You pretty much nailed it. The problem with discussions on trans issues these days is that it’s boiled down to a simple dichotomy of “TRANS RIGHTS!” and everyone else who even so much suggests a more holistic approach discussing these things is labelled a transphobe or TERF.

To tell you the truth, I think detransitioners ARE an important part of the trans narrative, especially since their numbers and presence are slowly rising. It tells me that there are gaps in the current system of healthcare and culture that are failing to screen out these people. It tells me that gender dysphoria is still a very mysterious phenomenon that needs to be understood more. It tells me that there’s alternative pathways to treating dysphoria beyond transitioning.

The fact that people are trying to make it a one-sided issue is honestly disheartening and I would dare say that it is going to harm trans people in the long run. Not only does it make them look uncaring because they don’t care about people’s well-being, it shows how selfish they are because they only care about winning in the political battlefront.

To put it simply, trans is now more of a commodified subculture which people participate in to be cool rather than referring to a state of being some people with severe gender dysphoria resort to as treatment. Being a cis straight girl (especially if you’re white/ethnic majority of choice and middle to upper class) is seen as “oppressive” and people in this subculture will often shame those who are that. Identifying into trans hood is one way to escape this peer shaming since you cannot change your race and you can’t exactly change your sexuality either even if you lie about it.

The explosion in trans identified bio female teens is basically a horrible mutation of different factors colliding together. The foundations lie in the social contagion movements from previous decades where females with highly neurotic personality traits externalised their pubertal anxiety through self-harm, whether they cut themselves or developed eating disorders. Now take that & combine it with social media, toxic social justice ideology and the popularity of yaoi and that’s how we got here.

For certain. Although, I think the spike in transitioning is caused by multiple factors working together beyond the simple social contagion element.

For one, the internet age is making us very disconnected from our bodies and society at large. When our interactions are just confined to floating profiles, it gives us a false sense of what being a man or woman is like without observing the nuances you see when interacting with others on a daily basis. And combined with the rise of the customisable profile, we can basically remake ourselves into whatever we so choose. The way transitioning is conceptualised now reflects that shift since it’s often framed as a way to change the body for the sake of the mind, rather than the old conception of the body and mind being two parts of a working system.

The second factor is how the internet really makes people’s distress tolerance levels extremely terrible. If you haven’t noticed already, being highly emotional and histrionic is basically encouraged online since we see people have online meltdowns on a nearly daily basis. If you’re a teenager who is already suffering from mild distress with your gender and you’re terminally online, the internet basically encourages you to take it up to eleven to the point you don’t even want to be your gender anymore.

The third element is the sexual content. Obviously consuming too much sexual content is bad for your brain and we kinda already know what it does to AGP men (if you believe in Blanchard), but not many people talk about gay male erotica and women. Gay male erotica is very much written by women for women, so the dynamics of the relationship don’t exactly match with what actual gay male relationships are like. However, a young girl might be falsely led into believing that this reflects what actual gay male relationships are like, so she might be tempted to transition if she spends way too much time in this fantasy world and becomes disconnected from her own reality.

The fourth factor is perhaps the most pernicious, and that is oversimplified morality of most internet circles. A lot of spaces online have a simplistic morality which divides people into “good” and “bad” people based on whether or not they are a minority. For the gender stuff, trans people are good and cis people are bad because one is a minority, the other isn’t. This is why you get memes like “DIE CIS SCUM” or other shitty posts from people shaming cis people. If you spend too much time in these kind of places, you end up developing a sense of guilt over your status as a “cis boy/girl” when you see your online mates saying stuff like this and you might be tempted to identify as trans as a means to “give up your cis privilege”.

What I have to say here is nothing new and has been pointed out by other people, but this is my basic summary of what has been going on.

It’s kind of weird how people automatically assume that the moment someone questions their gender, it is guaranteed they are actually uncomfortable and are going to transition (in the general sense of the term). The thing is, people’s distress can be caused by MANY things, especially at puberty (lord knows how many things can cause distress during puberty). The person may think it’s gender-related, but it could be so many other things. It could be that they’re lesbians/bi and are getting distressed by their same-sex attraction. Maybe they’re uncomfortable that they are getting sexualised as their bodies change. The person may think it’s gender-related, but maybe the root cause might lay in something else.

I should also note that people have a tendency to ignore the red flags when it comes to gender questioning people. Like, if you grew up as a relatively gender-conforming child, went through puberty fine and only started questioning your gender as an adult after an emotionally stressful event (eg breakup, death of a family member etc), I personally think that transitioning would probably not be helpful in solving your problems.

Prior to this whole self id/gender identity craze, if a kid or young person was questioning if they’re LGBT, others in the community wouldn’t project their own experiences onto the questioning person but look at it in a more objective way.

These individuals are treating being trans like it is a club. They (unknowingly) encourage others to join and continue to validate both themselves and others in a symbiotic fashion.

I agree with this SO HARD. It's not just with gender stuff, but so many other identity categories (sexuality, mental illness etc) are basically turning into exclusive clubs where the goal is to "recruit" as many people in as possible and to have them validate each other's "identities" on a constant basis.

It's kinda sad, because a lot of these people involved in this stuff are clearly young people who probably have problems to deal with, or just lack purpose in life. Their identity becomes a bad proxy for them to express those issues, but they generally don't explore the root cause. They also usually become dependent on the validation they receive in their "community" and never develop a sense of self outside of that. Or at least, they're too scared to stop towing the line because they will lose their "only" source of support.

I’m hoping that in about 10 years time, we would start adopting a more holistic approach in treating gender issues. A more Sasha Ayad/Stella O Malley approach where gender is explored through the lens of curiosity and exploring the person as a whole, rather than rushing into affirmation and medical transitioning.

It is creepy! I’ve listened to interviews with older gay men/lesbian women and a lot of them also talk about feeling “disconnected” from their gender as children/teenagers. When they grew up, they all realised they were just same-sex attracted and felt comfortable with themselves again. A lot of them believed that they would have identified as trans if they were born today and are generally thankful they were born in a different time.

While I still do believe that transitioning benefits some people, I can’t help but wonder if the sudden surge in trans identification has a tinge of “conversion therapy” in it.

1. Coming out literally from nowhere despite no visible signs of discomfort with one’s gender previously. Age range to look out for: teenager (13 to 17) or near middle aged (late 30s to 40s and onwards).

2. Coming out shortly after a traumatic incident in one’s life (eg divorce, death of a loved one, sexual assault, even a brain injury).

3. Having a history of previous mental illnesses, like autism, ADHD, depression and BPD. Substance abuse also falls under here.

4. Being terminally online and hanging out in echo chambers where gender ideology is rampant (eg egg_irl subreddit, most fandoms these days etc).

5. Constantly shaming cis people and engaging in behaviour that proclaims that trans people are somehow superior.

6. Being a fujoshi (FTM) or a yuri fetishist (MTF).

7. Talking about gender euphoria and engaging in vouyeristic displays of it.

8. Changing identities or names every other week (not a joke, I’ve seen this shit).

9. Screaming and harassing supposed “TERFs”, trans people who speak against the political orthodoxy or detransitioners. One big red flag is shaming gay or straight people for supposedly refusing to date trans people.

10. Believing that biological sex is a spectrum or propping up intersex as an argument for trans.

11. Constantly repeating political slogans related to the issue at hand (you know what they are; I don’t have to say them).

12. Labelling every bodily discomfort as a sign of dysphoria.

This is textbook victim blaming. Of course adults can be vulnerable! Mental illness like depression, anxiety, autism, bipolar etc (or even just a bad event in your life) can cloud your perception and cause you to make bad decisions. The same goes here!