Do all “transgender” people have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria?
❏ Not any more. Gender dysphoria is a well-documented psychological condition that used to mainly affect men. Hormone and surgical treatments were devised to assist adult men and a “watchful waiting” approach was taken for young people with gender dysphoria because up to 94% come to accept their biological sex as adults. In the past twelve years two major changes have happened:
▪ Firstly, there has been an exponential rise in the number of children and teenagers attending “gender transition” clinics around the Western world. In the UK, over the ten years from 2009 to 2019, the increase was more than 1,400% for boys and more than 5,000% for girls, meaning girls are now far more likely to identify as “transgender” than are boys. Very high rates of autism, psychiatric disorders and a history of trauma had often been diagnosed in these patients before they announced they wanted to “change gender”.
▪ Secondly, many “transgender” people are claiming a new “gender identity” without a diagnosis of dysphoria and sometimes even without intending to have any hormone or surgical treatment.
❏ Because of these changes, “transgender” is now an umbrella term that does include some people with diagnosed gender dysphoria, but also many people who simply like cross-dressing, or are non-conforming to gender stereotypes, or who have sexual paraphilias or paraphilic disorders, such as pedophilia or autogynephilia.
❏ Alarmingly, “transgender” now also includes and protects male sexual predators, who use a female identity as cover for their abuse and to claim leniency when convicted.