“Ideation” is not as harsh as “delusion” which is more sharply focused, but it certainly pulls attention away from the pretending someone is unhappy with mystic gender. Kudos.
I do think it’s a delusion that has become very popular with young people who like to” follow the leader “. It has been fostered by social media, by huge monetary backup , by even larger profits . There are many causes but basically it’s a modern day mass hysteria or mass delusion with victims and perpetrators. Thankfully the direct victims are a minority , unfortunately, there are many others who have become victims, losing their livelihood and reputations.
In summary, this is a totalitarian movement, one that has disrupted society.
Yes, yes, yes!!! Finally- you put to words what my intuition could not. This is what SO many people who could help stop this madness are missing and do not understand. THERE IS MORE TO THIS IDEOLOGY THAN A SENSE OF KIDS JUST ‘knowing’ their ‘true’ selves! The culture around our kids is 💯% affecting their behavior, thoughts and decisions. Like all adolescents for thousands of years. Ugh. Why are some people so willing to NOT grasp this?? This article is great. I need to read it again and again.
This is a great article. One thing I want to point out, however, is that the lifecycle of Transgender ideation is often, sadly, indeed a cycle. The arrow you have going toward "desistance"? Sometimes, there is another arrow, going right back into rumination. So many desist but stay in the ideology.
You are correct. They never truly desist until they leave the whole ideology behind. The phenomenon of adolescents accepting the reality of their sex but then still wanting to claim a masculine identity along with the medicalisation is a real challenge.
An excellent article. In the world of gender ideology, words are important. Trans advocates use words as weapons to warp reality and to shame. Sex is "identified at birth" instead of simply observed at birth as a biological fact. Gender critical thinkers are labeled transphobic bigots so ideologues don't have to engage in rational discourse with their ideas.
I applaud this shift in terminology. Transgender ideation is a psychological phenomenon brought on by social media, peer pressure, culture, and, sadly sometimes by pressure from authority figures such as doctors, therapists and teachers. A transgender identity is often assigned by these authority figures to confused youth and vulnerable adults.
As some have noted, the transgender social contagion is primarily a white people phenomenon. Assuming a transgender identity allows people of European ancestry shamed as oppressors who live with white privilege to become an oppressed minority and shed their vilified role as colonialist oppressors. It's a get-out-of-jail-free card for white youth who have been shamed and bullied by woke ideology and proponents of critical race theory.
The discussion of how brains do not fully mature until the mid-20s suggests that cross-sex hormone therapy and surgeries should be banned for minors and vulnerable youth to age 25. Thereafter if adults want these interventions, they can pay for them like all other elective cosmetic treatments.
“Transgender ideation” shifts the focus away from medical solutions and encourages a more holistic approach. (I'm going to utilize this in how I talk about it. Thank you!
This is a great post and something Ive been thinking about all along. I’ve always felt "ideation" is a much more appropriate word, considering everything starts with an idea—and ideas can change. As a detransitioner, my ideas changed eight years later. I believe that if many of the changes and additions to language had been deemed unacceptable a long time ago, far fewer rational people would have become trapped in the ideology.
The truth is, humans can be lazy, and instead of digging for the facts themselves, they often accept ideas dressed up with magical thinking and scientific-sounding labels. This adds confusion, and to most mainstream people who just don’t want to offend (lazy sheep) anyone, because it sounds scientific so must be legitimate—right?
What an ironic twist. To use the same tool to respond to the social activist protagonists, linguistic manipulation. Simple and pragmatic, the best “ return of service”
You're missing autogynephilia from your list under "susceptibility", which will be the main reason for typically masculine adolescent boys who suddenly claim they are "trans" out of the blue:
It is our view that autogynephilia, when it does manifest in adolescents, is, like transgenderism, just another harmful ideation. Therefore, it is not so much a susceptibility, but more an additional symptom, oftentimes the first.
That's incorrect. Autogynephilia is not the the symptom, it's the cause in adolescent males who suddenly identify as "trans", and is the common factor to the other phenomena that you list.
I can speak from experience, as someone who dealt with this issue as an adolescent boy growing up in the late 1990s. I haven't seen any compelling analysis that suggests there is anything more than autogynephilia.
There's an odd paraphilia, called autogynephilia in males, which leads to cross-sex identification. It co-occurs with "stuff fetishism", e.g. preference for certain materials, and another strange phenomenon called pseudo-bisexuality.
What is the pseudo-bisexuality? I think Dr. Az Hakeem (with whom you may disagree about various things, I don’t know) mentioned a similar or same phenomenon where otherwise hetero males with AGP will engage in, for lack of a better word, passionless sex with other males (who may or may not also be AGP) just as another way to live out the fantasy and get “affirmation” of their “women” identities. Is that what you’re referring to?
'Transgender ideation' is a useful concept, but it is not a direct replacement for 'gender dysphoria' which just means 'bearing gender badly'. It would be possible for an individual with transgender ideation to have no dysphoria, or even gender euphoria.
The delusional aspect regarding body parts is already covered by 'body integrity disorder', which currently has a caveat de-linking it from gender dysphoria because of activist interference with reference texts. I wrote about this recently in my article for Genspect.
Do you think? I am unsure that anyone would develop the sorts of feelings that are lumped together to attempt a spurious diagnosis of a non-existent pathology without having been given the idea that one is anything other than who they are. Moreover, I have not seen any evidence (one way or the other) that would make me reconsider the formulation we have arrived at from the aggregated testimonies of thousands of parents.
Having said that, it is certainly the case that some people have some of the feelings associated with gender dysphoria prior to transgender ideation. However, I would dispute that those feelings constitute a valid pathological diagnosis of anything, and transgender ideation arrives pretty swiftly in some of those cases (which only serves to worsen their distress). For the others, resolution develops over time.
I would agree; a child who does not comply with gender stereotypes, and as a result is made to feel broken in some way, is not necessarily suffering from any underlying physical condition. Gender clinics don't even test for any such condition before starting treatment of the children.
“Ideation” is not as harsh as “delusion” which is more sharply focused, but it certainly pulls attention away from the pretending someone is unhappy with mystic gender. Kudos.
I do think it’s a delusion that has become very popular with young people who like to” follow the leader “. It has been fostered by social media, by huge monetary backup , by even larger profits . There are many causes but basically it’s a modern day mass hysteria or mass delusion with victims and perpetrators. Thankfully the direct victims are a minority , unfortunately, there are many others who have become victims, losing their livelihood and reputations.
In summary, this is a totalitarian movement, one that has disrupted society.
Indeed! It is akin to the behaviours that ended up with the witch trials and the hysterical mimicking behaviours of girls in Le Roy, N.Y.
Yes, yes, yes!!! Finally- you put to words what my intuition could not. This is what SO many people who could help stop this madness are missing and do not understand. THERE IS MORE TO THIS IDEOLOGY THAN A SENSE OF KIDS JUST ‘knowing’ their ‘true’ selves! The culture around our kids is 💯% affecting their behavior, thoughts and decisions. Like all adolescents for thousands of years. Ugh. Why are some people so willing to NOT grasp this?? This article is great. I need to read it again and again.
This is a great article. One thing I want to point out, however, is that the lifecycle of Transgender ideation is often, sadly, indeed a cycle. The arrow you have going toward "desistance"? Sometimes, there is another arrow, going right back into rumination. So many desist but stay in the ideology.
You are correct. They never truly desist until they leave the whole ideology behind. The phenomenon of adolescents accepting the reality of their sex but then still wanting to claim a masculine identity along with the medicalisation is a real challenge.
An excellent article. In the world of gender ideology, words are important. Trans advocates use words as weapons to warp reality and to shame. Sex is "identified at birth" instead of simply observed at birth as a biological fact. Gender critical thinkers are labeled transphobic bigots so ideologues don't have to engage in rational discourse with their ideas.
I applaud this shift in terminology. Transgender ideation is a psychological phenomenon brought on by social media, peer pressure, culture, and, sadly sometimes by pressure from authority figures such as doctors, therapists and teachers. A transgender identity is often assigned by these authority figures to confused youth and vulnerable adults.
As some have noted, the transgender social contagion is primarily a white people phenomenon. Assuming a transgender identity allows people of European ancestry shamed as oppressors who live with white privilege to become an oppressed minority and shed their vilified role as colonialist oppressors. It's a get-out-of-jail-free card for white youth who have been shamed and bullied by woke ideology and proponents of critical race theory.
The discussion of how brains do not fully mature until the mid-20s suggests that cross-sex hormone therapy and surgeries should be banned for minors and vulnerable youth to age 25. Thereafter if adults want these interventions, they can pay for them like all other elective cosmetic treatments.
Alice - the TQ ideologues are working hard to colonise Asia and Africa - easiest to do in those cultures that are already homophobic.
“Transgender ideation” shifts the focus away from medical solutions and encourages a more holistic approach. (I'm going to utilize this in how I talk about it. Thank you!
This is a great post and something Ive been thinking about all along. I’ve always felt "ideation" is a much more appropriate word, considering everything starts with an idea—and ideas can change. As a detransitioner, my ideas changed eight years later. I believe that if many of the changes and additions to language had been deemed unacceptable a long time ago, far fewer rational people would have become trapped in the ideology.
The truth is, humans can be lazy, and instead of digging for the facts themselves, they often accept ideas dressed up with magical thinking and scientific-sounding labels. This adds confusion, and to most mainstream people who just don’t want to offend (lazy sheep) anyone, because it sounds scientific so must be legitimate—right?
What an ironic twist. To use the same tool to respond to the social activist protagonists, linguistic manipulation. Simple and pragmatic, the best “ return of service”
Thank you for a wonderful article. Clear, sober and concise.
You're missing autogynephilia from your list under "susceptibility", which will be the main reason for typically masculine adolescent boys who suddenly claim they are "trans" out of the blue:
https://transpolicy.substack.com/p/how-to-recognise-autogynephilia
I support the general idea to re-frame this issue, and have written about the need to reframe "gender identity" here:
https://genspect.org/redefining-gender-identity-a-call-for-the-return-of-cross-sex-identity-disorder/
It is our view that autogynephilia, when it does manifest in adolescents, is, like transgenderism, just another harmful ideation. Therefore, it is not so much a susceptibility, but more an additional symptom, oftentimes the first.
That's incorrect. Autogynephilia is not the the symptom, it's the cause in adolescent males who suddenly identify as "trans", and is the common factor to the other phenomena that you list.
I can speak from experience, as someone who dealt with this issue as an adolescent boy growing up in the late 1990s. I haven't seen any compelling analysis that suggests there is anything more than autogynephilia.
There's an odd paraphilia, called autogynephilia in males, which leads to cross-sex identification. It co-occurs with "stuff fetishism", e.g. preference for certain materials, and another strange phenomenon called pseudo-bisexuality.
What is the pseudo-bisexuality? I think Dr. Az Hakeem (with whom you may disagree about various things, I don’t know) mentioned a similar or same phenomenon where otherwise hetero males with AGP will engage in, for lack of a better word, passionless sex with other males (who may or may not also be AGP) just as another way to live out the fantasy and get “affirmation” of their “women” identities. Is that what you’re referring to?
That is correct.
(I disagree with Hakeem in other respects, but he seems to be correct here, if that's what he said).
I couldn’t agree more. I think this term is very appropriate.
'Transgender ideation' is a useful concept, but it is not a direct replacement for 'gender dysphoria' which just means 'bearing gender badly'. It would be possible for an individual with transgender ideation to have no dysphoria, or even gender euphoria.
The delusional aspect regarding body parts is already covered by 'body integrity disorder', which currently has a caveat de-linking it from gender dysphoria because of activist interference with reference texts. I wrote about this recently in my article for Genspect.
https://genspect.substack.com/p/why-do-transgender-people-hate-their
Yes, well, if you had read the full description of transgender ideation then you would have found that this point is well covered.
Where is this full description please? I didn't get that sense from this article.
https://ourduty.group/education/lifecycle-of-transgender-ideation/
Thanks for the link, but my take is slightly different. It would be possible to have gender dysphoria without any transgender ideation.
Do you think? I am unsure that anyone would develop the sorts of feelings that are lumped together to attempt a spurious diagnosis of a non-existent pathology without having been given the idea that one is anything other than who they are. Moreover, I have not seen any evidence (one way or the other) that would make me reconsider the formulation we have arrived at from the aggregated testimonies of thousands of parents.
Having said that, it is certainly the case that some people have some of the feelings associated with gender dysphoria prior to transgender ideation. However, I would dispute that those feelings constitute a valid pathological diagnosis of anything, and transgender ideation arrives pretty swiftly in some of those cases (which only serves to worsen their distress). For the others, resolution develops over time.
I would agree; a child who does not comply with gender stereotypes, and as a result is made to feel broken in some way, is not necessarily suffering from any underlying physical condition. Gender clinics don't even test for any such condition before starting treatment of the children.