Jesse crushes this stuff. There is so, so much research being put into the world. Then journalists cherry pick it to support their political positions that they sell to the public. We need more people pursuing truth and less tribal politics. Let’s get more rigorous. The details matter. I hope other young journalists follow Jesse’s lead. I think there is a lot of opportunity in this space.
Jesse Signal's critiques of this literature have been "out there" for some time now. If they were weak critiques, someone would have challenged them. So far, no one has.
There are going to be children who are hurt by the sloppy research and reasoning. And the lawsuits will follow.
Mr. Signal has done his best and, as a former Professor of Psychology (Ph.D. from Vanderbilt) and licensed Clinical Psychologist (until I retired 16 years ago), I thank him. Keep at it!
When I was a child, one of my goals for a time was to persuade my parents to take me on a vacation to Candyland, not the theme park (if there ever was such a thing) but the imaginary setting of the board game. In hindsight, I am grateful my mother and father did not seek to align their parenting plan with their child's goals.
"Emotional abuse involves actions, either as a repeated pattern or an extreme single incident, that thwart a child’s basic psychological needs." (14)
Reference (14) is an article about adults who were asked how familiar they were with state-level transgender sports bans. Their familiarity with sports eligibility rules is paired with data about how suicidal they feel. Did I read that right? The study participants aren't necessarily athletes or residents in the states with restrictions, so it's a strange study taken on its own. It also has nothing to do with the emotional experiences of kids.
Is there no recourse against this? Where are the pediatricians demanding better out of their professional journals? Why are the pediatricians (at least four of them?) that are inquisitive and skeptical?
Jesse, you're truly a hero of mine for all you do--thank you.
Brilliant critique, Jesse! It's shocking how slanted and yes, sloppy, this article was. Keep on chipping away at the crumbling foundation of gender medicine, which is built on sand. Eventually, the whole thing is going to fall.
Interesting that to counter claims of medical abuse, they lean on gender-affirming care being "patient driven" and children "initiating" their own treatment. Sounds like something a pedophile would say to justify sexual abuse. "The kid came on to me." "They initiated it."
I'm so glad Jesse Singal is writing about this very important issue. I'm continually amazed/blown away that the AAP, (Amer. Acad. Of pediatrics, JAMA, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood are all falling into some weird lock step about gender care for kids. it's bizarre and disturbing. Looks like a good time to challenge WPATH'S vise grip on our medical care for gender questioning kids in this country. Americans deserve to know the truth about the actual available data. Keep it up Jesse, we need your vigilant good work more than ever.
In Australia, a longitudinal study was proposed to follow 600 kids who started hormone treatment between February 2017 and February 2020. They are to be followed for 20 years and given surveys every 2 years. We're now nearly 4 and 6 years into the study. Where's outcome data for the first few years post treatment? All that's been published is baseline data of the kids before they started treatment.
Okay, I realized I didn't say quite enough! Jesse Singal is a rare journalist these days. Willing to do the work, be humble and have a sense of humor, all kinda lacking these days.
I listen to blocked and reported and love it. Its combination of delicious irreverence, while talking about serious issues is like a soothing balm in a sea of painful media/ news stories. Just wanted to say, love your work! Jesse. I rely on it. Thanks
"Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria" (Biggs, 2021). This is a peer reviewed article (3 reviewers plus the editor).
Note that: "The journal that published the target article, Pediatrics, rejected an earlier version of this Letter as an online comment without providing a reason."
The journals publishing these inaccurate and dangerously misleading papers should be held responsible as well.
But beyond these journals, it's not clear why the people working in this field have not actually checked the claims being made about their work--rebuttals seem to involve ad hominem attacks, rebuttals to straw man (i.e. irrelevant) arguments, or further false statements. It's your job to check whether what you are doing is justified by the evidence and whether your statements are true, if you are going to be advocating for or prescribing sterilizing drugs that damage young people's endocrine systems or cutting off functional healthy parts of their bodies in an attempt to help their mental condition, even when it hasn't been shown that the long term outcome will be beneficial.
Turban, the leading author of this article, appears to have thought that a systematic review of the evidence is simply a literature search (see Leor Sapir's analysis of Turban's recent testimony https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-deposition-of-jack-turban), so it seems Turban neither understands the evidence or what is provided by a systematic review and evidence GRADE.
I am very glad the AAP is being sued. How does one get the journals to publish rebuttals and to retract seriously wrong articles? Misinforming patients and clinicians about these interventions has consequences. Terrible ones.
We are seriously living through another "recovered memory" moment in this nation.
Can anyone point me to an explainer of what a "systematic review" is, exactly? I want to make sure I fully understand what it is that the American medical establishment isn't doing.
You’re a careful, honest, thoughtful, respectful guy.
It’s driving me crazy. Initially in a deeply sexual way, of course, as I am also a pervert for nuance.
Now it’s just driving me crazy. You are too soft on this issue. They’re mutilating gay kids because of ideology. A literary theory has escaped from the humanities and these people are basically wearing lab coats and pretending they “know” things, with *horrendous* consequences. Time to figuratively slap the shit out of these monsters. Stop holding back, buddy. Go for the jugular.
Jesse crushes this stuff. There is so, so much research being put into the world. Then journalists cherry pick it to support their political positions that they sell to the public. We need more people pursuing truth and less tribal politics. Let’s get more rigorous. The details matter. I hope other young journalists follow Jesse’s lead. I think there is a lot of opportunity in this space.
Jesse Signal's critiques of this literature have been "out there" for some time now. If they were weak critiques, someone would have challenged them. So far, no one has.
There are going to be children who are hurt by the sloppy research and reasoning. And the lawsuits will follow.
Mr. Signal has done his best and, as a former Professor of Psychology (Ph.D. from Vanderbilt) and licensed Clinical Psychologist (until I retired 16 years ago), I thank him. Keep at it!
When I was a child, one of my goals for a time was to persuade my parents to take me on a vacation to Candyland, not the theme park (if there ever was such a thing) but the imaginary setting of the board game. In hindsight, I am grateful my mother and father did not seek to align their parenting plan with their child's goals.
"Emotional abuse involves actions, either as a repeated pattern or an extreme single incident, that thwart a child’s basic psychological needs." (14)
Reference (14) is an article about adults who were asked how familiar they were with state-level transgender sports bans. Their familiarity with sports eligibility rules is paired with data about how suicidal they feel. Did I read that right? The study participants aren't necessarily athletes or residents in the states with restrictions, so it's a strange study taken on its own. It also has nothing to do with the emotional experiences of kids.
Is there no recourse against this? Where are the pediatricians demanding better out of their professional journals? Why are the pediatricians (at least four of them?) that are inquisitive and skeptical?
Jesse, you're truly a hero of mine for all you do--thank you.
Brilliant critique, Jesse! It's shocking how slanted and yes, sloppy, this article was. Keep on chipping away at the crumbling foundation of gender medicine, which is built on sand. Eventually, the whole thing is going to fall.
Interesting that to counter claims of medical abuse, they lean on gender-affirming care being "patient driven" and children "initiating" their own treatment. Sounds like something a pedophile would say to justify sexual abuse. "The kid came on to me." "They initiated it."
I'm so glad Jesse Singal is writing about this very important issue. I'm continually amazed/blown away that the AAP, (Amer. Acad. Of pediatrics, JAMA, the ACLU, and Planned Parenthood are all falling into some weird lock step about gender care for kids. it's bizarre and disturbing. Looks like a good time to challenge WPATH'S vise grip on our medical care for gender questioning kids in this country. Americans deserve to know the truth about the actual available data. Keep it up Jesse, we need your vigilant good work more than ever.
The ommisions are very concerning.
In Australia, a longitudinal study was proposed to follow 600 kids who started hormone treatment between February 2017 and February 2020. They are to be followed for 20 years and given surveys every 2 years. We're now nearly 4 and 6 years into the study. Where's outcome data for the first few years post treatment? All that's been published is baseline data of the kids before they started treatment.
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31690608/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36729456/
Insisting on accurate citations is a form of white supremacy. Do better.
Okay, I realized I didn't say quite enough! Jesse Singal is a rare journalist these days. Willing to do the work, be humble and have a sense of humor, all kinda lacking these days.
I listen to blocked and reported and love it. Its combination of delicious irreverence, while talking about serious issues is like a soothing balm in a sea of painful media/ news stories. Just wanted to say, love your work! Jesse. I rely on it. Thanks
"papers that are extremely weak, methodologically speaking"--that's a gentle way of saying it--
here are more things wrong with Turban et al., 2020, which all have been known since 2021:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01743-6
"Puberty Blockers and Suicidality in Adolescents Suffering from Gender Dysphoria" (Biggs, 2021). This is a peer reviewed article (3 reviewers plus the editor).
Note that: "The journal that published the target article, Pediatrics, rejected an earlier version of this Letter as an online comment without providing a reason."
The journals publishing these inaccurate and dangerously misleading papers should be held responsible as well.
But beyond these journals, it's not clear why the people working in this field have not actually checked the claims being made about their work--rebuttals seem to involve ad hominem attacks, rebuttals to straw man (i.e. irrelevant) arguments, or further false statements. It's your job to check whether what you are doing is justified by the evidence and whether your statements are true, if you are going to be advocating for or prescribing sterilizing drugs that damage young people's endocrine systems or cutting off functional healthy parts of their bodies in an attempt to help their mental condition, even when it hasn't been shown that the long term outcome will be beneficial.
Turban, the leading author of this article, appears to have thought that a systematic review of the evidence is simply a literature search (see Leor Sapir's analysis of Turban's recent testimony https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-deposition-of-jack-turban), so it seems Turban neither understands the evidence or what is provided by a systematic review and evidence GRADE.
I am very glad the AAP is being sued. How does one get the journals to publish rebuttals and to retract seriously wrong articles? Misinforming patients and clinicians about these interventions has consequences. Terrible ones.
We are seriously living through another "recovered memory" moment in this nation.
Can anyone point me to an explainer of what a "systematic review" is, exactly? I want to make sure I fully understand what it is that the American medical establishment isn't doing.
Jesse
You’re a careful, honest, thoughtful, respectful guy.
It’s driving me crazy. Initially in a deeply sexual way, of course, as I am also a pervert for nuance.
Now it’s just driving me crazy. You are too soft on this issue. They’re mutilating gay kids because of ideology. A literary theory has escaped from the humanities and these people are basically wearing lab coats and pretending they “know” things, with *horrendous* consequences. Time to figuratively slap the shit out of these monsters. Stop holding back, buddy. Go for the jugular.
O
Wait until the malpractice suits start rolling in. That's the next thing coming. "Attnetion: Was your child harmed by..." The story writes itself.
There is room for comments on the article, perhaps anyone who is a pediatrician can point to this article???