Taking the 'Trend' out of 'Trans'

Written February 2023

A brilliant scene in the first episode of the hilarious ‘Derry Girls’, sees the show’s lead character, a teenager named Erin, about to return to school on the first day of a new school year. She goes to leave the house, with a denim jacket over her uniform, instead of her blazer. Her mother tells her in no uncertain terms to take the denim jacket off, and get her blazer on, which she does in typical harrumphing teenage style. Outside, she meets up with her friend, Claire. Claire is wearing a denim jacket and is outraged that Erin is not wearing hers, and rages, “What’s all this? I thought we were going to be individuals this year. Well, I’m not going to be individual on my own”, before promptly removing the jacket. And that is the mindset of teenagers the world over, who think that wearing an item that is ‘trendy’ somehow makes them individual, even though the opposite is true – they are conforming with a trend, or fashion.

When such conformity relates to an item of clothing, as parents we can relax, and maybe find it mildly amusing, and know that as they mature, adolescents will eventually come through such group thinking – hence the comedic brilliance of the Derry Girls scene. It has been forever thus – teenagers think their parents are old, boring, and unfashionable, and that they themselves are cool, trendy and all-knowing, and swear they will never become their parents.

However, there is a terrifying ‘trend’ that has taken this garden variety adolescent trait, and manipulated it, turning it into a dangerous monster. The gender identity ‘movement’ have created a ‘trend’ which is eliciting a dangerous compliance from a vulnerable group of teens, and this situation is now of a most urgent nature. Never before has a ‘trend’ incited such damaging behaviour, where children and teenagers are literally butchering their bodies to conform, while believing that they are in fact expressing their individuality. And, unlike a distasteful pair of trousers, or a silly haircut, the trappings of conformity in the ‘trans’ trend are permanent and life-changing body modifications.

Spearheaded by a joyless bunch of people, whose numbers appear to have exploded since the lockdowns of 2020 / 2021, TikTok really seems to be the ‘in’ place for finding details of the transgender manifesto, preached with all the enthusiasm and certainty of the most radical religious zealots, and aimed, frighteningly and specifically at young, vulnerable and confused teens. Not unlike the most infamous of cult leaders, who target those most vulnerable in society. The fact that governments, councils, educational institutions, and most alarmingly still, a portion of the medical community, have chosen the ‘affirmation’ route, and are ignoring the dangers, permanence, and frequent major side-effects of the ‘treatments’ being offered is absolutely shocking. The confused children who are presenting at clinics and claiming to be trans are under an illusion that they are expressing their true selves and individuality, when in fact, they are often simply finding solace from a lonely, scary puberty by jumping on the trend, and being affirmed as ‘stunning and brave’ for doing so. It is true that what they have developed has a name, it is gender dysphoria, and is a recognised mental illness. However, instead of it being treated as such, and help administered, they are overwhelmingly being encouraged to nurture this illness, and in increasing numbers to even go to the extreme of surgery. Surgery which, by the way, used to be termed ‘gender re-assignment surgery’, but which now is being referred to as ‘gender affirming surgery’. One cannot help but note the trick here, from negative to positive, and the use of that word again – affirming.

The praise and congratulations that these vulnerable youngsters in turn receive for their ‘coming out’ is addictive to them, feeding a desire for ever-further applause, and many develop a maniacal form of self-obsession. TikTok is brimming with videos of young ‘trans’ people, explaining with fervour a hugely complicated inventory of pronouns, a catalogue with seemingly unending additions. The effort that seems to go in to choosing these pronouns is immense, (I cannot shift the feeling that these efforts would be far more rewarded if exerted in a more productive pastime) and encouraged by others in the community, there is an intense anger towards anyone who ‘mis-genders’ them. Shockingly, many adults have taken to TikTok too, to vehemently proclaim their own status as one of these many ‘identities’, with all the zeal of the teenagers. As I have expressed in a previous article, I have no issue with an adult living any way they choose, but the eagerness of some of these individuals to act up on TikTok alongside the teens is frankly quite sinister. Some decorum and dignity would certainly make me take them more seriously. There also appears to be an extraordinary number of schoolteachers who are taking to TikTok to boast of their inclusive classrooms, and the huge efforts they expend in making sure pronouns are respected in school. This seems to be totally outside the remit of schoolteachers. While they should be teaching the basics of mathematics, literature and science, they are instead feeding the beast of these teens’ self-obsession, and jumping on the bandwagon by videoing themselves telling the world about it.

The transplanting of gender dysphoric diagnoses from the medical field, and into the political and social realm has, and continues to place swathes of young children in serious peril. I see many comparisons between Munchausen syndrome and gender dysphoria. Munchausen syndrome is a psychological condition in which the sufferer fabricates, and even induces illness, with great frequency. The condition is relatively rare, and in a particularly acute case in Britain in the 1960s, a patient, known as ‘Maurice’ in the literature, was given a lobotomy, as an attempt at curing him of his chronic Munchausen. He had spent years presenting himself to doctors and hospitals up and down the country, with various complaints, and had undergone intense medical procedures, including major surgeries, always resulting in the discovery that he was perfectly physically health. He was at some point diagnosed with Munchausen by a psychiatrist. The lobotomy, proposed by the psychiatrist, and performed with not just Maurice’s consent, but his wholehearted delight, was a failure, and did not cure him of the condition. He was left with even less restraint and continued his quest to be tested and operated upon.

The psychiatrist who had treated Maurice, and had recommended the lobotomy was distressed, and, in a letter to the medical journal The Lancet, he expressed his view that well-meaning doctors, such as those encountered by Maurice for his various complaints, and indeed himself in proposing the lobotomy, could have inadvertently been deepening their Munchausen patients’ fantasies when they agreed to yet further investigative procedures and operations. And it seems that there is an element of the same going on in the case of medical practitioners who are proponents of the affirmative care model of treatment for pre-pubescent and adolescent children. Admittedly, it is harder to see these doctors as well-meaning, since many seem deliberately deaf and blind to some very troubling outcomes, as well as to increasing numbers of de-transitioners. But doctors’ joyful affirmation of their young patients, I believe, is deepening the fantasies of their gender dysphoria. Where young sufferers need rational, balanced, and sensible assessment, they are receiving something akin to a religious rebirth and baptism.

Worryingly, so politicised and toxic this subject has become, though, that it is almost impossible to discuss or debate, as anyone taking a stance that is questioning of the affirmation model, is immediately and loudly labelled a ‘transphobe’ or ‘bigot’. This effectively shuts down the debate. Mainstream outlets, in print, online, and on screen are apparently terrified to show any sympathetic leaning towards questioning the narrative, and tar any outspoken commentator on the issue as ‘far right’, a signal that they are not to be trusted due to their supposed bigotry. There are people bravely speaking out – Kathleen Stock, Helen Joyce, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, amongst others – but all of these people have been and are still painted as anti-transgender and transphobic, despite the reality that they have all articulately and rationally presented information on the issues of the handling of children where trans ideology and the trans movement are concerned.

I firmly believe that this issue is one of the most threatening and pressing issues of our time, and it is vital that we continue to get information out there to those who may be either unaware, or apathetic about it. Children are being permanently disfigured, psychologically damaged, developmentally mutilated, and rendered infertile, before they even have a chance to understand their own bodies and minds. I wrote about some of the insidious ways in which our children are being brainwashed by the trans lobbyists in a previous article (here), including through the unimaginatively-named medium of ‘influencers’, like Dylan Mulvaney, and through educational curriculums. There is a deeper question of why this issue is being pushed so hard and so aggressively, with several possible answers, and I intend to write a longer piece on this soon. But the intention here was, once again, to highlight the dangers to which our children are being exposed, and the desperate need for adults to protect and guide them, rather than affirm an identity that some studies have shown they have an almost 90% chance of outgrowing. In the US, it is possible for a young person of just 8 to be prescribed puberty blockers, and those as young as 14 to obtain hormone ‘affirming’ treatments such as testosterone or oestrogen, while some surgeries, including double mastectomies for biological girls who feel they wish to transition to male are offered as young as 15. Why the urgency to make such drastic interventions?

The ‘trans’ many of these kids are experiencing is not ‘transgender’, but a phase of normal adolescent confusion that is ‘transient’. Some brave young de-transitioners have begun sharing their shocking and desperately sad experiences, like 18-year-old Chloe Cole, who’s story I highly recommend you view (here). It will break your heart, not just the description of the horrendous and painful transition itself, and then the de-transition, but watching her describe the realisation that, after undergoing a double mastectomy at 15, she will never breastfeed the children she hopes to have. Her message is urgent, and the courage she has to share her story is astonishing. Her story, and those of others like her, should serve as a dire warning to parents the world over: please heed it.

If you have enjoyed this article, why not check out some others on the site (by clicking here), which you might find of interest! And if you are able, please do consider making a donation - any amount helps support my writing, and is gratefully received! Thank you x

Donate