In today’s Observer, sister paper to the Guardian, there is an article about the current controversies surrounding Tavistock GIDS, and the concerns expressed by current and former GIDS clinicians and senior members of staff over the past few months.
It has been a great disappointment to many on the Left that the Guardian has been largely silent on this issue. But two former GIDS clinicians sent a letter to the Guardian back in 2017 to alert them to serious concerns about what was going on within GIDS. One of the authors of the submission to the Guardian commented to us “we really really tried.” However, rather than jumping to publish such a devastating testimony – the kind of exclusive most journalists would give their right arm for – the Guardian chose to ignore it.
We are very happy to publish that letter here. We are very grateful to the GIDS clinicians for writing such a powerful and honest testimony and for allowing us to publish it. The rest of this post is in their own words:
Testimony from GIDS clinicians
Do you REALLY want to know ‘WHAT I AM REALLY THINKING’?
The child ‘gender’ specialist:
I might be sitting with an educated, middle class family committed to permissive and liberal parenting; perhaps a socially disadvantaged family without the necessary vocabulary to engage critically with what is happening to them; it might be a family with terrible stories of abuse, neglect and trauma; I might hear a story of ‘he/she was always like this’, ‘from the moment he/she could choose’; ‘she was always a tom boy’, ‘he always wanted to dress up’.
Mostly with the teenagers there is no particular history to suggest this was rumbling, there is however lots of unhappiness, discomfort with who they are and how they look, and/or the dawning of homosexual desire still, even in this day and age, causing fear and anxiety. More often than not the internet lurks in the background: hours spent trawling the echo chamber websites confirming and affirming lost young people looking for answers, enticing those on the autistic spectrum to see themselves and their struggles through the lens of ‘trans’.
Everyone I see is in pain and in distress. Gender dysphoria is real and painful and sometimes hellish. There are multiple reasons for it, and there will be different ways of managing it. One such meaning and ‘solution’ might be to transition, but these are children not adults. These are young people for whom complex and profound confusion and turmoil is being collapsed into a one size fits all concrete explanation. ‘Trans’ can be used not as the compassionate realisation that some people need to take the always radical and courageous step to live their lives as though they had been born into the other sex role, but as a phoney panacea which seeks to shut down textured and nuanced discussion about these children and young people’s internal lives. If we can’t bear to hear the diversity within gender dysphoria then truly something has gone wrong – and believe me it has.
What I am really thinking is that mostly you are caught in a terrible moment of social contagion. You and your children are swirling in a toxic storm of psychological and emotional distress meeting homophobia, sexism, misogyny against the back drop of the most appalling ‘bad science’. There is no such thing as a male or female brain and you cannot be ‘born into the wrong body’. The sloppiness of the language of both the internet and the politicians does you no favours with their conflation of sex and gender. This chimes so well in the era of post Truth anti expert hatred.
I am really thinking that you are too young to be making decisions which will affect you and your body for the rest of your life: too young to drink, get married, have intercourse yet able to ‘consent’ to medical intervention. You should know that there is no unequivocally shared consensus on what you are undertaking; and the evidence, such as it is, suggests no greater health or happiness. Most of us at your age did not cherish our fertility, and the imagined easy alternative of adoption or surrogacy is far from that. I need you to know that you really might change your mind, as many have before you. And at that point there will be no funded NHS corrective surgery or therapy for you.
What I am really thinking is that we have truly wandered through the looking glass with our eyes closed and opened them only to see the Emperor’s new clothes.
How does one find a gender critical therapist?! Asking for a friend!
Try asking the folks at the gender dysphoria working group. All excellent clinicians and researchers.
http://gdworkinggroup.org/who-we-are/
You could contact me for a chat.
https://www.mindsci-clinic.com
My guess is the main reason girls want to or are pushed to transition is not wanting to be treated the way girls and women in modern society are treated. I know I didn’t want to be. I secretly started identifying as a feminist when I was eight years old. I was labeled a “tomboy,” which I hated. I would always say: “my name isn’t Tom, and I’m not a boy.”
The concept of “penis envy” made me see red. During my prepubescent years, the only thing I thought a penis would be useful for was being able to stand up to pee and not have to drop my trousers and crouch behind a tree when my family and I went hiking, risking being seen by a passerby or getting poison ivy on my butt.
Once I hit puberty and started my period, a hell which would continue every 3-4 weeks for the next 40 years, I would joke that I wanted to turn into a fabulous gay dude every week until my period was done. His name would be Karl, and somehow, even though I was a dumpy, frumpy, very plain Jane, Karl would be beautiful and amazing and all the guys would want him. I wasn’t serious about this, I just hated my period.
These days, I’m quite sure I would have been pushed to transition, even though if I was asked I would have affirmed that I was perfectly fine with being female, it’s simply that I hate how girls are treated.
Exactly what I have been thinking too.
The story of the Emperor’s Clothes came to my mind when trying to describe how deceived these children have become and how blind the politicians are!
Exactly what I have been thinking.
When our politicians open their eyes they will see the Emperor’s new clothes.
Our “trans” children are being deceived.
Like Alice in Wonderland my daughter is fallen into a hole and believes she can be whatever she wants to be. In her fantasy world she is male. The government does not have the will or desire to disagree.
Harry Potter has been an influence too on her vulnerable autistic mind. She is in a state of denial. Autism is not a nice label so she adopted the “cool” label of being “trans”. Her fertility is being destroyed.
Looks like eugenics.
You could ask Dr Ken Zucker – he could consult via skype, I think. If not, he may be able to recommend? Doesn’t hurt to ask.
These people might be able to help – you need to request an invitation to access the site:
https://youthtranscriticalprofessionals.org
There is someone in Scotland – she receives referrals from within and outside the UK. If I can remember or find her name I will reply again.
Otherwise, email Transgender Trend?
https://www.transgendertrend.com/contact-form-general-messages/
Don’t tell me the truth is finally outing itself! Bravo for all those who, despite every sort of intimidation from the TG Gestapo, have for a long time now be pointing out to Susie Green and the rest of the cultists that the Emperor actually has nothing on. Been pointing it out also to the politicians, who for the most part are in the pockets of the activists.
Incidentally, I just received a surprisingly careful and respectful letter in response to my latest missive to the D for E, from — note the lack of gender! — ‘I Hamilton’. This letter contained the following words (note the usual virtue-signalling in the first of these paragraphs, but followed by an important statement abut the rights of parents/carers:
“We want to ensure that all children leave school prepared for life in modern Britain; and it is important that, through a broad and balanced curriculum, children are taught from the earliest age about respect for others and for difference, as well as the world in which they are growing up.
We do recognise, however, the complexity of these topics and the challenges schools can face in building consensus with parents on what should be covered and when on equalities. Whilst parents and carers are the primary educators of their children, and it is right for them to be consulted effectively, ultimately it is for schools, having listened to concerns raised by parents, to decide on their curriculum and make reasonable decisions that are in the best interest of their pupils.”
Charles, i think its time for individual Headteachers to scrutinize legislation BEFORE jumping on the TG bandwagon. The current example is the Anderton School in Birmingham. While it should be praised for the idea of educating children about groups and types of person in society, they have been a little quick to adopt the legislation which is not yet legally required. What concerns me is that these teachings have been adopted by a school teaching Infants, where the legislation states that children from 9 (?) upwards are to be given these lessons. At this age the child would be in a junior school, not an infants, and that much older. At the same time the legislation provides that if the parent objects to such teachings the child should not be subjected to the lesson, respecting the Parents desire. It seems the Anderton school is not doing this.
Ultimately the decision should be left to the parents, and not forced by the school curriculum. I think the headteacher at Anderton school is well meaning but has overstepped the mark due to her politically correct convictions.
Capncrunch, the first thing to do is approach your own doctor and explain you have concerns about your Gender, that maybe you have a concern about yourself regarding this, and ask for a referral to a psychologist for sessions to explore your identity. Once your perception of yourself is clearer to you then start to look at other sources of information. Your therapist would help you with this.
What is the position re this appalling Bill I see mentioned on Twitter whereby some dangerous lunatic of an MP puts forward a law which would in effect make ‘watchful waiting’ illegal by misnaming it ‘conversion therapy’. This sort of monstrosity is, I understand, already law in several US states and, I believe, also in Canada. If we are not careful, this could slip under the radar of MPs who are too ignorant, too dozy or too intimidated to oppose it. Who is fighting against it on behalf of our children?
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Thanks for your sane words: “there is no such thing as being born in the wrong body and there is no such thing as a male or female brain.” i do concur! i hope this psychiatry idiocy toward homosexual issues and gender issues which continue and enable the destruction of children’s genitals , offer hormones for superficial gender characteristics, and surgical remedies is damaging the lives the many children and should be stopped by law. Thanks for your efforts to support children with gender dysphoria. mo
Thank you for writing this. I am a 39 Yr old Borderline Personality Male. I am also what Blanchard would identify as a Autogynephilic Cross Dresser.
At one point I identified as Trans Female. Doing so made my mental health worse and dragged me down a rabbit hole of logic denial and searching for some magic happy pill.
I shoved by identity down people’s throats. My therapist did not want to look properly at BPD and Adhd. Gender was seen as the solution and the idea that happiness was the main focus……..
Coping with reality and accepting the limits of life was not discussed. I found this out the hard way after a breakdown and finally got some good help with a DBT programme which changed my life.
Facing reality, ie I am Male, have emotional issues from a abusive childhood and that I am aroused by cross dressing and feminization allows me to make sensible choices, respect Women and be able to Say to any teenage young person, that they should accept the Sex they are and be ok with their sexuality, its OK to be Gay or Lesbian! and wait till adulthood before making drastic choices. Transition was and still is only going to be a good outcome for a very small group of people who can actually fit the social role.
The term Transsexual was much more helpful than Transgender. The day we go back to realising there are lots of Men who want to feminize themselves yet are still Men it’s a better world.
Lastly therapists who speak out, you are brave Men and Women
I salute you.
Please keep speaking out. As the world needs your honesty.
Very interesting perspective Barry, thank you.
All best wishes to you.
Educating students and young people would be a first positive step towards explaining how societal structures determine expected behaviours and status. Opening up to show how at birth, a child first absorbs the expected genderised behaviours which will determine their future, impacting on their lives.
This divide between what it means to be either male or female. In other words a history of how patriarchy shapes lives; unpicking the reasons as to why it divides the living experience of male and female. Biological males can never attain the biology and chemistry of female; as with females becoming male. To claim otherwise via genderised behaviour not only fetishises and denies the living experience of biology,but diminishes truth of who one is underneath the enforced element of deception.
Young people need to know the background which has shaped and impacted on their feelings.
Gender is an enforced delusion which damages lives.
The transgender issue is not, I believe,medical, although there may be a part to play. It is the result of societal structures ; the message of predetermined behaviours between male and female which play in our lives as the truth.
Joan Appleton speaks truths from a scholarly standpoint, which I respect. I myself, a simpler soul, will never tire of proclaiming as follows:
1. Gender dysphoria is a mental problem There is nothing wrong with the hated body. You are not ‘born in the wrong body’. You ARE the body.
2. There is only male and female. Any other ‘gender’ is escapist fantasy.
3. No-one can change gender and become the opposite sex. They can only take steps (drastic or otherwise) to imitate the opposite sex .
Charles, i agree to some of what you say, for your first point, Yes you are right Gender Dysphoria IS a mental problem and yes you are not born in the wrong body, you ARE the body is pretty much right, but mentally some cannot deal with this. Your second point that there is only male or female, any other “gender” is escapist fantasy. I agree with you, and if you study the affliction, most just want to be Male or Female, thats all. Your third point is also right, as how else is going to deal with the situation they perceive themselves in. This pretty much disproves the argument you are trying to project, and i feel any person who seriously considers their condition would likely agree with you. You have taken the whole point of the transgender trend subject, children being brainwashed by society, and even their schools into believing they are transgendered, which is a much more deeply disturbing and concerning subject than your attack on Gender Dysphoria generally.
EXACTLY.
Joan, the problem with the subject of transgender is that both sides, for and against, seem to be waving the banner for their crusade, as neither wishes to see any different. Both sides are equally vocal about their opinion, but the problem is, thats what the opinions are, just opinions. Until there is a medical breakthrough that proves or disproves the condition, there will only be people (on both sides) with their own twisted perception of the condition and its place in society.
You say,” The transgender issue is not, I believe,medical, although there may be a part to play.” The very statement you make says it is your belief it is not a medical issue, though there may be a part to play. Surely that statement in itself makes a nonsense of your personal beliefs as the statement actually contradicts itself?
Until the case is determined, most people will just continue to be vocal, sometimes worse believing their own personal opinion, which will never determine the issue, it will just cause trouble in society.
It is beyond tragic what is happening to gay and lesbian youth with this rush to get them to “transition”. For perhaps six or seven years I identified as “transgender”, as did my wife. Before marrying, I was on the verge of being put on Testosterone, but my doctor wanted my blood pressure normalised before doing so. We both have major health issues which preclude the use of either Testosterone or surgery. I also had serious concerns about what Testosterone might do to a female system. In addition , my wife was treated so abominably by the FtM groups because we could not really take hormones or have the surgery, that we both became “Desistors”. I am so glad because the more I find out about “transitioning”, the more harmful I see that it is, especially to youth with “puberty blockers” and all. Parents need to think several times about the physical, mental and emotional health of their children before permitting them to undergo “transitioning”–especially since what is going on is more than likely a case of children being gay or lesbian, and not “transgendered”.
Did the two of you figure it out? I was going to suggest that you accept your given sex and gender and to hell with what people think. Transitioning is not worth screwing up your body and mind over!
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I am with you. The major issue of gender equality has become unfationable before it got anywhere near resolution. The current state of debate is tightening the definition of gender roles, not opening it up.
No slew of modern literature can cancel out the fact that there are more male role models in literature up to now, and girls can identify with heroic male characters as well, on the basis of other characteristics they portray than purely gender.
There is an unbelievable failure to admit the gender may be biological, but gender identity is a combination of biological and social aspects, same as being human. Behaviour is not a synonym for identity. A popular fantasy trope of mind swapping bodies has clearly taken over the scientific consensus.