James Cantor @JamesCantorPhD Twitter profile

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

7 months

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

10 months

I rarely tweet personal things, but it's been 32 years today. When we met, we didn't get to hear that from many gay couples.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Being on puberty blockers for 3 years means 3 years not developing in brain or body---falling farther and farther behind friends and classmates. How is that reversible?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

For girls, feeling anxious about becoming a woman is not evidence of being a boy.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

Open letter of resignation: My 27-year association with Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality must come to an end. In the present culture war between science and popular appeal, the SSSS Board of Directors selected the latter.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

When a girl says she doesn't feel like a girl, it often means, "I don't feel like the exaggerated images of femininity circulating online.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

"Psychotherapy instead of meds" for kids with gender dysphoria is not "denying health care."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Medically transitioning adolescent girls for being insecure about their femininity is like recommending cardiac transplants for broken hearts. Decisions are being based on metaphor, not science.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

How is it a "preferred" pronoun if its use is mandatory?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Never in my life would I have guessed I'd be disagreeing so strongly with @jonstewart . Yet, Stewart's interview with Leslie Rutledge on the science of trans- issues missed and misrepresented a great deal of the research. These were the major gaps...

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

And yet, here you are...

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

The number of sexes equals the number of biological parents.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

8 years

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

“What are your pronouns?” doesn’t mean they want to know your pronouns. It means they’re dying to tell you theirs.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

So, if your sex only got assigned at birth, what were you during the prior nine months? Schrodinger's gender?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

Yelling "Transphobia!" has become like yelling "Witchcraft!!"

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

You’re not a critical thinker until both sides hate you.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Does this count as conversion therapy?: A guy says he's not sexually attracted to transpeople, and a transperson suggests that he must overcome his issues so that he is?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

I cannot help but compare: When I was young, gays were dying by the thousands. Today, the news is "trouble accessing haircuts."

CBC Toronto

@CBCToronto

3 years

Hair is key to affirming transgender and gender nonconforming people’s identity, but they often have trouble accessing haircuts that help them look the way they feel. A photographer has documented some of these experiences.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

5 years

Being offended has become so fashionable, I can only show my rebelliousness now by being at peace.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

How can one consent to orgasm-blocking treatments if one doesn't know what orgasms are? Specifically, how can a prepubescent child weigh the risks of sacrificing what they cannot know?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Woke is the weaponization of empathy.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 months

Despite claims that blocking puberty gives time for decision-making, no one can answer the obvious: How is it possible for a child to discover "This isn't as bad as I feared" when they are blocked from experiencing it? Fears are resolved by confronting them, not avoiding them.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

For very many teen girls, "trans" doesn't mean "I feel like a man." It means "I don't feel like a perfect woman and want out of the race." That's why "non-binary" etm. are so popular. Hard to shake the observation that the explosion in cases parallels the advent of social media.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Once a healthcare provider (mis)represents the science as saying their child would be at substantial risk of death by suicide if not permitted to transition, it is hard to think of parents' subsequent decisions as "informed consent."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

No. Sex evolved approximately 2 billion years ago. The idea that natural phenomena come to exist only when humans label them is human chauvinism. Sex was here before us, and (if we leave anything living behind) will be here after.

Prof. Stephen Whittle OBE, PhD, DLaws, FAcSS,

@stephenwhittle

2 years

Binary sex is a (man) invented modern (late 18th century) taxanomic convention. The dividing line is if it’s time. We know that people have many ‘Sex’ variations & not just those called intersex. Enough variation that we cannot say that each human will be on side 1 or 2. So…

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

7 months

"‘Gender-Affirming Care Is Dangerous. I Know Because I Helped Pioneer It.’ "My country, and others, found there is no solid evidence supporting the medical transitioning of young people. "Why aren’t American clinicians paying attention?"

‘Gender-Affirming Care Is Dangerous. I Know Because I Helped Pioneer It.’

My country, and others, found there is no solid evidence supporting the medical transitioning of young people. Why aren’t American clinicians paying attention?

www.thefp.com

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Whenever someone says "Words are violence," all I hear is, "I am so emotionally dysregulated that I cannot scale my reactions appropriately to different situations." #ClusterB

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 months

Gender affirmative therapy is for affirming the therapist, not the client. It takes no talent, training, or skill to tell people what they want to hear. Helping youth process what they need but DON'T want to hear does. If need-for-affirmation is all you see, the need is yours.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Lived experience is what the scientific method was designed to exclude. We seek universal truths, not vindication of our preconceptions.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

It is perfectly legitimate to debate the fairness of MtF transfolk competing on female sports teams. Shaming #autogynephilia , however, is unfair. AGP appears to be simply another atypical sexuality that people do not ask for and cannot change.

Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas exposed for autogynephilia and fetishistic lifestyle: report - Rebel...

The discovery of an Instagram account allegedly linked to Thomas contained posts about the swimmer’s apparent preoccupation with autogynephilia — or fetishistic transvestism.

www.rebelnews.com

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

If you were only assigned your sex at birth, what where you during the 20-week sonogram?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Rainbows are no longer pride symbols. They are virtue signals. It no longer takes guts to show a pride flag. It takes guts to question anything done it its name.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

It's not a consensus if dissenters were cancelled.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Is evolution transphobic?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

When does “lived experience” produce insight, and when does it produce bias?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

You can’t have intellectual diversity by blocking everyone who disagrees with you.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Best interview question ever: "What's something you believed, but changed your mind about, once evidence emerged?"

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

24 days

How can one distinguish "I'm a boy" from "I'm afraid of being a girl?" How can one distinguish "I don't want to grow up to be a man" from "I don't want to grow up"? How can one distinguish "I don't want to have children" from "Yet"?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

I'm old enough to remember when objective evidence was more important than one's subjective experiences.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 months

@LeorSapir @wpath @thecassreview I'm having trouble reconciling these: "I approached this analysis as a non-binary researcher, as a parent of a trans child, and with experience as a parent-service user"

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Studies of gender dysphoric kids all show that most turn out gay/lesbian, not trans. People claim puberty-blockers give kids "time to choose," but not discussed is the obvious: Blocking puberty blocks onset of sex drive, so blocks the chance for them to compare at all.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

We have studies saying mental health doesn't improve from transition. We have studies saying mental health does improve, but can't tell if from psychotherapy or medical transition. We have 0 studies showing meds superior to therapy. And: Psychotherapy does not cause sterility.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

In American gender clinics, it is hard to distinguish "the child knows best" from "the customer is always right."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Many people say they want to be heard, but mean "obeyed."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

"It’s Binding or Suicide" It's quite plausible that headlines like these would *increase* suicidality.

‘It’s Binding or Suicide’: Transgender and Non-Binary Readers Share Their Experiences With Chest...

Readers describe the advantages and drawbacks of compressing their chests.

www.nytimes.com

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

Proposal for DSM-6: Virtue Signalling Personality Disorder

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Perhaps you should recognize the harm you're doing NOW.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Next big thing among furries: "Species assigned at birth."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

The number of follow-up studies for nonbinary bottom surgeries is...zero.

Trans People Are Seeking Nonbinary Bottom Surgeries

Across the gender spectrum, some patients are looking for mixed sets of genitals, or none at all. Actually receiving this affirming care isn't easy.

www.vice.com

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

For trans issues, the consensus is...afraid to speak.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

6 months

How can prepubescent youth give consent---INFORMED consent---to forgoing all orgasm for all their lives? How can a prepubescent mind appreciate the experience sufficiently for the consent to represent *informed* consent?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

6 months

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

9 months

Calling it "scientifically supported" doesn't make it scientifically supported. Calling it "life-saving" doesn't make it life-saving. Calling it "medically necessary" doesn't make it medically necessary. Calling it "well established" doesn't make it well established.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

It's impossible to ban conversion therapy for sex orientation AND gender identity. Transition IS conversion therapy: Transition is the difference between a gay son and a straight daughter. Banning therapy to become comfortable as gay IS the pressure to live as straight.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

The research has NOT shown transition to improve mental health. The research is much more consistent with the psychotherapy that accompanies medicalized transition being what improves mental health. No medicalized intervention has been shown to add beyond that.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

Premises: 1. Someone feels ugly, fears rejection. 2. Person identifies as Asexual, escaping social pressure to date. 3. Person attends psychotherapy. Their self-esteem improves, and they feel ready to try dating and sex. Question: Was this conversion therapy of asexuality?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

There exists no scientific evidence whatsoever to support the claim of a neurological origin of gender identity. Such evidence exists for sexual orientation and the paraphilias, but not for gender identity.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 months

"Transgender youth have higher rates of mental health issues..." Yes, there's substantial evidence showing that. "...because of the stigma" No, there's no evidence showing that. Correlation <> causation, Drs. And stigma doesn't cause ADHD or autism spectrum disorder.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

10 months

The American Academy of Pediatrics just decided to conduct a systematic review of the evidence on medicalized transition of minors.

WSJ News Exclusive | Doctors Group to Examine Guidelines for Treatment of Transgender Youths

The American Academy of Pediatrics plans to review the evidence for gender-affirming medical care and potentially amend its policies.

www.wsj.com

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Correlations between adolescent gender dysphoria and suicidality are not well explained by being a result of transphobia. But they are very well explained by their both being a result of social contagion, for which adolescent (bio) females are the most susceptible.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Every child treated for gender dysphoria in the last decade will have their medical records scrutinised to see if NHS care is causing more harm than good. Changing the law so researchers can study data on ~9,000 adolescents given counselling or drugs.

Child gender clinics under review by Health Secretary

Sajid Javid will today change a medical confidentiality law to allow researchers to study data on around 9,000 British children given counselling or drugs for gender dysphoria.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

When someone believes their lived experience matters, I agree. When someone believes their lived experience is all that matters, I see narcissism.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 months

The WPATH response to the #WPATHFiles is remarkable in its vacuity. A science- and evidence-based organization would respond with science and evidence.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 months

The Cass Report included systematic reviews of the relevant studies. From those: Social transition review: Turban et al (2021) is "low quality" Puberty blocker review: Turban et al (2020) is "low quality" Hormone review: Turban et al (2022) is "low quality"

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

Outcomes research about medical transition is invalid without the detransitioners. "Survivorship bias or survival bias is the logical error of concentrating on entities that passed a selection process while overlooking those that did not." More:

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

6 months

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 months

The WPATH president claims credibility on the basis of other medical associations. Yet, those other associations claim credibility on the basis of WPATH. The table below, however, lists *all* studies in their systematic reviews, along side the lists from the European ones.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

To the cult, deprogramming is conversion therapy.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

"Lived experience" = I have no objective evidence.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

New study out on suicide rates in trans folk. The article analyzed *actual* completed suicides rather than self-reported thoughts or attempts: 0.80% in transwomen 0.25% in transmen

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

For those following the #ROGD debates: A group of psychology organizations claimed ROGD doesn't exist. In this blog post, I review the science behind their conclusion, summarizing the studies they somehow neglected.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Most 'trans kids' become desisters, but trans history gets written by the persisters.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

The BBC has dropped Mermaids, The Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES), The Gender Trust, and The LGBT Foundation from its information page for transgender people.

The BBC quietly dropped four LGBT+ charities from its transgender support page. Now, it’s empty

The BBC quietly removed information about four British LGBT+ charities from a page offering support for trans folk and people struggling with gender.

web.archive.org

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Scientists read the methods to know if the results are any good. Activists read the results to decide if the scientists are any good.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Research does NOT show transition reduces suicidality. Research shows people with better mental health are more likely to be permitted to transition. (The misunderstanding is an example of the famous correlation-causation error.)

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

You can't know what the "settled science" is without first running a systematic review. No American medical assn conducted such a review of the safety and effectiveness of medicalized transition of minors. The European public health care systems that DID all said the opposite.

GLAAD

@glaad

1 year

Good morning! A reminder that healthcare for transgender people is settled science. Every major medical association supports this critical life-saving care.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

10 months

I still have trouble reconciling: "Children know who they are" and No one knew they were non-binary until social media.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

"Fluid identity" can be a euphemism for "unstable identity," and unstable identity is a symptom of #BPD .

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

The most dangerous mental health professionals are those who believe providing comfort is the same as providing therapy.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

9 months

What doesn't count as Evidence-Based Medicine: - Testimonials from satisfied customers. - Providers' promises to make you a satisfied customer. - Associations of providers saying their dues-paying members are approved to make you a satisfied customer. - Any survey of the above.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Psychology has long shown that the most effective means of changing prejudiced minds is simply for the groups to interact: Exactly the opposite of cancellation culture. #cancelcancelculture #ccc

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

The most popular but least effective type of therapy is called "Tell me what I want to hear."

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

No, blockers block the very brain and sexual development they need to overcome their fears of growing up. They need help confronting those anxieties, not help avoiding them. There is no evidence blockers improve anything beyond psychotherapy. (Agreed re access problem.)

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 months

I have yet to see a logical answer: Sonogram at month 6 of pregnancy shows unborn child is male. What do you call the “sex assigned at birth” when there’s been no birth?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

The explosive popularity of affirmation-on-demand is not because it is so comforting for the client, but because it is so comforting for the clinician.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

I cannot help but compare: GLB rights were fought mostly with feminist, collective, communication-based methods. Trans rights are fought mostly with authoritarian, think-what-I-tell-you, punitive consequence methods.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

How many fit "Born in the wrong body"?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Telling people only what they want to hear is neither supporting, nor being an ally.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

It's hard not to put this together with Reuters' interview with Dr. Marci Bowers, WPATH’s president saying even minors should not be “blaming the clinician or the people who helped guide them,” she said. “They need to own that final step.”

James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

1 year

One of the most widely cited clinical guidelines for treating people with gender dysphoria is from The Endocrine Society. Rarely does one see the disclaimer included at the end:

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

If words are violence, how do you have a non-violent protest?

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Social transition of gender is conversion therapy. Psychotherapy of dysphoria is not.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

It's hard to express as much hate as anti-hate groups.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

2 years

Useful comparison: "Transwomen are women" and "My adopted children are my children." One's adopted child can be one's child for every personal, social, and even legal circumstance, but it still doesn't mean you can donate a kidney to each other.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

Sure. You get to challenge others, but they can't challenge you back.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

3 years

When I was a young gay man, "dead naming" would mean reading the list of actual names of that week's actual dead.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

4 years

Interestingly, cis-women are more likely to *attempt* suicide than cis-men, but cis-men are more likely to *complete* suicide than cis-women. The pattern among transfolk matches biological sex rather than their social gender.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

6 years

The problem of the extreme right is its unholy alliance with antisocial personality disorder. The problem of the extreme left is its unholy alliance with borderline and histrionic personality disorder. Moderate is the new radical.

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James Cantor

@JamesCantorPhD

6 months

There is nothing more anti-science than to claim "The science is settled."

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