It’s clear that any account of this treatment approach makes no sense if it is couched purely in medical terms. It seems to be a form of identity politics harnessed to invasive medical technology. Repeated systematic reviews of the medical literature showing the weakness of the evidence base are not a problem for gender-affirmationists because they can switch to subjective “lived experience” as their justification.
Global debate continues as to the wisdom and ethics of providing experimental irreversible hormonal and surgical therapies to children and young people who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Having spent a significant slice of my working life in Australia’s remote indigenous health sector where vast swathes of serious health conditions damage and kill the young and innocent, I wonder at the priorities.
The conditions I refer to are rarely seen in urban settings and receive little publicity.
A few examples:
• Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF): Affects the heart, joints, brain, and skin. The most serious outcome is damage to the heart valves with significant impacts on the quality and duration of life. Australian Indigenous children are affected 300 times more commonly than their non-indigenous children counterparts.
• Acute Post streptococcal Glomerulonephritis (APSGN): A serious condition that affects the kidneys and cardiovascular system. Indigenous children under 15 years of age are affected at a rate 20 times that of non-indigenous.
• Type 2 Diabetes: With its long term impact on renal and cardiovascular systems is 8 times more common in indigenous children aged 10-14 years than non-indigenous counterparts.
• Suicide: Is the leading cause of death for Indigenous persons aged 15 to 35, The rate is 3 times higher than for non-indigenous (interestingly I was unable to find reference to a single gender dysphoria related suicide in Australia)
. . . . . the list goes on and on.
While addressing the complex cocktail of requirements of those who are convinced that they were ‘born in the wrong body’ sight should not be lost of the dreadful toll of indigenous childhood morbidity and mortality that is ever present.
It’s clear that any account of this treatment approach makes no sense if it is couched purely in medical terms. It seems to be a form of identity politics harnessed to invasive medical technology. Repeated systematic reviews of the medical literature showing the weakness of the evidence base are not a problem for gender-affirmationists because they can switch to subjective “lived experience” as their justification.
Fantastic summary and compilation of many crucial sources (yet again), thank you for your great work on this topic!
Global debate continues as to the wisdom and ethics of providing experimental irreversible hormonal and surgical therapies to children and young people who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Having spent a significant slice of my working life in Australia’s remote indigenous health sector where vast swathes of serious health conditions damage and kill the young and innocent, I wonder at the priorities.
The conditions I refer to are rarely seen in urban settings and receive little publicity.
A few examples:
• Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF): Affects the heart, joints, brain, and skin. The most serious outcome is damage to the heart valves with significant impacts on the quality and duration of life. Australian Indigenous children are affected 300 times more commonly than their non-indigenous children counterparts.
• Acute Post streptococcal Glomerulonephritis (APSGN): A serious condition that affects the kidneys and cardiovascular system. Indigenous children under 15 years of age are affected at a rate 20 times that of non-indigenous.
• Type 2 Diabetes: With its long term impact on renal and cardiovascular systems is 8 times more common in indigenous children aged 10-14 years than non-indigenous counterparts.
• Suicide: Is the leading cause of death for Indigenous persons aged 15 to 35, The rate is 3 times higher than for non-indigenous (interestingly I was unable to find reference to a single gender dysphoria related suicide in Australia)
. . . . . the list goes on and on.
While addressing the complex cocktail of requirements of those who are convinced that they were ‘born in the wrong body’ sight should not be lost of the dreadful toll of indigenous childhood morbidity and mortality that is ever present.