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I got into an argument on JK Rowling recently. That was mildly annoying, but then it shifted to transgender stuff in general, and the puberty blocker discussion in particular was very vexing to me. I just genuinely don't know how anyone can be okay with the idea, especially now that we know way more about it than we did 10 years ago. The dismissal of the Cass Review on the part of the pro-trans side has increasingly looked like the stereotypical right winger doing mental somersaults to any science they dislike. But I have some questions on it, there were some things I didn't have great answers to.
What are the actual requirements for getting prescribed puberty blockers? The pro-trans tribe insists that it is a very rigorous process involving thorough checking of gender dysphoria, and it's not commonly done, despite being a readily available tool in the toolbox of clinical practice. I do not believe this after examples I have seen, but I have nothing to cite.
Is there any actual scientific evidence in favor of social contagion playing any part in transgenderism? The pro-trans tribe claims that social contagion plays no role, and to me, it's trivially true that social contagion plays an astounding part, as well as fetishism and abuse, and autism. I have no idea how many kids genuinely become gender dysphoric due to genetics, if there are any at all. And if there are any, I certainly don't think that it's a given that they need puberty blockers. How the hell did that become the default? But anyway, has The Science turned up anything on social contagion?
Are there any actually valid critiques of the Cass Review? Pro-trans tribe will cite the Yale Law retort, then when I point out the responses to it, either holes are poked in them or they just go back to their priors that the Cass Review was methodologically bad, done by a transphobe, misinterpreted studies, and went against the scientific consensus and ruined its own credibility. Actually, they say the same about the recent HHS Report. Please show me if there are any published valid critiques of the Cass Review besides the Yale thing.
What are the probabilities of serious consequences from puberty blockers? I brought up infertility, and the pro-trans tribe claimed that it's actually a very low chance and that it's not anyone's business anyway because not everyone wants to have kids. The latter half of that is completely inane when we're talking about life changing decisions for a demographic that cannot consent, but the former, I don't know. Do puberty blockers cause the infertility, the loss of ability to orgasm, and the complete lack of penis tissue with which to create a neovagina, or is it the ensuing hormones that do this?
Sadly, none of this will do anything to convince anyone on either side anyway. There's really no way out of this hole that has been created. Sometimes, I kind of hate this world. I really thought "don't give minors seriously debilitating life changing pills to solve a solely mental disorder" was an easy hill to stand on, but the fighting was just as vicious as anything else with the gender issue.
Edited to be slightly less angry.
The criteria for a gender dysphoria diagnosis is that you're "consistent, persistent, and insistent" about it, I think I even they even give a specific time period of exhibiting *sistence, and if memory serves, it's something like a few months. I'll try to look it up, and get back to you.
Sorry for the harsh words, but this is just a lie. Gender clinicians will say themselves, when they think you're not listening, that the issue shouldn't be medicalized, and it's just about patient autonomy and free expression. Many detransitioners say they got prescriptions after a session or two. There was a sting operation were a girl got it after 9 minutes on the phone.
And malpractice aside, like I said the official criteria is that you say you're trans and don't change your mind about it for a few months, I might be missing something, but I don't see much opportunity for rigor here.
It hasn't been properly studied yet to my knowledge as, until recently, the hypothesis was treated as an insane conspiracy theory.
Not to my knowledge, but I'm biased.
The deadly cocktail is blockers + opposite sex hormones, that basically clinches infertility and/or anorgasmia. Either one of those without the other is recoverable to some extent. There's a whole section on puberty blockers in the Cass Review, and from what I recall reversibility on healthy, normally developing children has never been studied.
@oats_son
This has been a bit frustrating to look up. While the phrase “Insistent, persistent, and consistent” does appear here and there, as though it is quoting someone, I can't seem to locate the original source. The first time I heard it must have been during one of the 7 zillion hours of trans / anti-trans confenrences I've watched, but my best effort attempt, of writing a script for downloating auto-subtitles from my playlists and grepping for the keywords, has yielded no match.
For what it's worth, the "few month" period seems to come from the DSM-5, and the diagnostic criterion seems to match the sentiment behind the 3-word phrase, so maybe it's a summary of that , rather than a direct quote.
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