We Knew It Was Garbage

And it just been shown that it really was nothing but garbage research, “rapid onset gender dysphoria” was based not on research but rather ideology.

'Social contagion' isn’t causing more youths to be transgender, study finds
The study, published in Pediatrics, disputes the theory that more adolescents, particularly those assigned female at birth, are identifying as trans due to social influence.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
August 3, 2022


“Social contagion” is not driving an increasing number of adolescents to come out as transgender, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics. 

The study also found that the proportion of adolescents who were assigned female at birth and have come out as transgender also has not increased, which contradicts claims that adolescents whose birth sex is female are more susceptible to this so-called external influence. 

“The hypothesis that transgender and gender diverse youth assigned female at birth identify as transgender due to social contagion does not hold up to scrutiny and should not be used to argue against the provision of gender-affirming medical care for adolescents,” study senior author Dr. Alex S. Keuroghlian, director of the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at the Fenway Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Gender Identity Program, said in a statement.

If you remember that was a brouhaha over a study from Brown University that said that we are trans because of peer pressure. Dr. Lisa Littman, Brown professor wrote a paper back in 2018 that because of the internet more children were becoming trans right out of the blue with no warning that parents saw.

The professor recruited the subjects for her study of trans boys from a conservative anti-trans website, she didn’t interview any trans children only parents, and not any parents but parents opposed to their child’s transition.

The conservatives took the study and ran with it and even today you can see the study quoted in anti-trans states.

After intense debate and criticism, PLOS One conducted a post-publication reassessment of the article, and issued a correction that included changing the headline to clarify that Littman did not survey transgender or gender-diverse youth themselves, but actually surveyed their parents. The correction also noted that, “Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is not a formal mental health diagnosis at this time.”

In other words the study was all BS.

PLOS One wrote back in 2019…

Emphasis that this is a study of parental observations which serves to develop hypotheses

This study of parent observations and interpretations serves to develop the hypotheses that rapid-onset gender dysphoria is a phenomenon and that social influences, parent-child conflict, and maladaptive coping mechanisms may be contributing factors for some individuals. Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is not a formal mental health diagnosis at this time. This report did not collect data from the adolescents and young adults (AYAs) or clinicians and therefore does not validate the phenomenon. Additional research that includes AYAs, along with consensus among experts in the field, will be needed to determine if what is described here as rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) will become a formal diagnosis. Furthermore, the use of the term, rapid-onset gender dysphoria should be used cautiously by clinicians and parents to describe youth who appear to fall into this category. The term should not be used in a way to imply that it explains the experiences of all gender dysphoric youth nor should it be used to stigmatize vulnerable individuals. This article has been revised to better reflect that these parent reports provide information that can be used to develop hypotheses about factors that may contribute to the onset and/or expression of gender dysphoria among this demographic group.

Garbage in, garbage out.

But you still see the study quoted in testimony at legislative hearings when they ban trans healthcare and if you Google it you will find many articles that still quote the study. The San Antonio Current last month reported,

On June 15, the New York Times Magazine published “The Battle Over Gender Therapy,” an investigation into gender-affirming care for young people by staff writer Emily Bazelon. Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context. 

Now, the state of Texas is using it as evidence in an ongoing attempt to investigate trans-supportive healthcare as “child abuse.”

This study is not going away, they conservatives don’t care that the study was reputed (They claim that it was because of political pressure that the study retracted.) it makes good copy in their efforts to oppress us.