As I am continually pointing out, one of the primary tenets of medical ethics is primum non nocere - "first, do no harm." There is, today, right here in the United States, an entire medical industry that has grown up around violating that fundamental principle. That industry is borne of activism, not science; it harms, not heals, and it is too often perpetrated on people who are emotionally vulnerable and susceptible, and too young to offer informed consent. Worse, their parents are too often pressured into going along with the scheme with threats of suicide, with lines like "Would you rather have a living daughter or a dead son?"
This is an outrage, but it's still perpetrated on American youths, even now, even today. Jonni Skinner is one such, and now he is telling his story to all who will listen. And it's worth the listen.
Here's how this unfolded.
Skinner’s story began in a Michigan town of roughly 2,500 people, where he said he always felt different. Diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Skinner also gravitated toward more feminine interests, such as Disney princesses, musicals, makeup, and fashion. These interests, he said, made him a target of bullying from a young age.
“I was an effeminate little boy,” he admitted. “People in my very small area were not particularly open to that.”
In time, these things usually work themselves out; bullying is never acceptable, but neither is using a young boy's differences to perpetrate medical malpractice. But that's what happened here. Jonni began to think he might be "transgender," and it seems likely that the non-stop inundation of transgenderism in current culture had a part in that notion. Jonni's mother took him to see a therapist, anticipating months of therapy before engaging in any life-altering treatments. Instead, Jonni was pushed to accept hormone therapy after one appointment - and after his mother was threatened with the "live daughter or dead son" line, she consented.
Within months, Skinner was sent to a pediatric endocrinologist at his state’s top children’s hospital. There, he said, transition was presented to him as the only medically appropriate path forward.
The endocrinologist Skinner began seeing explained his condition as if he were neurologically intersex. Skinner recalled the endocrinologist showing him a whiteboard with illustrations of a brain on the wrong body, explaining his scientifically unproven theory that most embryos in the womb start female, but a wash of testosterone masculinizes the fetus. But, Skinner recalled being told, if the wash is delayed, then a developing brain can continue developing as female before the delayed wash masculinizes the body.
That's not at all how a young person's mind develops. But Jonni and his mother weren't told that. Instead, Jonni was put on a testosterone blocker and later, estrogens. At 14, he was given a puberty blocker implant. The side effects were severe: Pain, muscle spasms, dizziness, fainting spells, urinary problems. The treatments stunted Jonni's growth, largely eliminated his normal transition to adulthood, and made him very, very ill.
Now, Jonni has "detransitioned," and he's speaking out. Watch:
Now, he is an outspoken advocate of telling the truth about these procedures. He's spreading his story, his experience, how he was taken advantage of by activist health-care providers, and how he and his parents were, in effect, bullied and coerced into accepting life-changing and debilitating treatments.
According to Skinner, who feels particularly disillusioned by the medical industry, the chain of trust between doctors, patients, and parents has been broken. But ultimately he said he’s unsure if the medical community is equipped––morally or financially––to take responsibility for the harm it has caused.
“At 13, we’re all insecure,” Skinner recalled. “So the fact that they weaponized that insecurity to essentially exacerbate my body image issues and then selling me, of course, hormones and surgery as a fix-all for that… It’s really horrible.”
But as Skinner advocates for change and the truth spreads across the nation, his message is not one of despair for the years he and many others have lost to an ideological contagion—it is one of hope for healing and self-acceptance.
“This world is so big and so diverse,” Skinner said. “There is always going to be a place that will love you and accept you as you are without having to change your body.”
Look, I'm not generally a big advocate for federal intervention in matters like healthcare. But this transgender social contagion has had an entire industry grow up around it, and Jonni Skinner is one of the victims; kudos to him for speaking out, but he should have been allowed to mature normally. If that meant maturing into a gay man, that's infinitely better than suffering injurious, irreversible, and life-changing medical interventions after he and his parents were pressured into them.
And pressured they were. We've seen it many times: This "would you rather have a live daughter or a dead son" horse squeeze. Playing on a confused and concerned parents' emotions like this is unforgivable.
This is why these treatments should be proscribed at the national level. The United States should not, must not be a country that countenances the chemical and, in some cases, physical castration of our youths in service to a social contagion. It's harmful, it's unethical, and it should not be happening. Gender dysphoria is, yes, a real mental condition, but therapy, not chemical and surgical intervention, is the proper treatment.
Jonni Skinner's life was permanently changed by activist healthcare providers in service to a social agenda. It's great that he's speaking out now, but it never should have been necessary.
