39 Comments

I enjoyed listening to you today on @widerlenspod and I look forward to hearing the finale.

Your comments on adult transitioners toward the end really resonated with what I have been thinking about ever since the WPath Files dropped (the contents of which did not surprise me at all).

There is this myth that informed consent exists at all here, or that there was an olden days when there was proper gatekeeping.

I don't think that anyone can really give informed consent to these things at the moment, even adults, because there is so much misinformation. If you are told that you were born in the wrong body and you agree to procedures to change your body based on that belief, then this is misinformed consent. I recall so many stories of the person who had second thoughts going into surgery but was reassured that this surgery would make them feel better. That is misinformation because there is no empirical basis to make such an assurance.

The good gate-keeping of old was was never diagnostic accuracy based on evidence to recommend proven treatments. It was always just what you would expect doctors to do before giving someone a boob job etc. - making sure someone had capacity to consent. I feel that this particular story needs telling. Perhaps it has been told. But I've been following this and I haven't seen anyone put these things together in these terms. Focusing on what consent really means.

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There is so much here I can relate to; it is a bit uncanny how much the sensitive, quirky, artistic, weird girl describes me still. I was just working on an essay about how many non-binary women sewers there are on YoutTube with tutorials on making a pirate shirt (an 18th century man's shirt) and how this feels like a cover for what we used to know as a butch lesbian, only one who is loaded with creativity searching for sartorial representation all through history of her quirky avoidance of being sexualized as a woman and creative expression of an independent DIY personality.

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I came across this by accident rather late, but you nailed it. I’m more than middle aged, and I have many of the traits listed, as well as my TiF child.

Bravo to you for being as brilliant and wise as you are! And thank you for writing this and so much more!

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Seems like a pretty solid and thorough analysis, although I have a few questions on some specifics. But I see you front and center on the issue all over the place -- Eliza Mondegreen & Genspect couple of days ago, couple of interviews on Fox in the last month; more power to you.

Though, en passant, not terribly impressed with Fox on a couple of points. For instance, the June 19 segment asserts, "She began transitioning to male as a teenager by taking testosterone ...."

Either they're using "male" as a gender -- sort of a bait-and-switch fraud -- or they're unclear on the concept of what it takes to qualify as male and female as sexes. In the latter case, maybe they subscribe to Kindergarten Cop definitions -- boys have penises and girls have vaginas? "Change your genitalia, change your sex! Act now! Offer ends soon!" 🙄 Criminally negligent at best, more a part of the problem than of the solution:

https://www.foxnews.com/media/amc-abruptly-cancels-film-documenting-journey-detransitioners-backlash

And a more recent segment on July 7th with Laura Ingraham is even more criminally clueless in asking, "Why is the Left normalizing sex changes for kids?"

https://www.foxnews.com/media/progressive-journalist-breaks-left-warns-puberty-blockers-cause-irreparable-harm-children

No one changes sex, at least no human ever does so. Even by standard lexical definitions -- and even more so by standard biological ones published in reputable biological journals -- to have a sex is to have functional gonads of either of two types, those with neither being, ipso facto, sexless:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170902010637/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/female

https://web.archive.org/web/20190608135422/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/male

https://academic.oup.com/molehr/article/20/12/1161/1062990 (see their Glossary)

However, your discussion of your assertion that "Gender Identity = Personality" seems a bit ambiguous or inconsistent. Seems offhand that there's some solid justification for arguing that "gender" is just a rough synonym for personalities and personality types that show significant degrees of sexual dimorphism.

For example, you talk about "agreeableness" which might be seen as one dimension on a multi-dimensional gender spectrum. Nice illustration of that idea in this joint probability distribution for agreeableness versus sex. Females are, on average, more agreeable than men -- about 4.1 versus 3.8 respectively. But some females are atypical, they have agreeableness factors more typical of males. One might say that IF agreeableness is one dimension of that multi-dimensional gender spectrum THEN those atypical females with agreeableness measures "significantly" below 3.8 have a masculine gender (agreeableness):

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joint_probability_distribution_by_sex_and_agreeablenes.jpg

But it may be somewhat of a question how we get from gender as feminine and masculine personality traits to the idea of "gender identity", although it helps that some feminists explicitly endorse the former as a useful starting point; see:

https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/feminism-gender/#GenFemMasPer

However, there is some reason to argue that "gender identity" is analogous to "personal identity", a fairly durable and solid concept on which the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [SEP] has an extensive discussion of. Paraphrasing them, one might say:

SEP [paraphrased]: "Outside of philosophy, [gender identity’] usually refers to [sexually dimorphic personality traits] to which we feel a special sense of attachment or ownership. Someone’s [gender identity] in this sense consists of those [feminine and masculine personality traits] she takes to 'define her as a person' or 'make her the person she is', and which distinguish her from others."

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/#ProPerIde

You might have some interest in some elaborations on those themes in my recent post, "Is Nothing Sacred? Looking into the abyss?":

https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/is-nothing-sacred-looking-into-the

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Terrific stuff. Exactly what parents of girls need to read.

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I used to be pretty active on MBTI-focused personality forums in the first decade of the century: I tested consistently as INFP and identified strongly with it for a while, as well as Enneagram 4. Though I'm male, I've corresponded with many INFP and INFJ females, and this rings true. Androgyny and feeling like a gender misfit was a very common theme in posts by both sexes on those forums when I took part.

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Apr 26, 2023Liked by Laura Becker

Thank you so much for putting this together. Strange to read such a detailed description of myself minus the FTM adoption. .

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Apr 26, 2023·edited Apr 26, 2023Liked by Laura Becker

From pure empirical evidence as a middle/high school teacher, I can absolutely agree with you on this list. I haven't know many trans-identifying students (in Southern Europe we are lucky that this social contagion hasn't fully hit us (yet?): https://twoplustwo.substack.com/p/leave-them-kids-alone-transgender), but those I do know fall into this roster. What a shame that society teaches them they should "change sex", negate their sex altogether and/or destroy their bodies because of their sensitivity and quirkiness!

I think one could add one more aspect to the list of "why" these girls identify especially as "transgender": Being "trans" presents itself as *the* solution to their problems, at least at first sight. I think that if you are in a really bad place emotionally and psychologically, then the idea of one diagnosis and a specific list of things you can follow to feel better is just an immense relief and it gives you hope. Change your name, get on testosterone, change your looks, remove your breasts, get bottom surgery... it's straightforward and therefore it feels like this is the way out. So it can be very appealing as a diagnosis, especially if all the "experts" (psychologists, clinicians...) agree on it. It's just horrible how the medical (and educational) establishment has failed and is failing these girls.

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Apr 26, 2023Liked by Laura Becker

Thank you very much, Laura. Do you think you would have benefited from reading something like this as a 18 y.o. trans-identifying teen? I am wondering if I should give it to my trans-identifying daughter to read. Do you know if other parents tried it?

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Seems like this checklist would be very useful for clinicians!!

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You totally stole this from my life (My best friend from college and I have been joking for many years about how his first impression of me was "that weird girl" and he had a dream about me in college where he figured out why I was so weird - but forgot the reason when he woke up), (I'm not sure whether I would have adopted a trans-identity or not, but it's quite possible. More importantly, my trans-identified 17-year-old daughter, fits all the characteristics you describe to a t - leaving out only PCOS. I do think this is the reason for her adoption of an FTM identity, wherein she can opt out of being a weird girl, and instead be what she perceives is a really cool, offbeat, effeminate trans-boy. Thanks for this, as it definitely echoes my own thoughts on this issue. Also, responding to GenCrit in N. California, my daughter was pretty stereotypically female up through her "epiphany" at age 12.5 - and still is rather "girly," but is also quirky, with special interests, highly sensitive, dresses quite funkily, etc. I don't think the two things are mutually exclusive.

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Thank you for this wealth of invaluable information, Laura.

I'm just wondering about the many daughters their moms report were complete girly-girls (i.e. into sexist stereotypes of girl's interests, or products marketed to girl's, ie. all pink and purple, dolls, dresses, domesticity-toys, etc.)

Of all you wrote, the one word that stood out to me the most that summed up my impression of the archetype you described was an interest in *rats*.

I immediately got it at that point. "Ah, that's it! Girls who like rats. I get it now. I know those girls."

Of course, I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but that will stick in my kind as one symbol of this complex archetype, to help me out!

Thanks for this incredibly insightful essay. We have needed more information about the girls vulnerable to and being preyed upon by this greedy industry, and by the narcissistic interests of autogynephiles.

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Apr 25, 2023Liked by Laura Becker

The thing is, people say that girls today are making this choice because now it's acceptable. If so, where are all the older women saying that we missed our chance? Uh uh, we're all saying "thank god I didn't get the chance to be duped that way". Seriously.

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Apr 25, 2023·edited Apr 25, 2023Liked by Laura Becker

A Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic Weird Woman (68) who never fitted in anywhere but NEVER wanted to mutilate her body - quite the opposite - obsessed with optimum health!

How I stick my thumb in the eyes of the grotesque billionaire bastards pushing their enslavement agenda and how I embrace being fully human.

Fighting the globalist predator technocrat psychopath megalomaniac TOTAL SLAVERY AGENDA one performance at a time!

Amazing Amy: Eccentric Yoga Entertainer!

As an entertainer, I have been devastated and practically destroyed by the closure of all performance venues and then when they reopened, because MY BODY, MY CHOICE - being made a total untermenschen pariah outcast in NAZI NIGHTMARE LAWLESS 'SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS' JAB CROW APARTHEID/DISCRIMINATION/SEGREGATION HELL NYC WHERE THE MAD/DRUNK WITH POWER TYRANT POLS DOUBLE DOWN ON THEIR ILLEGAL MANDATES. I am trapped here with zero financial resources to leave or do anything else about this 'wish I were dead' endless misery life has become. The tragic irony is that my SPREAD THE YOGA LOVE performances are all about health, miraculously overcoming age (68) and injury to achieve feats of flexibility few can attain at any age. So BIG PHARMA who wants to addict every person on the planet to their toxic products hate people like me who prove that we do not need them if we eat healthy organic food and exercise daily!

https://www.reverbnation.com/artist/amazingamycontortionistuniqueyogadancer

I try and live and embody the creative performing artistic world and life I so fervently want existence to be about.

Supporting this excellent post with a statement and useful links.

We the People are facing HORRIFYING TECHNOCRATIC PSYCHOPATHY TO DESTROY HUMANITY AND ALL NATURAL LIFE!

It was NEVER about health! The Powers That Should Not Be were ALWAYS about they want you DEAD or a SLAVE! This is a painful truth to accept but we the people must wake up and fight back!

We must never lose sight of the larger picture of the vile malignance we are fighting against.

CLIMATE CHANGE IS AN EVEN WORSE FRAUD THAN THE PLANSCAMDEMIC! SO-CALLED GREEN TECH IS A GIGANTIC SCAM! MINING AND MANUFACTURING 'GREEN' PRODUCTS NEEDS COAL, GAS AND OIL AND MINING RARE MINERALS IS MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY TOXIC AND DESTRUCTIVE THAN LEGACY PRODUCTS. SCREW YOUR DAMNED AGENDA!

There is an insidious global ruling class plot to enslave all life on earth behind all the madness and suffering inflicted on We the People.

How to fight back against this TOTAL SLAVERY!

RESIST! DO NOT COMPLY! DITCH THE DAMNED 'SMART' PHONES AND THE DAMNED QR CODES AND GO BACK TO LANDLINES OR FLIP PHONES AND USE CASH AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! INSIST ON CASH! CBDC IS TOTAL SLAVERY!

Other than getting rid of nuclear weapons which I support 100% the rest of the anti-nuclear peace movement and CLIMATE CRISIS propaganda is parroting UN utter GARBAGE, a complete surrender to the ENSLAVEMENT AGENDA by the diabolical despots of Davos - ruling class criminals who lust for total power and control and all of whom should be tried and jailed for life and their malign organizations dismantled: the UN, the WEF, the IMF, the WHO, the BIS, NATO, Blackrock, Vanguard, The Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, The Bilderbergers, the CFR et al.

There is an evil predator globalist technocratic elite agenda of eugenics/depopulation/genocide using bioweapon poison jabs, war, geoengineering, EMF radiation, starvation and economic collapse - THE GREAT RESET/AGENDA 2030/4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION to get rid of billions of 'useless eaters' and to use nano tech to turn the survivors into ROBOTIZED COMPLIANT SLAVES! WAKE UP AND RESIST! DO NOT COMPLY! These are psychopath megalomaniacs who want to play god by turning all life into digitized metaverse mechanistic synthetic biology to be manipulated by their AI algorithms. A more demonic sickening idea is nearly impossible to imagine!

APPALLED AND HORRIFIED AT INSANE TYRANNICAL PROTOCOLS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HEALTH AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH TOTALITARIAN CONTROL! REVERSE THIS NOW!

MAKE THE WORLD AND AMERICA 2019 (comparatively speaking), AND FREE AGAIN!

NO, I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE MORONIC SCARIANT SHMARIANT MONKEYSHINES! WAKE UP ALREADY!

TOTALLY CONDEMN BIDEN AND ALL OTHER POLS WHO HAVE NO POWER TO LAWLESSLY ACT LIKE AN EMPEROR OR DICTATOR AND DECREE JAB CROW 'SHOW ME YOUR PAPERS' FASCIST SEGREGATION/DISCRIMINATION/APARTHEID VIOLATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE NUREMBERG CODES AND EVERY CIVIL RIGHT IMAGINABLE.

NO GREEN NEW DEALS OR BUILD BACK BETTER FROM THE CRIMINAL TECHNOCRAT TYRANTS KLAUS SCHWAB AND HIS CRONIES FROM THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM.

STOP THE TERRIBLE TYRANNY OF THE TECHNOCRATS GLOBAL AGENDA OF TOTAL SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL USING THE VIRUS AS EXCUSE AND PROPAGANDA TOOL!

NO MUZZLING STIFLING MASK MANDATES! NO FORCED VACCINES! END TORTUROUS DEVASTATING LOCK DOWNS NOW! I WANT MY LIFE BACK.

https://wrenchinthegears.com

https://www.stopworldcontrol.com/

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com

https://pandemicfacts.info

https://wearehumanwearefree.org/7-days-campaign/

https://sonsoflibertymedia.com/covid-19-roadmap-12-step-plan-to-create-a-totalitarian-new-world-order-were-on-number-8-headed-towards-number-9/

https://questioningcovid.com

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1581-james-corbett-breaks-down-the-great-reset/

http://www.stopcp.com/GlobalResetPSYOP/GlobalResetPSYOPMindMap.html

https://everydayconcerned.net/2020/09/04/breaking-major-investigative-report-by-association-of-french-reserve-army-officers-finds-covid-19-pandemic-to-have-a-hidden-agenda-for-global-totalitarianism-nanotech-chipping-of-all-5g-irradia/

Pam Popper: https://makeamericansfreeagain.com

Del Bigtree: https://www.brighteon.com/channels/highwire

https://www.technocracy.news

Naomi Wolf: https://dailyclout.io

www.nojabforme.info

https://www.globalresearch.ca/we-must-awaken-from-corona-coma-reject-great-reset-robotic-technocracy-assert-common-humanity/5745213

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Scary that this would totally have been me. Still, at 72 I guess i'm safe

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A lot here that needed (needs) to be said. The whole point of the women’s movement was that a woman could be whatever she wanted to be and still be a woman. But transitioning is now a billion dollar industry so there’s a monetary incentive to physically and psychologically damage these young women unnecessarily. Not enough voices to call for caution in this regard.

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