How do child psychologists and pediatricians explain their belief the human mind isn’t fully mature and able to think critically until at least age 25, yet promote harmful meds and surgeries to children and teens?
I saw horrific harm due to this medical scandal this year. Again. It should not have happened.
I am not interested in the general questions about society right now, I'm looking at the devastated kids and their families. Real, live, people being harmed, some dying, because of these lies. These particular lies.
The sooner this ends, the better.
Please get your book out there soon!
My question:
How to get the MD's and medical societies to speak up?
From here, it seems to me that a lot of people now think that the information is out there, so that anyone who needs it will be fine. (This is coupled by people refusing to say anything about the issues, so it is clear that it is not "fine" to even suggest caution, actually.)
"a healthy, open, supportive trans community would not look or sound like the trans community we’ve got.
It would be honest about the risks trans people face, rather than wildly inflating those risks to instill fear. It would foster resilience and self-sufficiency in gender-questioning youth, rather than telling kids that anyone who disagrees with their worldview hates them or that exposure to ‘misgendering’ or ‘dead-naming’ can lead to suicide. A healthy, open trans community would accept that transition doesn't work for everybody and that there are legitimate reasons to detransition and exit the community. A healthy, open, supportive trans community wouldn't seek to drive a wedge between gender-questioning youth and their family members or friends who sincerely want the best for them but question whether transition is the right answer. A healthy, open, supportive trans community would invite ethical research into transition outcomes and alternatives—rather than trying to shut down inquiry—because trans-identifying people deserve high-quality care, not just ideologically-compliant ‘care.’ And a healthy, open, supportive trans community would encourage young people to explore their questions and doubts openly—recognizing transition as a serious undertaking—without fear of censure or expulsion from the group."
What government entity (American or not), sports governing body, or other rule-setting organization implements a body of policy that you consider the closest to the social or scientific ideal? Who out there, if anyone, is doing it right and has struck the proper balance?
I am eager to get Jesse's take on this, but I'll offer up the IOC's meta analysis on males in women's sports. It's not public yet, but the Times (of London) broke that story and had a podcast about it. They did a podcast on it and indicated it is the most complete scientific review of the issue, indicating that even males not going through male puberty are at an advantage. The IOC will release it after finishing their internal reviews, but once it does. the Times expects other sports bodies, like FIFA, will adopt the same policies.
How do you go about fairly representing the pro-gender-medicine position--are there certain proponents you rely on or avoid?
I wonder if it's harder to do today than it was for you when you wrote the infamous Atlantic article. (Since I now see gender medicine as akin to the transplantation of goat glands to treat erectile dysfunction, I don't know if I could represent that position evenhandedly myself!)
Florida filed a lawsuit against WPATH and other medical organizations regarding, alleging that the organizations are misleading the public on youth gender medicine.
What do you think will come from this, if anything?
Any other predictions regarding youth gender medicine for 2026?
Question regarding gender medicine: While it’s not usual for a patient population to have beliefs about their diagnosis or sometimes requests for certain interventions, it seems highly unusual for such large numbers of a pediatric patient population to do so. Even more unusual are kids showing up believing they have high levels of scientific knowledge about the effects of a pharmaceutical or surgical intervention and have memorized various statistics promoted by advocacy groups. Both of these are common, if not the norm amongst the group presenting to youth gender clinicians. Do you know how the practitioners in the field view the culture that has arisen around pediatric gender medicine and how it may affect decision-making and informed consent in youth?
We've seen efforts from the left to suppress research because it involves admitting that we don't yet know whether gender affirmative medicine might be the best approach; we've seen efforts from the right to suppress research because it involves admitting that gender affirmative medicine might possibly be the best approach.
Which research teams are doing the best job of moving forward while maintaining independence from activists and politicians who hope to shut down research or else force a pre-determined set of conclusions?
Do you think Chase Strangio's interview with Ross Douthat marks a pivot point in that an activist admits (maybe?) that the staunch activist approach has not helped the trans community?
Jesse, is this going to be recorded so those of us unavailble at 5pm EST Friday can watch later?
I had posted a question a week ago asking about the current state of the evidence regarding many trans kids desisting if they get through puberty without blockers or hormones (question linked below), and I hadn't known your session was going to be Friday evening. I've had theater tickets and plans to see old friends for dinner & the play, and being glued to my phone during dinner might transition them to former friends 😮
I’m excited for the book. How abstract are you getting in this book re: the nature of debate in the U.S., state of science, etc.? Will you draw broader lessons learned from this deep dive?
I think this topic and the social/psych science topics in The Quick Fix have a lot of similarities in their underlying dynamics and the environment is particularly primed for changes in how science is done and talked about.
Please just finish it and publish it so we can read it
How do child psychologists and pediatricians explain their belief the human mind isn’t fully mature and able to think critically until at least age 25, yet promote harmful meds and surgeries to children and teens?
I saw horrific harm due to this medical scandal this year. Again. It should not have happened.
I am not interested in the general questions about society right now, I'm looking at the devastated kids and their families. Real, live, people being harmed, some dying, because of these lies. These particular lies.
The sooner this ends, the better.
Please get your book out there soon!
My question:
How to get the MD's and medical societies to speak up?
From here, it seems to me that a lot of people now think that the information is out there, so that anyone who needs it will be fine. (This is coupled by people refusing to say anything about the issues, so it is clear that it is not "fine" to even suggest caution, actually.)
There is no public recognition that what is pulling in the young people is a lot of lies that Mittermaier spells out: https://genspect.substack.com/p/gender-as-a-body-modification-youth
"a healthy, open, supportive trans community would not look or sound like the trans community we’ve got.
It would be honest about the risks trans people face, rather than wildly inflating those risks to instill fear. It would foster resilience and self-sufficiency in gender-questioning youth, rather than telling kids that anyone who disagrees with their worldview hates them or that exposure to ‘misgendering’ or ‘dead-naming’ can lead to suicide. A healthy, open trans community would accept that transition doesn't work for everybody and that there are legitimate reasons to detransition and exit the community. A healthy, open, supportive trans community wouldn't seek to drive a wedge between gender-questioning youth and their family members or friends who sincerely want the best for them but question whether transition is the right answer. A healthy, open, supportive trans community would invite ethical research into transition outcomes and alternatives—rather than trying to shut down inquiry—because trans-identifying people deserve high-quality care, not just ideologically-compliant ‘care.’ And a healthy, open, supportive trans community would encourage young people to explore their questions and doubts openly—recognizing transition as a serious undertaking—without fear of censure or expulsion from the group."
What government entity (American or not), sports governing body, or other rule-setting organization implements a body of policy that you consider the closest to the social or scientific ideal? Who out there, if anyone, is doing it right and has struck the proper balance?
I am eager to get Jesse's take on this, but I'll offer up the IOC's meta analysis on males in women's sports. It's not public yet, but the Times (of London) broke that story and had a podcast about it. They did a podcast on it and indicated it is the most complete scientific review of the issue, indicating that even males not going through male puberty are at an advantage. The IOC will release it after finishing their internal reviews, but once it does. the Times expects other sports bodies, like FIFA, will adopt the same policies.
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/olympics/article/olympic-ioc-transgender-athlete-ban-womens-sports-zhlpfll3b?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqeHLonzL12B9qo0ZHDu1x6zf8-98OsWP7N8JogaNThVy1CirpkJ1uJ6S6wxi9I%3D&gaa_ts=6956c096&gaa_sig=o0wOfdumThrgJjRbrWooqkdjU7hEVp6v2__Utp0nSEA-U0P1nlKexDTyqWslZryvuJfqWQfj9GaZp-HjR7Ohiw%3D%3D
Great question.
How do you go about fairly representing the pro-gender-medicine position--are there certain proponents you rely on or avoid?
I wonder if it's harder to do today than it was for you when you wrote the infamous Atlantic article. (Since I now see gender medicine as akin to the transplantation of goat glands to treat erectile dysfunction, I don't know if I could represent that position evenhandedly myself!)
I’m subscribed but didn’t get a link?
Florida filed a lawsuit against WPATH and other medical organizations regarding, alleging that the organizations are misleading the public on youth gender medicine.
What do you think will come from this, if anything?
Any other predictions regarding youth gender medicine for 2026?
Question regarding gender medicine: While it’s not usual for a patient population to have beliefs about their diagnosis or sometimes requests for certain interventions, it seems highly unusual for such large numbers of a pediatric patient population to do so. Even more unusual are kids showing up believing they have high levels of scientific knowledge about the effects of a pharmaceutical or surgical intervention and have memorized various statistics promoted by advocacy groups. Both of these are common, if not the norm amongst the group presenting to youth gender clinicians. Do you know how the practitioners in the field view the culture that has arisen around pediatric gender medicine and how it may affect decision-making and informed consent in youth?
We've seen efforts from the left to suppress research because it involves admitting that we don't yet know whether gender affirmative medicine might be the best approach; we've seen efforts from the right to suppress research because it involves admitting that gender affirmative medicine might possibly be the best approach.
Which research teams are doing the best job of moving forward while maintaining independence from activists and politicians who hope to shut down research or else force a pre-determined set of conclusions?
What is the least gender-critical take you endorse in the book?
Do you think Chase Strangio's interview with Ross Douthat marks a pivot point in that an activist admits (maybe?) that the staunch activist approach has not helped the trans community?
Jesse, is this going to be recorded so those of us unavailble at 5pm EST Friday can watch later?
I had posted a question a week ago asking about the current state of the evidence regarding many trans kids desisting if they get through puberty without blockers or hormones (question linked below), and I hadn't known your session was going to be Friday evening. I've had theater tickets and plans to see old friends for dinner & the play, and being glued to my phone during dinner might transition them to former friends 😮
https://open.substack.com/pub/jessesingal/p/ask-me-anything-anyone?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=191327441
Yes, I'm answering your question in the as-yet-unreleased AMA, and yes, you'll be able to watch afterward.
Where can I find the link for the recording? I missed the hangout.
Same question!
I’m excited for the book. How abstract are you getting in this book re: the nature of debate in the U.S., state of science, etc.? Will you draw broader lessons learned from this deep dive?
I think this topic and the social/psych science topics in The Quick Fix have a lot of similarities in their underlying dynamics and the environment is particularly primed for changes in how science is done and talked about.
Did it happen? Can I watch it?