A Healthy Disagreement
Sasha and Stella Discuss the Re-Psychopathologization of Transgender Identities
Our next Live & Unfiltered discussion is happening Friday, October 24th at 5:00 pm ET / 10:00 pm UK time — and we hope you’ll join us!
This month, we’ll be discussing Genspect’s recent campaign to re-psychopathologies transgender identities. And we invite you to join us for a discussion, disagreement and diverging perspectives.
The Re-Psychopathologization Campaign argues that transgender identification and the drive for medical transition should be understood as a pathological condition characterized by an Extreme Overvalued Belief. This long-established psychiatric concept refers to rigid, culture-reinforced beliefs that resist challenge, appear rational to the individual, and can drive extreme or harmful actions.
For the real GWL super-fans out there, you may remember this concept being introduced to us by Az Hakeem in this episode of the podcast almost a year ago.
The campaign challenges the 2010 move by WPATH to “de-psychopathologize” gender variance—arguing that this was not based on scientific discovery, but on political activism, and that it has opened the floodgates to social contagion and dangerous, experimental medicalization.
But not everyone agrees. Sasha will share her concerns about this framing—particularly how it may affect young people struggling with gender dysphoria, the lack of sensitivity to socially-mediated aspects of trans within the culture, and the way this language can so easily be misunderstood as hostile towards trans-identified people.
Your “Homework”
Before we meet, read the campaign for yourself and consider your take on it. Come ready with ideas, questions, support, or challenges.
If you’d like to dive deeper into the context and thoughts surrounding this move, you can watch Stella and Mia’s discussion about the campaign on the Beyond Gender Podcast here.
🔗 Google Meet Link: Join us live on Friday, October 24th…
https://meet.google.com/kjx-guhx-ppk
We’re looking forward to our discussion!
See you then,
Sasha & Stella
Really wish I could join but I am seeing one of the friends I can count on to understand my perspective and support our family. These people who have known my child since before the gender nonsense are precious few and far between!
The arguments Mia has made resonate with me and I also wonder how this applies to my daughter. She is not mentally ill. She's actually highly functioning and thinks we are crazy not to affirm. A young lesbian who seems set against being seen that way, in her case there was no mental health condition prior to her announcement that she's a boy (at 13, now we're at 17), and there's no evidence of a mental health condition currently, at least nothing besides her insistence that we view and treat her as the opposite sex. No depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, physical violence, etc., and no cluster B tendencies beyond the self-centeredness normal for a teenager. She accepts that she's female and yet insists she's a boy. She's not insisting on medicalizing either. We think she has rationally thought herself into this identity. Until the incentives change, I can't see her thinking herself out of it.
Shoot. This sounds SO interesting but I will miss it as I will be visiting the child for whom I am here…🥴.
This is way over my head so can you explain- does RE-psychopathologizing mean the condition of gender dysphoria will be considered a mental illness? If so, then what are the ramifications of that? And especially what are the ramifications when the world is seemingly full of activists in every single aspect of society that are in no way going to pack up and move on? In fact they think they are saving kids, so it would be immoral for them to stop promoting trans rights.
The idea of an extreme over valued belief does resonate with me in general. Trans ideology is absolutely an over valued belief— the “science is settled, #nodebate, trans women are women!”
Hopefully you will be able to write up a summary and post it here? I want to learn about this. Thank you Sasha and Stella for having this discussion!