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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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Where are you getting the 3-6 month number from? I see no indication of it in the paper.

Medical checkups for the hormone treatments and getting new prescriptions.

Because both groups are already utilizing healthcare, for one. Also, when you criticize a study as "lazy or retarded" the possible bias should be big enough to wipe away or invert the finding, and I think it's reasonable to ask for some backing on how likely that is given the numbers at hand.

The controls here are not people actively engaging with the healthcare system over several years, as you can tell by the fact that they are controls not receiving ongoing treatment.

Not really. Even on the trans issue itself, the very same people who defend these treatments as being "between the child, parents, and their doctor" will routinely defend institutions hiding a child's transition from their parents

Ok let's look at this specific topic, here's a poll from South Carolina which asked

If parents are already involved in the decision-making process, do you believe the government should or should not intervene in LGBTQ gender-affirming health care decisions concerning individuals under the age of 18?

~71% responded should not! Even the republican respondents were a large majority opposing state intervention against parental decision making. This makes sense, the left leaning side are pro trans and the right leaning side is typically in favor of small government. Traditional conservatives typically say "get the fuck away government regulators"

Medical checkups for the hormone treatments and getting new prescriptions.

Ok, but this isn't based on your knowledge of the Finnish system, and you don't know for a fact that the pre-intervention group isn't also getting checked up regularly, right?

The controls here are not people actively engaging with the healthcare system over several years, as you can tell by the fact that they are controls not receiving ongoing treatment

Yeah, I know. But the finding is based on the raw comparison to the controls, it's based on comparing each of the subgroups (pre- and post-intervention) to the controls. For your objection to be valid, the pre- group would have to be as unlikely to interact with the medical system as the general population. Which would be weird, given that they already entered the system asking for help with dysphoria.

Ok let's look at this specific topic, here's a poll from South Carolina which asked

Ok, fair enough, there are apperently similar results for the other side of my question as well. That said, there's also the rest of my argument. For this to be indicative of a general principle being applied, we'd need to see similar support for changing the medical licensing and prescription systems to being purely advisory at most. I doubt that's a very popular idea.

Ok, but this isn't based on your knowledge of the Finnish system,

Unless the Finnish system is unique and just prescribes medicine for years without any followup needed, I can say pretty confidently that they are receiving constant checkups.

And you don't know for a fact that the pre-intervention group isn't also getting checked up regularly, right

For what? They aren't receiving a treatment then so what checks up would they be having?

For your objection to be valid, the pre- group would have to be as unlikely to interact with the medical system as the general population. Which would be weird, given that they already entered the system asking for help with dysphoria.

Now hold up, read that again. They can not be both pre and post system.

We'd need to see similar support for changing the medical licensing and prescription systems to being purely advisory at most.

That's not true. Plenty of people believe in greater medical autonomy under the condition that it is conducted under medical supervision. Now this does change with one major factor, insurance. It is the bill payer who will demand things be "necessary" after all, regardless of beliefs in autonomy. But if someone pays their own way, why not? It actually helps people to ignore the traditional system, like tons of people are losing weight thanks to Cremieux teaching them how to bypass the extremely expensive and often overly gatekept requirements for glp-1s.