Thank you Julie. We are all waiting and begging for the media to look at this properly mostly for our children's welfare but also for women's rights as well. You are the fabulous one.
Thanks Julie. I'm disappointed to hear the Age let you go. I didn't think much about gender identity and how it related to my life (although I was well aware of the theory because I read widely when at uni) until my 9 year old daughter told me the girls bathroom at her primary school - a small semi rural school in country Victoria with under 100 pupils - was now unisex and boys could come in. This subject deserves to be reported on fairly and with a lack of bias as your report above does. This subject has become so divisive with no one apparently being able to ask questions or even more concerning, state basic facts such as biological sex if real and humans are biologically male or female without being shut down, cancelled, and labelled a transphobe - often times extremely aggressively. I have no problem at all with trans people they should be treated with compassion, dignity and respect but they shouldn't be elevated to have their rights above anyone else's which appears to be the case at the moment especially with regard to the protections and rights of biological women and girls. I do think serious questions have to be asked and answered, vulnerable children protected from being unnecessarily medicalised and put on a path to sterilisation when they can't possibly understand what that means, and biological women's rights protected. Thank you for finding a way to get your article published. I think if what is happening in the UK especially as well as the US the tide towards common sense and true fairness is coming....sooner rather than later I hope!
Thank you for finding a way to get your informative piece publicly published. It is incredibly important that some facts find their way into this ideologically driven issue.
Julie, thanks so much for the article. Have been reading your stuff with appreciation over the years. As an Age subscriber I am shocked to hear about what happened to the article and your 'cancellation'.
Thank you so much for such a well-researched piece. As a parent of an adult "non-binary" child on testosterone I can confirm that the grief is deep and never ending. Why does the medical profession not "affirm" people who say they are Jesus or Napoleon? There is a personality type susceptible to this contagion, and it is some of our most creative, intelligent and sensitive youth. I fear, constantly, for her future medical and mental health. I have to see the awful fluff growing on her face and listen to the grating testosterone voice. But it is the likely liver damage, uterine atrophy, atherosclerosis, incontinence that really trouble me, together with the damaging mental health consequences of trying to deny reality. So thank you - we parents suffer in silence, trying to avoid estrangement. But more of us are seeing the absolute urgency of being heard somehow.
Can I please suggest an edit: Re the paragraph "Australia’s trans health doctors argued that our child and adolescent gender services already aligned with Cass’ recommendations, which included embedding the services within mainstream paediatric health settings, initiating long-term research on patient outcomes, and decentralising care. All of which is true." It is in no way true that Australia's system overall adheres to Cass' recommendations. Maybe only the siting of the clinics within pediatric care. But that does not solve anything. The actual practice in our clinics is radical and completely against what Cass recommends. And there is no requirement for patients to be enrolled in research studies. There may be some studies ongoing, but you can bet that the Melbourne clinic is not going to publish anything that amounts to bad news for them.
Thanks Jenny for your revealing comments. I also note that the RCH gender clinic website states that puberty blockers are available and 'reversible'. We know this is not true and goes against recent evidence that puberty blockers are not reversible and in fact can cause lifelong harm.
So true. The Gender Clinic in Perth is gender-affirming, hormone prescribing and naming as “conversion therapy” any worker, parent etc. who does not automatically fall in with the motif of ‘alive boy better than a dead girl’ false and morally repugnant rhetoric
Agree about the clinics. Definitely not practicing the CASS recommendations. Though also employing people who are strangely old school about autogynophilia, which was a pathology that seems to sit outside the social milieu that I don't think I agree with either. And while I think it's so important to be able to discuss this, and find the dividing lines distressing (because I welcome trans women into women's bathrooms - they are not the threat, it's cis het men who are a danger, on the whole!)... The point about kids who id as trans also being creative, sensitive, and with a raft of other mental health issues, and diagnoses rings very true.
My daughter (now 15) ID'd as trans during covid lockdowns (like so many other kids). We got referred to the Qld gender clinic and we saw them via telehealth for about 18 months. We thought, being good left-wing progressive parents, that the specialists would dig deep and realise that she'd never, not once, had any kind of interest in anything masculine. She was always the kid in princess dresses, obsessed with horses and cats. But during lockdown, with unlimited internet access she came across people who said if you question anything you must be trans. If you're a little different you must be trans. If you're "not like other girls" you must be trans.
Even when she then got diagnosed with autism the gender clinic expressed zero interest in the possibility that being autistic could make someone "not like other girls".
Oh, and she's gay too - the gender clinic didn't care about that. I'm so worried for our young lesbians, transing the gay away. Trans is so misogynistic.
They offered binders (with a trans identified man). They said they had very little risk. They offered us a very small list of "research" consisting of about 12 articles, all pro-transition, nothing about risks. They said that testosterone only had a slight risk of her thinning her hair.
All the time I researched and read and researched and read. Nothing of the scientific evidence matched up with what we're being told in the media or at the gender clinic. There is zero evidence that transitioning kids is safe. There are growing numbers of detransitioners. It seems that about 8 years is the average time it takes for detransitioners to realise they made a mistake. And with most medicalising at around 16-17 that makes sense when we know that brains mature at about 25 years old.
Last year she said she didn't want to see the gender clinic anymore. She still calls herself non-binary. She's back to appearing very feminine.
So we may have dodged a bullet, or she might change her mind again as she gets older and mixes with more pro-trans communities in real life.
Every single country that has done a systematic review of the evidence has stopped transitioning kids (or has said they will). Every single one. The only people who want to transition kids are the ones who have not properly read the science or have been swayed by the misleading summaries of the science and deliberate misinformation.
Relief yes, but we're also very much aware that she could go back. She still is very much trans-indoctrinated and we still aren't allowed to talk about it, so it's hard to know where she is at any point.
We dodged a bullet with our 15 soon to be 16 year old daughter. This gender fluid stuff is force fed to them at school especially in Wellbeing .My daughter said there's posters up all over the walls and a lot of the teachers at school talk about pro trans stuff during classes. My daughter is ASD and I think originally she found a sense of belonging with the "pride group." We felt this pride group was grooming her but we didn't say much to her about it, wanting to be supporting and caring (although we deferred on letting her go on the pride camp because we didn't know the people and we've had really bad experiences before because she's quite vulnerable due to her being so trusting), but she came to the conclusion that trans wasn't all it was cracked up to be all on her own (I was really proud of her when she came and told us that) She discovered friends who were detransitioning and were in physical pain and had ongoing medical problems due to drugs and surgery. She also discovered how brutal the pro trans groups are when you start to ask questions or have doubts. All the best to you. I hope your daughter stays off the medication at least until she's into her adult years if she decides she still wants to go down that road.
I have worked hard to maintain an open and direct line of communication on the issue with my daughter, also identifying variously as non-binary and trans. I still call her by her birth name and have told her my concerns come from a place of love and fear for her health and future. She respects that and is currently off the testosterone, but we've still got a way to go. Best wishes to you and your daughter.
I hope she can come to love herself fully, no matter what she identifies as, and can learn there are many many ways to be "different". That can be hard as a teen when your life experience is limited, and the pressure of wanting to fit into a group can be very strong.
I am confused and concerned as to why The Age would not publish a detailed and well researched article that is respectful of the challenges and issues around the treatment of this vulnerable group of young people. I will be interested to hear if and when The Age publicly explains this deeply troubling stance after it commissioned the work.
Journalists are the first profession that should have stood up to this, but alas in the last 30 years "journalist" has become the label for political activist whose activism takes place through the media. (same thing could be said about humanities academics) JS is doing the right thing but paying the personal cost. She and others like Holly Lawford-Smith are the fighters who will get our society out from under this bizarre cult.
Much is also explained by the sunk costs - once they bought into gender ideology they cannot admit they got it wrong since its too embarrassing to admit you made a mistake. Since many other ideological structures prevalent today are based upon the same "post-reality" pomo ideology rejecting it would bring down much more than just gender.
I think Ann it boils down to either fear of backlash because there's so much intolerance around presenting facts or even asking questions on this topic or mass brainwashing kind of indoctrination that doesn't even question or look at all the repercussions of the belief/actions. Our society has become unable to have rational debates on anything, almost everything is so polarised. Any opinion not generally liked is cancelled or shut down. So much for free speech - we need real freedom of speech to come back (unless they telling people to be pysically violent or kill others) where people can say what they like even if many don't like or agree with their view otherwise we live in a kind of totalitarianism.
What stands out for me is this statement from AusPATH:
In a published response, AusPATH alleged that the Westmead clinicians’ research “fits with misleading claims of gender diversity being something other than a very normal variation in human experience.”
It is precisely the view of gender critical feminists that diverse expressions of behaviour are normal, and that gender non-conforming children should not be medicalised to make their non-stereotypical behaviour align with their body through extreme body modification. It is the gender ideologues who are pushing a heteronormative world view where if a child plays with the 'wrong' toys, or is romantically and sexually attracted to the opposite sex, they are told that they're born in the wrong body. And to those who are now talking about 'gender diverse' and 'gender expansive' young people, they are still putting them on medical pathways to 'affirm' these identities.
Young tomboys and feminine boys who would likely grow up to be lesbian or gay are being sucked into believing they need to modify their bodies and live as the opposite sex. And those who find the whole thing overwhelming are being told that they're non-binary.
Gender ideology falls apart once there is any level of honest, intelligent, interrogations. It is totally illogical.
So I looked up the reference, it's just to Wpath8, not any particular study. I look all through wpath8 for puberty blocker and GnRH and there's no statement about this topic anywhere in there, there are no references regarding puberty blockers and "increasing evidence" - only two references mention puberty blockers at all.
The entirely unscientific and ideologically driven approach of Wpath and AusPATH is gradually coming to light, despite the refusal or inability of many "journalists" to properly investigate and cover the issue.
that is so utterly unscientific an approach. I cannot believe that if they are good scientists that they find it acceptable to make sweeping statements with very flimsy evidence to support their conclusions
Thanks for a great article. The Ages loss. I did my thesis 30 years ago on children’s acquisition of gender and every article I read then and since, alongside what I discovered from children themselves, was that by age 5 children are solid in their unchanging gender identity which in almost all cases is a fit with their biological sex. The DSMV states that gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition which is present from early childhood. Which means the current tsunami of troubled youth - all the Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria 10-15 year olds - have fallen down the trans social media rabbit hole, being convinced that ‘changing gender’ will solve all their problems (it won’t) and give them street cred (sadly it does that). “There’s a good girl” by Marianne Grubecker is a great, easy read book by a lovely feminist mum and her attempts to bring up her daughter as gender-neutral. By age 3 it was clear to her mum that it was not going to work. We don’t fall in with the anorexics body dysphoria belief that at 32 kegs they are too fat and so offer them liposuction, so why do gender clinics have this appalling approach to troubled kids; we need to respectfully challenge their delusions, and work with them on what is behind it, rather than fall in with them.
Hi. I'd love to read it too, but I have not been able to track it down after giving my ONLY COPY to the Education Department here in Perth. WA and who despite my badgering over the years say they have no trace of it. A very foolish error one that I made sure to never make again! It remains one of the most fascinating bits of research that I have ever undertaken - and could probably never be repeated as the ethics now around talking to young children have almost insurmountable hurdles to overcome. Shame
Argh, that's a shame. The Vic Dept Ed are currently proposing changes to the RR curriculum that introduces the concept of transgender (& the obligation to 'respect' it) in years 1&2. Queer theory at its finest. Research on identity formation in children would be relevant!
The book I mentioned "There's a good girl " by Marrianne Grubecker is a great starting point. Easy to read, fascinating and, in my mind, shows that gender identity is fixed in a childs mind by the time they start school. Meaning that this current cult of 'rapid onset' gender dysphoria in early teens is as a result of something other than 'true' gender dysphoria i.e social contagion, street cred and unresolved psychological issues - neurodiversity etc etc. If you are interested in being a part of stopping the rot you could enquire about joining Standing For Women in Victoria; I am a part of the WA lot.
I would bet a large sum of money that some influential person at The Age has a trans relative. Helen Joyce has spoken of this fact causing her to have several articles ‘spiked’ and an interview not aired.
You are right. There are quite a few very vocal writers on twitter who are in this category. I understand how hard that must be, but in my mind they should stand down in this case.
Pippi I'm sure you're right, but having a trans-identifying child doesn't necessarily make a parent into a trans cheerleader. Some develop a deep scepticism from their experience
Yes, of course. It tends to polarise parents - those who believe in this new identity their child professes and affirm them with new pronouns and support them to take blockers etc and then must defend this choice to the bitter end. Then there are the other parents who are sceptical at first and then realise the great harm being done and proselytise just as strongly in the other direction. It involves children, so no-one can be neutral.
“Being trans is not a disease or mental illness. Trans people are trans because gender diversity is a normal part of the human experience" — then why does it require radical medical and surgical 'treatment'?
Thanks Julie for this well researched and thoughtful article. It is essential that this topic is examined and discussed and developments overseas show us that more and more questions are being asked about 'gender affirming care'. Norway now the latest to cease using this model for minors. Very disappointing that the Age refused to publish this. As an Age subscriber I will be complaining about this 'censorship'.
Thank you Julie for this great piece. Sorry The Age wouldn’t publish. That’s very sad for me given my long connection with the paper. But great to see you here! I’m in the cart! This is a terrific piece. Can’t wait for the whole series!
Its nice to see your name on screen - I spent my formative years around Uni reading the Age under your editorship. I seriously miss people like you and others particularly Jim Schembri. I haven't followed your writings since you departed but you are in the ideal place to tackle what has happened to the media. I was born in communist Eastern Europe and now it feels like I've returned there. This is not just one issue (gender/trans) but a far bigger one, as society's "truth filters" like the media and academic institutions have ceased working. If they have failed on this one what other whoppers have they let through? It feels like living inside a cultural revolution.
Thankyou Julie for writing this. I have watched you turning rocks on this subject and cheered you on. It is so important and we need writers like you and Bernard Lane to continue fighting for our kids. If we can't get it out into our MSM then we are lost. I am devastated The Age would not publish your balance piece but not surprised. I thought with the recent Chip le Grand articles maybe we were moving forward; but now I see the battle is not nearly won.
Yes his article was good but then his interviewee is a very articulate, clear thinking radical feminist who was was severely censured by the Greens for wanting with a two other Green members, Linda Gale and Rohan Leppert to have an open discussion on matters related to transgender. For their pains, they were labelled anti-transgender but a recent inquiry into the matter has found no prejudice toward trans people on their part. They were exonerated. In fact the inquiry found a small group of trans activists who were bullying in their approach to any views that didn't confirm their world view.
This is copied from somewhere else, but it seems relevant:
Words from a lesbian teacher.
"Omg, she was SO beautiful (read: 'feminine'). Omg, she expressed no discomfort with her ‘gender’ as a child! Omg, she didn’t even play with ‘boy’ toys growing up!
So, are all the girls who never liked dresses and dolls fair game for the gender abattoirs??
Seems like so many articles and parents of girls (of the ROGD variety) who disassociate from being female are just SO shocked because these ones were stereotypical ‘girly’ as a child. She was our beautiful princess and NOW she wants to be a boy??
This leaves space for the idea that, well, with *some* girls, we can understand why THEY want to cut off their breasts and ruin their bodies with testosterone. We can see that they were 'boyish' from the start so THAT would make more sense for them to pursue lifelong medicalization and barbaric surgeries.
We all know the majority of *those* types of girls would grow up to be lesbian or bisexual. Rightfully so, that there’s an awful lot of grief and despair for the stereotypical ‘feminine’ girls who embark on a path of destruction but, the others...?
The implication is that because some girls were always ‘non-conforming’, some stridently and persistently, their desire to escape womanhood makes more sense to (homophobic) adults, parents, teachers, doctors--SOCIETY.
These non-conforming girls have parents, teachers and doctors around them who automatically AFFIRM they must REALLY be boys--it all makes sense now!
The old 'lesbians really want to be men' (read the comments about Dr. Stock) trope is alive and well. Except, this time, the butchery of our future lesbians is somehow 'understood', as their 'masculine' interests and behaviours indicate TRUE gender dysphoria on sexist questionnaires which lead them on a path to irreversible harm.
It's ALL a horror, but if you're not a lesbian you do not understand the special kind of horror it is seeing, day in and day out, young lesbians who are encouraged to destroy themselves in their deluded belief that they must really be boys because, by and large, they rebelled against sexist expectations throughout their childhood."
As a butch-ish lesbian in my 40s, I couldn't agree more with this. I have absolutely no doubt that if I was a child today I would be transed by this cult-like machine. I would have done anything to be a boy as a child. I hated the discrimination I experienced as a girl in the 1980s and 1990s and the strict rules of femininity. I would have jumped at the chance to "become a boy". But I'm now a 40 something lesbian who is 100% female.
In my view, true gender diversity encompasses a wide range of behaviour in boys and girls. The word 'tomboy' should cease to exist. Boys playing with dolls or playing dress up should not be a matter of comment, other than how much fun they're having. In that sense, I entirely agree with 'non-binary' behaviour in children. My 4 year old boy has had access to a wide variety of toys and experiences since birth and encouraged in all of them. He naturally prefers stereotypical 'boy' things but is also wonderfully sensitive, caring and empathic. The concepts of femininity and masculinity should be expanded to include all ranges of such behaviour in children. Possibly then we would not be seeing adolescents being ideologically encouraged to fit themselves into the opposite sex box. Girls aren't 'boyish' or 'butch' - they're just children, doing children things.
Questioning received wisdom should be a core part of journalism, and this particular "wisdom" is crazy.
There's no doubt that a few - very few - people become happier if they are allowed to - as gender believers would say - "present as" (or as I would say "successfully roleplay as") the other sex. People do make assumptions about what personality you "ought to have" as either a man or a woman and for some of us those assumptions are wildly wrong.
To go from there to thinking that some people *literally are* the other sex than they were born as is outright reality denial - the fact that this is being promoted and enforced at the highest levels is very concerning.
I have now read this again. It is a terrific piece. Fair and nuanced and deeply reported. Looking forward to the next piece. Pity it was not published in The Age.
Excellent well researched article. I dropped my lengthy subscription to The Age in March this year due to unbalanced coverage. I rarely watch the ABC anymore for the same reason. I'm so glad to be able to read your article on substack, please keep investigating these issues and write more.
I’m in the same position, Margaret. The ABC these days just seems to be nothing but propaganda for trans ideology. I also gave up on the Age a while ago, after many years of subscribing. So pleased to have found Julie Szego on Substack.
Thanks for this Julie. I know this is not the driving factor, but you and a handful of other journos here in Australia will be regarded as brave whistleblowers with regard to this issue. I think all of us commenting here know of the risks associated with speaking up.
Folks-- you're all fabulous. I think we're going to be quite the heterodox community. Stay tuned. Huge thank you for your support.
Thank you Julie. We are all waiting and begging for the media to look at this properly mostly for our children's welfare but also for women's rights as well. You are the fabulous one.
Thanks Julie. I'm disappointed to hear the Age let you go. I didn't think much about gender identity and how it related to my life (although I was well aware of the theory because I read widely when at uni) until my 9 year old daughter told me the girls bathroom at her primary school - a small semi rural school in country Victoria with under 100 pupils - was now unisex and boys could come in. This subject deserves to be reported on fairly and with a lack of bias as your report above does. This subject has become so divisive with no one apparently being able to ask questions or even more concerning, state basic facts such as biological sex if real and humans are biologically male or female without being shut down, cancelled, and labelled a transphobe - often times extremely aggressively. I have no problem at all with trans people they should be treated with compassion, dignity and respect but they shouldn't be elevated to have their rights above anyone else's which appears to be the case at the moment especially with regard to the protections and rights of biological women and girls. I do think serious questions have to be asked and answered, vulnerable children protected from being unnecessarily medicalised and put on a path to sterilisation when they can't possibly understand what that means, and biological women's rights protected. Thank you for finding a way to get your article published. I think if what is happening in the UK especially as well as the US the tide towards common sense and true fairness is coming....sooner rather than later I hope!
Thank you for finding a way to get your informative piece publicly published. It is incredibly important that some facts find their way into this ideologically driven issue.
Julie, thanks so much for the article. Have been reading your stuff with appreciation over the years. As an Age subscriber I am shocked to hear about what happened to the article and your 'cancellation'.
You’re awesome. I’m sure (like Prof. Kathleen Stock) you never wanted all this fuss. But you write for all of us, thanks so much.
Thank you so much for such a well-researched piece. As a parent of an adult "non-binary" child on testosterone I can confirm that the grief is deep and never ending. Why does the medical profession not "affirm" people who say they are Jesus or Napoleon? There is a personality type susceptible to this contagion, and it is some of our most creative, intelligent and sensitive youth. I fear, constantly, for her future medical and mental health. I have to see the awful fluff growing on her face and listen to the grating testosterone voice. But it is the likely liver damage, uterine atrophy, atherosclerosis, incontinence that really trouble me, together with the damaging mental health consequences of trying to deny reality. So thank you - we parents suffer in silence, trying to avoid estrangement. But more of us are seeing the absolute urgency of being heard somehow.
Can I please suggest an edit: Re the paragraph "Australia’s trans health doctors argued that our child and adolescent gender services already aligned with Cass’ recommendations, which included embedding the services within mainstream paediatric health settings, initiating long-term research on patient outcomes, and decentralising care. All of which is true." It is in no way true that Australia's system overall adheres to Cass' recommendations. Maybe only the siting of the clinics within pediatric care. But that does not solve anything. The actual practice in our clinics is radical and completely against what Cass recommends. And there is no requirement for patients to be enrolled in research studies. There may be some studies ongoing, but you can bet that the Melbourne clinic is not going to publish anything that amounts to bad news for them.
Thanks Jenny for your revealing comments. I also note that the RCH gender clinic website states that puberty blockers are available and 'reversible'. We know this is not true and goes against recent evidence that puberty blockers are not reversible and in fact can cause lifelong harm.
So true. The Gender Clinic in Perth is gender-affirming, hormone prescribing and naming as “conversion therapy” any worker, parent etc. who does not automatically fall in with the motif of ‘alive boy better than a dead girl’ false and morally repugnant rhetoric
Agree about the clinics. Definitely not practicing the CASS recommendations. Though also employing people who are strangely old school about autogynophilia, which was a pathology that seems to sit outside the social milieu that I don't think I agree with either. And while I think it's so important to be able to discuss this, and find the dividing lines distressing (because I welcome trans women into women's bathrooms - they are not the threat, it's cis het men who are a danger, on the whole!)... The point about kids who id as trans also being creative, sensitive, and with a raft of other mental health issues, and diagnoses rings very true.
My daughter (now 15) ID'd as trans during covid lockdowns (like so many other kids). We got referred to the Qld gender clinic and we saw them via telehealth for about 18 months. We thought, being good left-wing progressive parents, that the specialists would dig deep and realise that she'd never, not once, had any kind of interest in anything masculine. She was always the kid in princess dresses, obsessed with horses and cats. But during lockdown, with unlimited internet access she came across people who said if you question anything you must be trans. If you're a little different you must be trans. If you're "not like other girls" you must be trans.
Even when she then got diagnosed with autism the gender clinic expressed zero interest in the possibility that being autistic could make someone "not like other girls".
Oh, and she's gay too - the gender clinic didn't care about that. I'm so worried for our young lesbians, transing the gay away. Trans is so misogynistic.
They offered binders (with a trans identified man). They said they had very little risk. They offered us a very small list of "research" consisting of about 12 articles, all pro-transition, nothing about risks. They said that testosterone only had a slight risk of her thinning her hair.
All the time I researched and read and researched and read. Nothing of the scientific evidence matched up with what we're being told in the media or at the gender clinic. There is zero evidence that transitioning kids is safe. There are growing numbers of detransitioners. It seems that about 8 years is the average time it takes for detransitioners to realise they made a mistake. And with most medicalising at around 16-17 that makes sense when we know that brains mature at about 25 years old.
Last year she said she didn't want to see the gender clinic anymore. She still calls herself non-binary. She's back to appearing very feminine.
So we may have dodged a bullet, or she might change her mind again as she gets older and mixes with more pro-trans communities in real life.
Every single country that has done a systematic review of the evidence has stopped transitioning kids (or has said they will). Every single one. The only people who want to transition kids are the ones who have not properly read the science or have been swayed by the misleading summaries of the science and deliberate misinformation.
I am so glad to hear your daughter has moved away from the gender clinic. What a relief that must be for you
Relief yes, but we're also very much aware that she could go back. She still is very much trans-indoctrinated and we still aren't allowed to talk about it, so it's hard to know where she is at any point.
We dodged a bullet with our 15 soon to be 16 year old daughter. This gender fluid stuff is force fed to them at school especially in Wellbeing .My daughter said there's posters up all over the walls and a lot of the teachers at school talk about pro trans stuff during classes. My daughter is ASD and I think originally she found a sense of belonging with the "pride group." We felt this pride group was grooming her but we didn't say much to her about it, wanting to be supporting and caring (although we deferred on letting her go on the pride camp because we didn't know the people and we've had really bad experiences before because she's quite vulnerable due to her being so trusting), but she came to the conclusion that trans wasn't all it was cracked up to be all on her own (I was really proud of her when she came and told us that) She discovered friends who were detransitioning and were in physical pain and had ongoing medical problems due to drugs and surgery. She also discovered how brutal the pro trans groups are when you start to ask questions or have doubts. All the best to you. I hope your daughter stays off the medication at least until she's into her adult years if she decides she still wants to go down that road.
That must be very difficult for you. I would be terrified. Wishing you and her the very best.
Do hope she comes good. If only we could keep adolescents away from social media for 6 months, surely most children would just give it away.
I have worked hard to maintain an open and direct line of communication on the issue with my daughter, also identifying variously as non-binary and trans. I still call her by her birth name and have told her my concerns come from a place of love and fear for her health and future. She respects that and is currently off the testosterone, but we've still got a way to go. Best wishes to you and your daughter.
I hope she can come to love herself fully, no matter what she identifies as, and can learn there are many many ways to be "different". That can be hard as a teen when your life experience is limited, and the pressure of wanting to fit into a group can be very strong.
I hope your daughter can come to fully love herself, no matter what she identifies as, and can learn there are many types of "different".
I am confused and concerned as to why The Age would not publish a detailed and well researched article that is respectful of the challenges and issues around the treatment of this vulnerable group of young people. I will be interested to hear if and when The Age publicly explains this deeply troubling stance after it commissioned the work.
Journalists are the first profession that should have stood up to this, but alas in the last 30 years "journalist" has become the label for political activist whose activism takes place through the media. (same thing could be said about humanities academics) JS is doing the right thing but paying the personal cost. She and others like Holly Lawford-Smith are the fighters who will get our society out from under this bizarre cult.
Much is also explained by the sunk costs - once they bought into gender ideology they cannot admit they got it wrong since its too embarrassing to admit you made a mistake. Since many other ideological structures prevalent today are based upon the same "post-reality" pomo ideology rejecting it would bring down much more than just gender.
I think Ann it boils down to either fear of backlash because there's so much intolerance around presenting facts or even asking questions on this topic or mass brainwashing kind of indoctrination that doesn't even question or look at all the repercussions of the belief/actions. Our society has become unable to have rational debates on anything, almost everything is so polarised. Any opinion not generally liked is cancelled or shut down. So much for free speech - we need real freedom of speech to come back (unless they telling people to be pysically violent or kill others) where people can say what they like even if many don't like or agree with their view otherwise we live in a kind of totalitarianism.
What stands out for me is this statement from AusPATH:
In a published response, AusPATH alleged that the Westmead clinicians’ research “fits with misleading claims of gender diversity being something other than a very normal variation in human experience.”
It is precisely the view of gender critical feminists that diverse expressions of behaviour are normal, and that gender non-conforming children should not be medicalised to make their non-stereotypical behaviour align with their body through extreme body modification. It is the gender ideologues who are pushing a heteronormative world view where if a child plays with the 'wrong' toys, or is romantically and sexually attracted to the opposite sex, they are told that they're born in the wrong body. And to those who are now talking about 'gender diverse' and 'gender expansive' young people, they are still putting them on medical pathways to 'affirm' these identities.
Young tomboys and feminine boys who would likely grow up to be lesbian or gay are being sucked into believing they need to modify their bodies and live as the opposite sex. And those who find the whole thing overwhelming are being told that they're non-binary.
Gender ideology falls apart once there is any level of honest, intelligent, interrogations. It is totally illogical.
Ah, the quality of AusPATH, where evidence goes to die. When I read their response to the Cass interim review. Point 7 says "AusPATH disagrees with this approach, and emphasises the increasing evidence that access to reversible puberty blockers, and later gender-affirming hormone treatment if wished, is associated with positive mental health and social well-being in adolescents with gender incongruence, and that adolescents are satisfied with these treatments and perceive them as essential and life-saving (1)" https://auspath.org.au/2022/11/16/auspath-statement-about-the-interim-service-specification-for-the-specialist-service-for-children-and-young-people-with-gender-dysphoria-phase-1-providers-by-nhs-england/
So I looked up the reference, it's just to Wpath8, not any particular study. I look all through wpath8 for puberty blocker and GnRH and there's no statement about this topic anywhere in there, there are no references regarding puberty blockers and "increasing evidence" - only two references mention puberty blockers at all.
That's the quality of the "evidence" they cite.
They tell blatant lies. Fortunately their lies are unravelling. Eliza Mondegreen is doing really good research into WPATH.
The entirely unscientific and ideologically driven approach of Wpath and AusPATH is gradually coming to light, despite the refusal or inability of many "journalists" to properly investigate and cover the issue.
that is so utterly unscientific an approach. I cannot believe that if they are good scientists that they find it acceptable to make sweeping statements with very flimsy evidence to support their conclusions
Thanks for a great article. The Ages loss. I did my thesis 30 years ago on children’s acquisition of gender and every article I read then and since, alongside what I discovered from children themselves, was that by age 5 children are solid in their unchanging gender identity which in almost all cases is a fit with their biological sex. The DSMV states that gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition which is present from early childhood. Which means the current tsunami of troubled youth - all the Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria 10-15 year olds - have fallen down the trans social media rabbit hole, being convinced that ‘changing gender’ will solve all their problems (it won’t) and give them street cred (sadly it does that). “There’s a good girl” by Marianne Grubecker is a great, easy read book by a lovely feminist mum and her attempts to bring up her daughter as gender-neutral. By age 3 it was clear to her mum that it was not going to work. We don’t fall in with the anorexics body dysphoria belief that at 32 kegs they are too fat and so offer them liposuction, so why do gender clinics have this appalling approach to troubled kids; we need to respectfully challenge their delusions, and work with them on what is behind it, rather than fall in with them.
Maggie, I'd be keen to read your thesis. Is it available anywhere?
Hi. I'd love to read it too, but I have not been able to track it down after giving my ONLY COPY to the Education Department here in Perth. WA and who despite my badgering over the years say they have no trace of it. A very foolish error one that I made sure to never make again! It remains one of the most fascinating bits of research that I have ever undertaken - and could probably never be repeated as the ethics now around talking to young children have almost insurmountable hurdles to overcome. Shame
It should be available in the library of whichever university you attended
Oh Maggie - that is terrible! Did you submit it for a degree?
Argh, that's a shame. The Vic Dept Ed are currently proposing changes to the RR curriculum that introduces the concept of transgender (& the obligation to 'respect' it) in years 1&2. Queer theory at its finest. Research on identity formation in children would be relevant!
The book I mentioned "There's a good girl " by Marrianne Grubecker is a great starting point. Easy to read, fascinating and, in my mind, shows that gender identity is fixed in a childs mind by the time they start school. Meaning that this current cult of 'rapid onset' gender dysphoria in early teens is as a result of something other than 'true' gender dysphoria i.e social contagion, street cred and unresolved psychological issues - neurodiversity etc etc. If you are interested in being a part of stopping the rot you could enquire about joining Standing For Women in Victoria; I am a part of the WA lot.
Thanks, I'll look it up. Already in the trenches with ROGD.
So sorry for that. I wish you all the best with the trench warfare.
I would bet a large sum of money that some influential person at The Age has a trans relative. Helen Joyce has spoken of this fact causing her to have several articles ‘spiked’ and an interview not aired.
You are right. There are quite a few very vocal writers on twitter who are in this category. I understand how hard that must be, but in my mind they should stand down in this case.
Our local Victorian MP is in this boat and very pro-trans. Not a unbiased voice.
I hasten to add, not specifically at The Age itself!
Pippi I'm sure you're right, but having a trans-identifying child doesn't necessarily make a parent into a trans cheerleader. Some develop a deep scepticism from their experience
Yes, of course. It tends to polarise parents - those who believe in this new identity their child professes and affirm them with new pronouns and support them to take blockers etc and then must defend this choice to the bitter end. Then there are the other parents who are sceptical at first and then realise the great harm being done and proselytise just as strongly in the other direction. It involves children, so no-one can be neutral.
“Being trans is not a disease or mental illness. Trans people are trans because gender diversity is a normal part of the human experience" — then why does it require radical medical and surgical 'treatment'?
If anybody ever gives you an answer to this question, pleeeease let us know!
Thanks Julie for this well researched and thoughtful article. It is essential that this topic is examined and discussed and developments overseas show us that more and more questions are being asked about 'gender affirming care'. Norway now the latest to cease using this model for minors. Very disappointing that the Age refused to publish this. As an Age subscriber I will be complaining about this 'censorship'.
Thank you Julie for this great piece. Sorry The Age wouldn’t publish. That’s very sad for me given my long connection with the paper. But great to see you here! I’m in the cart! This is a terrific piece. Can’t wait for the whole series!
Its nice to see your name on screen - I spent my formative years around Uni reading the Age under your editorship. I seriously miss people like you and others particularly Jim Schembri. I haven't followed your writings since you departed but you are in the ideal place to tackle what has happened to the media. I was born in communist Eastern Europe and now it feels like I've returned there. This is not just one issue (gender/trans) but a far bigger one, as society's "truth filters" like the media and academic institutions have ceased working. If they have failed on this one what other whoppers have they let through? It feels like living inside a cultural revolution.
Thankyou Julie for writing this. I have watched you turning rocks on this subject and cheered you on. It is so important and we need writers like you and Bernard Lane to continue fighting for our kids. If we can't get it out into our MSM then we are lost. I am devastated The Age would not publish your balance piece but not surprised. I thought with the recent Chip le Grand articles maybe we were moving forward; but now I see the battle is not nearly won.
Yes his article was good but then his interviewee is a very articulate, clear thinking radical feminist who was was severely censured by the Greens for wanting with a two other Green members, Linda Gale and Rohan Leppert to have an open discussion on matters related to transgender. For their pains, they were labelled anti-transgender but a recent inquiry into the matter has found no prejudice toward trans people on their part. They were exonerated. In fact the inquiry found a small group of trans activists who were bullying in their approach to any views that didn't confirm their world view.
This is copied from somewhere else, but it seems relevant:
Words from a lesbian teacher.
"Omg, she was SO beautiful (read: 'feminine'). Omg, she expressed no discomfort with her ‘gender’ as a child! Omg, she didn’t even play with ‘boy’ toys growing up!
So, are all the girls who never liked dresses and dolls fair game for the gender abattoirs??
Seems like so many articles and parents of girls (of the ROGD variety) who disassociate from being female are just SO shocked because these ones were stereotypical ‘girly’ as a child. She was our beautiful princess and NOW she wants to be a boy??
This leaves space for the idea that, well, with *some* girls, we can understand why THEY want to cut off their breasts and ruin their bodies with testosterone. We can see that they were 'boyish' from the start so THAT would make more sense for them to pursue lifelong medicalization and barbaric surgeries.
We all know the majority of *those* types of girls would grow up to be lesbian or bisexual. Rightfully so, that there’s an awful lot of grief and despair for the stereotypical ‘feminine’ girls who embark on a path of destruction but, the others...?
The implication is that because some girls were always ‘non-conforming’, some stridently and persistently, their desire to escape womanhood makes more sense to (homophobic) adults, parents, teachers, doctors--SOCIETY.
These non-conforming girls have parents, teachers and doctors around them who automatically AFFIRM they must REALLY be boys--it all makes sense now!
The old 'lesbians really want to be men' (read the comments about Dr. Stock) trope is alive and well. Except, this time, the butchery of our future lesbians is somehow 'understood', as their 'masculine' interests and behaviours indicate TRUE gender dysphoria on sexist questionnaires which lead them on a path to irreversible harm.
It's ALL a horror, but if you're not a lesbian you do not understand the special kind of horror it is seeing, day in and day out, young lesbians who are encouraged to destroy themselves in their deluded belief that they must really be boys because, by and large, they rebelled against sexist expectations throughout their childhood."
As a butch-ish lesbian in my 40s, I couldn't agree more with this. I have absolutely no doubt that if I was a child today I would be transed by this cult-like machine. I would have done anything to be a boy as a child. I hated the discrimination I experienced as a girl in the 1980s and 1990s and the strict rules of femininity. I would have jumped at the chance to "become a boy". But I'm now a 40 something lesbian who is 100% female.
In my view, true gender diversity encompasses a wide range of behaviour in boys and girls. The word 'tomboy' should cease to exist. Boys playing with dolls or playing dress up should not be a matter of comment, other than how much fun they're having. In that sense, I entirely agree with 'non-binary' behaviour in children. My 4 year old boy has had access to a wide variety of toys and experiences since birth and encouraged in all of them. He naturally prefers stereotypical 'boy' things but is also wonderfully sensitive, caring and empathic. The concepts of femininity and masculinity should be expanded to include all ranges of such behaviour in children. Possibly then we would not be seeing adolescents being ideologically encouraged to fit themselves into the opposite sex box. Girls aren't 'boyish' or 'butch' - they're just children, doing children things.
Thank you so much for writing this
Questioning received wisdom should be a core part of journalism, and this particular "wisdom" is crazy.
There's no doubt that a few - very few - people become happier if they are allowed to - as gender believers would say - "present as" (or as I would say "successfully roleplay as") the other sex. People do make assumptions about what personality you "ought to have" as either a man or a woman and for some of us those assumptions are wildly wrong.
To go from there to thinking that some people *literally are* the other sex than they were born as is outright reality denial - the fact that this is being promoted and enforced at the highest levels is very concerning.
I have now read this again. It is a terrific piece. Fair and nuanced and deeply reported. Looking forward to the next piece. Pity it was not published in The Age.
Excellent well researched article. I dropped my lengthy subscription to The Age in March this year due to unbalanced coverage. I rarely watch the ABC anymore for the same reason. I'm so glad to be able to read your article on substack, please keep investigating these issues and write more.
I’m in the same position, Margaret. The ABC these days just seems to be nothing but propaganda for trans ideology. I also gave up on the Age a while ago, after many years of subscribing. So pleased to have found Julie Szego on Substack.
Thanks for this Julie. I know this is not the driving factor, but you and a handful of other journos here in Australia will be regarded as brave whistleblowers with regard to this issue. I think all of us commenting here know of the risks associated with speaking up.