It’s great. Doesn’t gloss over complaints. Episode 5 I think Marci Bowers basically says, “look, there aren’t two sides of the issue - trans identities exist and gender affirming health care is the answer. Now there is nuance on who (proper assessment not age cut offs or bans), when and how, but there are not two sides to this issue.”
bowers also says this current surge in bans is a redo of the 1979 closure of the Johns Hopkins clinic and it set back trans health care 30 years.
The opponents are arguing more research is needed yet Trump and conservatives in the US defund the research except research into regret and detransition. The opponents won’t fund research and ignore clinical practice where doctors treat the patient as they can and see positive outcomes in the face of needing better data which is not uncommon in medicine at all. It’s clear the needed data is in determining who is truly trans (yes hits historically gate keeping crap) in a world where trans identities have increased quite a bit and the detransition and regret rate which is historically very low has possibly doubled (see below for more).
the psychiatrist in episode 6 is so good, gives a clear picture of the vast majority of what these gender clinics look like.
They interview the author of the Cass report and allow her to defend her position and allowfor criticism of it. There is a significant debate over assessment versus patient led determination (I transitioned at the end of the gate keeper era and embraced the requirements but as a grown adult it wasn’t too much to bear it made me be sure). This is one of the underlying themes did patient led diagnosis lead to the backlash, spoiler alert it seems like it might have but the force for bans was a foregone conclusion.
They interview the whistleblower and she comes across as a total piece of shit by her own doing. Her story doesn’t add up at all. And before anyone gets up in arms here that I’m biased, listening to the entire podcast it becomes clear there are trans kids that receive gender affirming care and are thriving and that the opponents like her used minuscule numbers to advance their cause to achieve bans and they have no defense for outlawing care that benefits most who come to these clinics. The whistleblower completely dismisses the severity of gender dysphoria too claiming she suffered from it as a teen so she knows what everyone is going through. That’s part of how the whistleblower sounds like a piece of shit by her own doing.
a strangely high(er) percentage of kids identify as trans now and it does seem like it’s more than the left handed phenomenon all though that is a big part. HOWEVER, very few teens are transitioning, very few. And of those that do the historical percentage of regret and detransition was 2-3% max (some say as low as 1%), which the podcast doesn’t say but that’s a remarkable success rate for a treatment. They do postulate that the rate is now probably closer to 5% of those who transition, meaning 95% or 19 out of 20 benefit from the care.
trans health care opponents have used this harm to the 5% to pursue bans and prohibit the good outcomes for the 95% and no one wants to come forward and share their stories because of the vitriol that’s coming if they stand up and say this care saved my or my kids life. There are a number of high profile detransitioners that are used to amplify the concerns while the success stories are less common as a percentage of patients because let’s face it, all we trans folk want is a life free from dysphoria and congruent with our gender identity, calling attention to ourselves isn’t really part of what we want, so few stand up and say “look at me.” Opponents have taken advantage of that discrepancy.
The middle episodes are hard. I’ll admit. But the end makes it clear what we all know, gender affirming care saves lives and increases quality of life for many many kids and people and the bans were a foregone conclusion but are a grave mistake.