I agree with the idea that "trans people are much more likely to have experienced such harm than the general cisgender population."
But your proposal of alternative hypotheses lacks a third possibility: trauma can be both at the root of dysphoria and arise or increase as a consequence of a trans identity.
Regarding the "prominent detransitioners who oppose gender-affirming care and claim that their own gender dysphoria stemmed from unresolved traumatic stress that they wish had been identified and treated earlier," we could also formulate some hypotheses.
1) Their thesis is correct for the entire universe of people who identify or have identified as trans, but most don't know or accept this.
2) Their thesis is correct, but only for them.
3) For most people who identify as trans, the cause is not an initial trauma.
But beyond the valuable debate about why trans people exist, there's the issue of what to do when a child comes out as trans or manifests gender dysphoria.
You stated that:
"So-called 'exploratory therapy' promotes the resolution of underlying trauma as a method for resolving gender dysphoria without gender affirmation or transition."
But exploratory therapy does more than that: it waits. Yes, it waits. And what does it wait for? It waits for children to go through their endogenous puberty. As has been shown in the past, gender dysphoria is resolved in over 85% of cases simply by doing nothing; that is, by avoiding the use of blockers and hormones, since when blockers and hormones are given, in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, the vast majority end up adopting a trans gender identity. To top it all off, they continue with their gender dysphoria—albeit in some cases with attenuated effects—and many of them later detransition.
Hi Eduardo - First I want to acknowledge that I never engaged with your comment on my post that was more focused on exploratory psychotherapy and my issues with it. I intended to and it just fell off my mental to-do list. I appreciate you wanting to engage in dialogue around this and what I remember of that comment is that you shared your perspectives respectfully and with earnest commitment to engaging with my response. I hope I can take some time to respond soon. Second, the point of this substack was to share how trans identity and the opportunities it affords (particularly involvement in trans community) helped trans survivors of parental trauma. Perhaps I muddied that and invited in comments like yours by focusing on the framing of trans trauma that exists among proponents of exploratory therapy. I'll own that. But still the overall point of this is to share beautiful art and stories from trans people about the power of transness. People will come to this substack to read that, and they will likely then come to the comments and see what you've written here. I don't want that for them and so I'm going to ask you to delete this comment. I will delete it on Thursday for these reasons if you have not. I do not want the comments section of this particular post to be a place to discuss the merits of exploratory therapy and I certainly don't want it to be a place where validity is given to the idea that trauma contributes to gender dysphoria to a substantial degree nor where someone is seemingly suggesting limiting access to gender-affirming care. As I said, I hope to respond to your comment on my other post where discourse around these things is perhaps more appropriate and on topic and where I feel less concerned that our public discussion will be viewed by someone who is here hoping to see some empowering art and trans narratives.
Sebastian, on principle, I oppose anything that restricts freedom of expression, as long as it is delivered respectfully. I understand that what I'm saying may upset you or distract you from other issues you'd like to focus on. I tried to be brief and, as always, respectful. I would deeply regret it if you deleted my comment. Kind regards.
Thank you for sharing this. I want to give you a heads up that I invited Eduardo to delete his comment and if he does not, I will be deleting it, so I think that will end up removing your reply. I wanted you to know so you didn't think I had come in here and directly deleted yours <3
Well I tried to be polite about it. But I got sucked in. Look, after glancing at his Substack, Mr. Eduardo is just another Trans denier in general. He qualifies as a Substack pest, and wants to wave around his credentials. I don't care about anti-transgender mansplaining. I'm not going to say anything else. Delete away.
Hola Sunshine🌞Kenzie, ante todo, y antes de que borren mi comentario, quiero que sepas que vengo leyendo en extenso desde hace tiempo y he comentado con el mejor de los ánimos y con el mayor respeto. Lamento que mi comentario te molestara.
Con respecto a tu frase:
la idea predominante, pero no comprobada, de que los niños simplemente superarán la transexualidad con la edad.
Quisiera aclararte que eso es lo que encontraron estudios como por ejemplo este:
De los 139 participantes, 17 (12,2 %) fueron clasificados como persistentes y los 122 restantes (87,8 %) fueron clasificados como desheredados.
Como se puede ver, no todos superaron su disforia con el paso por la pubertad.
Sinceramente, yo creo que existe una minoría dentro del universo de niños con disforia de género que probablemente se beneficien de la terapia hormonal. Te soy totalmente franco, y sí, no tengo todas las respuestas, pero creo que probablemente para algunas personas ese sea el camino indicado. O probablemente no lo sea… quizás se trate simplemente de vivir sus vidas en el género que quieran sin necesidad de alteraciones hormonales o físicas. No lo sé, no estoy seguro. De lo que estoy seguro es de que todos merecemos el mayor de los respetos y que en ningún momento pretendí incomodarte a vos o a cualquier otro lector de este substack, y por supuesto, tampoco a Kinnon.
(No comparto su decisión de borrar mi comentario pero nada puedo hacer más que pedirle que recapacite.)
Looking forward to reading this asap!
I agree with the idea that "trans people are much more likely to have experienced such harm than the general cisgender population."
But your proposal of alternative hypotheses lacks a third possibility: trauma can be both at the root of dysphoria and arise or increase as a consequence of a trans identity.
Regarding the "prominent detransitioners who oppose gender-affirming care and claim that their own gender dysphoria stemmed from unresolved traumatic stress that they wish had been identified and treated earlier," we could also formulate some hypotheses.
1) Their thesis is correct for the entire universe of people who identify or have identified as trans, but most don't know or accept this.
2) Their thesis is correct, but only for them.
3) For most people who identify as trans, the cause is not an initial trauma.
But beyond the valuable debate about why trans people exist, there's the issue of what to do when a child comes out as trans or manifests gender dysphoria.
You stated that:
"So-called 'exploratory therapy' promotes the resolution of underlying trauma as a method for resolving gender dysphoria without gender affirmation or transition."
But exploratory therapy does more than that: it waits. Yes, it waits. And what does it wait for? It waits for children to go through their endogenous puberty. As has been shown in the past, gender dysphoria is resolved in over 85% of cases simply by doing nothing; that is, by avoiding the use of blockers and hormones, since when blockers and hormones are given, in a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, the vast majority end up adopting a trans gender identity. To top it all off, they continue with their gender dysphoria—albeit in some cases with attenuated effects—and many of them later detransition.
Hi Eduardo - First I want to acknowledge that I never engaged with your comment on my post that was more focused on exploratory psychotherapy and my issues with it. I intended to and it just fell off my mental to-do list. I appreciate you wanting to engage in dialogue around this and what I remember of that comment is that you shared your perspectives respectfully and with earnest commitment to engaging with my response. I hope I can take some time to respond soon. Second, the point of this substack was to share how trans identity and the opportunities it affords (particularly involvement in trans community) helped trans survivors of parental trauma. Perhaps I muddied that and invited in comments like yours by focusing on the framing of trans trauma that exists among proponents of exploratory therapy. I'll own that. But still the overall point of this is to share beautiful art and stories from trans people about the power of transness. People will come to this substack to read that, and they will likely then come to the comments and see what you've written here. I don't want that for them and so I'm going to ask you to delete this comment. I will delete it on Thursday for these reasons if you have not. I do not want the comments section of this particular post to be a place to discuss the merits of exploratory therapy and I certainly don't want it to be a place where validity is given to the idea that trauma contributes to gender dysphoria to a substantial degree nor where someone is seemingly suggesting limiting access to gender-affirming care. As I said, I hope to respond to your comment on my other post where discourse around these things is perhaps more appropriate and on topic and where I feel less concerned that our public discussion will be viewed by someone who is here hoping to see some empowering art and trans narratives.
Sebastian, on principle, I oppose anything that restricts freedom of expression, as long as it is delivered respectfully. I understand that what I'm saying may upset you or distract you from other issues you'd like to focus on. I tried to be brief and, as always, respectful. I would deeply regret it if you deleted my comment. Kind regards.
Thank you for sharing this. I want to give you a heads up that I invited Eduardo to delete his comment and if he does not, I will be deleting it, so I think that will end up removing your reply. I wanted you to know so you didn't think I had come in here and directly deleted yours <3
Well I tried to be polite about it. But I got sucked in. Look, after glancing at his Substack, Mr. Eduardo is just another Trans denier in general. He qualifies as a Substack pest, and wants to wave around his credentials. I don't care about anti-transgender mansplaining. I'm not going to say anything else. Delete away.
Hola Sunshine🌞Kenzie, ante todo, y antes de que borren mi comentario, quiero que sepas que vengo leyendo en extenso desde hace tiempo y he comentado con el mejor de los ánimos y con el mayor respeto. Lamento que mi comentario te molestara.
Con respecto a tu frase:
la idea predominante, pero no comprobada, de que los niños simplemente superarán la transexualidad con la edad.
Quisiera aclararte que eso es lo que encontraron estudios como por ejemplo este:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33854450/
De los 139 participantes, 17 (12,2 %) fueron clasificados como persistentes y los 122 restantes (87,8 %) fueron clasificados como desheredados.
Como se puede ver, no todos superaron su disforia con el paso por la pubertad.
Sinceramente, yo creo que existe una minoría dentro del universo de niños con disforia de género que probablemente se beneficien de la terapia hormonal. Te soy totalmente franco, y sí, no tengo todas las respuestas, pero creo que probablemente para algunas personas ese sea el camino indicado. O probablemente no lo sea… quizás se trate simplemente de vivir sus vidas en el género que quieran sin necesidad de alteraciones hormonales o físicas. No lo sé, no estoy seguro. De lo que estoy seguro es de que todos merecemos el mayor de los respetos y que en ningún momento pretendí incomodarte a vos o a cualquier otro lector de este substack, y por supuesto, tampoco a Kinnon.
(No comparto su decisión de borrar mi comentario pero nada puedo hacer más que pedirle que recapacite.)
Te mando un saludo cordial.