In the past couple of decades in liberal circles the crackpot notion has gained ground that some people, believing that as they do not conform to the stereotypical notions of their biological sex, conclude that they are really the opposite sex, trapped in the wrong body. There can be no doubt that there are many people who do not conform to traditional notions of masculinity and femininity, since there are clearly effeminate men and butch women, both in character and appearance. So there must be a broad spectrum between macho men at one extreme and, for example, simpering females at the other. Each individual will slot into a point in this range according to their character, which in many cases might not accord with their biological sex. So gender is a subjective mental construct involving an almost unlimited number of variations.
The promotion of the transgender delusion has encouraged many mentally confused people to undergo physical mutilation and the injection of hormones of the opposite sex. They believe that these extreme measures will enable them to ‘transition’ to the opposite sex. The first example of this syndrome to come to public attention was the travel writer James Morris, who in the 1970s underwent this kind of physical mutilation and henceforward regarded himself as a woman, with the new name Jan Morris. Extraordinarily, Morris featured as one of the cultural icons in Andrew Marr’s recent BBC TV Series New Elizabethans, demonstrating just how embedded transgender politics has become in politically correct circles.
One of the more pernicious aspects of the transgender agenda that has gained ground in recent years is its impact on children and young teens. At the forefront of this malaise is the Tavistock Centre in North London which operates what is termed a Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) that aims to ‘help young people who experience difficulties in their gender identities.’ Unbelievably, GIDS can involve prescribing puberty blockers and opposite sex hormone treatment for young teens.
One such case was that of Keira Bell who from her mid teens was given puberty blockers, male hormone treatment therapy and then surgery to remove her breasts. However, she later concluded that she did not want to continue living as male, instead deciding to revert to being female. She clearly regretted her decision to consent to the Tavistock treatment, claiming that she was insufficiently mature to give informed consent, and had been given an inadequate psychological assessment. She subsequently took the Tavistock to the courts.
Reassuringly, the High Court recently decided in Keira’s favour declaring that is was highly unlikely that anyone ‘thirteen or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers’, or that fourteen and fifteen years olds could ‘understand and weigh the long term risks and consequences of puberty blockers’. For those sixteen and over the long term consequences of the ‘innovative and experimental treatment’ practiced by the Tavistock, is such that it would henceforth require the authorisation of the courts.
As a result of these court decisions it is highly unlikely that the Tavistock Centre will be able to administer such patently dangerous practices in the future. Once confused teenagers start to realise that playing the transgender card will no longer result in any form of physical medical intervention or uncritical support for their delusions, we should soon find that the numbers supposedly suffering from ‘gender dysphoria’ will start to drop off significantly. It is disturbing that children’s charities such as the NSPCC and Barnados have failed at any time to condemn the barbarous examples of child abuse practiced by the Tavistock Centre.
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