It stands to reason that if you tell lies and collude in lies, what you get is dysfunctional organisations. This leads to unhealthy work cultures and individuals suffering acute mental conditions such as stress and delusional behaviours. This week's blog focuses on the junk science of gender ideology which is in the majority of our Scottish schools. 'Transgenderism' is an invented term, a rebranding of adult sexual fetishes. Gender questioning children need support but not the junk science of 'gender affirming care'!
Schools and social transition
Schools have the potential to be highly influential as far as children and teenagers’ psychological development is concerned. Schools are also an organizational system to which teachers, support staff and a whole range of adults contribute. In other words, any school functions as a culture in itself influenced by those who participate in it and are a part of it. This is true of all organisations in our public sphere : the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. But what happens to that organisation when lies are told by the leadership? What happens when those in positions of some influence are told by that leadership to deny reality? And what happens to children on the receiving end of reality denial and collusion? Of course children’s cognitive development, understanding and general wellbeing and mental health is more than likely to suffer. And those delivering the lie will suffer too.
Surely then such a state of affairs should be avoided? Yet this is what is happening courtesy of our Scottish Government and its handmaidens right now.
Our Scottish Government has ignored the Cass Review’s recommendations by ignoring the importance of schools and Dr Cass’s comments about schools. Cass states that given the current societal context in which children and teenagers are growing up, care must be exercised due to influential factors already impacting on children and teenagers´ mental health,
‘7.22 Internationally, there have been increasing concerns about the mental health of Generation Z. The reasons for this are highly speculative, although there is ongoing debate about the contribution of excessive smartphone use and social media as discussed above.’
‘8.59 The data on young people’s mental health, social media use and increased risks associated with online harm give an appreciation and understanding that going through the teenage years is increasingly difficult, with stressors that previous generations did not face. This can be a time when mental distress can present through physical manifestations such as eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorders. It is likely that for some young people this presents as gender related distress.’
10.43 As with all health care provision, when working with children and young people safeguarding must be a consideration. There are complex ways in which safeguarding issues may be present. Clinicians working with children and young people experiencing gender dysphoria have highlighted that safeguarding issues can be overshadowed or confused when there is focus on gender or in situations where there are high levels of gender-related distress.
In Dr Cass’s chapter on social transition, she outlines the following:
'12.6 Although the focus of the Review is on support from point of entry to the NHS, no individual journey begins at the front door of the NHS, rather in the child’s home, family and school environment. The importance of what happens in school cannot be under-estimated; this applies to all aspects of children’s health and wellbeing. Schools have been grappling with how they should respond when a pupil says that they want to socially transition in the school setting. For this reason, it is important that school guidance is able to utilise some of the principles and evidence from the Review.’
Schools have been getting this wrong. Social transition risks the promotion of social contagion amongst peers. The school context has the potential to encourage the false belief of gender identity amongst children and teenagers.
This was reflected in the explosion of referrals to the Tavistock clinic and in Scotland to the Sandyford Clinic. It is the child’s cognitive perception and understanding that will encourage them to think they can change sex. Any child or teenager is suggestible and open to influence regarding what an adult may tell them, particularly adults in positions of authority such as teachers.
The Cass research team at the University of York reviewed papers on the impact of social transition on children and teenagers as part of the systematic review of evidence. The studies were low quality. The evidence for positive mental health outcomes of social transition for adolescents showed there was very little evidence of any benefit. And there was one particularly worrying result for long-term harm,
’12.24 One study looking at transgender adults found that lifetime suicide attempts and suicidal ideation in the ‘past year’ was higher among those who had socially transitioned as adolescents compared to those who had socially transitioned in adulthood.’
Overall the findings showed that evidence from Cass’s research team for the benefit of social transition, is as shaky as the evidence of benefit for puberty blockers. As Transgender Trend has commented:
‘One is a medical experiment, the other a social experiment. A controlled clinical trial for puberty blockers may or may not be given ethical approval. However, school is not the place to enrol children into a social trial on the benefits/risks of social transition.’
Clearly there are major ethical considerations here. Where social transition is being allowed by schools staff, other children in the school are actually being forced to participate in a lie and also in, what is in effect, a social experiment. This may well be without the consent of parents and will certainly be without the cognitive understanding of the children and teenagers involved. Children and teenagers do not have the cognitive capacity to have full understanding of what is involved in the social transitioning of a peer and of course, the child or teenager who is undergoing social transitioning does not have full cognitive capacity either. None of this is right and none of this is ethical.
The junk science of gender ideology is embedded in the majority of schools in Scotland because the Scottish Government says it should be.
This prevalence of an influential ideology in schools which tells children that they can change sex if they don’t like themselves as they are is, by definition, harmful to children and teenagers. It is particularly harmful to those pupils who are vulnerable and those who have additional support needs, who have experienced trauma, those who have autism, and those who have been or are in care.
References
Carolyn Brown (retired depute principal psychologist)
very good summary of the evidence against the widescale social experimention by schools which have been captured by gender identity.