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Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

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Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#11

Post by waterpigcow »

eximius wrote: post #5

I can't help but wonder how much is attention seeking - wanting to feel special, different - which is a disservice to those who really would normally have this... Condition sounds negative, but I'll use it for lack of a better term.

I don't think it's a conscious choice. I would think its a psychological phenomenon possibly more common in those who are naturally attention seeking but i doubt they intentionally mean to seek attention. i do agree that if they are attention seeking it could detract from the rest of the trans community.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#12

Post by ticviking »

hackerbrother wrote: post #6
ticviking wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to agree with you there, but what evidence would convince you of some different explanation?

Why assume that evidence wouldn't convince them of some different explanation?

because their comment is entirely unresponsive to the evidence discussed in the OP, which suggests that there is some kind of new thing happening in at least some of these cases.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#14

Post by empath75 »

I know this is controversial and I have adult friends that I believe are truly transgender and seem happy after transitioning, but man do I feel uncomfortable diagnosing prepubescent or adolescents as ‘transgender’. I think kids should absolutely be allowed to choose their identity and dress how they like and be called what they like. I’ve got a 2 year old boy and if when he’s five he wants to wear dresses and call himself Tina, I’m okay with that, no judgement, but at the point where there’s medical intervention is where I draw the line. Puberty and hormones are weird and unpredictable and you never know how someone will be when they’re 20 or 22 compared to where they are when they’re 12 or 9 or even 16.

If someone is a full grown adult and fully understands the consequences, they should be able to do what they like, but for children I don’t think adults should be pushing permanent life-changing medical treatments on them.

Edit: I'm just going to add another thing. As someone who thinks traditional gender roles are largely bullshit, I think it's unfortunate that kids who may prefer clothes or activities traditionally associated with the opposite gender are being pushed to believe that they actually are that gender. Why can't boys like to wear "girly" clothes and play with dolls without being told they're actually a girl inside? Why can't girls cut their hair short and play sports without being told they must really somehow literally be a boy?

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#15

Post by escardin »

krona wrote: post #4
alexmorse wrote: post #2

Because it's becoming acceptable to talk about it

If that is the only explanation then we would see far more boys being diagnosed.

I would say it is far less acceptable for boys to talk about their gender dysphoria than is it for girls, if only because even if a girl wears boys clothes and doesn't 'pass' they'll receive much less attention than the opposite situation.

That's entirely without considering the stigma society imposes on men who want to talk about their mental health at all.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#16

Post by eximius »

waterpigcow wrote: post #11
eximius wrote: post #5

I can't help but wonder how much is attention seeking - wanting to feel special, different - which is a disservice to those who really would normally have this... Condition sounds negative, but I'll use it for lack of a better term.

I don't think it's a conscious choice. I would think its a psychological phenomenon possibly more common in those who are naturally attention seeking but i doubt they intentionally mean to seek attention. i do agree that if they are attention seeking it could detract from the rest of the trans community.

I'm certainly not attributing malice to it, or conscious choice. As someone else said, the newfound acceptance of talking about it could have made it a new outlet of attention seeking. Most people at that stage in their life don't choose that kind of thing and don't self-reflect unless it's pointed out.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#17

Post by lightbyte »

empath75 wrote: post #14

I know this is controversial and I have adult friends that I believe are truly transgender and seem happy after transitioning, but man do I feel uncomfortable diagnosing prepubescent or adolescents as ‘transgender’. I think kids should absolutely be allowed to choose their identity and dress how they like and be called what they like. I’ve got a 2 year old boy and if when he’s five he wants to wear dresses and call h…

I agree that it sounds uncomfortable for a child to make just a permanent life-changing decision like that, but the counter point is that transitioning is significantly easier on the body and mind before puberty happens.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#18

Post by dragonwriter »

krona wrote: post #4
alexmorse wrote: post #2

Because it's becoming acceptable to talk about it

If that is the only explanation then we would see far more boys being diagnosed.

That assumes it is acceptable to talk about it equally across genders.

But it's not exactly implausible that people socially gendered as boys face stronger social pressure against revealing insecurities, in general, both in their peer groups and in general.

Even with no difference specific to gender dysphoria, this could prevent the same phenomenon from manifesting with boys, or at least create a higher threshold of societal awareness and acceptance of gender dysphoria before that acceptance combined with the degree of general acceptability of boys revealing insecurities produces a similar effect to what has been seen in girls in this case.

Re: Why the surge in gender dysphoria among teenage girls?

#20

Post by eximius »

lightbyte wrote: post #17
empath75 wrote: post #14

I know this is controversial and I have adult friends that I believe are truly transgender and seem happy after transitioning, but man do I feel uncomfortable diagnosing prepubescent or adolescents as ‘transgender’. I think kids should absolutely be allowed to choose their identity and dress how they like and be called what they like. I’ve got a 2 year old boy and if when he’s five he wants to wear dresses and call h…

I agree that it sounds uncomfortable for a child to make just a permanent life-changing decision like that, but the counter point is that transitioning is significantly easier on the body and mind before puberty happens.

It's definitely a catch-22.

In the vein of 'do no harm', I'd tend towards delaying it, even though it might be harder later, rather than proactively pushing a treatment that will later be revealed to be a mistake. It's too hard to present the options to a child without putting bias and pressure on them.

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