Is There a True Trans Kid?

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In rans was invented in america in the 19 fifties based on work by super sexist sexologists in germany. And then it was marketed, and then it picked up queer theory in the 19 nineties - now it's being broadcast around the world. Everything they say is the opposite of the truth. You know, everywhere else in the world recognizes that sex isn't real, and gender fluidity and blaba bli. It's being exported by American cultural imperialism. Are there trans adults? Yes, there are. There are people whose identity has really, really, really firmly settled that they cannot think of themselves in the category that they actually are.

Biological sex is no longer accepted as a basic fact of life. It is forbidden to admit that female people sometimes need protection and privacy from male ones. In an analysis that is at once expert, sympathetic and urgent, Helen Joyce offers an antidote to the chaos and cancelling.

Shermer and Joyce discuss: What is a woman? What is a man? • conflicting rights: trans vs. women • sex vs. gender; who you identify as vs. who you are attracted to • cross-sex identification • gender dysphoria • social contagions • gender affirming care • puberty blockers, testosterone, hormone treatment • detransitioning • top surgery, phalloplasty, vaginoplasty • preferred pronouns: compelled speech ≠ free speech • trans sports • exclusive spaces, and more…

Helen Joyce is a senior staff journalist at The Economist, where she has held several positions, including Britain editor, Finance editor and International editor. Before joining The Economist in 2005 she edited Plus, an online magazine about mathematics published by the University of Cambridge. She has a PhD in mathematics from University College London. On Twitter, she is @HJoyceGender.