Consider this all-too-likely scenario. Parents discover that their daughter is “transitioning,” a term describing the process of assuming an “identity” opposite to one’s natural sex. They ask their child about it. A conflict erupts. The following day, the girl’s school counselor calls the parents, inviting them to discuss the situation in the “neutral” territory of the counselor’s office.
An Uneven Contest
On arriving, the parents quickly discover that the office is not neutral ground. The school district’s psychologist and assistant principal are present. The counselor arrives armed with literature crammed with “expert” opinions. The assistant principal tells the parents, “Experts all agree that hormones and, eventually, surgical intervention are the only options.” The officials overwhelm the parents with a barrage of pseudo-information urging parental cooperation. Then, the psychologist fires the biggest gun in the arsenal.
“Evidence shows that children whose parents won’t accept their gender identity are far more likely to commit suicide. What would you rather have, a live son or a dead daughter?”
For the parents, this is uncharted territory. They love their daughter with their whole hearts. They want her to grow into a happy adulthood. They would gladly sacrifice their own lives for this child. All too often, the reaction is acquiescence.
New Information Changes Everything
Now, imagine this scenario playing out differently.
When the assistant principal says, “Experts all agree…,” the parents respond.
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“Wait. Didn’t the American Society of Plastic Surgeons conclude last August that ‘there is considerable uncertainty as to the long-term efficacy for the use of chest and genital surgical interventions for the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria, and the existing evidence base is viewed as low quality/low certainty?’”
Suddenly, the momentum of the conversation shifts. The steam roller stops. The lie is unmasked. The parents can then turn to their child and say, “We love you and want what is best for you. However, you can see that some of what you heard is incorrect. It might be a lie or a mistake, but we all must consider everything carefully before proceeding.”
Such a conclusion does not resolve the issue but gives parents a fighting chance. Maybe their child won’t be another robot in the LGBTQ+ army.
Radical Reversal
Given the rapidly changing conflict, examining the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) statement makes sense.
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At first blush, the ASPS statement quoted above sounds a bit weak. However, its importance becomes more pronounced when compared with its previous pronouncements.
Only fourteen months before, the Society sounded a very different tone. On June 15, 2023, ASPS released “Showing our Pride: Supporting the LGBTQIA+ Community in Their Plastic Surgery Journeys.” It concluded with an invitation from ASPS president Dr. Gregory Greco.
“We have many surgeon allies as well as LGBTQIA+ ASPS Member Surgeons that provide care and support to the community. As an organization and health care providers, we recognize that the delivery of care needs to be specialized and individualized.”
“Big Tech Censorship?”
Two years earlier, the ASPS challenged “Big Tech Censorship of Gender Affirming Care.” It received reports that Facebook and Instagram were censoring advertisements from ASPS members promoting sex-change surgeries. ASPS sent a protest letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. For a rather staid group of physicians, the language is rather strident.
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“Gender dysphoria is a medical diagnosis, not a political choice.”
The article concludes with self-congratulation.
“ASPS firmly believes that plastic surgery services can help gender dysphoria patients align their bodies with whom they know themselves to be and improve their overall mental health and well-being. The Society will continue its efforts to advocate for full access to medically necessary transition care and stand up to those who oppose it—from the board rooms of big tech to Capitol Hill.”
Pumping the Brakes
This retrospective concludes with an ASPS statement from 2017 when the organization reported that “ASPS—the world’s largest plastic surgery organization—found that more than 3,200 transfeminine and transmasculine surgeries were performed in 2016.” It included quotations from a doctor who crowed, “In the past several years, the number of transgender patients I’ve seen has grown exponentially. Access to care has allowed more people to explore their options, and more doctors understand the needs of transgender patients.”
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Reading these statements is fascinating because they were not intended for the general public. They are messages from doctors to other doctors discussing a topic bringing massive change to their profession.
The purpose behind this journey into recent history is to prove that, until August 2024, the ASPS was entirely on board with the whole transsexual agenda. Then, they put on the brakes.
Why?
Closed-Door Discussions
It is tempting to speculate what caused the reversal. Was there a big meeting where both sides hashed out the issue? Was it a series of sotto voce conversations in hallways that grew to a crescendo? Did a delegation of renegade members threaten to take their grievances public?
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There is no way to know for sure. However, the change occurred, and there are only a few possible reasons.
ASPS certainly did not make the decision on purely economic grounds. These surgeries are big money-makers. The consumer economics site NerdWallet quotes a 2022 study stating, “Gender-affirming surgery can cost between $6,900 and $63,400, depending on the precise procedure.” Given current inflationary trends, those figures are probably even higher today.
Regretting an Irreversible Decision
However, one economic aspect could be telling—the possibility of malpractice suits. There is a growing number of “detransitioners”—those who underwent surgeries they now regret. Some of them argue convincingly that doctors pressured them and their parents. One of them could soon successfully argue a malpractice case before a jury. Such a verdict would start a massive chain reaction.
It is also conceivable that the doctors were swayed by their one-time patients who expressed regret. NewsNation quoted Dr. Shiela Nazarian arguing, “[E]vidence of the surgeries’ long-term effects is ‘poor,’ giving surgeons little ‘confidence that the benefits outweigh the harm. I’m so grateful to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons that they have had the courage to stand up.’”
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City Journal also quoted Dr. Nazarian. Here, the topic was another, perhaps more immediate, aspect of the decision. “I have been following the international debate on youth gender medicine for some time now and know we [in the U.S.] are far behind in recognizing the lack of evidence for long-term benefits, something that our European colleagues have done.”
New Evidence and New Hopes
Perhaps the most influential evidence of the Europeans’ leadership is often called The Cass Review. Named after Dr. Hilary Cass of Great Britain’s National Health Service, this document could eventually be seen as the first nail in the casket of the transsexual movement.
Unfortunately, the Cass Review does not advocate forbidding these procedures for minors. However, it does raise serious, perhaps unanswerable, questions. Among its many conclusions is “The use of masculinising / feminising hormones in those under the age of 18 also presents many unknowns…. The lack of long-term follow-up data on those commencing treatment at an earlier age means we have inadequate information about the range of outcomes for this group.”
The issues around so-called sex changes are nowhere near resolution. Sexual revolutionaries, having won so many campaigns, see this as their next important battle. After all, if something so basic as one’s status as male or female can be successfully questioned, how many human certainties are left?
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This action is, however, one of the first signs in years that the leftists may have overextended themselves. In the battles over contraception, divorce and homosexual “marriage” (among others), the medical and psychological establishments marched hand-in-hand with the radicals.
This is the first time that a widely-recognized American medical authority has—however reluctantly—affirmed traditional understandings of human nature.
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