The work that has been done by sexologists, journalists, activists, and physicians with respect to the massive increase in females presenting at gender clinics with a sudden desire to be the opposite sex has been astounding. Excellent work has been produced and I believe that consciousness has changed slightly in the public sphere.
However, as hard and as tragic as that cohort of young women is and as desperate as their needs are, there is another group of equally vulnerable young people who are now expressing deep concern in their teens, and utterly rejecting their male body, or simply wanting to define as female.
Parents of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria Boys that I have spoken to are deeply concerned, and with the lack of proper studies being conducted in this area, I feel it is vital to speak, even anecdotally, and relay some of the evidence which I have regarding this group of vulnerable boys.
Nearly all of the parents of boys who I spoke to were between 13 and 19- all of them had a myriad of mental health issues; eating disorders, self-harm and the overwhelming majority were on the Autistic spectrum.
"My 19-year-old son was advised (without our knowledge) to go to Ehrensaft and Rosenthal, and he did. Rosenthal advised him to take estrogen (patch) and lupron (!! for cross-sex hormones??)"
This is seriously concerning when the young adult in question has several mental health complaints- OCD, Social Anxiety, and potential psychosis, and only started to express his "gender identity" after reading about it online.
Lesbians and feminists are quick to swoop in when we feel that teenage girls are having needless surgeries, interventions, and therapy- so why are we not extending this courtesy to teenage boys?
One mother wrote to me, in secret, agonizing over what is going on;
I cannot get people to support me, everywhere my son turns, he is reinforced--school, doctors and psychologists. I'm patted on the head condescendingly and told that it must be very hard for me to have a girl when I planned for a boy. If drugs (experimental medications) weren't involved- I would not object to my son presenting as female, I couldn't care less, it would be weird, but so is being a parent.
These boys cannot be left behind by our movement. We are going to war for the teenage girls, but we cannot leave the boys behind and say "they are just porn obsessed autogynophilles" because it's insulting to what we stand for and who we are. We stand against gender identity and invasive procedures for anyone who is too young to consent, and that includes teenage boys.
With the evidence which we have, we are asking for the sexologists, physicians, and scientists to now turn their attention to ROGD in boys so that a movement can start. A movement based on science, fact-based evidence, and truth.
Parents of young boys who are trying to navigate the swamp of gender politics are at a severe disadvantage already- there are no studies to help them, there is almost no literature, furthermore, there is the perception, by some parents, that sexologists do not want to hear what they have to say.
We are saying, with all respect that is due to the sexologists who are tirelessly investigating ROGD in girls, do not close the chapter for boys as settled science, as they are a new cohort who deserve attention before they are entirely medicalized. We know parents are working against the clock.
Parents want and deserve, answers, guidance, and for a study to start, or start to emerge which will shed light on this issue, often pushed to the back of the queue.
Will the cries of the parents be heard before it is all but too late?