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May 3

The Trials of a Movie on Transgender Reversals – Newsweek

Testosterone Comments Off on The Trials of a Movie on Transgender Reversals – Newsweek

They describe themselves as lifelong, liberal Democrats, but the makers of a documentary about the difficulties of people who transitioned from one gender to another and back have found themselves branded as bigots and anti-trans grifters as well as TERFsshort for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists.

They said a screening of Affirmation Generation had been canceled due to pushback from trans rights activistsincluding threats of disruption and social media attacks, and another required extra security and a secret location. Some of the film's makers say they did not dare use their own names.

"If Hollywood knew I made this movie, I would be immediately canceled and destroyed," said producer Vera Lindner, who goes by a different name for mainstream projects.

With transgender issues among the hottest political topics in the U.S., the makers of Affirmation Generation accuse Hollywood and many media of not giving a platform to dissenting opinions.

The debate over trans rights encompasses everything from whether transgender women should be able to participate in women's sports to when gender should be discussed in school to drag performances in front of kids, but a central element is youth access to gender-affirming care such as hormone treatments and surgery.

While many doctors, as well as trans rights activists, say it is harmful for young people to be denied treatment that could reduce their distress or prevent suicide, opponents say confused youngsters are being pushed into irreversible and life-changing treatments before they are ready and sometimes without parental consent or knowledge.

Last month, Washington state passed House Bill 5599, stating that if a child runs off to a "host home" or shelter in search of gender-affirming care, the child's whereabouts should be reported to the state's Department of Children, Youth and Families rather than to the parents. And last year, California passed a bill declaring itself a "refuge" state for transgender youth, similar to Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico and Minnesota.

On the flip side, transtracker.com says that 504 bills across the nation have been introduced that seek to block trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education and legal recognition, with 45 having been passed in states like Utah, Tennessee, Texas, Florida and South Dakota.

"There are some people who do benefit from transition, but there are some people who are harmed from transition," says Lisa Littman, a physician-scientist who is interviewed in the film.

While last year a study from the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute said that the number of adults over the age of 24 who identify as trans remained static at 0.6 percent over the previous five years, the number doubled, from 0.7 percent to 1.4 percent, in the same time frame among children 13-17, hence the title of the film, Affirmation Generation.

The movie's focus is what Littman and some other researchers call Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), and several of the detransitoners and experts featured say teens became sure they were trans after watching videos at Tik Tok, Tumblr and other online sources, especially during the pandemic amid school closures.

Some have questioned the motivations of the film in highlighting the cases it does. "This is not a documentary that seeks to explore a complicated subject. It's one that came in with a specific and, frankly, disturbing agenda," commented Scott Lentz in one of five reviews on online entertainment site IMDb. The other reviews were positive.

Among those featured in Affirmation Generation is Laura Becker. She is autistic and suffered from depression and anxiety, and was suicidal, she told Newsweek. But once she told a therapist she'd be more comfortable as a gay man, her now-deceased therapist focused on encouraging her to transition.

"When you go to a clinic in the current culture, the protocol is to confirm," she said. "There is no wait time, questioning or curiosity. They're basically excited or fearful of pushback. They're neglectful practitioners."

She began transitioning at age 18, including injections of testosterone and the surgical removal of both of her breasts, which she said led to more depression. When she was diagnosed four years later with Complex PTSD due to abuse suffered as a child, she transitioned back to female.

Now 26 and saying she is comfortable in her own body, she blames a "cultural obsession" for encouraging her to be trans. "There's a deconstructionist element to it, completely pushing against traditional values, including the reality of biological sex," she said. "Kids are pushed along on this conveyor belt that involves big pharma, billable insurance and media propaganda."

Since going public with her decision to detransition, she's been likened to a Nazi in social media and told she's "supporting the genocide of trans people."

Trans activists have accused those who highlight the few cases of those who reverse their transition as seeking to weaponize them. One 2021 scientific study noted the term "detransition" had "become associated with politically motivated attempts to impede access to gender-affirming care."

The proportion of those who detransition is small, although studies show a range from less than 1 percent to more than 10 times that. Most studies have focused on adults, however, rather than those who made their decision during the emotionally turbulent teenage years.

Affirmation Generation has come under as much attack as its participants.

A screening was canceled in April when a Texas venue received about 200 calls in a few days, some promising disruptions if the film were to unspool as had been planned, according to documents reviewed by Newsweek.

At a screening at a public library in Northern California, members of a pro-trans activist group called Gender Spectrum stood near the screen as the movie played holding derogatory signs. Gender Spectrum did not respond to Newsweek's several emailed requests for comment.

In response to the attacks, "We will deprioritize in-person events and will focus on online marketing," one of the filmmakers, Joey Brite, told Newsweek, noting that the movie has been viewed 70,000 times thus far on Vimeo and other outlets (it was temporarily suspended from Vimeo before being found not to have infringed its policies).

Brite is a self-described lesbian and "desister," someone who once considered themselves trans but never went through the medical or legal procedures involved with transitioning before ultimately aligning with their birth sex.

She told Newsweek she began thinking about the trans movement outside a bar three decades ago where a man was encouraging lesbians to take testosterone. "I saw young lesbians in the 90s raising $8,000 for mastectomies. It was a fad," she said.

Today, there are about 40,000 girls and young women who identify as trans and are raising money at Go Fund Me to pay for their mastectomies, the movie says.

"I thought I was trans until I was 30. I went to a therapist and thought she was going to give me the go-ahead for testosterone," Brite recalled. "But when I told her I thought I was a man, she did the unthinkable: She looked me in the eye and said I was not a man and I'd never be a man. 'You're a lovely, butch lesbian who needs to learn to love herself, and I'd like to help you do that'."

Brite said she's been trying to locate the therapist to thank her. She questions mainstream medical opinion on gender-affirming care.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality: "A large body of research demonstrates that trans youth who receive transition-related health care to treat their dysphoria show decreased anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior, and psychological distress, and increased quality of life."

And two years ago, the American Medical Association cautioned lawmakers who seek to prevent children from transitioning. "Every major medical association in the United States recognizes the medical necessity of transition-related care for improving the physical and mental health of transgender people," the AMA said in a letter to the National Governors Association.

"Transgender children, like all children, have the best chance to thrive when they are supported and can obtain the health care they need," according to the letter, including "gender-affirming hormone therapy, and/or gender-affirming surgeries."

Lindner, a Grammy winning writer of music for TV, film and video games, said she became aware of the extent of the issue after watching her daughter and her friends, all of whom were diagnosed with autism or ADHD, obsess over gender during pandemic lockdowns three years ago at age 14. "It's all they talked about," Lindner recalled.

Lindner's daughter had multiple health issues, she said, including a belief that she was transgendera perception reinforced by a visit to a therapist who had suggested testosterone therapy. Shocked, Lindner said she had convinced her daughter to wait until she was 18 to make a decision.

Littman, the researcher, said that in recent years, the number of teens indentifying as trans from the same group of friends had greatly exceeded what would normally have been expected.

Among the characters in the movie, Joel says he was convinced he'd love himself more if he were a woman; Cat dreamt while sleeping that she was a boy and was "crushed" each morning when she woke up a girl; Stella says she felt "humiliated" to be in a female body; and Michelle said she learned she was transgender by exploring Tumblr.

One boasted of becoming an Internet influencer after transitioning, another said he was 99 percent certain he'd never regret transitioning and another spoke of a "honeymoon phase" of euphoria. Cat says she was given "one path" and that if she didn't take it, she might end up dead from suicide.

All speak of regrets. One realized after transitioning that they weren't really transgender; another spoke of "increased depression;" while another's health deteriorated to the point they walked hunched over and required the use of a walker. David says that after transitioning he was bitter and suicidal while others thought he was happy and heroic.

Becker, in the film, calls her double mastectomy "one of the biggest mistakes I ever made" and adds that her chest doesn't look male or female, but like "a form of mutilation."

She also spoke of a shift in her overall perspective on gender-affirming care and who should get it, a view echoed in the film by Lisa Selin Davis, author of Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different. "I want liberals to make room for gender diversity, and that includes masculine girls and feminine boys without telling them they need to leave their sex category," she says.

After the online release of Affirmation Generation, negotiations are now underway for wider distribution, Brite said, without giving details.

Read more from the original source:
The Trials of a Movie on Transgender Reversals - Newsweek

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