A leading psychologist in the world of transgender care is now saying things have gone too far.
Erica Anderson, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, has helped hundreds of children transition. But Anderson is concerned that society’s promotion of this could be merely a fad in which teenagers undergo life-altering medical procedures without first doing a rigorous mental health exam.
“What happens when the perfect storm — of social isolation, exponentially increased consumption of social media, the popularity of alternative identities — affects the actual development of individual kids?” Anderson told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re sailing in uncharted seas.”
Children were “getting into it because it’s trendy,” the psychologist told the Washington Post.
Recently, the Washington Examiner published a four-part series on teenagers and transgender issues that included interviews with young people who detransitioned and now face a lifetime of pain and medical problems related to surgeries and cross-sex hormones.
One story in the series featured a Miami plastic surgeon who promotes mastectomies and gender reassignment surgeries to children on TikTok. Dr. Sidhbh Gallagher downplayed surgery in one post, saying it wasn’t any worse than wisdom teeth removal.
In another video, Gallagher pushed the idea that surgery sign-up was quick and easy.
“In certain patient cases, we can skip a mental health letter. … This is becoming more common as we see regret is very rare,” the surgeon said.
Social media outlets are filled with hundreds of young people bemoaning their surgeries and cross-sex hormones, seeking advice on the best way to detransition. The Washington Examiner profiled two women who were angry over their lack of knowledge before undergoing procedures that would now give them a lifetime of pain.
Despite this, the federal government and some states are promoting transgender healthcare for teenagers, including surgeries, while threatening to take children away from parents who aren’t on board with transitioning.
On the other side are a growing number of red states seeking to outlaw such medical procedures on minors.
Currently, only Texas and Arkansas have laws on the books, while 11 other states (Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee) have bills seeking to do this, according to a UCLA School of Law study. Most recently, a bill in Idaho failed to pass the GOP-led Senate because it included restrictions on parents who crossed state lines for treatment.
“Giving over to hormones on demand will result in many more cases of poor outcomes and many more disappointed kids and parents who somehow came to believe that giving kids hormones would cure their other psychological problems,” Anderson told the Los Angeles Times. “It won’t.”
Reporting from The Washington Examiner.
