In viewing the manifestations of the transgender movement in the past decade, it is evident that it is a cult. This has been voiced by many, including some transgenders. It is evident also in the degree of excessive opprobrium and censorship that descends upon anyone, even a physician, disagreeing in the slightest with some of the claims made by adherents of the movement, a typical response of cultists to heresy and to apostates (persons who have detransitioned). A typical response is, “I’m going to kill JK Rowling with a big hammer. JK Rowling is very horrible and I hate her so much” and “I’ll slit your f------ throat and f--- your newly made neck p----.” Additional instances of vicious hatred by transgenders can be seen here.
And they are relentless; despite the obvious scientific evidence that contradicts their views, transgenders and their enablers persist in repeating their mantra (such as the recent Associated Press declaration naming a man as the third-place female athlete of the year). They even claim that science supports their claims.
Two points differentiate the present-day transgender cult from previous ones. One is that sexual mutilation in the past was done for the sake of an external ideology, whereas now becoming transgender has become the end in itself — i.e., sexual mutilation has become the ideology, with an extensive supporting network of other transgenders and enablers. Second, the main focus of castration and mastectomy is on minors, with the recruitment grounds being the internet and schools.
With regard to schools, some supporters of the cult are toxic teachers who conspire against the parents, whom they see as the enemy preventing enlightenment. They label parents concerned about their children’s welfare as “far-right extremists” for opposing the cult’s power over their children. They convince students that gender is “assigned,” as if chromosomes did not exist, a Lysenkoist attitude. These teachers are eager to “educate” their pupils on the teacher’s own sexuality (as if the children cared) rather than simply teach the traditional subjects of math, reading, and writing. Significantly, some of them use variations of the classic pedophile argument of “Let’s keep this a secret between the two of us.”
Recruiting others to join the cult is done incrementally, by idealizing the transition, minimizing the proposed mutilation, using euphemisms, presenting a role model, and creating confusion about self-identity — in short, engaging in linguistic legerdemain. Mentally ill individuals and children are particularly vulnerable and are thus targeted. Block found that high school–aged teenagers who identify as transgender are also more likely than their normal peers to have concurrent mental health conditions including depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorders, and autism. Wanta and coworkers found transgender patients to have a statistically significant increase in prevalence for all psychiatric diagnoses, while in Finland, Kaltiala-Heino and her coworkers found psychopathology in girls who considered themselves boys.
It appears that mothers of transgender/gender-dysphoric children may have a history of mental illness themselves, although there are scant studies. Marantz & Coates found that 53% of these mothers met the criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder in contrast to 6% of controls. The study needs to be replicated and expanded.
Another transgender propaganda pillar is the argument that individuals with gender dysphoria who are exhibiting mental illness symptoms will no longer have symptoms once they go through “gender affirmation” through surgery. Lewis found that persons who had indeed undergone surgery had a significantly higher risk for depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and substance use disorders than those without surgery. Inversely, a physician who previously advocated puberty-blockers for children in order to alleviate mental health issues carried out a study involving giving puberty-blockers and found that there was no change; however, she refused to publish the results since they went against gender ideology, which was unfortunate, since there is scant research on the subject.
Informal observation seems to exhibit Munchausen Syndrome by proxy and single mothers. One gets the impression that with celebrities, having a transgender child or children is a status symbol among their peers. Formal research needs to be conducted on the mothers of children with gender dysphoria since most of the studies carried out have focused on the children.
The following statement by one such mother diagnosed with OCD is illustrative:
When I became pregnant with Noah, I could feel, through my mother’s intuition I suppose, that he was not subscribing to gender stereotypes, so I decided to provide an environment for him early on that would allow him to discover how he wanted to express himself.
Similar cults through history
Castration cults have occurred occasionally throughout history. In India, there was the Aravan cult. The Tritiya Prakriti referred to both self-castration and homosexuality. On the other side of the world, the priests of Cybele castrated themselves. In more recent times, the Skoptsy in Russia practiced castration and mastectomy to eliminate sexual lust. And the relatively recent Heaven’s Gate cult in America castrated themselves prior to committing suicide in anticipation of an approaching comet.
And this realization that the transgender movement is truly a cult explains why there is so much resistance to more rational policies and information on “transitioning.”
After all, other medical procedures are not being militantly promoted, as is the case with gender “transition.” There are no mass demonstrations advocating appendectomies, there are no hysterics resulting from someone denying the need for unnecessary appendectomies, no one is recruiting healthy individuals to have their appendix removed, there is no concerted effort to convince children to have appendectomies, and oceans of ink are not being spilled over whether or not healthy persons should undergo an appendectomy, nor is anyone flying an Appendectomy Flag.
Conclusion
Transitioning procedures should be halted, at least in children, until further objective research is conducted, free of any ideology pro or con. Psychometrics should be mandatory in all cases. Further investigation should concentrate not only on the children, but also on the parents and any factor in the patients’ environment that may be encouraging transitioning.
Ultimately, the question remains: How many more children will undergo sexual mutilation until more rational persons call a halt? Transitioning procedures should be halted, at least in children, until further objective research is conducted free of any ideology.
Armando Simón is a retired psychologist and historian, author of The Book of Many Books.
Image via Pxfuel.