Sorry to hear that it's been so awful - I wondered if you had been threatened. Pleased for you that now are cancer-free and totally understand that you don't want to put your life at risk again but I had wondered what happened to all your amazing reporting on the Cass Review and now I know. You've been my go-to for info! I'm a clinician working in Europe and I want to thank you for all your helpful links and articles - I've read everything!
I'm very glad for your good news on the cancer front. My ex survived three different cancers (one of them testicular, for which he didn't need chemo) and I well recall the tension while waiting for scan results.
Your WaPo op-ed is terrific. Don't let those activist-bloggers and anti-free-speech ACLU reps tell you otherwise. In particular, I appreciate the phrase "trans-identified kids" because I had one of those kids, myself. He identified as such out of the blue his first year of college and then desisted spontaneously about a year later without ever socially transitioning.
I think it helped that his dad and I just loved him but did not cheer it on our change our behavior. Social transition often results in reification. He told a few friends, but they met his declaration with skepticism.
It definitely helped that I encouraged him to start a job, which gave him boatloads of confidence. He was disoriented from the pandemic, had spent oodles of time online, and frankly needed to leave virtual space and get back into his body. During the time he was desisting, he spent quite a lot of time making music.
My son was never trans, just confused by whatever distorted messages he received online, which I think came from a Discord group. I don't know the exact etiology. I'll ask him someday when this is far in the rearview mirror. For now, it still feels fragile.
Be well, Ben, and know that thousands of people appreciate your courage. I'm just one of them.
Sorry, one more comment. I just read your Washington Post column. And you wrote,
"Those supposedly scientific papers were largely based on psychiatric patients, not the general gay public; therefore their conclusions were weak and inconclusive."
Back in the early 1980s I decided to start reading about the etiology of homosexuality. What spurred it, apart from my being gay, was the fact that a lady friend of mine was undergoing a difficult divorce back then, and her psychologists had told her that she was "Castrating". Yes, castrating.
It immediately struck be that to be castrating in a marriage was essentially to be domineering and really, displacing of the husband. And what was the marquee explanation for male homosexuality? Dominant mother, absent father. So, these 2 things, her collapsing marriage and my homosexuality, had in essence a kind of isomorphic etiology. And that intrigued the hell out of me, so I started to read, really "counter-read".
From statistics I knew that selecting sample population was a big determinant to quality of research. As you wrote, the samples came from psychologist/psychiatric clinics. So, how was that justified?
I had to read long and hard (Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Microfiche, blah blah) to find a rationale in one article: That the homosexuals in clinics were in fact the mentally healthy homosexuals because they had the moral capacity to see their depravity. The ones not in clinic/treatment? Well, those were the sick ones. So whatever was published by clinicians was in fact a rosier picture than what would be if the ones not thinking they were ill were examined
So glad your scan is negative! On another topic, when science writers can’t write about science without getting hate mail, that’s a sign of a degraded society.
Benjamin, I am so happy for your results. What a relief.
I have Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma which is incurable. It's in various lymph nodes, manbible, possibly now the brain. I am 68 and this is typical age range for this disease.
I also have adenopathy. I just ordered a product called "Utterly Smooth" foot cream. I also use CeraVe. If you have any hints as to what you may use, please share.
Hey, thanks very much. And I’m really sorry you’re confronted with this. Are you talking about ways to treat neuropathy? There’s the drug gabapentin. And aspercreme, which has lidocaine in it; I don’t find it works that well. Not much else really seems to help, unfortunately. I just do my best to tune it out. Part of that is not letting myself get upset about the condition. Anxiety can make pain worse!
Sorry to hear that it's been so awful - I wondered if you had been threatened. Pleased for you that now are cancer-free and totally understand that you don't want to put your life at risk again but I had wondered what happened to all your amazing reporting on the Cass Review and now I know. You've been my go-to for info! I'm a clinician working in Europe and I want to thank you for all your helpful links and articles - I've read everything!
I'm very glad for your good news on the cancer front. My ex survived three different cancers (one of them testicular, for which he didn't need chemo) and I well recall the tension while waiting for scan results.
Your WaPo op-ed is terrific. Don't let those activist-bloggers and anti-free-speech ACLU reps tell you otherwise. In particular, I appreciate the phrase "trans-identified kids" because I had one of those kids, myself. He identified as such out of the blue his first year of college and then desisted spontaneously about a year later without ever socially transitioning.
I think it helped that his dad and I just loved him but did not cheer it on our change our behavior. Social transition often results in reification. He told a few friends, but they met his declaration with skepticism.
It definitely helped that I encouraged him to start a job, which gave him boatloads of confidence. He was disoriented from the pandemic, had spent oodles of time online, and frankly needed to leave virtual space and get back into his body. During the time he was desisting, he spent quite a lot of time making music.
My son was never trans, just confused by whatever distorted messages he received online, which I think came from a Discord group. I don't know the exact etiology. I'll ask him someday when this is far in the rearview mirror. For now, it still feels fragile.
Be well, Ben, and know that thousands of people appreciate your courage. I'm just one of them.
Sorry, one more comment. I just read your Washington Post column. And you wrote,
"Those supposedly scientific papers were largely based on psychiatric patients, not the general gay public; therefore their conclusions were weak and inconclusive."
Back in the early 1980s I decided to start reading about the etiology of homosexuality. What spurred it, apart from my being gay, was the fact that a lady friend of mine was undergoing a difficult divorce back then, and her psychologists had told her that she was "Castrating". Yes, castrating.
It immediately struck be that to be castrating in a marriage was essentially to be domineering and really, displacing of the husband. And what was the marquee explanation for male homosexuality? Dominant mother, absent father. So, these 2 things, her collapsing marriage and my homosexuality, had in essence a kind of isomorphic etiology. And that intrigued the hell out of me, so I started to read, really "counter-read".
From statistics I knew that selecting sample population was a big determinant to quality of research. As you wrote, the samples came from psychologist/psychiatric clinics. So, how was that justified?
I had to read long and hard (Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Microfiche, blah blah) to find a rationale in one article: That the homosexuals in clinics were in fact the mentally healthy homosexuals because they had the moral capacity to see their depravity. The ones not in clinic/treatment? Well, those were the sick ones. So whatever was published by clinicians was in fact a rosier picture than what would be if the ones not thinking they were ill were examined
I couldn't believe it.....but there it was.
So glad your scan is negative! On another topic, when science writers can’t write about science without getting hate mail, that’s a sign of a degraded society.
Benjamin, I am so happy for your results. What a relief.
I have Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma which is incurable. It's in various lymph nodes, manbible, possibly now the brain. I am 68 and this is typical age range for this disease.
I also have adenopathy. I just ordered a product called "Utterly Smooth" foot cream. I also use CeraVe. If you have any hints as to what you may use, please share.
Hey, thanks very much. And I’m really sorry you’re confronted with this. Are you talking about ways to treat neuropathy? There’s the drug gabapentin. And aspercreme, which has lidocaine in it; I don’t find it works that well. Not much else really seems to help, unfortunately. I just do my best to tune it out. Part of that is not letting myself get upset about the condition. Anxiety can make pain worse!
thank you.....i was also told to get creams with urea....like utterly smooth I will see how it works.