Mick Hartley

Julie Bindel in the Spectator on the Keira Bell case against the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust (here previously). Bell, now 23, was prescribed puberty blockers by the Tavistock's gender identity development service when she was 16, and went on to use testosterone before having a double mastectomy when she was 20. She now regrets transitioning, but may well be infertile as a side effect of the drugs. She's hoping that her case will prevent further medical experimentation on children. ‘Transition was a very temporary, superficial fix for a very complex identity issue".

I have interviewed a number of young lesbians who have de-transitioned back to being female during the last couple of years. All have a similar story. These women often experienced serious abuse and harassment and developed feelings of self-hatred as a result of anti-lesbian bullying.

As Keira said: ‘I made a brash decision as a teenager, as a lot of teenagers do, trying to find confidence and happiness, except now the rest of my life will be negatively affected.’

I have some idea of how Keira came to decide she wanted to change sex. Growing up in a male-dominated environment and attending a school where I was bullied for rejecting boys, I was confused to say the least. I hated wearing a skirt and had zero interest in experimenting with make-up. I had a crush on my best friend, and convinced myself that because I didn't fancy boys, there was something seriously wrong with me.

This was the 1970s when, particularly in working-class communities, girls were confined in the straitjacket of gender roles. As a tomboyish lesbian, I was treated like a freak pariah and felt like one. I would go to sleep wishing I was a boy which would have meant I was 'normal'. If I could have waved a magic wand and changed sex I would have done so.

Finding feminism and meeting other lesbians who were proud of their sexuality gave me a totally different perspective, and those feelings of dysphoria and self-hatred soon disappeared. […]

Keira's case is not, as some claim, about ‘the healthcare of trans children’ but rather about girls so distressed by the levels of hatred and misogyny they encounter they look for an escape from their female bodies. I felt like Keira did when I was her age, as did many of my lesbian friends.

Putting kids on drugs and a possible path to unnecessary surgery because they are experiencing psychological distress caused by external factors is a human rights violation. It is high time that we see it for what it is. Let’s hope the court does, and this practice of medicating and carving up healthy young bodies will be replaced by appropriate care and support for these vulnerable young women. That I write this as a happy lesbian as opposed to a regretful transman is only because when I felt as Keira did, the GIDs clinic did not exist.

No doubt there are multiple reasons why young girls are so easily persuaded that they need to transition. The online culture on forums like Reddit, as outlined by Scott Newgent, must play a considerable part. But yes, it does seem that girls who would if left alone become lesbian, as with Bindel here, are particularly vulnerable. The new trans ideology, it seems, would prefer that they undergo medical intervention as soon as possible rather than break the gender stereotypes or, god forbid, enter into same-sex relationships.