Not Feeling Fluid
Okay, so this story sort of makes my point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an ideologue, a very definite, strong-willed, free-thinking radical, who is probably on some dozens of watch lists and who couldn’t get elected left-hand swirl soft serve ice cream inspector. I admit it.
And while I try not to erase all trace of contrarian, disdainful misanthropy from my public ponderings, I think we do want to operate (at least while on the job) from the point of view of a profession that should try – try, dammit! – to remain above the foolishness. I don’t think that physicians necessarily need to remain crosswise to all cultural currents, because indeed we need to be able to connect with our patients on a personal level in order to be of any use to them. But that need not mean that in the course of being open-minded and compassionate that we check all values, reason, and common $#&%@ sense at the door as the price to be called “doctor.” To read the various opinions and what shall be charitably referred to as “studies” from the AMA, AAFP, AAP, et nauseatingly al, one might think that the job of the modern provi-, er, physician is to be merely a cipher, a reflection of and conduit for whatever prevailing public fashion has taken hold.
And to wax colloquially, I ain’t goin’ there.
On these pages, I have and shall continue to take shots at phony, harmful industries that spring up under the rubric of “health” and gain destructive momentum from the protections granted by unscrupulous doctors, medical organizations, and the media promotion they gain. One such evil enterprise is “trans medicine,” including the hormonal, surgical, and psychological mutilation of the individual. All “trans” is mental illness, and damn any so-called physician who promotes the furtherance of a mind-body disconnect that is an objective delusion. An outgrowth of this is the latent Pokémon idiocy of “non-binary, gender-fluid” babblespeak so popular with entertainers, and so enticing to pre-teens who are naturally, simultaneously struggling with their identities while wanting to look cool. Teaching people, especially youngsters, that they do not have an actual, genetically determined gender, or that they can be multiple people-types at will inside the same skin only fertilizes the tortuous weeds of personality disorders through which we all have to climb. This crap will sew worse confusion, and exacerbate underlying mood disorders without giving the sufferer even a toehold on the bottom of the pool while struggling for air. Good parents with whom I’ve discussed this at length assure me that kids have it tough enough without scrambling their budding selves with a bunch of random yet doctor-approved nonsense (look at how well the ADHD industry has performed).
Consider world-renowned thought leader Demi Lovato , reportedly a singer, who/that gave this perfectly crystal definition of the entire mindset: “If you misgender me — that’s okay,” the singer wrote. “I accidentally misgender myself sometimes! It’s a huge transition to change the pronouns I’ve used for myself my entire life. And it’s difficult to remember sometimes!”
They (they??!) continued, “As long as you keep trying to respect my truth, and as long as I remember my truth, that shift will come naturally. I’m just grateful for your effort in trying to remember what means so much to my healing process.”
Yeah, well my truth is that I’m a starting wide receiver for the Florida Gators, and an astronaut, but no amount of emergently injected Geodon is going to make that so.
Beyond a desperate addiction to attention, and no doubt an aggressive manager that can bank it, she/it/they is/are wrestling with serious mental illness, which she, etc. is trying to convert into a virtually communicable illness.
Truthfully, I don’t give the first non-gendered damn what happens to this silly parasite. But kids and weak-minded people of majority age are listening to her and the horrible wave of irrationality washing over us all. Doctors are wrong to buy into this, to use phony gender language to avoid angering the insane or bad Press Ganey satisfaction scores. Physicians have the rational duty to stand against the made-up and the unreal.
I call that “following the science,” and you’re welcome to use it.
The next opioid crisis in the making.
Let me say this, mental illness is strong on the board this go-round. Pat, you nailed it.
Thanks for your eloquence in addressing this.
Wow. You nailed it! These have been the very thoughts I have had for many years.
I am a physician, obstetrician gynecologist, with MBA degree and I am genderqueer. I also run a transgender clinic and have a son who is transgender. You are a dinosaur. Dinosaurs are extinct. 4 times more people from Generation Z identify as LGBTQAI+ compared to any other generation. Most of my patients have bad experiences with physicians like you, especially in emergency rooms.
15 years ago I had my first trans patient come out to me. I had a choice. Say what you said, and never see her again, or anyone ever struggling with transgender issues, or help the transition. I learned the relatively easy aspects of hormone manipulation and I have kept learning the very complicated psychological, spiritual, physical, and sexual issues these patients go through. I think I did the right thing. You don’t. I have treated several hundred trans patients. I respect your position, but I disagree with it. Transgender is not simply a grass is always greener issue.