Jacob Edward “Ed” Les is a Canadian pediatrician who has written inflammatory materials about trans and gender diverse people.
Les is involved with anti-trans organization Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM).
Les maintained a blog called Ruminations on a personal site, later moved to Substack.
In 2023, Les began hosting a podcast called Cloudy with a Risk of Children.
References
Siobhan (January 30, 2019). Calgary Physician Calls Transgender People âDemented, Distorted.â Freethought Blogs https://freethoughtblogs.com/atg/2019/01/30/calgary-physician-calls-transgender-people-demented-distorted/ [archive]
“Dr Sarah” (February 1, 2019). The Transphobic Comments Of Dr Jacob Edward Les. Geeky Humanist / Freethought Blogs https://freethoughtblogs.com/geekyhumanist/2019/02/01/the-transphobic-comments-of-dr-jacob-edward-les/ [archive]
Resources
Ed Les (dredles.com) [site active 2018â2021: archive]
Twitter (/twitter.com)
Substack (substack.com)
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the United States.
2018 position statement
In 2018, three AAP committees involved in healthcare for gender diverse youth published a position statement
AAP rejects gender identity change efforts (GICE) created by conservative 20th-century clinicians who wanted to prevent the “bad outcome” of transgender adults:
In contrast, âconversionâ or âreparativeâ treatment models are used to prevent children and adolescents from identifying as transgender or to dissuade them from exhibiting gender-diverse expressions. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has concluded that any therapeutic intervention with the goal of changing a youthâs gender expression or identity is inappropriate. Reparative approaches have been proven to be not only unsuccessful but also deleterious and are considered outside the mainstream of traditional medical practice. The AAP described reparative approaches as âunfair and deceptive.â At the time of this writing, conversion therapy was banned by executive regulation in New York and by legislative statutes in 9 other states as well as the District of Columbia.
AAP also rejects the outdated non-affirming approach called “gender exploratory therapy” or “watchful waiting.”
Research substantiates that children who are prepubertal and assert an identity of TGD know their gender as clearly and as consistently as their developmentally equivalent peers who identify as cisgender and benefit from the same level of social acceptance. This developmental approach to gender affirmation is in contrast to the outdated approach in which a childâs gender-diverse assertions are held as âpossibly trueâ until an arbitrary age (often after pubertal onset) when they can be considered valid, an approach that authors of the literature have termed âwatchful waiting.â This outdated approach does not serve the child because critical support is withheld. Watchful waiting is based on binary notions of gender in which gender diversity and fluidity is pathologized; in watchful waiting, it is also assumed that notions of gender identity become fixed at a certain age. The approach is also influenced by a group of early studies with validity concerns, methodologic flaws, and limited follow-up on children who identified as TGD and, by adolescence, did not seek further treatment (âdesistersâ). More robust and current research suggests that, rather than focusing on who a child will become, valuing them for who they are, even at a young age, fosters secure attachment and resilience, not only for the child but also for the whole family.
In 2022, AAP President Moira Szilagyi wrote following their annual convention:
“There is strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate. It can even be lifesaving. The decision of whether and when to start gender-affirming treatment, which does not necessarily lead to hormone therapy or surgery, is personal and involves careful consideration by each patient and their family.”
Szilagyi (2022)
For this stance, the AAP has been attacked by anti-trans activists, including James Cantor, Julia Mason, Leor Sapir, Aaron Sibarium, Jamie Reed, Matilda Gosling, Jesse Singal, Colin Wright, and the conservative anti-trans hate group American College of Pediatricians.
References
Rafferty J et al (2018). Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics (2018) 142 (4): e20182162. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2162 Authors: Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health; Committee on Adolescence; Section on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health and Wellness Michael Yogman, MD; Rebecca Baum, MD; Thresia B. Gambon, MD; Arthur Lavin, MD; Gerri Mattson, MD; Lawrence Sagin Wissow, MD; Cora Breuner, MD; Elizabeth M. Alderman, MD; Laura K. Grubb, MD; Makia E. Powers, MD; Krishna Upadhya, MD; Stephenie B. Wallace, MD; Lynn Hunt, MD; Anne Teresa Gearhart, MD; Christopher Harris, MD; Kathryn Melland Lowe, MD; Chadwick Taylor Rodgers, MD; Ilana Michelle Sherer, MD
Szilagyi M (August 10, 2022). Why We Stand Up for Transgender Children and Teens https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/aap-voices/why-we-stand-up-for-transgender-children-and-teens/
Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics (aap.org)
Healthy Children (healthychildren.org)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Some transgender and gender diverse people choose medical options as part of a gender transition. The following medical specialties can be involved in trans and gender diverse healthcare.
Related specialties
- Anesthesiology
- Dermatology
- Endocrinology
- Infectious disease
- Neurology
- Obstetrics and gynecology
- Pediatrics
- Psychiatry
- Reproductive medicine
- Surgery
- General surgery
- Craniofacial Surgery
- Oral and maxillofacial surgery
- Plastic surgery
- Urology
Medical professionals who are trans
Trans and gender diverse physicians, surgeons, and healthcare professionals have been documented throughout recorded history. This list is incomplete and focuses on physicians and surgeons the past 150 years.
- Robert Allen (radiology) British, born 1914
- Rebecca Allison (cardiology) American, born 1946
- Janis Ashley (pediatrician) American, born 1951, retransitioned 1989
- Ben Barres (neurology) American, 1954â2017
- James Barry (surgeon) British, 1789â1865
- Sara Kristine Becker (primary care) American, born 1951
- Deborah Bershel (primary care) American, born 1953 deborahbershel.com
- Dana Beyer (primary care) American, born 1952
- Marci Bowers (gynecology, surgery) American, born 1958
- Camille Cabral (dermatologist) French-Brazilian, born 1944
- Richard Curtis (primary care) Polish-British, born 1967
- Eleno de CĂ©spedes (1545-died after 1588)
- Madeline Brianna “Maddie” Deutsch (primary care) born September 1, 1972
- Ewan Forbes (primary care)Â British, 1912â1991
- Alan L. Hart (radiologist) American, 1890â1962
- Gloria Hemingway (primary care) American, 1931â2001
- Sheila Kirk (gynecology, surgery) American, born 1930
- Jamie Koufman (plastic surgeon) American, born 1947
- Anne Lawrence (anesthesiology) American, born 1950
- Ellie Zara Ley (plastic surgery), Mexican-American, born 1974
- Robertina Manganaro (primary care) Italian, born 1958
- Carys Massarella (emergency medicine) Canadian, born 1965
- Christine McGinn (plastic surgeon) American, born 1969
- Sarah Muirhead-Allwood (orthopedic surgeon) British, born 1947
- Alice Novic (psychiatrist) American, born 1963
- Madeleine Pelletier (psychiatrist) French, 1874â1939
- Eugene Perkins (primary care) American, 1869â1936
- Renée Richards (ophthalmology) American, born 1934
- Joy Shaffer (primary care) American, born 1955
- Georgina Somerset (dentist) [DSD] British, 1923â2013
- Mary Edwards Walker (surgeon) American, 1832â1919
Resources
A Gender Variance Who’s Who (zagria.blogspot.com)
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a national professional organization of over 270,000 medical professionals.
Founded in 1847, their goals are scientific advancement, standards for medical education, launching a program of medical ethics, and improved public health.
Trans and gender diverse people
AMA has published several positions and policies supporting transgender and gender diverse populations.
H-65.964
- Access to Basic Human Services for Transgender Individuals H-65.964
- Our AMA: (1) opposes policies preventing transgender individuals from accessing basic human services and public facilities in line with oneâs gender identity, including, but not limited to, the use of restrooms; and (2) will advocate for the creation of policies that promote social equality and safe access to basic human services and public facilities for transgender individuals according to oneâs gender identity.
H-185.950
- Removing Financial Barriers to Care for Transgender Patients
- Our AMA supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria as recommended by the patient’s physician. (2016)
H-460.893
- Patient-Reported Outcomes in Gender Confirmation Surgery
- Our AMA supports: (1) initiatives and research developed by specialty societies and other relevant stakeholders to establish standardized protocols for patient selection, surgical management, and preoperative and postoperative care for transgender patients undergoing gender confirmation surgeries; and (2) implementation of standardized tools, such as questionnaires, developed by specialty societies and other relevant stakeholders to evaluate outcomes of gender confirmation surgeries. (2018)
H-65.956
- Right for Gamete Preservation Therapies
- 1. Fertility preservation services are recognized by our AMA as an option for the members of the transgender and non-binary community who wish to preserve future fertility through gamete preservation prior to undergoing gender affirming medical or surgical therapies.2. Our AMA supports the right of transgender or non-binary individuals to seek gamete preservation therapies.
H-430.982
- Appropriate Placement of Transgender Prisoners
- 1. Our AMA supports the ability of transgender prisoners to be placed in facilities, if they so choose, that are reflective of their affirmed gender status, regardless of the prisonerâs genitalia, chromosomal make-up, hormonal treatment, or non-, pre-, or post-operative status.
- 2. Our AMA supports that the facilities housing transgender prisoners shall not be a form of administrative segregation or solitary confinement. (2018)
H-40.966
- Military Medical Policies Affecting Transgender Individuals
- Our American Medical Association affirms that there is no medically valid reason to exclude transgender individuals from service in the US military and affirms transgender service members be provided care as determined by patient and physician according to the same medical standards that apply to non-transgender personnel.
H-60.927
- Reducing Suicide Risk Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Through Collaboration with Allied Organizations
- Our AMA will partner with public and private organizations dedicated to public health and public policy to reduce lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth suicide and improve health among LGBTQ youth. (2012)
H-460.907
- Encouraging Research Into the Impact of Long-Term Administration of Hormone Replacement Therapy in Transgender Patients
- Our AMA encourages research into the impact of long-term administration of hormone replacement therapy in transgender patients.
H-65.957
- Preventing Anti-Transgender Violence
- Our AMA will: (1) partner with other medical organizations and stakeholders to immediately increase efforts to educate the general public, legislators, and members of law enforcement using verified data related to the hate crimes against transgender individuals highlighting the disproportionate number of Black transgender women who have succumbed to violent deaths: (2) advocate for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to consistently collect and report data on hate crimes, including victim demographics, to the FBI; for the federal government to provide incentives for such reporting; and for demographic data on an individualâs birth sex and gender identity be incorporated into the National Crime Victimization Survey and the National Violent Death Reporting System, in order to quickly identify positive and negative trends so resources may be appropriately disseminated; (3) advocate for a central law enforcement database to collect data about reported hate crimes that correctly identifies an individualâs birth sex and gender identity, in order to quickly identify positive and negative trends so resources may be appropriately disseminated; (4) advocate for stronger law enforcement policies regarding interactions with transgender individuals to prevent bias and mistreatment and increase community trust; and (5) advocate for local, state, and federal efforts that will increase access to mental health treatment and that will develop models designed to address the health disparities that LGBTQ individuals experience.
D-460.966
- Endorsing the Creation of a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Research IRB Training
- Our AMA will work with appropriate stakeholders to support the creation of model training for Institutional Review Boards to use and/or modify for their unique institutional needs as it relates to research collecting data on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender and Queer populations.
H-60.927
- Reducing Suicide Risk Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Through Collaboration with Allied Organizations
- Our AMA will partner with public and private organizations dedicated to public health and public policy to reduce lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth suicide and improve health among LGBTQ youth.
H-160.991
- Health Care Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Populations
- 1. Our AMA: (a) believes that the physician’s nonjudgmental recognition of patients’ sexual orientations, sexual behaviors, and gender identities enhances the ability to render optimal patient care in health as well as in illness. In the case of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and other (LGBTQ) patients, this recognition is especially important to address the specific health care needs of people who are or may be LGBTQ; (b) is committed to taking a leadership role in: (i) educating physicians on the current state of research in and knowledge of LGBTQ Health and the need to elicit relevant gender and sexuality information from our patients; these efforts should start in medical school, but must also be a part of continuing medical education; (ii) educating physicians to recognize the physical and psychological needs of LGBTQ patients; (iii) encouraging the development of educational programs in LGBTQ Health; (iv) encouraging physicians to seek out local or national experts in the health care needs of LGBTQ people so that all physicians will achieve a better understanding of the medical needs of these populations; and (v) working with LGBTQ communities to offer physicians the opportunity to better understand the medical needs of LGBTQ patients; and (c) opposes, the use of “reparative” or “conversion” therapy for sexual orientation or gender identity.
- 2. Our AMA will collaborate with our partner organizations to educate physicians regarding: (i) the need for sexual and gender minority individuals to undergo regular cancer and sexually transmitted infection screenings based on anatomy due to their comparable or elevated risk for these conditions; and (ii) the need for comprehensive screening for sexually transmitted diseases in men who have sex with men; (iii) appropriate safe sex techniques to avoid the risk for sexually transmitted diseases; and (iv) that individuals who identify as a sexual and/or gender minority (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning individuals) experience intimate partner violence, and how sexual and gender minorities present with intimate partner violence differs from their cisgender, heterosexual peers and may have unique complicating factors.
- 3. Our AMA will continue to work alongside our partner organizations, including GLMA, to increase physician competency on LGBTQ health issues.
- 4. Our AMA will continue to explore opportunities to collaborate with other organizations, focusing on issues of mutual concern in order to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date education and information to enable the provision of high quality and culturally competent care to LGBTQ people.
H-460.893
- Patient-Reported Outcomes in Gender Confirmation Surgery
- Our AMA supports: (1) initiatives and research developed by specialty societies and other relevant stakeholders to establish standardized protocols for patient selection, surgical management, and preoperative and postoperative care for transgender patients undergoing gender confirmation surgeries; and (2) implementation of standardized tools, such as questionnaires, developed by specialty societies and other relevant stakeholders to evaluate outcomes of gender confirmation surgeries.
References
AMA Advocating for the LGBTQ community. https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/advocating-lgbtq-community
AMA/GLMA (September 2018). Transgender individualsâ access to public facilities. 18-281734:9/17 https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2019-03/transgender-public-facilities-issue-brief.pdf
AMA/GLMA (February 2019). Health insurance coverage for gender- affirming care of transgender patients. 19-321820:2/19 https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2019-03/transgender-coverage-issue-brief.pdf
AMA/GLMA (April 2022). Sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (so-called âconversion therapyâ). 22-676341:04/22 https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/conversion-therapy-issue-brief.pdf
AMA (June 12, 2020). AMA opposes effort to allow discrimination against patients. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-opposes-effort-allow-discrimination-against-patients
Resources
American Medical Association (ama-assn.org)
The Journal of the American Medical Association
Keyword analysis, 1962-2003
A reader sent this in 2003. The results were not independently confirmed.
I’ve been poking around the Journal of the American Medical Association, seeing what’s been published regarding [transsexual topics], when, and who authored it. I tend to look for patterns, like most good primates, and there are some very clear patterns that need thinking about:
A baseline search for the following words anywhere in the article of all available articles and archives between 1962 and 2003:
| Keyword | # of results |
| Blood | 12, 926 |
| Sex | 6,813 |
| Gender | 1,415 |
| Homosexual | 431 |
| Gay | 305 |
| Lesbian | 82 |
| Transsexual (including -ism, -ity) | 21 |
| Transexual | 0 |
Of the 21 articles published by the AMA in the last 40 years concerning transsexualism, the topics and disciplines are as follows:
1 article in the Archives of Opthomology:
Ajita Grewal, Robert Y. Kim, and Emmett T. Cunningham, Jr Miliary Tuberculosis. Arch Ophthalmol 1998 116: 953-954.
2 articles in the Archives of Internal Medicine:
C. J. Fortin, T. Klein, H. L. Messmore, and J. B. O’Connell Myocardial infarction and severe thromboembolic complications. As seen in an estrogen-dependent transsexual. Archives of Internal Medicine 1984 144: 1082-1083.
M. deMarinis and E. N. Arnett Cerebrovascular occlusion in a transsexual man taking mestranol. Archives of Internal Medicine 1978 138: 1732-1733.
9 arcticles in the JAMA:
M. M. Belli Transsexual surgery.. A new tort? JAMA 1978 239: 2143-2148.
T. J. Pritchard, D. A. Pankowsky, J. P. Crowe, and F. W. Abdul-Karim Breast cancer in a male-to-female transsexual. A case report
JAMA 1988 259: 2278-2280.
HIV-Related Tuberculosis in a Transgender Network-Baltimore, Maryland, and New York City Area, 1998-2000
JAMA 2000 283: 2515-2516.
Domeena C. Renshaw Lessons From the Intersexed. JAMA 1999 281: 1137-1138. JAMA 1992 267: 1342
K. L. Lehrman Pulmonary embolism in a transsexual man taking diethylstilbestrol. JAMA 1976 235: 532-533.
Joe Leigh Simpson, Arne Ljungqvist, Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith, Albert de la Chapelle, Louis J. Elsas II, A. A. Ehrhardt, Myron Genel, Elizabeth A. Ferris, and Alison Carlson Gender Verification in the Olympics. JAMA 2000 284: 1568-1569.
Books, Journals, New Media Received. JAMA 2000 283: 676-677.
Domeena C. Renshaw Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. JAMA 1999 281: 1138-1139.
9 articles in the Archives of General Psychiatry:
R. E. Hellman, R. Green, J. L. Gray, and K. Williams Childhood sexual identity, childhood religiosity, and “homophobia” as influences in the development of transsexualism, homosexuality, and heterosexuality. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1981 38: 910-915.
Henry J. Friedman The Sexual Century. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002 59: 667-669.
D. H. Barlow, G. G. Abel, and E. B.. Blanchard Gender identity change in transsexuals. Follow-up and replications. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1979 36: 1001-1007.
Cindy M. Meston and Penny F. Frohlich The Neurobiology of Sexual Function. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000 57: 1012-1030.
L. M. Lothstein and S. B. Levine Expressive psychotherapy with gender dysphoric patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1981 38: 924-929.
H. J. Baker Male transsexualism.. Confirmation of a hypothesis?
Arch Gen Psychiatry 1975 32: 1587-1588.
D. H. Barlow, E. J. Reynolds, and W. S. Agras Gender identity change in a transsexual. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1973 28: 569-576.
S. I. Harrison, A. C. Cain, and E. Benedek The childhood of a transsexual. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1968 19: 28-37.
H. Greilsheimer and J. E. Groves Male genital self-mutilation. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1979 36: 441-446.
Allied health professions are health care professions that provide a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and support services in connection with health care.Â
References
Jecke, L., Zepf, F.D. Delivering transgender-specific knowledge and skills into health and allied health studies and training: a systematic review. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02195-8
Exploring Interactions Between Transgender, Gender-Diverse, and Nonbinary Individuals and Allied Health Professionals in Clinical Practice: A Scoping Review https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2022.0222
Avi Ring was a Scandinavian physiologist and anti-transgender activist.
Ring founded Gender Identity Challenge (GENID) and was involved with anti-trans organizations Genspect and Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM). Ring was a major proponent of the disputed disease “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.”
Background
Ring earned a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Ring then taught there as an associate professor and worked in cellular electrophysiology. At the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI), Ring was a chief scientist, working on countermeasures to chemical warfare.
Ring and spouse Eva lived in the Lofthus borough of Oslo and had a transgender child named Jennifer (1985â2017). The family had a complicated relationship with Jennifer.
Anti-transgender activism
Ring’s child Jennifer transitioned at age 28. Jennifer dealt with a number of problems in living beyond trans issues, and committed suicide four years after transition, in 2017.
At the same time, Filter magazine profiled the case of Jennifer Ring, a 32-year-old trans woman who hanged herself four years after her surgery. An expert on psychosis who was shown her medical journal by her father, Avi Ring, was quoted as saying that she had shown clear signs of psychosis at the time she first sought treatment for gender dysphoria.
Indeed, the first clinic she approached refused to treat her, citing signs of schizotypal symptoms and lack of a history of gender dysphoria. But the team at Karolinska went ahead. âKarolinska donât stop anyone; virtually 100% get sex reassignment,â says Ring.
Orange (2020)
Ring founded GENID: Gender Identity Challenge and began connecting with other parents skeptical of trans healthcare:
Gender Identity Challenge Scandinavia (GICS) are behind the push to change the public debate. Set up by retired neurophysiologist Ring, toxicologist Karin Svens and Norwegian teacher Marit RĂžnstad, they label themselves as a group of concerned parents. Other actors are psychiatrist Christopher Gillberg whose article in newspaper Svenska Dagbladet decried hormone treatment and surgery for young people. An investigative TV programme also attacked a hospital providing gender-affirming care. The campaign against securing access to gender-affirming healthcare for trans people along with media transphobia led to the Swedish government halting plans to change the age for young people to access gender-affirming care. In February 2022, the National Board of Health and Welfare issued new guidelines preventing young trans people accessing puberty blockers, arguing incorrectly that âcosts outweigh the benefitsâ and in disagreement with guidance from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health. This was in response to seeing a rise in people assigned female at birth accessing services.
Anti-trans actors tend to verge on social media, particularly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They place themselves outside the pro-feminist and pro-LGBTI+ rights discourse in Sweden, which they see as undermining the stateâs ability to protect people during the pandemic.
It is argued that this approach is not yet having the same impact as âgender criticalâ groups in the UK or Spain because feminism is a less politically charged idea in Sweden than other European countries. Barring one, all political parties include feminism in their policies. However, this appears to be shifting and concerningly, the HOPE not Hate Charitable Trust found the Swedish general public expressed more anti-feminist sentiment than Poland (30%), the UK (28%), France (26%), Hungary (22%), Germany (19%) and the Netherlands (15%).
Rowlands (2023)
Ring served on a panel with the Norwegian Directory of Health during development of new trans treatment guidelines and lectured at both the Norwegian and Swedish Parliament seminars.
In 2020 Ring and William Malone published a letter criticizing a 2019 study by Richard BrĂ€nström and John E. Pachankis. In the first total population study of transgender people, BrĂ€nström and Pachankis found that for the 2,679 trans people on Sweden’s national patient register diagnosed with gender incongruence, “the longitudinal association between gender-affirming surgery and reduced likelihood of mental health treatment lends support to the decision to provide gender-affirming surgeries to transgender individuals who seek them.”
On September 25, 2023, anti-trans group Genspect announced Ring’s death. This was confirmed in a posthumous piece Ring wrote for Subjekt. Ring asked relatives to publish a piece arguing against banning conversion therapy in Norway under paragraph 270.
References
Madelene Pollnow, Mattias Göransson, Oskar Sonn Lindell (November, 18 2019). [Speed-blind] Fartblinda. Filter https://magasinetfilter.se/granskning/fartblinda/
Orange, Richard (February 22, 2020). Teenage transgender row splits Sweden as dysphoria diagnoses soar by 1,500%. The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/22/ssweden-teenage-transgender-row-dysphoria-diagnoses-soar
BrĂ€nström R, Pachankis JE: Reduction in mental health treatment utilization among transgender individuals after gender-affirming surgeries: a total population study. Am J Psychiatry 2020; 177:727â734 https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19111169
Ring A, Malone WJ (2020). Letter: Confounding Effects on Mental Health Observations After Sex Reassignment Surgery. Am J Psychiatry 177:8, August 2020 https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.19111169
Ring, Avi (October 14, 2023) [The Storting should not approve the ban on conversion therapy.] Stortinget bĂžr ikke godkjenne forbudet mot konverteringsterapi. Subjekt https://subjekt.no/2023/10/14/stortinget-bor-ikke-godkjenne-forbudet-mot-konverteringsterapi/
Rowlands, Sebastian (2023) Landscape analysis: What we know on anti-gender movement measures and actors targeting trans people across Europe and Central Asia. TGEU https://tgeu.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/tgeu-agm-landscape-analysis-2023.pdf
Resources
Trans Data Library (transdatalibrary.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)
GENID Gender Identity Challenge Skandinavia (genderchallenge.no)
GENID Gender Identity Challenge Sweden (genid.se)
Catherine Williamson is a British occupational therapist who is active in the “gender critical” movement.
Williamson is involved with anti-trans organization Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM).
Background
Williamson worked as Multi-Disciplinary Team Leader/Senior Practitioner at the Sheffield Gender Identity Clinic, an adult service in the UK. Williamson resigned in 2019 amid “clinical concerns” about the rapidly-changing demographics and increasing complexity of the patient population, and over the assessment process in NHS gender services.
Williams’ resignation stated in part:
Over the last eighteen months, I have repeatedly discussed my clinical concerns about the inadequacy of the assessment pathways at the clinic. I have also regularly highlighted the increasing vulnerability and complexity of people referred to the clinic. That is, that although a minority of people have gender identity concerns, for a majority, medical transition is the solution to difficulties separate from gender. This is supported by audits I have undertaken. These patients may meet the diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria and transsexualism, but their primary difficulties are not about gender. These include autism, past trauma, significant childhood and adolescent bullying, personality disorder, mental illness, body dysmorphia and eating disorders. The clinic is wedded to a medically-focused pathway which does not adequately explore this context. The service fails to fully consider the psychological and social factors which might influence a personâs decision to transition. Wider political pressures and the demands of a lengthy waiting list have led to a focus on streamlining the service which has eclipsed clinical robustness. Similar concerns have been raised by clinicians working in gender services in other NHS Trusts.
References
Williamson C (2019). Resignation Letter to Senior Operational Manager Covering Sheffield Gender. Identity Service, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS. cited in https://doi.org/10.1177/263440412110107