Get comfy and brace yourselves. This is a long, and often heartbreaking, thread. Journalist Michael Shellenberger is reporting on the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) report and it is eye-opening.
Advocates of ‘gender-affirming care’ say it’s safe and necessary. This thread shows it’s anything but.
First, a shout out to Mia, the woman who put months of work into this:
Just so we’re all clear on a few things: I’ve spent the last six months working on this report, and I’m the sole author. But the whole project wouldn’t have been possible without the steadfast and unwavering support of Michael @Shellenberger, who saw something in me that I didn’t… https://t.co/nnQp0iLm6S
— Mia (@_CryMiaRiver) March 5, 2024
Excellent work.
THE WPATH FILES
Advocates of gender-affirming care say it’s evidence-based.
But now, newly released internal files from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) prove that the practice of transgender medicine is neither scientific nor medical.
American… pic.twitter.com/mcJ2E7TezW
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
The tweet reads:
American Medical Association, The Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and thousands of doctors worldwide rely on WPATH. It is considered the leading global authority on gender medicine.
And yet WPATH’s internal files, which include written discussions and a video, reveal that its members know they are creating victims and not getting “informed consent.”
Victims include a 10-year-old girl, a 13-year-old developmentally delayed adolescent, and individuals suffering from schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.
The injuries described in the WPATH Files include sterilization, loss of sexual function, liver tumors, and death.WPATH members indicate repeatedly that they know that many children and their parents don’t understand the effects that puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries will have on their bodies. And yet, they continue to perform and advocate for gender medicine.
The WPATH Files prove that gender medicine is comprised of unregulated and pseudoscientific experiments on children, adolescents, and vulnerable adults. It will go down as one of the worst medical scandals in history.
Recommended
Wow. ‘Victims’ is the right word.
Why I Am Publishing WPATH Files And How I Got Them
The written WPATH Files come from WPATH’s member discussion forum, which runs on software provided by DocMatter.
Ninety seconds of the 82-minute video was made public last year. We are making the full video available for the… pic.twitter.com/3AP0pVUTxy
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
Part I: Children and Adolescents
“We’re explaining things to people who haven’t even had biology in high school…”
“I think the thing you have to remember about kids is that we’re often explaining these sorts of things to people who haven’t even had biology in high school yet,”… pic.twitter.com/eCjNbkVuOT
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
“14 year old trans female who started transition since she was 4… wants to have Gender Affirming Surgery” pic.twitter.com/XTP6x16X57
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
FOUR YEARS OLD.
“I’ve recently received questions from an [‘Assigned Female At Birth’] pre-menarche 10 y/o patient about whether blockers will ‘stunt’ his growth…” pic.twitter.com/zkCLedclp6
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
“It is very difficult to ask that they wait until age 16…” pic.twitter.com/h05aXKGAGM
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
A “16 y/o patient…found to have two liver masses… the likely offending agents were the hormones…”
The problem is that drugs can cause tumors, even, apparently, in people as young as 16 years old. pic.twitter.com/IAat1gaKXR
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
Tumors. At 16 years old.
“To what degree… providers discuss actual rates of surgical complications… (e.g., pain…additional surgeries, necrotic tissue, infection, hematomas…”
Many young patients experiencing gender distress do not appear to understand that they may suffer serious consequences from… pic.twitter.com/hQ6U6qFIiz
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
Informed consent is so important in healthcare, and that’s not happening here.
“I feel the best time for surgery in the U.S. is the summer before their last year of high school.”
Despite the widespread and growing expression of concern within the WPATH Files over the negative side effects of gender medicine, WPATH members urge that irreversible surgeries… pic.twitter.com/dv9tKq80VM
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 4, 2024
Think back to the summer before your senior year of high school. Is there anything you wanted then that you still want or have now?
Now imagine making permanent, irreversible changes to your body at that age.
“Most of the kids are nowhere in any kind of brain space to really talk about it seriously.”
One WPATH member says, “It’s out of their developmental range sometimes to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.”
“We try to talk about… pic.twitter.com/cn1Q0YvhXF
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Many Parents Don’t Understand What Will Happen To Their Children
“I try to kind of do whatever I can to help them understand best they, best I can,” says a therapist. “But what really disturbs me is when the parents can’t tell me what they need to know about a medical… pic.twitter.com/PJLGVCrGIT
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
This is horrifying.
“In a developmentally delayed 13yo… what is the ethical approach?”
The situation of obtaining informed consent is complicated further when the adolescents are also developmentally delayed and, in the case below, “may not reach the emotional and cognitive developmental bar set”… pic.twitter.com/DezhRd3RQT
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Developmentally. Delayed.
Wow.
“Oh, the dog isn’t doing it for you?”
Many gender medicine victims are filled with regret that they were sterilized. Nobody knows this more than the doctors who mistreated them. At times, their response to such regret appears callous.
“I follow a lot of kids into their mid… pic.twitter.com/fUyRiQxhAk
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
They mistreat the patients and then don’t care about the consequences.
That’s why there will be more lawsuits. Many more.
“I’m unaware of an individual claiming ability to orgasm when they were blocked at Tanner 2.”
Many gender medicine patients lose sexual function, including experiencing orgasm. As such, they are not only deprived of sexual pleasure, they are significantly undermining their… pic.twitter.com/v8Qm0WDnFm
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Never able to have an orgasm. That will undermine their entire life and relationships.
“After 8-10 years of [testosterone, they] developed hepatocarcinomas… died a couple of months after.”
For some gender medicine patients, there are fates worse than both sterility and loss of sexual function. pic.twitter.com/Z8lgpQZyhC
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Hepatocarcinomas are liver cancers, FYI. An awful way to die.
Part II: Mental Illness
“A Patient Who Became Dangerous”
On an unknown date, a San Francisco-based surgeon named Thomas Satterwhite posted an urgent new message to WPATH’s internal message board.
“I had a patient who became dangerous/threatening to our care team post-op,” he… pic.twitter.com/6kaHfV4N9Q
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Our Awful History Of Mistreating Mental Illness
Nations have struggled to care properly for people with mental illness and psychiatric disorders for centuries.
After every past scandal, we pledge to do better next time, relying more on science than ideology.
Readers of the…
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
This is another scandal and mistreatment of people with mental illness. A stain on the medical community and our history.
“Disordered eating,” “purposeful malnutrition,” and a “high prevalence of eating disorders”
A therapist raises concerns in a message about the age of a patient.
“I have an incoming 13yo (soon to be 14 yo)… I was under the impression that is more the exception to start for… pic.twitter.com/XPL8Rh24yj
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
There should be treatment for these people for these mental health disorders, and ‘gender-affirming care’ is not it.
“Something is off… I am wondering if they might have schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia” pic.twitter.com/tjz9VPbRb6
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
We shouldn’t be doing this to people with mental health illness.
“…I was surprised to find that several of my clients met criteria for dissociative disorders…” pic.twitter.com/4O1VL3Dley
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“Someone can have schizophrenia and be ready for surgery…” pic.twitter.com/Q6QiPsQRPu
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Is it possible to consent to a surgical procedure?
“…I have noted a high incidence of dissociative disorders…” pic.twitter.com/K8QKTyPAIl
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
There’s ‘dissociative disorders’ again.
“I have operated on three DID [Dissociative Identity Disorder] patients… All three did okay out to the six month mark….” pic.twitter.com/lroQXkjqCw
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“In the last 15 years, I had to regrettably decline writing only one letter, mainly b/c the person evaluated was in active psychosis and hallucinated during the assessment session…” pic.twitter.com/8IygkW9mWO
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Only one letter in 15 years.
“They had alters who were both male and female gender and it was imperative to get all alters who would be effected by [Hormone Replacement Therapy] to be aware and consent to the changes.” pic.twitter.com/rkMwAeBa8i
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
Part III: Ethics
“I’m not aware of any other medical procedure that requires the approval of a therapist.”
Frequently, WPATH members push back against “gatekeeping,” including the requirement for sound mental health before undergoing a lifelong regime of drugs and surgery. pic.twitter.com/Zy0LM1ubSV
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“If an individual patient feels that they made a mistake… be careful with that not letting that change the way others receive care.”
At times, WPATH members speak of the growing number of “detransitioners” who regret gender medicine.
Some gender medicine practitioners express… pic.twitter.com/qo2EVfSbGW
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“Patients need to own and take active responsibility for medical decisions, especially those that have potentially permanent effects.”
There is evidence within the WPATH Files of WPATH members, as well as its president, Marci Bowers, blaming their victims. pic.twitter.com/eeBS2WSVHh
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“Those conversations can be ongoing even after the intervention has occurred.”
Readers of the WPATH Files may be struck, as we were, by how flexible WPATH members were in rationalizing their mistreatments.
Faced with rising amounts of regret and detransition, WPATH members… pic.twitter.com/QYyvoCWQrU
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
“What has been currently happening is, frankly, not what we need to be doing, ethically.”
As we saw above, many WPATH members waive away the evidence of medical mistreatment.
But others appear genuinely concerned by the lack of informed consent.
A therapist describes talking… pic.twitter.com/bn1VfmOnLG
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5, 2024
This is incredible work, and difficult to read. But so very necessary.
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