Gender: A Wider Lens

We’re proud to sponsor the world’s leading podcast on gender.

Co-hosted by Genspect Director Stella O’Malley and Genspect Advisor Sasha Ayad, “Gender: A Wider Lens” combines expert analysis with personal experiences, providing new and intriguing ways to understand trans issues in today’s world.

Dive in with our embedded player, below. You won’t be disappointed!

Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast

Gender dysphoria has become a minefield for public discussion, with many afraid to express their views or question the narrative. Our mission is to examine this important and complex topic from a range of perspectives, but always through a psychological lens. By openly considering and examining gender identity, transition, and the transgender umbrella, we hope to give all interested parties permission to engage these fascinating topics with less fear and more honesty. Interviews and discussions will involve clinicians, medical professionals, academics, transgender people, parents, detransitioners and other interesting individuals whose lives have been touched by the concept of gender.

Conversations between two practicing therapists give listeners an opportunity to contemplate gender from a depth perspective not currently taken up in most of today’s accessible debates. As a result of their work with gender dysphoric therapy clients as well as their personal divergent experiences with gender, Stella and Sasha hold a refreshing and informed perspective.

Is gender identity a facilitation of development and expression of creativity, or can it be a defense against painful existential realities of living in a human body? What can we discover about masculinity, femininity, identity, gender performance, and sexuality when we peer beneath the surface and dive into a deeper psychological exploration? What is the relationship between body, mind, identity, culture, and psyche?

This podcast engages listeners in an intimate and fascinating behind-the-scenes inquiry about a topic as taboo as it is salient today.

* We are sponsored by ReIME and Genspect.
Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics (ReIME) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving long term care for gender variant individuals. To learn more, visit https://rethinkime.org/

Genspect is an international alliance of parent and professional groups whose aim is to advocate for parents of gender-questioning children and young people. Parents are concerned that their kids are not receiving appropriate treatment and support; many do not feel free to speak out about their concerns.
To learn more, visit https://genspect.org/

In this second episode on detransition (following from EP 74), Sasha and Stella dig into several pieces of research on detransition experiences. They discuss surveys and case studies and analyze the data which is forming a picture of why detransition happens and what appropriate therapeutic care might look like for this vulnerable group. Themes emerge such as misattributing distress to the body’s sex, unprocessed grief and trauma, medical complications, and dissatisfaction with medical transition.

Links:

Genspect Analysis of detrans Reddit survey:

https://genspect.org/analysis-of-reddit-detrans-survey/

Pablo Exposito-Campos Detransition Paper:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2020.1869126

Lisa Littman’s Research Papers:

https://littmanresearch.com/publications/

Littman on Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast — EP 52: https://gender-a-wider-lens.captivate.fm/episode/52-gender-dysphoria-detransition-research-a-conversation-w-dr-lisa-littman

Genspect Highlights of Lisa’s Paper:

https://genspect.org/detransition-highlights-of-dr-littmans-latest-peer-reviewed-study/

Case Study: “Maya,” Lisa Marchiano

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-5922.12711

The Seventh Penis, Bob Withers:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25989331/

Detransition-Related Needs & Support Survey, Vandenbussche:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00918369.2021.1919479

Detrans reddit survey (not formal data)

https://www.reddit.com/r/detrans/comments/srpp27/the_rdetrans_demographic_survey_screened_and/

Taking the Lid off the Box:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330911243_’Taking_the_lid_off_the_box’_The_value_of_extended_clinical_assessment_for_adolescents_presenting_with_gender_identity_difficulties

Extended Notes

The 1% regret rate stat is misleading.
There is no clear understanding of how many people change their minds about transitioning.
Gender dysphoria is different than sex dysphoria.
Some are disappointed because they say the physical reality of transitioning wasn’t very satisfying.
We are all vain. We all care about how we look.
There are medical complications with transition surgery.
Does a relationship to sexual orientation keep someone in a trans-identity longer?
Autistic people might be more likely to remain transitioned.
In one study, 70% of respondents said they realized their gender dysphoria was related to other issues.
Is human suffering, in all of its bizarre variations, something we must eradicate as soon as we have the means? Sasha says no.
The number of people in de-trans Reddit is over 34,000 as of this recording.
Pablo Expósito Campos started the conversation with core de-trans and non-core de-trans.
There is a de-transition of the mind (letting go of gender identity theory) and the de-transition of the body.
The idea that gender transition encompasses all of a person’s issues has to change.
Not all medical transitions result in the “promised land” for transitioners.
Sasha believes the possibility exists to get everyone on board about finding the root cause of distress through gender identity therapy.
Stella doesn’t think medical gatekeeping is the way forward. An awareness campaign would offer more information.