trans people want is to exercise their minority gender-identity rights without fear or persecution. Transgender-identity non-discrimination laws, as they are currently upheld in Australia, are not minority rights laws that only impact a tiny subclass of Australians; they express a whole-of-society reform agenda. If one allows that a transwoman is in all legal and social contexts identical to a biological female, this means that sex-based rights for all females have been revoked. Trans rights are not a tiny minority rights issue, they erase all sex-based realism from legal, social, and therapeutic contexts, impacting every aspect of Australian life. A philosopher should be able to work that out. And again, a tiny minority dictating unwanted normative terms to the entire society is not a democratic form of progress; it is an elitist power play overriding the popular will of the majority.

Grayling goes on to assert that trans rights are human rights. This is philosophically indefensible. Let me explain.

Is being a Jew a universal human right? No. This is because not everyone is Jewish. But do Jews have the universal human right to be treated with the same intrinsic human dignity as everyone else? Yes! Being a Jew is exactly no reason at all to be treated as unworthy of life, dignity, and the protection of law. Any person – whether a Jew, a Muslim, an Atheist, or of any racial or religious identity – has exactly the same intrinsic and universal human dignity as any other person. Categories of human rights must be universal and applicable to all people. Significantly, categories that are applicable to all people are natural rather than cultural, objective rather than subjective, and applicable to all races, all creeds, all ages, all language groups, rather than being especially for only some categories of identification. Trans is not a universal trait; it is unnatural (when artificially performed), it is subjective, and it is of a unique and identitarian nature. It is not a universal human trait. (Note: being “cis” is not a “gender identity” that anyone who cannot believe in the anti-scientific performative fantasies of postmodern gender theory identifies as.) Trans rights are not human rights. One has no universal human right to the personal gender identity of being trans. A philosopher should know this.

Someone who “gender-identifies” as trans has precisely the same universal and natural human rights as anyone else, but they do not have unnatural and subjective identitarian “rights” that are unique to them, which they must be able to exercise at the expense of the universal and natural rights of other people (such as actual biological females). I have no natural human right to identify as a horse, which is exactly the same sort of magical thinking and contrary-to-nature “right” as identifying as female when I am in fact male. (Sex is natural, objective, and objectively verifiable, but gender is cultural, subjective, and not objectively verifiable.) Subjective identity “rights” are no more universal human rights than are racial or religious identity rights. If racial and religious identities are not universal human rights (which they are not, because they are not universal) then neither are gender-identity “rights”.

For a philosopher, Grayling is astonishingly bad with basic reasoning, factual truth claims, civic consciousness appropriate to liberal democratic forms of government, and fundamental moral intelligence. As regards moral intelligence, when it comes to the actual safety needs of all female humans to have safe single-sex spaces that respect the relative sexual vulnerabilities of women as a natural group, as distinct from men as a natural group, Grayling is unconscionably daft.

Speaking as an academic, I can say with solidly verified empirical confidence that it is indeed possible for popular intellectuals to be brilliant idiots. Or, as George Orwell put it, there are follies that only intellectuals could commit, “no ordinary man could be such a fool.” And certainly, no ordinary woman – such as Sandie Peggie – could be such a fool as to believe that the man identifying as a woman in her changing room is really female.

Trans “rights” are not universal human rights, but all women indeed should have the right to safety from sexual predation by all males, including males who falsely claim to be females. Grayling should take a few basic scientific atheist lessons from Richard Dawkins here. The objective facts of human reproductive biology are that there are only two sexes, and however much a person gender-identifies or subjectively feels that they are anything other than the sex that they objectively in fact are, such identities are factually false delusions.

One has no universal human right to make other people pretend to believe the truth of one’s personal and factually false delusions. More seriously, I have no right to make you believe that Christian doctrines are true just because I am a Christian. But requiring women to pretend that they believe that transwomen are females, because transwomen believe themselves to be female, is exactly what the claim “trans rights are human rights” seeks to require. Trans “rights” are not human rights. No identity category that is not universal, and not naturally and objectively universal, is a human right. Trans “rights” cannot be human rights.

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

The post Are Trans Rights Human Rights? A Philosopher Stumbles appeared first on Genspect.

Genspect condemns yesterday’s arrest of writer and satirist Graham Linehan in connection with social media posts. This arrest marks a dangerous escalation in the UK’s mounting free speech crisis, where citizens now face criminal prosecution for satire and dissenting viewpoints.

Graham Linehan has sacrificed his career to defend women’s sex-based rights, advocate for gender-distressed children’s welfare, and amplify the voices of detransitioners. He has championed the rights of same-sex attracted young people to mature without medical intervention. His principled stance has cost him professional opportunities and subjected him to relentless harassment—yet he remains undaunted. His courage has inspired thousands: parents protecting their children, women defending their spaces, detransitioners seeking recognition, and those opposing new forms of conversion practices.

This arrest exemplifies the authoritarian overreach we oppose. Our founding principles are clear: contested ideas must be debated civilly and openly, not criminalised. We reject state interference with freedom of belief and expression. We refuse to accept that certain subjects are “beyond debate.” When authorities arrest comedians for satire and criminalise viewpoint diversity, democratic discourse collapses.

Genspect provides evidence-based resources and advocacy for non-medicalised approaches to gender distress. This vital work requires the freedom to examine contested ideas, challenge orthodoxies, and employ satire to illuminate contradictions. When dissent becomes criminal, essential conversations about safeguarding, evidence, and children’s welfare become impossible. Those seeking alternatives to medicalisation are silenced alongside their advocates.

UK authorities must reallocate resources from policing opinion to protecting citizens. A nation that arrests its satirists has abandoned the principles that enable progress.

We are honoured that Graham Linehan will address our Bigger Picture conference in Albuquerque this month, speaking on “What Just Happened?” Yesterday’s arrest provides a stark answer: the criminalisation of dissent is happening now.

Genspect stands with Graham Linehan and all defenders of free expression.

Media Contact:
Genspect welcomes all media enquiries. Director Stella O’Malley is available for immediate comment and interview.
Email: media@genspect.org

About Genspect: Genspect is an international organisation promoting evidence-based, non-medicalised approaches to gender distress. Active in 25+ countries, we defend biological reality, support families and detransitioners, and advocate for healthier outcomes for individuals and society.

The post PRESS RELEASE: Genspect condemns arrest of Graham Linehan<br> <span style='font-size: 50%; line-height: 1;'>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span> appeared first on Genspect.

As incredible as it might seem today, for much of the 20th century, smoking was not only widely accepted but actively promoted by medical professionals, celebrities, and government agencies. Tobacco companies poured resources into marketing campaigns that emphasized its benefits, and doctors themselves were often featured in advertisements endorsing certain brands. Yet, as research exposing the dangers of smoking became irrefutable, public perception shifted, leading to a dramatic decline in smoking rates and a stigmatization of the tobacco industry. Today, we see a strikingly similar trajectory in the promotion of gender transition procedures, as medical professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and advocacy organizations aggressively push interventions that have yet to be fully understood in their long-term consequences.

The Medical Promotion of Smoking

In the early 20th century, smoking was not only fashionable but was also endorsed by the medical community. Tobacco companies capitalized on this trust, launching advertisements featuring doctors who reassured the public that smoking was safe, even beneficial. Some brands went as far as to claim that their cigarettes were “physician-tested” and even recommended for throat irritation. In the 1930s and 1940s, brands such as Camel boasted slogans like “More Doctors Smoke Camels than Any Other Cigarette,” based on dubious surveys of medical professionals.

Perhaps most shocking were claims that smoking could treat certain respiratory conditions, including asthma. Advertisements suggested that mentholated cigarettes could soothe the throat and help with breathing, a notion that seems absurd today given the well-documented link between smoking and lung disease. Even into the 1950s and 1960s, as early studies linked smoking to cancer and other health issues, the tobacco industry continued to cast doubt on the science, emphasizing personal choice and framing concerns as overblown hysteria.

It was not until the 1980s and 1990s that the tide truly turned against Big Tobacco. Governments implemented stringent regulations, public health campaigns exposed the dangers of smoking, and lawsuits revealed the extent to which companies had knowingly misled the public. Today, smoking is widely recognized as a health hazard, and its former prestige has turned into a stigma.

The Rise of the Gender Transition Industry

A similar pattern can be observed in the rise of the gender transition industry. Just as doctors once promoted smoking as a health aid, many medical professionals today endorse gender transition treatments, even for minors, without fully understanding the long-term consequences. The widespread promotion of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions has been embraced by the medical establishment, often under the banner of “gender-affirming care.”

Much like early tobacco marketing, medical professionals are placed at the forefront of the push for gender transition, reinforcing public trust. Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) advocate for early medical interventions, despite growing concerns about their reversibility, long-term effects, and ethical implications. Studies questioning the efficacy and safety of these treatments are frequently dismissed as transphobic, echoing the way early critiques of tobacco were ignored or ridiculed.

Moreover, pharmaceutical companies, which profit immensely from the lifelong dependency on hormones and surgeries, have a vested interest in maintaining this industry. The financial incentives resemble those of Big Tobacco, where corporations thrived on addiction, ensuring that customers remained dependent on their products. The long-term health risks associated with gender transition treatments, including infertility, cardiovascular problems, and bone density loss, are often downplayed, just as smoking’s risks were minimized for decades.

The Cultural Shift Against Smoking and Potential Parallels with Gender Transition

The decline of smoking was not just a medical revelation—it was a cultural shift. As more people became aware of the harms, public perception turned, and smoking transitioned from a glamorous habit to a dangerous vice. The same mechanisms that once promoted smoking—media endorsements, medical backing, and corporate lobbying—eventually collapsed under the weight of undeniable evidence.

A similar shift may be on the horizon for gender transition treatments. Already, several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, and the UK, have pulled back on aggressive medical interventions for minors, recognizing that the long-term effects are not well understood. Detransitioners—individuals who regret their gender transitions—are increasingly speaking out, sharing stories of how they were rushed into life-altering decisions without adequate exploration of underlying psychological factors.

Public sentiment is also beginning to change, with increasing skepticism about the wisdom of medicalizing gender dysphoria, especially in children. While transgender activists and organizations still hold considerable influence, cracks are forming in the consensus, much as they did when the first whistleblowers exposed the tobacco industry’s deceptive practices.

If history is any indication, the medical and cultural embrace of gender transition treatments may follow the same trajectory as smoking. Just as the once-glorified tobacco industry fell from grace, the gender transition industry may face a reckoning as more evidence emerges regarding the risks and regrets associated with these interventions. What was once considered progressive and cutting-edge could become a cautionary tale of medical overreach and corporate greed.

In the future, society may look back on the current era with the same incredulity that we now reserve for cigarette advertisements featuring doctors. Gender ideology, much like tobacco, may transition from a widely accepted norm to a socially unacceptable practice, viewed with regret and disbelief by generations to come. The question is not whether this shift will happen, but how long it will take for the truth to prevail.

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

Photo by Mathew MacQuarrie on Unsplash

Don’t miss Detrans Awareness Day on Capitol Hill

The post The Rise and Fall of the Tobacco Industry and the Gender Transition Industry: A Comparison appeared first on Genspect.

Ever since I began transitioning, I’ve found myself always ruminating on my transition. I’m extremely paranoid about being outed or clocked and spiral into depression/dysphoria/whatever whenever I think about the fact that I likely will not be in a relationship with anyone. I have top surgery scheduled for this year and at one point, I thought it would help as I’ll appear more male but now, I don’t know. I still will not have a penis and that’s the most important part of a male to most people. My skin is too damaged to have phallo and I just will never realistically be at a weight that a doctor will operate on. My goal weight is still about 40ish lbs higher than most doctors would want and I’m insanely far from that goal weight.

I don’t know how to get out of the ruminating. Please don’t tell me to “go outside” or “touch grass”. This isn’t just an internet thing. I’m at an age where I wish I had something to show for my life-mainly a partner and I can’t help feeling like a loser that it won’t happen. Most cis men will not see me as men. We live in a time where people know how to say the right shit so that trans people/minorities can feel affirmed while the other person gets to indulge in their fetish. I’m considered old by the gay communities standards which doesn’t help.

Most trans people that have been transitioning this long talk about forgetting that they’re trans but it’s the opposite. I’m always reminded that I’m trans and that I’ll never be seen as male if anyone found out.

This woman describes 10 years of “constantly” ruminating over her gender identity, “ever since I began transitioning.” She reports relentless self-surveillance (being “extremely paranoid about being outed or clocked”) and dissatisfaction—despair might be more accurate—about the limits of what transition can offer. She’ll never have a penis. She’ll “never be seen as male if anyone found out” about her transition. But, more importantly, she’ll never see herself as male. There’s a sense in which she doesn’t seem to feel real.

Her upcoming “top surgery” drives home the fact that she doesn’t have anyone to turn to for support: “I don’t have friends,” she writes. She says she “do[es]n’t have community and no, I don’t want a lecture on it.” She can’t even find a sense of belonging in online trans spaces, prefacing her posts with bristling commentaries on her sense of misfittedness (“Since I’m always accused of bringing drama and derision…”).

She longs for connection and an intimate relationship, something her trans identification effectively rules out. If she reveals herself, she won’t be seen as the man she desperately wants to be. If she conceals herself, she won’t be known at all. Then there’s her dating pool, which she’s drained and dredged. She describes herself as “gay”—by which she means she’s straight. She tells herself she’s simply “old by the gay communities [sic] standards” but that’s not the problem, which is much more basic: she wants to partner with a gay man and—by definition—no gay man will want to partner with her. The bi and heterosexual men who might consider her as a sexual partner she dismisses as fetishists:

“I know someone’s gonna call me an incel. I dont’ think I’m entitled to love. I just want to be loved as a man. Not some “Best of both worlds” because someone watches too much trans male porn.’

She feels like life is leaving her behind (“I’m at an age where I wish I had something to show for my life”). It’s hard not to speculate about the uses of her trans identity, which keeps the world at arm’s length:

As I get older, I realize I feel like I’m socializing from behind some type of window/barrier. For example, I’m finishing school and notice people who are close and have become friends while, like every other time, I’m kind of just there. There’s a handful of people I talk to but nothing more. Even when I’ve tried to become friends with people, it becomes apparent they think I’m trying too hard or just…weird.

I know people love to talk about how much of a “loner” they are but I hate it. I’ve been a loner all my life and now I’m at an age where friendships start dying, people have kids/spouses and the rest of my life will be like this. It’s extremely depressing and distressing. I don’t know why I struggle like this but it’s a component in why I’ve become extremely recluse in the recent years. The biggest component is my social anxiety getting much worse lately. I’ve had a therapist say that my rumination on social situations is “Extreme”

It looks like—by identifying as trans and male and gay—she is setting the terms on which she will be rejected, as opposed to being rejected, helplessly, for traits and quirks she did not choose. “I have never really had anyone call me a friend, even people I thought I was super close with,” she says. Now, no one will get too close. Is gender really the problem here?

According to r/FTMover30, she needs to learn to see herself as a man. She is holding herself back. Some argue that “the IDEA of a penis is generally considered important to manhood, but an individual guy’s actual dick? not so much.” Others say she shouldn’t give up on a phalloplasty, no matter her BMI.

A few commenters emphasize the need to develop an internal locus of control (actually good advice, deployed in a completely dysfunctional context):

“The only thing that actually matters within everything in your post – is how YOU feel about YOU.”

“If you don’t see yourself as a “real man” you won’t believe anyone else does.”

“If you don’t believe you’ll find a relationship – then odds are you won’t put yourself in the right situation/be in the right mind set to find one.”

“It matters not even a little bit how people view you – IF you have good self esteem and feel authentic in yourself. I know this to be true because I’ve been in a similar place to you.”

“I haven’t changed the world, I haven’t changed others views, I haven’t forced myself into situations I didn’t feel comfortable in.”

“I’ve worked on through therapy and self work my own self esteem. I don’t care if others don’t see me as a man – I am one. I don’t care if others judge me or think I’m a horrible person etc – I know I’m not one.”

“I’m not trying to invalidate you – it’s actually incredibly empowering when you realise all of how you feel CAN be changed by working on yourself. Changing the world is impossible – changing yourself IS possible.”

“Therapy brother, trans-specific therapy if possible, definitely at least queer friendly. Do you want to be happy? Then you need to invest in your own mental health. If that means sacrificing other things for a while then so be it. You need good support and guidance into a place of self love. I’ve worked in health and fitness over a decade and can tell you that those with poor self esteem and that are critical of themselves struggle and even find it impossible to lose weight. Those that are kind with themselves are much more likely to persist to the point of success.”

Another writes:

I’ve learned to understand what I’m up against. The people who don’t see me as a real man are just seeing the world how they were conditioned to see it: in black and white, based on genitalia. Most of the time I’ve found that it isn’t malicious. There is so much ignorance about trans people, especially about surgeries that can make our bodies appear cis. Their opinions of me once they know I’m trans are not my responsibility bc I KNOW who I am, and how I feel. I do feel a sense of pride in the fact that my very existence has been forcing some people to reevaluate how they see gender.

That doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with reconciling the world vs me tho. It feels like a crushing weight sometimes and I have a lot of bad days. But it is possible to stop caring what the world thinks…even if it is a long journey. I know I’ll get to a better mindset eventually.

And again: this is a ‘you’ problem—not a problem inherent in the impossible promises transition makes:

if this has been going on for over 10 years i don’t think a single comment can help. it’s something deeper than that, that has to do with your self perception and how you view manhood. the truth that most people here know is that like, cis men DO see us as men once we pass. your feeling otherwise signals to me that this is coming from You not seeing yourself as a man in the way you see cis men as men. not to be cliche, but have you considered therapy to talk through these feelings and seeing where they come from?

Another woman writes, “This isn’t about gender. This is a self confidence, self love, self acceptance thing.” Never mind that transition is a self-rejection program.

Finally, the most ubiquitous advice, handed out whenever doubt of any kind is expressed:

“it might be worth trying to find more trans people to be friends with, and maybe date them as well. it’s not like all trans people are just guaranteed to be great people, but having close friends and confidants that can personally relate to what you’ve been through makes things so much easier.”

Spend more time with fellow cult members, consume more cult content. Seal yourself in. Seal the world out.

To this, one commenter confesses: “I found making friends with other trans people just made me feel worse. ”

Why doesn’t anything to do with gender identity and transition ever seem to pan out?

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

Photo by Jose Pablo Garcia on Unsplash

The post “I found making friends with other trans people just made me feel worse” appeared first on Genspect.

I was five years old when I told my mother I was a “girl trapped in a boy’s body.” Some of my earliest memories are of talking to a therapist about why I felt that way. This was around the year 2000, long before there was much acceptance for men dressing or acting in a gender non-conforming way. Of course, the only reason I thought I was a girl was because I was drawn to “girl things.” Every article of clothing I wanted to put on was “girl clothes” and every toy I selected from the toy aisle was a “girl toy.” In my young mind I thought the explanation was simple: I must be a girl!

Looking back, I feel extremely fortunate that I was born in the late 90s before gender ideology became the widespread belief system it is today. Over time I grew up to realize I was a boy instead of being affirmed and encouraged to transition as a boy like me would be today.

When I was in elementary school, I began to see that boys and girls were encouraged to prefer blue and pink, respectively, not because these choices were innate, but because society had these expectations. The epiphany that everyone goes through life performing for other people, wearing what they are told to wear and behaving how they are told to behave made me feel a bit lonely, but it was also very freeing. I chose not to participate and to do whatever I felt was right for me. I went through the rest of my childhood and teenage years feeling secure in the parts of my personality some would consider feminine. For instance, I even went through a phase when I wore a full face of makeup on a regular basis. But I never again considered that any of this made me a girl. I understood then, as I do now, that there is no single correct way to be a man. Trends come and go, and I have seen how the fashion choices I was once bullied for became fashionable just a few years later.

In February of this year, the Free Press published an article about therapist Tamara Pietze’s experience of being forced to affirm children’s claims of gender dysphoria. While working at Mary Bridge Children’s Gender Health Clinic, Tamara and over 100 other therapists went through mandatory training on “gender affirming care” during which they were taught to diagnose gender dysphoria in young patients when they met six of the eight characteristics listed below:

1. A strong desire/insistence on being another gender

2. Strong preference for clothing typically associated with the opposite gender

3. Strong preference for toys and games typically associated with the opposite gender

4. Strong preference for playmates of the opposite gender

5. Strong preference for cross-gender roles during make believe play

6. Strong rejection of toys more typically associated with assigned gender

7. Strong dislike of one’s sexual anatomy

8. Strong desire for the secondary sex characteristics of the opposite gender

This article horrified me, as did the lack of a response it got from gay people and “LGBT activists.” I am a man, not a transgender woman, and yet I met six of the eight characteristics listed here when I was a child. In fact, I would guess around 90% of adult gay men would say those characteristics describe what they were like as a child. There’s evidence suggesting that the medical and mental health industries might be encouraging young gay kids to transition, yet this is barely discussed. The fear of being branded “transphobic” by someone online is so intense that it is silencing even those gay adults who know they might have been similarly misdiagnosed based on these traits.

The most common fear-mongering tactic used against anyone questioning the growing acceptance of minors transitioning is to tell them the child will commit suicide if they are not allowed to transition. This claim is debatable, and from my personal experience, I believe the only reason I did not end up committing suicide was my mother’s refusal to validate my delusions that I was a girl.

Had I socially transitioned as a child, taken puberty blockers as a pre-teen, and undergone permanent surgeries as a teenager, I would have ruined my life. I would have later realized the mistake, left with breasts, numerous side effects from puberty blockers, and possibly even a surgically created “vagina” requiring lifelong dilation to prevent closure.

Moreover, I would not be in the loving relationship I have enjoyed for the last four years, with my partner, a gay man who is not attracted to transgender women. Instead, I would be stuck as a life-long medical patient, dealing with emotional, physical, and financial burdens from continuous hormone treatments, surgeries, and doctor visits. This scenario would have driven me into deep depression and even suicide.

Originally, the term “transgender” was used to describe individuals with gender dysphoria who chose to medically transition to live as the opposite sex. However, radical left activists have since expanded its definition, turning it into a vague “umbrella term.” Beneath this broad umbrella, there is an endless list of other vague terms such as nonbinary, gender fluid, and agender. These labels are just a small part of the complex beliefs associated with gender ideology, which has spread through social media, universities, and politics over the last several years. It is no wonder so many children and young adults now believe they are trans or nonbinary, given they are told that if they not 100% stereotypically masculine or feminine, they are not really a man or a woman. Despite being promoted by so-called “progressives,” gender ideology is, in fact, blatantly sexist and homophobic. It reinforces gender stereotypes and potentially pathologizes same-sex attraction by suggesting that not fitting into traditional gender roles might mean you are not male or female.

As far as I am concerned, there are only two ways a person can think about gender:

· Option 1 holds that there are very strict roles and behaviors that men and women must conform to: Men must be stereotypically masculine, and women must be stereotypically feminine.

· Option 2 posits that there are infinite ways to be a man or a woman, and all are acceptable. Men can wear makeup and express their emotions; women can have short hair and exhibit “masculine” qualities.

If you subscribe to Option 1, your view is arguably sexist and regressive. However, if you align with Option 2, which most leftists claim to support, then the term “non-binary” becomes unnecessary. This is because, if there are infinite ways to express gender, one cannot “not feel like a man or a woman” since gender expression under this view is limitless.

I have watched with growing concern as lesbians I have known for years have begun identifying as trans men, proudly displaying their mastectomy scars on social media. Awkward, nerdy heterosexual men I have known, who have always struggled with romantic connections, are now coming out as “trans lesbians.” Flamboyant gay men, once seemingly secure in their sexuality, are now identifying as nonbinary or adopting other new gender labels, as if eager to distance themselves from being seen merely as feminine gay men.

In their “coming out” posts, there is a striking commonality: their reasons for not identifying with their biological sex often boil down to regressive stereotypes and clothing preferences. Women have spent decades trying to detach the concept of “woman” from sexist stereotypes, yet now, ironically, some so-called “progressive” women are claiming they are not women because they do not fit these very stereotypes.

Like many observing this social phenomenon, I have attempted to be understanding and respectful, all while privately questioning how so many could feel “born in the wrong body.” Though I suspect many might later regret their decision to medically transition, I believe adults should have autonomy over their bodies. However, I draw the line at allowing this potentially harmful ideology to influence children. Meanwhile, whenever, every few months is seems, a new “trans child” becomes an internet sensation, I think “that could have been me.”

The post Not Being Affirmed Saved My Life appeared first on Genspect.

I have put in my two-week notice. I am quitting the LGBTQIA+ community. I will not be coming back.

Hello, my name is Chance. I am a lesbian, and I am leaving the LGBTQIA+ community. I am leaving primarily because I do not know it anymore. I do not feel a part of it, and I do not support its purpose which seems to have evolved from fighting for marriage equality to hyper-focusing on transgender rights.

Do not get me wrong, it is not that I do not think people should have rights. But what rights are Transgender people fighting for?

Part of what is being fought for is called “gender affirming healthcare”. This could include cross sex hormones or surgeries. Many transgender people will say these surgeries and hormones are lifesaving. Without them, they claim the transgender person may commit suicide.

I know I personally wanted to commit suicide. But not because I did not receive gender affirming health care, but because I did. This is something that I do not often tell people as I used to have a great deal of shame admitting that part of my past. You see, at one time, I had taken testosterone shots and identified as a transgender male. It has taken years to heal.

A Vanishing Community

As I told you I am a lesbian. I care deeply about women. I especially care about butch women and tomboys. But the way things are going, I think we may be a dying breed. Recently, I asked my niece who is in high school how many of her peers identified as lesbian? She could not name one. Rather, a whole slew of young women that are identifying as trans. This saddens me to no end. You see, if I could instill one thing in these young women it would be that it is okay to be a masculine girl or woman. Tomboy does not equal Transgender and there is no shame in being a lesbian.

For me personally, I cannot begin to describe to you the horror of my gender affirming healthcare. I took a full dose of testosterone for over 14 months. During that time, I physically began to change. Facial hair, deeper voice, and fat redistribution. I went by another name and used he/him pronouns. After about a year, the hormones really started to work. I did not look or sound like me anymore. I had also begun to lose my sense of self.

At the end of my transition, I also had a plane ticket to Florida where I was to get a double mastectomy. I started to get cold feet because I canceled my surgery. Then, reality hit me, almost like a divine intervention. I realized if I continued with hormones, I would be trapped in the wrong body. There would be no going back. I would be trapped in a body that was not mine. I would be trapped in my Gender Affirming Healthcare body for the rest of my life. I quit hormones immediately cold turkey. This was a disaster. My mood fluctuated dangerously and hourly. I was very suicidal. I needed to be hospitalized for a week.

Finding My Way

I tried looking for support for detransitioners like me. At the time, there were zero to no resources available. I found a few blogs on Tumblr with women who had detransitioned but I did not know anyone personally. It seemed like everyone was so willing to get me on the “transgender train” but no one was there to help me off. The resources I was able to find were like a lifeline for me. I read them repeatedly for a little hope and just to stay alive.

I remember early on after quitting HRT, I wanted to check into a women’s treatment center. I called them on the phone only to be informed that the facility was for women not men. You see, I was unrecognizable on the phone or in person as a woman.

It has taken years to recover from the trauma of transition and detransition. I am also one of the lucky ones. I was able to return living as my birth sex. Some women cannot because of long time hormone usage or disfiguring surgeries.

I am speaking out today because there are thousands of women that have previously identified as transgender males. It breaks my heart to read their stories of regret. I feel their pain intimately. Some women have more damage than others depending on how long they took HRT or what surgeries that might have. There is lasting emotional and mental damage. I know for me; I thought about the regret constantly and how I had ruined my life and body. It took years to recover from this.

Finding a Voice

There are people fighting to change things and I join them. I stand with Gays Against Groomers, Moms for Liberty, Do No Harm, Genspect and so many others that have the courage to speak out against what is happening.

I tell my story because other women need to hear it so maybe they will not feel quite so alone. They will read my story and have some hope. A young person considering this lifestyle will realize that cross-sex hormones and surgeries will not fix a thing and cause more problems than they can ever imagine. I am working towards creating a different world where young women do not feel like it is somehow better to look like a man. I would tell each one that they are beautiful on the inside and out just as they are. I wish I could save them from the pain of transition and detransition.

So, that is why I am leaving the LGBTQIA+ community. It is not the same community I marched with on Washington D.C. for Gay and Lesbian rights many years ago. It does not represent me. It does not protect women and children. And it is causing great harm to many of our young people.

Right now, in the Reddit detransition group we have over 55k members. Many of these new detransitioners are only 18 years of age, meaning, they were medically transitioned as teenagers, children. And you know what? They are broken and they have not even begun adulthood. Many of them do not have breasts. They have voices so deep that they are not even recognizable on the phone anymore as female or even in some cases are mistaken to be transgendered women. They have unwanted facial and body hair. And some even have the receding hairlines of a 45-year-old man. And can you imagine the mental and emotional toll from the constant despair and regret? It is immoral what is being done to these children and adolescents because this is the tragic result. And it must stop!

We must all speak out against the harmful transgender concepts that are hurting are young people who cannot consent to these barbaric Gender Affirming Surgeries, powerful cross sex hormones and puberty blockers. These are human rights violations on children and adolescents. And we are not going to be the people who go down in history as accepting or promoting experimental sex change operations on children and adolescents. No. We cannot accept this. We are not those people. We will fight to stop this war on children. Thank you for reading.

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

Register to Attend

The post Why I Quit the LGBTQIA+ Community appeared first on Genspect.

I am a licensed therapist who discovered how extremely wrong gender affirmative therapy is simply because it became so radical and widespread in the last 5 years. I took a hiatus from my profession due to a physical disability and when I returned, the changes were shocking. My views on gender ideology are not politically motivated.

I understand feminists have a large stake in the fight against this trans wave for two main reasons. 1. In more recent years, the trend is overwhelmingly impacting adolescent girls. 2. Women’s spaces are being invaded by “transgender women” (men).

These facts are absolutely true, but that does not mean the trans issue is solely a women’s issue. In fact, far from it:

Young Men

A male detranistioner named Abel Garcia had a very poignant tweet on 11/14/22:

Unfortunately, there are a few feminists that only care about girls and women being hurt, they could care less about boys and men being hurt by this ideology. We all need to understand that this ideology targets everyone & we need to protect & help everyone hurt by it.

Male detansitioner, Ritchie Herron, known as Tulip on twitter/x has been viciously attacked by feminists when he called for support for young boys who have fallen victim of trans ideology. He tweeted on July 20th, 2022:

I see a lot of rallying calls to protect women and girls, but why not boys too? Aren’t all children worthy of protection?

The threat to young males and boys has been overshadowed for too long. Your fury for what is happening to young women and girls should apply to them too. If no one stands for them, I will. And I will still be standing alongside women and girls.

Both men, and countless more have horrific stories about how they were victims of gender malpractice.

They deserve our support and their voices to be heard.

Parents and Families

But male detransitioners are not the only ones being hurt by gender ideology. Let us look at the parents, both mothers and fathers, who are estranged from their children because of the cult-like mentality that gender ideology preaches. The trans activists teach those who join the gender cult that their loving family and friends who simply have questions are bigots and transphobes. I receive countless messages from parents who are struggling with grief, fear, and anger because their child, who they care about deeply, will not talk to them. This includes mothers and fathers.

Here is a recent message from an anonymous parent: My daughter is 20. She began injecting male hormones at 18. I do not pretend to agree. Our relationship has suffered. I cannot sleep well. I cannot do much of anything well. I do not know how to help her. What to say. What not to say. My life is a wreck, and I feel like I am holding my breath every day. I cannot save her. I want to. I cannot find help. She is not going to be ok.

And let us not forget about siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and other family members who lost a family member because a trans cult told them they should be cutting off their families.

Siblings

Another group most people do not consider are the other children. I am talking about the kids who do not ride the ‘trans train’ but are subjected to speech policing and lose close relationships because their friends choose a glitter family instead. In addition, there are children who already struggle to fit in, do not have insight or confidence to stand up to uncomfortable lies. The way gender ideology is weaved into our culture is devastating for all children (and adults too).

I watched this dynamic unfold as I led teen therapy groups. I found the “pronoun game” just as damaging to the kids who were not trans-identified as those who were. Some enjoyed the feeling of “doing the right thing,” but this left them empty and less connected to their peers because it was superficial. Or some did not feel comfortable but felt peer pressure and disgruntled by compelled speech. Either way, these children had an extra obstacle from creating genuine connections with each other. (I never prompted pronouns when I worked there, but I did not directly confront the ones who did)

Society

And what about humanity? If we have an entire generation growing up with a fractured sense of self, an inability to trust others, inability to procreate, inability to have sexual pleasure, and some with devastating physical disabilities, this affects us all. Whatever happened to the cliche “The children are our future.” Now it is “Lets trans the kids, it feels good, and we don’t care about the future.” We need our children to grow up and thrive so our society can thrive. If an entire generation is suffering psychological and physical harm, we all suffer.

Plain and simple. This is a humanity issue, not a women’s issue.

Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed clinical social worker in California. She completed her MSW in 1999 from New York University. She has a variety of experiences in schools, group homes, hospitals, and community-based organizations. She has dedicated herself to educating parents, advocate for ethical mental health care, and emboldening other mental health professionals to challenge the ideological capture of her profession.

For more detailed information on how to empower yourself as a parent and navigate the mental health field, see the Parents’ Guide to Mental Health www.thetruthfultherapist.org. Pamela is the author of A Practical Response to Gender Distress, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Response-Gender-Distress-Families/dp/B0CXMRGMBV And coming soon, a cute rhyming children’s book about self-acceptance called Froggy Girl. www.froggygirlbook.com

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

The post More Than a Women’s Issue appeared first on Genspect.

I did not believe in content warnings until I wrote this article. I figured that adults should be able to manage the simple act of reading a report of an academic paper without too much difficulty. But if you have apotemnophobia, you might want to skip this one, as it really is the stuff of nightmares.

Because many websites track what we read to make suggestions and drive our engagement, every now and again I will get an automated email recommending a new paper on gender that I had not heard anyone discuss so far. And so, the algorithm directed me to Erich Kasten’s case study about a patient diagnosed as suffering from both ‘body integrity dysphoria’ and gender dysphoria, published in the open-access journal Academia Mental Health and Well-Being in late October 2024.

Since at least the curious accident which Phineas Gage endured in 1848, psychiatry has made use of the individual case study. I wish it were true that academic journals were reliable sources which carried out due diligence on the case studies they publish. Since wishful thinking is not sufficient, I will have to prefix this article with the admission that the case study related by Kasten (2024) has not been independently verified by me.

The anonymous patient’s story in this case study could be true. It could be a hoax intended to expose the deficiencies and credulity of academia on gender extremism. It could also be masochistic fan fiction. The contemporary gender Weltanschauung is such that any seriously deluded act seems plausible.

What is Gender Dysphoria, Anyway?

I had long been curious about the distinction between body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), body integrity disorder (BID), body integrity identity disorder (BIID), all referring to a preoccupation with self-perceived corporeal defects, and gender dysphoria. In the fifth edition revised text of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5-TR) the American psychiatrist’s bible, Diagnostic Criteria F45.22 states that BDD would include:

“Repetitive behaviors (e.g., mirror checking, excessive grooming… reassurance seeking) or mental acts (e.g., comparing his or her appearance with that of others) in response to the appearance concerns.”

The degree of insight of the psychiatric patient diagnosed with BDD can vary:

“With good or fair insight: The individual recognises that the body dysmorphic disorder beliefs are definitely or probably not true or that they may or may not be true.

With poor insight: The individual thinks that the body dysmorphic disorder beliefs are probably true.

With absent insight/delusional beliefs: The individual is completely convinced that the body dysmorphic disorder beliefs are true.”

Page 277 of the DSM-5-TR asserts: “Body dysmorphic disorder should not be diagnosed if the preoccupation is limited to discomfort with or a desire to be rid of one’s primary and/or secondary sex characteristics in an individual with gender dysphoria.”

However, the DSM-5-TR does not explain why the presence of gender dysphoria means that the patient cannot be diagnosed with BDD. It is almost as if a caveat was inserted to provide authority to the claim that people with gender dysphoria are not delusional if they insist that they really were ‘born in the wrong body.’ No-one is supposed to ask the obvious follow-up question: where is your right body, and who has it now?

What I had previously thought of as ‘body integrity disorder’ is now called ‘body integrity dysphoria’ in ICD-11 the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. It is defined as the “intense and persistent desire to become physically disabled in a significant way.” ICD-11 notes:

“The desire to become physically disabled results in harmful consequences, as manifested by either the preoccupation with the desire (including time spent pretending to be disabled) significantly interfering with productivity, with leisure activities, or with social functioning (e.g. person is unwilling to have a close relationship because it would make it difficult to pretend) or by attempts to actually become disabled having resulted in the person putting his or her health or life in significant jeopardy. The disturbance is not better accounted for by another mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorder, by a Disease of the Nervous System or by another medical condition, or by Malingering.”

And just as with DSM-5-TR’s categorisation of body dysmorphic disorder, there is a special exception in the ICD-11 definition of body integrity dysphoria for “Gender incongruence of adolescence or adulthood”, without any explanation. It is just not the same, okay? It is not even defined as a subset of the BID category focused on sexual characteristics.

The changing of the word ‘disorder’ to ‘dysphoria’ or ‘incongruence’ is consistent with the desire to reduce stigma for certain elective treatments in the gender-affirming marketplace. For example, if someone wishes to have absurdly large breasts to enhance their career in the adult entertainment industry, we do not question their mental health or life goals; we take their credit card details.

Dysphoria just means ‘not coping,’ from the Greek words for ‘bearing badly.’ Physically removing the body part that we are not coping with removes the problem, in the same way that a guillotine is a proven effective remedy for headache. We do not need to figure out what caused the headache after that.

The Self-amputating Transgender Person

I have written previously about the possibility that the minority of surgeons who carry out radical experimental procedures on misinformed, physically healthy people do so because they enjoy the work, and because nobody stopped them. The case documented by Kasten (2024) added self-amputation to the list of treatments which progressive society no longer seems willing to question. Kasten noted:

“The urge for a disability may be so intense that those affected try to achieve a visual approximation of their desired body image (e.g., binding an undesired part of the body, using crutches, or a wheelchair). People with BID call these behaviors _pretending_. Dissatisfaction with the body can increase to the extent that they go to radical methods, such as freezing limb tissue in dry ice, triggering infection, or amputating by placing the limb on railway tracks.”

The male patient described in Kasten’s study was transgender and referred to using the ‘she’ pronoun in the published paper. This patient “was affected by BID and felt the need for amputation of both legs approximately 20 cm below the knees. No medical or psychotherapeutic therapies were sought; she was too embarrassed to express this need to a doctor or therapist.”

Kasten’s research subject perceived their feet as “false meat.” The paper does not judge the patient, and verges on admiration: “Since the amputation, she feels free and enjoys the appearance of her own body and is proud of having successfully mastered this challenge… there was no therapy, nor was there any recommendation for or against the dry ice method she used to get rid of her feet.”

The paper continues: “Before the amputation, she constantly had to keep her need for the disability as a secret, which laid heavy on her, and the mental pressure caused by BID robbed her the joy in life. The mental pressure caused by the need for a disability made her completely desperate and reduced her concentration and working performance.”

Kasten’s paper includes a lengthy self-report by the patient studied, described as “exciting,” which is illuminating and worth quoting at length:

“From a young age, I have had a dislike of my body. I was born as a boy, and as child, I liked to play with “Transformer” toys, and I was fascinated by the way that they could change form. From about the age of 7 years, I was starting to feel that I would prefer to have been born as a girl. I had many more female friends than male, but I was still a stereotypical boy — playing sports and playing with toys for boys.”

“Just after starting secondary school, I remember getting teased by my friends for being infatuated with a girl in the year above me. In fact, I was not in love with her — I wanted to be her. Everything about her appealed to me — her clothes, her hair, etc. At this point, I really started to question my gender. I would go to bed at night hoping that I would be transformed into this girl, but there was something else that was bothering me.”

“At about the age of twelve, I watched the film “Robocop.” I was fascinated by the thought of losing an unwanted limb yet preserving function with a mechanical device… I then had a bit of an epiphany — what if I was a woman with no feet. This immediately felt right. Everything about this thought fitted with my ideal image for myself.”

“I cross-dressed in private for years and drew lots of pictures of how I saw my ideal self. I became increasingly frustrated with my feet and hated cutting my toenails… It was with the advent of the internet that I began to understand things a bit more. I suddenly found a community of trans friends, and I also started to find information about amputees.”

“In about 2007, I decided I could no longer carry on. I could control the gender issue to some degree by cross-dressing, but I couldn’t do anything about the feet situation (pretending didn’t work for me because I knew I was pretending) … I spent more and more time online in transgender forums, and eventually I discovered some BIID forums. Some of the members of these forums were clearly quite mentally unwell, but I did find a few people who seemed to have a genuine and deep need to change their bodies.”

“I cooled my feet with iced water and then managed to freeze them in dry ice. It took around 6 hours. I had guessed about a 50–50 chance of dying or achieving a successful outcome. I was so frustrated that these odds were acceptable. I stayed at home and went to bed with frozen feet. I don’t remember much after this, but I woke up in hospital… I underwent surgery and achieved bilateral below knee amputations. It was amazing… I was so much happier and also nobody had questioned my sanity! I was worried that I was going to be locked in a mental health facility, but no one noticed.”

“Then the problem struck. I was arrested by the police… they discovered that I had seen videos of an extreme pornographic nature and that I had arranged my own amputations. I was therefore investigated for possession of extreme pornography and insurance fraud… The benefit of being “discovered” is that I am now addressing my gender issues and have started feminizing hormone therapy. I am out to my friends as a transwoman.”

The court psychiatric report on the patient referred to possession of extreme pornographic “image/images portraying act likely to result in the serious injury to person’s private parts.” Let us recap that the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 BID have categorically stated that the desire to remove body parts, sexual characteristics and gender dysphoria are unrelated. The psychiatric profession no longer stigmatises the most extreme manifestations of sadomasochism, let alone the everyday practice of sexual cruelty.

The patient in this case study went on to write about his wife: “It took her a while to understand (she did some research herself online which helped). She does see it as a “mental illness,” and I think the fact that all the psychiatrists and psychologists I have seen have said that I am otherwise sane has helped her.”

However, the patient’s wife is less understanding about the gender transition. As the patient reported: “She sees herself a bit as a “trans-widow” and that I have betrayed her. Unlike the BID, which previously I didn’t think she would understand or accept, I told her about my gender issues early in our relationship (over 20 years ago).”

“At that point I was a crossdresser and wanted to transition but was able to suppress this. I promised her that if we stayed together then I would never transition. She tolerated my exploration of femininity as long as I did it in private when she wasn’t around. As my gender feelings got stronger, it became difficult for me to suppress it. So, by beginning to express my feminine side she felt that I was breaking a promise to her.”

Conclusion

It was noted in paragraph 12.5 of the Cass Review that even social transition is not necessarily a neutral act; it should be considered an active intervention when carried out by the UK’s National Health Service. In the case study reported by Kasten (2024), we learned of a patient who reportedly began with cyborg fantasies of “Transformer” robots and experienced transgender identification in childhood, progressing through private cross-dressing to consuming criminalised online content and extreme acts of self-mutilation.

Kasten’s case study cites other examples of BID and gender dysphoria co-existing. It seems the gender industry supports the right to spiral into total madness under the all-powerful principle of bodily autonomy.

There is still a case for recognising gender borne badly as a symptom of serious dysfunction within an individual that needs significant help. That person might need protection from themselves, rather than affirmation. The DSM and ICD need a rethink where gender and corporeal self-hatred are concerned, at the very least.

Genspect publishes a variety of authors with different perspectives. Any opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Genspect’s official position. For more on Genspect, visit our FAQs.

Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

The post Why Do Transgender People Hate Their Bodies? appeared first on Genspect.