Christian Post Calls “Transgenderism” a Cult of “Irreversible Harm”

Pretends expertise far outside field of knowledge

Expert on “transgenderism”

Samantha Kamman reports for the Christian Post on a Fox News film, “Transgressive: The Cult of Confusion,” that claims “transgenderism functions and operates like an actual ‘cult.’”

Samantha Kamman holds a Bachelor of Arts from North Central College, making her an expert in medical science.

Wait.

No.

I have a Bachelor of Arts. I learned a lot about English and literature and a little about psychology. It was a wonderful education, but I would never pretend I know more than an expert in a completely different field.

Medical experts overwhelmingly disagree with Kamman’s assertions in this article.

“Irreversible harm” that immediately changes back to “normal”

Detransitioner Helena Kerschner is quoted in this film as saying:

“I immediately became a normal person again. I immediately became myself again,” and “For me, it was mostly psychological; I wasn’t on it for long enough for it to have any long-term physical effects.”

However, Kamman claims that these people were “sent down a pathway of irreversible harm.” So, which is it? Can you “immediately” become yourself again? Or is it irreversible? It cannot be both.

Did you also notice the term “normal person” there? As if that is something you can or should be. Truly, there is so much diversity in humanity that it is normal to be abnormal.

It’s all Tumblr’s fault

Apparently, Kerschner “explains in the film how the social media website Tumblr contains considerable content encouraging people to undergo a gender transition.”

I’ve been on Tumblr since May of 2014, and I’ve never seen such content. I follow a lot of queer tumblogs, several of them transgender. I’ve never been encouraged to “undergo a gender transition” by any of my Tumblr mutuals.

I doubt Kamman has been on Tumblr for any length of time. Perhaps Kerschner was, but her experience was much different than mine.

Whipping up emotions

Kamman uses inflammatory terms meant to invoke emotional knee-jerk responses in her readers: “body mutilation,” “body-disfiguring,” “experimental hormones and surgeries,” “immense regret and bodily harm,” “cult,” “indoctrinated,” “dissociation and chemical disintegration,” and “child abuse.”

The tone of the article is meant to shock and anger. Kamman wants us to be angry and ready to fight. She is instigating violence.

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria

At the end of the article, Kamman cites Abigail Shrier, author of the discredited book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters:

gender dysphoria previously affected .01%, or roughly one in 10,000, males. For females, gender dysphoria affected one in 30,000.

But today, the author claims that the number of females with gender dysphoria has increased to one in 20 college-aged women.

This is presented without comment, but the implication seems to be that the numbers rising is something to cause worry. Shrier irresponsibly fomented the fear of ROGD (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria), and continues to contend for the discredited condition. As if being transgender were a social contagion.

Of course, that is exactly what anti-LGBTQ+ people think. They believe that being LGBTQ+ is a choice, and that “gender confused” (their term for transgender) children have been manipulated into a mental disorder.

Kamman cites:

A 2018 American Academy of Pediatrics study and a 2016 study published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology suggest that many children with a history of gender dysphoria have mental health or neurodevelopmental condition. However, more research is necessary before a definite conclusion can be made.

The implication is that children with “mental health or neurodevelopmental” conditions are vulnerable to being influenced into believing they are trans when they are not. This is a very ableist argument. Neurodivergent people have agency and intelligence. Just because someone is autistic or ADHD or something does not mean they don’t know themselves.

Also, that last line is pulling a lot of weight: “more research is necessary before a definite conclusion can be made.” The correlation between mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions and transgender identities is just that: a correlation. Correlation does not equal causation.

“Body mutilation” of minors

Kamman claims that Christian Post Senior Investigative Reporter Brandon Showalter “has extensively documented numerous reports of operations done on trans-identified minors, including the removal of breasts and genitals.” However, the link to this documentation will not load for me.

The following claims are densely scientific and, as I have only a Bachelor of Arts, I don’t have the education or knowledge to speak to them. Of course, we must remember that Kamman has the same education I do.

I would love to try to refute these arguments, but I will not fall into the same error Kamman does. She is pretending expertise far outside her field of knowledge. I will not do that.

Esther learned to read when she was four years old, and began writing shortly thereafter. She is a queer Christian poet, crafting with words to create art and music.

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