In the opinion of one of Finland’s foremost authorities on gender medicine, transactivists who campaign for juvenile body modifications and use language like “transition or suicide” are misinforming purposefully, which is irresponsible.
“Do you want a dead son or a live daughter,” goes the phrase.
Dr. Riitta Kaltiala, the lead psychiatrist at Tampere U gender clinic in Finland, said It is irresponsible to spread the falsehood that children and teenagers may commit suicide if denied access to experimental body modification treatments.
Kaltiala noted a long-term Swedish study that found a high rate of suicides among people who had gone under the knife and pointed out that the suicide rate among this vulnerable demographic was meager before gender clinics began offering “gender-affirming” procedures to children.
Making other people do and see what you want is not the way to mental stability, said Kaltiala.
According to Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir, there is no evidence to back such assertions, who has previously refuted the transition-or-suicide story.
On Monday, Sapir responded on Twitter to accusations by famous US trans activists Erin Reed and Alejandra Caraballo that prohibitions on child gender-affirming procedures and medicines are presently being considered in several cases states, are leading to an increase in suicides by gender-confused youngsters.
As it has long been understood that suicide may spread from person to person, all recommendations to prevent copycats stress the need to exercise utmost care while reporting about suicide. Simple explanations offered by public figures and the media are linked to an increased risk of suicide contagion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When reporting about suicide, authorities, and media should adequately explain that the suicide was not the sole reason for the action taken.
According to Sapir, the risk of suicide or suicidality among transgender children is still low, even though these children may be at a greater risk for identifying as the wrong gender at a young age. He also notes no suicide pandemic among “trans” youth before affirmation and surgical modifications were readily accessible.
Systematic evaluations of the evidence supporting so-called gender-affirming treatment, including the claim that it decreases suicidality, have all come to the same conclusion: the data is inferior quality. These assessments have been conducted in countries as diverse as Finland, Sweden, and England.
