You might be wondering, what is so harmful about rainbows, glitter and the notion of becoming one’s authentic self? It sounds so nice.
First, there is the psychological harm. The very nature of gender dysphoria is self-hatred. When you affirm a trans person, you are affirming self-destruction. Becoming trans is the act of hating the body you were born in, including everything about your appearance and persona. The trans community would say a person is blossoming into their “true self” as they transition. However, when they do, they usually take up exaggerated sex stereotypes and begin acting a part. In other words, NOT authentic. I’ve observed many trans people first behave a certain way. But over time, after the person gets more relaxed in the moment, those exaggerated mannerisms subside. If the new identity was the person’s “true self’, it would be the opposite. Being trans is an act, and its exhausting.
Taking on a transgender identity is an attempt at killing off one’s true self. It’s not a coincidence that they call the former name a “dead name.” In fact, I’ve heard detransitioner Leigh Janet Marshall call her transition a “soft suicide” in a podcast interview with Isabella Malbin (podcast is called Who’s Body is it?). Leigh hated herself and her body so much that she sought out doctors to irreversibly chemically and surgically harm her.
Several years later, once she was left with health issues and infertility, she learned that she couldn’t run away from the self-hatred forever. Most people figure out that they can’t escape their pain and they must eventually face it. The famous book title “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” by Jon Kabat Zinn, perfectly captures that life lesson. The trans industry exploits young, vulnerable people who have not learned the hard reality that no one can escape themselves. When trans activists falsely encourage kids to “be their authentic selves,” they are actually being led down a path of obsessive self-hatred and medically assisted self-harm.
Then there is the physical damage. Many of the photographs featured after double mastectomies show prominent, self-inflicted scars from cutting alongside the new surgical chest scars inflicted by a surgeon's knife. Instead of these cutting behaviors being treated and addressed by doctors and mental health professionals, trans surgeons assist with performing a double mastectomy on young, healthy women. Most of these women have sexual trauma, abuse or other underlying struggles. Instead of getting psychological help, these patients are left with the ultimate self-injury scars, but done with the precision of a board-certified doctor. It's asumed that the cutting prior to surgery was undertaken by the patient because of gender dysphoria, not for other reasons.
Prisha Mosley, a detransitioner who has admitted that she has a history of trauma, stated, “Transition aided in the destruction of myself…I was already cutting myself and the surgeon dug in deeper with a more professional blade.” In the wake of her emotional and physical pain, she now understands and boasts that “It’s not love to affirm a lie” and feels further trauma and exploitation from the medical professionals she thought she could trust. She has gained so much wisdom, but at a cost. She was young and vulnerable and was exploited by the transgender medical complex. She has brought suit against the doctors who harmed her.
Trans activists believe Trump is evil for limiting federal tax funding for childhood sex changes. They say he is “erasing their existence.” In reality, what Trump did was protect more young people like Leigh and Prisha from a predatory industry that preys on their pain and naiveté. This executive order is shielding youth from the unnecessary needles and scalpels of unethical doctors. It’s not love to affirm a lie and it’s definitely not medicine to make damaging and permanent body changes in response to a lie. In fact, restricting this medically assisted self-harm practice is the most humane thing a leader can do.
Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed clinical social worker from California. She completed her MSW in 1999 from New York University. She has a variety of experience in schools, group homes, hospitals and community-based organizations. She has dedicated herself to educate parents and embolden other mental health professionals to challenge the ideological capture of her profession.
