Gender Ideology Harms
Children
Updated September 2017
The
1. Human sexuality is an
objective
biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are genetic markers of male and
female,
respectively – not genetic markers of a disorder. The norm for human
design is
to be conceived either male or female. Human sexuality is binary by
design with
the obvious purpose being the reproduction and flourishing of our
species. This
principle is self-evident. The exceedingly rare disorders of sex
development (DSDs), including but not
limited to testicular feminization
and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable
deviations
from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of
human
design. Individuals with DSDs (also
referred to as “intersex”) do not
constitute a third sex.1
2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one. No one is born with an awareness of themselves as male or female; this awareness develops over time and, like all developmental processes, may be derailed by a child’s subjective perceptions, relationships, and adverse experiences from infancy forward. People who identify as “feeling like the opposite sex” or “somewhere in between” do not comprise a third sex. They remain biological men or biological women.2,3,4
3. A person’s belief that
he or she
is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.
When an
otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise
healthy
biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological
problem
exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as
such. These
children suffer from gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria (GD), formerly listed as
Gender Identity Disorder
(GID), is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of
the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric
Association
(DSM-5).5
The psychodynamic and
social
learning theories of GD/GID have never been disproved.2,4,5
4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.6
5. According to the DSM-5, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.5
6. Pre-pubertal children diagnosed with gender dysphoria may be given puberty blockers as young as eleven, and will require cross-sex hormones in later adolescence to continue impersonating the opposite sex. These children will never be able to conceive any genetically related children even via artificial reproductive technology. In addition, cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to cardiac disease, high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.7,8,9,10,11
7. Rates of suicide are
nearly
twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and
undergo sex
reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBTQ –
affirming
countries.12
What
compassionate and reasonable
person would condemn young children to this fate knowing that after
puberty as
many as 88% of girls and 98% of boys will eventually accept reality and
achieve
a state of mental and physical health?
8. Conditioning children
into
believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the
opposite sex
is normal and healthful is child abuse.
Endorsing gender
discordance as
normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children
and parents,
leading more children to present to “gender clinics” where they will be
given
puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures they will
“choose” a
lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and
likely
consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as
young
adults.
Michelle
A.
Cretella, M.D.
President
of the
Quentin
Van
Meter, M.D.
Vice
President of the
Pediatric
Endocrinologist
Paul
McHugh, M.D.
University
Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at
Originally
published March 2016
Updated
September 2017
CLARIFICATIONS in response to FAQs regarding points 3 & 5:
Regarding Point 3:
“Where does the APA or DSM-5 indicate that Gender Dysphoria
is a mental disorder?”
The APA (American
Psychiatric
Association) is the author of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental
Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). The APA states that those distressed
and
impaired by their GD meet the definition of a disorder. The College is
unaware
of any medical literature that documents a gender dysphoric
child seeking puberty blocking hormones who is not significantly
distressed by
the thought of passing through the normal and healthful process of
puberty.
From the DSM-5 fact sheet: “The critical element of gender dysphoria
is the presence of clinically significant distress associated with the
condition.”
“This condition causes
clinically
significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other
important
areas of functioning.”
Regarding Point 5: “Where
does the DSM-5 list rates of resolution for
Gender Dysphoria?”
On page 455 of the DSM-5
under “Gender
Dysphoria without a disorder of sex
development” it
states: “Rates of persistence of gender dysphoria
from childhood into adolescence or adulthood vary. In natal males,
persistence
has ranged from 2.2% to 30%. In natal females, persistence has ranged
from 12%
to 50%.” Simple math allows one to calculate that for natal boys:
resolution
occurs in as many as 100% – 2.2% = 97.8% (approx. 98% of
gender-confused boys).
Similarly, for natal girls: resolution occurs in as many as 100% – 12%
= 88%
gender-confused girls. The bottom line is this: Our opponents advocate
a new
scientifically baseless standard of care for children with a
psychological
condition (GD) that would otherwise resolve after puberty for the vast
majority
of patients concerned. Specifically, they advise: affirmation of
children’s
thoughts which are contrary to physical reality; the chemical
castration of
these children prior to puberty with GnRH
agonists
(puberty blockers which cause infertility, stunted growth, low bone
density,
and an unknown impact upon their brain development), and, finally, the
permanent sterilization of these children prior to age 18 via cross-sex
hormones. There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging
young GD
children to impersonate the opposite sex and then institute pubertal
suppression. If a boy who questions whether or not he is a boy (who is
meant to
grow into a man) is treated as a girl, then has his natural pubertal
progression to manhood suppressed, have we not set in motion an
inevitable
outcome? All of his same sex peers develop into young men, his opposite
sex
friends develop into young women, but he remains a pre-pubertal boy. He
will be
left psychosocially isolated and alone. He will be left with the
psychological
impression that something is wrong. He will be less able to identify
with his
same sex peers and being male, and thus be more likely to self-identify
as
“non-male” or female. Moreover, neuroscience reveals that the
pre-frontal
cortex of the brain which is responsible for judgment and risk
assessment is
not mature until the mid-twenties. Never has it been more
scientifically clear
that children and adolescents are incapable of making informed
decisions
regarding permanent, irreversible and life-altering medical
interventions. For
this reason, the College maintains it is abusive to promote this
ideology,
first and foremost for the well-being of the gender dysphoric
children themselves, and secondly, for all of their
non-gender-discordant peers, many of whom will
subsequently question their own gender identity, and face violations of
their
right to bodily privacy and safety.
For more information,
please visit
this page on the College website concerning sexuality and gender issues.
References:
1.
Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex
Development,
“Clinical Guidelines for the Management of
Disorders of Sex
Development in Childhood.” Intersex
Society of
2. Zucker,
Kenneth J. and Bradley Susan J. “Gender Identity
and Psychosexual Disorders.”
FOCUS: The
Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry
. Vol. III,
No. 4, Fall 2005 (598-617).
3.
Whitehead, Neil W. “Is Transsexuality
biological
ly determined?”
Triple
Helix
(
accessed
ssexuality.htm;
see also Whitehead, Neil W. “Twin Studies of
Transsexuals
[Reveals Discordance]” accessed
6 from
http://www.mygenes.co.nz/transs_stats.htm.
4. Jeffreys,
Sheila. Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the
Politics of Transgenderism.
5. American
Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders,
Fifth Edition,
6. Hembree,
WC, et al. Endocrine treatment of transsexual
persons: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol
Metab. 2009;94:3132-3154.
7.
Olson-Kennedy, J and Forcier, M. “Overview
of the
management of gender nonconformity in children and
adolescents.”
UpToDate
8. Moore,
E., Wisniewski, & Dobs, A. “Endocrine
treatment
of transsexual people: A review of treatmentregimens,
outcomes,
and adverse effects.”
The Journal of
Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2003; 88(9), pp3467-3473.
9. FDA Drug
Safety Communication issued for Testosterone products accessed 3.20.16:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugS
afetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm161874.htm.
10. World
Health Organization Classification of Estrogen as a Class I Carcinogen:
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/ageing/cocs_hrt_statement.pdf.
11. Eyler AE,
LGBT Health
2014;1(3):151-156.
12. Dhejne, C, et.al.
“Long-Term
Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery:
Cohort
Study in
ion of
Psychiatry, Karolinska Institutet,