Gender Analysis

Critics of transition treatments, opponents of transgender identity, and other anti-trans advocates have often claimed that trans people and our supporters have failed to address scientific findings that call into question the gender-affirmative approach. Ryan T. Anderson, a homophobic researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation and author of the embarrassingly named “When Harry Became Sally”, provides a representative example:

…even as their own position shifts, the activists are absolutely closed off to contrary evidence. They call for the censure of honest researchers. They refuse to give any consideration to competing interests of privacy or safety. They reject alternative therapies that may be favored by parents or doctors.

All of this suggests a posture of defensiveness—that activists know their claims can’t stand up to scrutiny. The movement has to keep patching and shoring up its own beliefs, policing the faithful, coercing the heretics, and punishing apostates, because as soon as its furious efforts flag for a moment or someone successfully stands up to it, the whole charade is exposed. That’s what happens when your dogmas are so contrary to obvious, basic, everyday truths.

Contrary to this assertion that we’ve collectively refused to engage with anti-trans scientific claims, trans advocates have spent many years answering these arguments in detail – it is anti-trans critics who, ironically, have neglected to recognize the relevant research we’ve presented at length. Trans people have by no means shied away from listening to trans-critical scientific arguments, such as claims that transition is unnecessary, ineffective, or harmful; rather, we have repeatedly drawn attention to the most notorious purveyors of this scientific misinformation. Continue reading →