Facts are, for some, uncomfortable things, but some facts are undeniable; one of those facts is the sexual bipolarity of mammals, and another is that humans are mammals. Because of that, barring a few extremely rare genetic abnormalities normally comprising trisomy of the sex chromosomes, there are two sexes expressed in the human genome: XX chromosomes result in the female phenotype, while the XY chromosomes result in the male phenotype.
These are facts.
Over at the Federalist, Nathanael Blake, who is a senior contributor as well as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has a few interesting points on how facts keep slamming into the entire body of transgender ideology and wiping out a lot of the assertions made by transgender activists.
On Monday, Michael Shellenberger released a multitude of internal files from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that “prove that the practice of transgender medicine is neither scientific nor medical.” WPATH has been accepted by the political, cultural, and medical establishments as the authority on transgenderism, but what its members say in private is not the narrative they sell to the public.
Instead of the rigorous, careful, evidence-based medicine that champions of “gender-affirming care” claim to practice, the WPATH files show doctors who are making it up as they go along, smashing through guardrails even though they know that the children they are chemically and surgically altering cannot really give informed consent. And people are noticing.
It's the bit about children that is of particular concern; nobody, left, right, or nutcase, seems to have any issue with children not being able to get tattoos or piercings, buy booze or tobacco, sign contracts, join the military. The left in particular is pretty adamant that minors (or anybody else, really) shouldn't be allowed to buy firearms.
But, according to transgender activists, allowing children to opt in for life-altering, sterilizing hormone treatments and surgery is just A-OK, and that's where the transgender movement is running afoul of people with some sense.
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The files released by Michael Shellenberger are revealing:
THE WPATH FILES
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
Advocates of gender-affirming care say it’s evidence-based.
But now, newly released internal files from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) prove that the practice of transgender medicine is neither scientific nor medical.
American… pic.twitter.com/mcJ2E7TezW
Advocates for transgender surgeries are claiming that those who oppose them are engaging in a culture war against "gender-affirming care," but it's hard to see in what way these procedures and treatments constitute medical care; in every case, these options comprise doing damage, chemical or physical, to a healthy system, which is the very opposite of what medical care is supposed to do. And while one might make the case that adults, with informed consent, are free to do as they please, but when one is talking about children, that's a whole different cup of tea.
Mr. Blake continues:
No wonder the transgender ideologues are worried. The public has proven more resistant than they expected, especially regarding radical policies such as putting men in women’s prisons and girls’ locker rooms, let alone sexually mutilating and sterilizing children. And transgender activists and their allies have no response except to repeat their same failed arguments, just louder.
Louder, indeed; that's what they do.
Nathanael Blake's piece and Michael Shellenberger's data dump are, hopefully, two more nails in the coffin of this lunacy. As a staunch minarchist, mind you, I have little issue with adults, who can give informed consent, doing as they please, no matter how nutty I might find it; it's none of my business, and I generally care little what people do, as long as I'm not bothered. But children - that's another story. Too many children are being victimized - yes, victimized - by this movement, either by activists masquerading as therapists or educators and who are preying on children with emotional issues, or even by their own parents, who are indulging in Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy gone wild.
Facts are facts. Biology is biology. Humans, as mammals, exhibit sexual bipolarity, with a few extremely rare exceptions - and to that I can only say, Vive la différence! Sexual bipolarity is our normal, healthy condition, and attempts to change that through chemistry and/or surgery are not "affirming" anything but a serious mental health issue - or victimization.
One would suspect that this societal contagion, like many before it, will eventually fall by the wayside, and the continued shining of the light of facts on the movement will accelerate that. The sad fact, though, is that many vulnerable children will have their lives irretrievably changed, not for the better, before that happens.
