Summary
A Fifty-fold Increase in the number of Children suffering from Gender Dysphoria Debunked reports that while there has been a reported fifty-fold increase in children with gender dysphoria since 2011, the actual numbers are small and the statistic is potentially misleading.
A Fifty-fold Increase in the number of Children suffering from Gender Dysphoria reported in the media.
On the 24th of January, various British media outlets headlined the statistic that there has been a fifty-fold increase in the number of children suffering from gender dysphoria since 2011.
Debunking the Fifty-fold Increase in Gender Dysphoria
It’s crucial to remember that statistics can be used to shape a narrative, potentially leaving out other important figures. Questioning the source of the statistics is also important.
Is it a scientific paper that has been peer-reviewed? Such scrutiny can help us discern the reliability of the source.
In this case, the source is York University – infamous to the transgender community for their “contributions” to the Cass review – a review that has been heavily criticised by numerous highly respected gender-identity healthcare organisations worldwide. It is unclear at this stage if the York paper has been peer-reviewed. However, it seems highly unlikely.
Another major concern for the trans community is that one of the researchers involved in this study, Trilby (Tilly) Langton presented a (co-authored) paper at the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine’s (SEGM) conference in Athens last year. SEGM has been named as a “Hate Group” and propagator of pseudoscience by human rights organisation SPLC – the organisation responsible for bankrupting the Ku Klux Klan.
While at first sight, a fifty-fold increase over ten years seems frightening, the reality is that numbers are very small, as confirmed by one of the study’s co-authors, Prof Tim Doran, saying to the Guardian, “Even though we’ve seen this very rapid increase, most practices will have zero, one or two children, with gender dysphoria on their books. They’re not seeing this very often.”
The study also showed that over the entire 10-year period, under 5% of children and young people with gender dysphoria also had a record of a prescription for puberty-suppressing hormones, while 8% (almost certainly aged 16 years plus) had a record of a prescription for masculinising or feminising hormones.
This statistic doesn’t fit the narrative of the right-wing culture war against the trans community and was, therefore, barely reported.
Prof Doran also said that in 2021, among 17- and 18-year-olds, the prevalence of gender dysphoria was about one in 238, a statistic which I would expect, given one person in every 200 identifies as trans or non-binary.
It should also be noted that the LGBT community has been growing significantly for some time. The simple fact is society is much more accepting of both gay and trans folk – clearly, that will lead to increases.
Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows that the proportion of people identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) in England and Wales has grown from 2.1% in 2017 to 3.3% in 2022 – that is over 55% increase in the LGB community in five years a statistic “lost” both to the media and trans-hostile organisations like LGB Alliance and Sex Matters, not to mention their star MP Rosie Duffield all of whom spreads the narrative that gay children are being “transed.”
Clearly, this is not the case.
In total, the York study looked at a total of 36,473 children and young people. This total comprised of 18,740 who matched comparators with a recorded history of autism spectrum conditions, 13,951 matched comparators with a recorded history of an eating disorder. In total, 3,782 were experiencing gender dysphoria/incongruence. It is not known how many of the children did not have comparators of either autism or an eating disorder – it would appear York Uni did not want to find that out.
It is clear, therefore, that while 36,473 children and young people who were studied have autistic or/and an eating disorder issues, just 3782 have gender issues, meaning 32,691 don’t have gender issues.
Research from Newcastle University suggests that 1.76% of children are autistic in England – in numbers that is 228,800 kids – this figure is more than 22 times higher than the number suffering gender dysphoria.
Eating disorders are even higher, with UK Government statistics showing 12.5% of 17 to 19-year-olds suffering an eating abnormality and that one in five children (aged 8 – 16) had a “probable mental disorder” of some sort. This incredible statistic doesn’t make headlines for GB News, UnHerd, The Times or Telegraph, where the culture war against trans people continues unabated.
It could, therefore, be argued that the York researchers (and media) are much more interested in propagating the narrative that trans people have mental health issues rather than highlighting that a very high number of kids per se have mental health issues with a variety of conditions.
Sadly, according to the York study, 52.7% who had gender dysphoria also had a record of anxiety, depression or self-harm, meaning that an improvement in mental health services is urgently required for many different cohorts.
I do hope, however, that kids with gender dysphoria who dont have apparent mental health issues are fast-tracked to the new gender services where (hopefully) they can be considered for gender-affirming healthcare.
Debunking the Fifty-fold Increase in Gender Dysphoria reported by the media.
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