We parents of trans-identified kids have all asked this question: Why is this happening? Let’s examine one possible answer that I’ve heard from several sources - such as Josh Daws, Amber Athey, and Helena Kerschner - but that I think originated with James Lindsay at New Discourses: That the recent surge in trans-ID and rapid onset gender dysphoric (ROGD) teens is the deliberate result of a politically-motivated plan to break down the family structure. This article is a quick assessment to see if this explanation makes any sense, is worth pursuing, and, if so, to determine what actions we can take.
This is worthy of a bookmark for its sheer comprehensiveness and intelligent insights, not to mention other qualities. Looking forward to reading more about your work, luckily here in eastern/southern Europe trans epidemic is still not a thing. Much strength to all people afflicted by this!
I like the author's idea of changing the term 'trans' to 'SSI' (synthetic sexual identities), because 'trans' has no boundaries and has lost its meaning.
I read that there is an "incidence of left handedness" argument regarding "trans" as something other than mental illness, fetish, or social contagion. Because, of course, if you are left handed you want to chop off your right hand!
Great article. I can’t emphasize that enough. What would be a good movie or series to show my two trans id’d daughters to maybe open them up a bit to these ideas ? Maybe about identity and influence through social contagion. Idk. They won’t listen much to anything mom says. But maybe a movie my sister their aunt could suggest or someone else they may listen to.
Excellent essay, and you are right - I remember an essay by a former M-to-F, a white man, who felt so hated as a cishet-white-man that he decided to be trans, and felt such love and acceptance when he pretended to be a woman. My kids' school is only about 20 percent white, though we are white by local standards, so they don't feel a lot of anti-white sentiment (it seems to be strongest among white people, this self-hatred). (Interestingly, I've noticed a similar phenomenon among black young people from privileged backgrounds - they often play up being black as an identity to detract from familial wealth, like well-off white kids embracing an alphabet identity. I don't hear the same stuff from working class black young people.) But I've told my kids about how it is in more majority-white places, and tried to prepare them by pointing out the falsity of these good-bad binaries: that men oppress women, that whites oppress the rest of the world. That straight people oppress gays. I point out that while the press loved the MeToo# so-called movement for a while, most women, when complaining about problems in the workplace, actually complain about bullying by other women. That men and women have protected and cared for each other, and struggled side by side, throughout history, and that when there are large power imbalances between people, abuse can happen, but it isn't that one group of people is bad and another is good, or innocent. That this (US) majority straight-people nation spends a lot of money on healthcare needs of a minority gay population (HIV, hepatitis, now monkeypox - not that only gay people get these diseases, but they are overrepresented among those infected, to put it mildly), which isn't oppression. Studying world history can disabuse people of the notion that white people invented slavery, war, heterosexuality, and the notion that there are two sexes.I tell them the whole hierarchy of oppression that is so popular in schools, especially with large white populations, is based on a false binary of good vs bad, oppressor vs oppressed. Broad brushes paint inaccurate paintings, full stop. I tell them that no one is good (paraphrasing Jesus here, lest I be accused of plagiarism), that the line between good and evil runs through the heart of every person, and not between groups (paraphrasing Stolzhenitsyn here), and that they should just accept that they are sinners and try to do right and don't get upset if people accuse them of being terrible - we are all terrible in one way or another, and we're all falsely accused of terrible things sometimes, and that none of this makes us "bad" people or should be cause for shame. "You're a white racist!" can be met with "OK, you're welcome to your opinion of me, but I'd really like to focus on X idea if you'll bear with me . . ."
I wish this was shorter and I didn't read the whole thing. But I agree that "white guilt" is a variable in the equation. As for the cause, I think there are some very narcissistic personalities out there that have manipulated the internet into promoting transition as a panacea to rationalize their personal fetish. They also exploited the Woke thing. It's not a conspiracy. These people are unconsciously defending their own egos.
This essay is a monumental scholarly effort. However, as a parent with a college age trans-identified son, I would appreciate articles like this one including more reference to understanding the males who are vulnerable to a trans-identified path. Perhaps a PITT writer can tackle the topic of differentiating reasons why males versus females succumb to gender ideology. Are there distinct aspects that differentiate why males versus females are seduced by the trans cult? What is the overlap?
I confess I haven’t read the whole thing yet but from what I did read, it absolutely describes my ROGD daughter:
Identifies with the marginalized ✔️
Ashamed of being white, “cishet” ✔️
Disdains the patriarchy ✔️
Above average intelligence ✔️
Middle class ✔️
Lists Jewish, ADHD, pronouns in Twitter bio ✔️
The irony is that with every pro-trans policy pushed through, women become more marginalized. Maybe these girls will realize that they are truly oppressed and return home.
Wow, fantastic piece. Coherent and logical with lot's of room for critical thinking conversations to be had with the ROGD group. What's interesting is that my 16 year old daughter is caught up in the ROGD group think, while my soon to be 18 year old son sounds like the AR boys described. Very interesting!
Brilliant! Thank you for writing this. I was recently reading Robert Lifton, an expert on cults and brainwashing, and he writes that the first step to brainwashing during the Cultural Revolution in China was to destroy one's previous identity by creating shameful feelings about one's identity. Identity destruction has been analyzed as a step by step process and is nothing new. The schools have been emulating it, essentially experimenting with the most vulnerable kids (via the CRT).
Somehow I missed this back in August last year but I think it's one of the most sensible and well-argued theories I've seen on this topic. Thank you.
This is worthy of a bookmark for its sheer comprehensiveness and intelligent insights, not to mention other qualities. Looking forward to reading more about your work, luckily here in eastern/southern Europe trans epidemic is still not a thing. Much strength to all people afflicted by this!
Here is another piece of the puzzle:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/billionaire-family-pushing-synthetic-sex-identities-ssi-pritzkers
I like the author's idea of changing the term 'trans' to 'SSI' (synthetic sexual identities), because 'trans' has no boundaries and has lost its meaning.
I read that there is an "incidence of left handedness" argument regarding "trans" as something other than mental illness, fetish, or social contagion. Because, of course, if you are left handed you want to chop off your right hand!
I thought the below would be relevant to the conversation. Have a scan to understand the psychological assault these kids are under:
https://www.city-journal.org/gsa-clubs-smuggle-gender-ideology-into-k-12-education?wallit_nosession=1
A lot of this stuff dates back to the writings of Simone De Beauvoir too.
Teacher training video from my school on "identity"
https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/c3hlqlVr29V
Great article. I can’t emphasize that enough. What would be a good movie or series to show my two trans id’d daughters to maybe open them up a bit to these ideas ? Maybe about identity and influence through social contagion. Idk. They won’t listen much to anything mom says. But maybe a movie my sister their aunt could suggest or someone else they may listen to.
Found another great resource on the orgins if the transgender/genderfluid movement: Gender Trouble by Judith Butler.
Excellent essay, and you are right - I remember an essay by a former M-to-F, a white man, who felt so hated as a cishet-white-man that he decided to be trans, and felt such love and acceptance when he pretended to be a woman. My kids' school is only about 20 percent white, though we are white by local standards, so they don't feel a lot of anti-white sentiment (it seems to be strongest among white people, this self-hatred). (Interestingly, I've noticed a similar phenomenon among black young people from privileged backgrounds - they often play up being black as an identity to detract from familial wealth, like well-off white kids embracing an alphabet identity. I don't hear the same stuff from working class black young people.) But I've told my kids about how it is in more majority-white places, and tried to prepare them by pointing out the falsity of these good-bad binaries: that men oppress women, that whites oppress the rest of the world. That straight people oppress gays. I point out that while the press loved the MeToo# so-called movement for a while, most women, when complaining about problems in the workplace, actually complain about bullying by other women. That men and women have protected and cared for each other, and struggled side by side, throughout history, and that when there are large power imbalances between people, abuse can happen, but it isn't that one group of people is bad and another is good, or innocent. That this (US) majority straight-people nation spends a lot of money on healthcare needs of a minority gay population (HIV, hepatitis, now monkeypox - not that only gay people get these diseases, but they are overrepresented among those infected, to put it mildly), which isn't oppression. Studying world history can disabuse people of the notion that white people invented slavery, war, heterosexuality, and the notion that there are two sexes.I tell them the whole hierarchy of oppression that is so popular in schools, especially with large white populations, is based on a false binary of good vs bad, oppressor vs oppressed. Broad brushes paint inaccurate paintings, full stop. I tell them that no one is good (paraphrasing Jesus here, lest I be accused of plagiarism), that the line between good and evil runs through the heart of every person, and not between groups (paraphrasing Stolzhenitsyn here), and that they should just accept that they are sinners and try to do right and don't get upset if people accuse them of being terrible - we are all terrible in one way or another, and we're all falsely accused of terrible things sometimes, and that none of this makes us "bad" people or should be cause for shame. "You're a white racist!" can be met with "OK, you're welcome to your opinion of me, but I'd really like to focus on X idea if you'll bear with me . . ."
I wish this was shorter and I didn't read the whole thing. But I agree that "white guilt" is a variable in the equation. As for the cause, I think there are some very narcissistic personalities out there that have manipulated the internet into promoting transition as a panacea to rationalize their personal fetish. They also exploited the Woke thing. It's not a conspiracy. These people are unconsciously defending their own egos.
This essay is a monumental scholarly effort. However, as a parent with a college age trans-identified son, I would appreciate articles like this one including more reference to understanding the males who are vulnerable to a trans-identified path. Perhaps a PITT writer can tackle the topic of differentiating reasons why males versus females succumb to gender ideology. Are there distinct aspects that differentiate why males versus females are seduced by the trans cult? What is the overlap?
I confess I haven’t read the whole thing yet but from what I did read, it absolutely describes my ROGD daughter:
Identifies with the marginalized ✔️
Ashamed of being white, “cishet” ✔️
Disdains the patriarchy ✔️
Above average intelligence ✔️
Middle class ✔️
Lists Jewish, ADHD, pronouns in Twitter bio ✔️
The irony is that with every pro-trans policy pushed through, women become more marginalized. Maybe these girls will realize that they are truly oppressed and return home.
🙏🏼
Wow, fantastic piece. Coherent and logical with lot's of room for critical thinking conversations to be had with the ROGD group. What's interesting is that my 16 year old daughter is caught up in the ROGD group think, while my soon to be 18 year old son sounds like the AR boys described. Very interesting!
Absolutely brilliant piece with facts and research to back it up.
Brilliant! Thank you for writing this. I was recently reading Robert Lifton, an expert on cults and brainwashing, and he writes that the first step to brainwashing during the Cultural Revolution in China was to destroy one's previous identity by creating shameful feelings about one's identity. Identity destruction has been analyzed as a step by step process and is nothing new. The schools have been emulating it, essentially experimenting with the most vulnerable kids (via the CRT).