Tag: gender

Hundreds of trans teens under 18 have had breasts removed in Canada, new data show

As tensions rise over the medical care of trans children, a new analysis shows hundreds of adolescents in Canada have undergone female-to-male “top surgery” — double mastectomies  — over the past five years.

Hospitalizations and day surgery visits for bilateral mastectomies for gender reassignment surgery have risen sharply, from 536 in 2018-19, to 985 in fiscal 2022-23, according to data compiled for National Post by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Of the 4,071 visits in total involving gender-affirming mastectomies or breast reductions reported since 2018, 602 involved youth 18 and under.

Of those, 303 involved teens 17 and younger. The youngest age was 14.

The numbers tell only part of the story. The CIHI data exclude Quebec hospitals as well as surgeries performed in private clinics like the McLean Clinic in Mississauga, which describes its surgeons as “industry pioneers” for top surgery — mastectomies and breast reductions in those assigned female at birth, and breast augmentation for those born male transitioning to female.

One specialist in transgender health issues said that, when applying for OHIP funding for people seeking top surgery, “50 to 70 per cent will go to McLean.”

Female-to-male chest surgery involves removing the breasts to achieve a flatter, more masculinized torso, to better align the person’s physical body with their gender identity and reduce gender dysphoria, defined as the persistent distress that can accompany the incongruence between the gender one identifies with and one’s gender at birth.

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WHY WOMEN’S WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS ARE SO DIFFICULT TO OVERCOME

When Cynthia Sommer’s husband, Todd, died in 2002, the medical examiner said a cardiac arrhythmia was responsible. But prosecutors charged Sommer with murder on the theory she had poisoned her husband, pointing at her trial to the fact that Sommer underwent a breast augmentation, once participated in a wet T-shirt contest, and pursued sexual partners after her husband’s death. The implication was Sommer was not a grieving widow but reveling in her newfound sexual freedom. She was convicted but subsequently won a new trial, after which the charges were dismissed.

Sommer is just one of many innocent people who have been wrongfully convicted of a crime. Experts believe only a small percentage will ever be exonerated. But women like Sommer are rarely the face of this issue. Because of this, the specific contours of women’s wrongful convictions can go unnoticed, obscuring the fact that, while exonerations are already difficult to achieve, exonerating women presents its unique challenges.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, only 285 women have managed to be exonerated since 1989, compared with more than 3,000 men. But experts say that isn’t indicative of the true number of wrongful convictions.

There is “no question” it’s harder for women to achieve exonerations compared with men, according to Marissa Boyers Bluestine, assistant director of the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the former executive director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Regarding how many wrongfully convicted women have yet to achieve exonerations, “It’s not even a tip of an iceberg, it’s a tip of a tip of an iceberg,” Bluestone said.

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Conference cancels panel on biological sex in human skeletons over transphobia fears: Commits a ‘cardinal sin’

Anthropologists from the largest associations of anthropologists in the world canceled an event discussing the importance of biological sex in the context of studying the human skeleton while citing “transphobia” as the reason for the panel being cut. 

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) and The Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) were skewered for walking back their approval for a panel event at its 2023 conference discussing biological sex. The AAA and CASCA said that it was now tightening its review process to ensure such an event wouldn’t recur in the future. 

The event in question discussed “Sex identification whether an individual was male or female – using the skeleton is one of the most fundamental components in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology.” 

One of the speakers who was slated to attend, Elizabeth Weiss, an anthropology professor at San José State University, said in an interview with FOX News Digital that the field has been nose-diving into an “off the rails” agenda, with activists pushing for some facts to be replaced with feelings. As anthropologists have developed more precise metrics to determine the sex of the human skeleton they study in the field, the more they get attacked for knowing and being able to determine those differences, she said. 

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Neil Degrasse Tyson Explodes During Debate About Trans Women Competing in Women Sports

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was confronted on his support for gender ideology concepts, including that biological males who identify as transgender should be able to compete in women’s sports in some circumstances.

Tyson discussed transgenderism on “TRIGGERnometry”, a free speech YouTube show run by British satirist Konstantin Kisin. Kisin pressed Tyson on criticism posed by the idea of biological males competing on women’s teams. At one point, Tyson spoke in an elevated tone, appearing to state that the entire sports infrastructure should be reconsidered to ensure inclusion and fairness for all.

“One of your functions over time has been to communicate scientific knowledge to the public,” Kisin said. Kisin then asked Tyson about his belief that gender exists “on a spectrum.”

During the show, Tyson said the biological differences between males and females in sports are a “solvable problem” for transgender inclusion. He said excluding biological males from women’s teams carte blanche was an “older view of the world.”

“What the trans conversation is foisting upon us is the need to find ways to slice the athletic universe such that we still have interesting, fair matches,” he said. “And is it a combination of did you go through puberty as a male and then transition? Did you have puberty blockers? What is your hormone level now… if you want to compete?”

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Male or Female: There’s Nothing In Between

The male and female sexes are ancient, having emerged on the evolutionary landscape more than a billion years ago. This is much older than humans, older than most plant and animal species, older than most marine life, and even older than the brain itself.

More than just keeping an individual alive, as food and water do, the two sexes keep entire species alive by producing more genetically unique individuals through sexual reproduction: the mixing of genomes and the fusion of sex cells called gametes. The evolution of male and female sexes is a major reason why the diversity of plant and animal species exists. It’s why we humans exist. It’s why you exist.

More than 99.9 percent of animal species that have developed since the emergence of male and female sexes reproduce sexually. And 95 percent of those animal species—including humans—have male and female sexes in separate individuals, whereby organisms are either male or female for their entire lives.

It may be surprising, but the two sexes follow a universal biological definition that applies to all species with male and female systems: the male sex is the phenotype (or structure) that produces the smaller gametes (i.e., sperm), while the female sex is the phenotype (or structure) that produces the larger gametes (eggs). The sperm are numerous and fast, contributing half the genetic material of the parent, but no resources for the survival of the fertilized egg (zygote). The eggs are relatively few, and very slow, contributing half the genetic material of the parent and all the resources for the zygote’s survival. Combine these two different gamete types together and a genetically unique individual is formed.

The technical term for this system is known as anisogamy (from the Greek aniso, meaning unequal; and gámos, meaning marriage), which involves the fusion of two gametes with different size and form. It is so efficient for reproduction and producing genetic diversity that it has evolved independently in nearly all lineages of multi-cellular organisms.

Biologists consider the evolution of the two sexes mathematically inevitable, because this system maximizes the efficiency of sexual reproduction—providing resources to the offspring through investment in large, nutrient-heavy eggs, while also maximizing gamete fusion through the production of many sperm that can quickly find an egg. This efficiency explains why the same system has evolved independently so many times.

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Lawsuit Over Sex-Trafficked Teen Could Stop Schools From Hiding Kids’ Dysphoria

The mother of a Virginia teen sex-trafficked twice after her school concealed her newly asserted gender identity has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against school staff and a Maryland public defender who alleged parental “misgendering” and abuse. The complaint was filed Aug. 22 in the Western District of Virginia court on behalf of Michele Blair by the Child and Parental Rights Campaign (CPRC) with support from the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR).

It alleges that the defendants’ actions—first in withholding vital information about the girl’s gender identification and related assault in the boys’ bathroom, then later by falsely alleging abuse to deprive her mother of custody—resulted in the child’s ordeal at the hands of sexual predators not once, but twice. Blair v. Appomattox et al. will set critical precedents in two areas of roiling national debate: parental notification of gender transition in schools and parental custody relating to gender identity.

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Census ‘hugely overstated’ trans population

The Office for National Statistics “hugely overestimated” the number of transgender people in the UK, Whitehall sources have claimed, as the body admitted it could have carried out “additional probing” before releasing the controversial data.

An official inquiry by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) into the census finding that 260,000 people identified as transgender has drawn up several “lessons learned” from the way the data was handled by the ONS. 

They include a conclusion the ONS should do more to communicate “uncertainty” about the data and should have sought external “quality assurance”.

The inquiry’s findings are likely to exacerbate tensions between ministers and the ONS after the body admitted earlier this month it had underestimated the size of the economy by nearly 2 per cent as of the end of 2021 – meaning Britain recovered to its pre-pandemic level almost two years ago. 

A Whitehall source suggested the ONS executive, led by Prof Sir Ian Diamond, may have lost its “credibility” to accurately record sex and gender, based on its handling of the trans issue together with its separate loss of a legal challenge over the wording of the 2021 census. 

The source said it was now clear the 2021 figures on gender, released in January, “hugely overestimated” the number of transgender people – a view they said was shared by multiple ministers.

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Burn After Reading: Colorado Teachers Told To Destroy Results of an Illegal Gender Survey

Not that many years ago, I ran across this little piece of fortune cookie/Bazooka Joe wisdom: “If you have to sneak to do it, lie to cover it up, or delete it to avoid being seen, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it.” And that is good advice. That is unless you are in a pitched battle against the heteronormative, white patriarchy. In that case, sneaking, lying, and deleting are not just permissible but admirable tactics. This is war, you know. Desperate times call for desperate measures. These are, after all, the times that try ze/zim/zir souls. In Jefferson County, Colorado, a number of parents are alleging that teachers broke state and federal laws and that the local teachers’ union, the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA), is aiding and abetting the teachers in that effort.

Having students fill out surveys about their gender and preferred pronouns violates federal and Colorado state laws as those things constitute “protected information.” But CBS Colorado reports that the school district maintains that it is unclear as to the legality of such surveys. However, there are several lawsuits over the matter, and administrators instructed the teachers not to address the issue or conduct any surveys.

Parent Denice Crawford was happy with an email she received from the district reminding parents that mandatory surveys inquiring about students’ protected information are illegal. The email said that voluntary surveys are also prohibited unless parents can opt out of them. Crawford, who has three children in district schools, was surprised, to say the very least, when her son came home with a survey asking about his gender identity. She told the TV station she was “deceived, lied to, taken advantage of.” Other parents, who are members of Jeffco Kids First, said that dozens of teachers conducted such surveys and that the JCEA instructed teachers via email on how to keep the surveys secret. The email read in part, “…if you do a questionnaire, please make it a paper and pencil activity – any digital records are more permanent and may be requested under federal law.” Teachers were also advised to make notations about students but not hold on to documents. School board member Susan Miller said that the JCEA gave teachers a way to work around the law. That could put the teachers’ jobs and licenses at risk. For her part, Crawford feels like the trust between her and the teachers has been broken. With a transgender nephew and a gay daughter, Crawford claims that she is not anti-LGBTQ and that, after reporting the survey to her son’s principal, there has been no reply.

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Jordan Peterson forced to undergo reeducation from Ontario College of Psychologists to retain his license

Psychologist and former University of Toronto professor Dr. Jordan Peterson was ordered by the Ontario College of Psychologists to undergo a reeducation training program over his social media posts that uphold free speech and speak out against gender ideology and medical mistreatment of minors in service to the lie that humans can change sex.

He received a great deal of support in his quest to not have to undergo reeducation to retain his license, and hundreds rallied on his behalf. Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre also backed Peterson against the authoritarian overreach of the Ontario College of Psychologists, who took the word of people who claimed they where “harmed” by simply seeing Peterson’s remarks online as proof of “harm.”

Peterson spoke about the upcoming verdict a day before it was levied, saying “The decision of an Ontario court re the allegations levied against me by @CPOntario is due tomorrow. I stand by what I have said and done and wish them luck in their continued prosecution. They’re going to need it. I tweeted and otherwise expressed my opposition to trans surgery butchery, @JustinTrudeau and his minions, and the lying climate apocalypse-mongers. All that’s looking pretty good from my end. And if I can’t express such opinions in Canada, I will let the world know.”

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Chief psychologist of California children’s hospital claims kids can identify as ‘gender minotaurs’ as she celebrates ‘revolution’ by youth who ‘know more than we do’

A Chief psychologist at a California children’s hospital has claimed children can identify as ‘gender minotaurs’.

Dr. Diane Ehrensaft is the director of mental health and chief psychologist at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital gender development center. 

Her research focuses on the effects of puberty blockers and hormones on children. 

First reported by Fox News, Ehrensaft has made claims that children can identify as gender hybrids, which include  ‘gender minotaur’.

The Minotaur, in Greek mythology, was a creature which had the body of a man but the head of a bull. 

In a list of terms published by Ehrensaft, in a paper titled The Gender Affirmative Model, she refers to different ways in which children have described themselves. 

One of these included ‘gender minotaur’, which is described as being a descriptor for a child who sees themselves as one gender on top, and another on their bottom half.  

Other claims made by the psychologist include what she describes as a ‘gender prius’.

This label is said to have been explained to her by a child who looked like a boy at the front, but had a long braid tied in their hair with a pink bow. 

According to the paper, the child said: ‘You see – I’m a Prius, a boy in the front, a girl in the back. A hybrid.’ 

Other terms include a ‘gender smoothie’ which is described as a variation of being gender fluid. 

One teenager described it to Ehrensaft as: ‘You take everything about gender, throw it in the blender, press the button, and you’ve got me—a gender smoothie.’

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