The Atlantic Really Wants You to Think Europe is Turning Against Trans Youth
Why did they need two articles on the same thing?
by Evan Urquhart
The weirdest thing about the newest piece of anti-trans propaganda in the Atlantic is that it is very similar to the most recent piece of anti-trans propaganda in the Atlantic, which we wrote about in-depth just yesterday. Two articles in a week, in the exact same outlet, and both pushing the same exact opinion, in similar terms. Extraordinary! Maybe it’s a fluke.
Helen Lewis is an ideologue who vehemently opposes trans rights in all forms. But in her latest piece she presents herself as caring about the medical evidence for gender affirming care. Well, despite what Lewis wants you to believe, the evidence for gender-affirming care for youth is firm. It’s support for trans youth and their families that is weak.
Compared to the evidence for many other treatments, evidence for gender-affirming care is way above average. For example, it’s far more robust than the evidence for treating obesity in youth, almost all of which have no evidentiary base at all. In contrast, a recent article in Scientific American summed the situation around puberty blockers nicely earlier this week:
screenshot from Scientific American
If it weren’t for the controversial nature of transgender people existing, there’d be no debate, no questions around gender-affirming care. The opposition to it is political and based in bias. This is made even more clear when the arguments by opponents neglect to wrestle with the evidence at all, instead invoking the authority of four cherry-picked European countries, chosen purely because they happen to be less supportive of providing treatment to minors with gender dysphoria than the US (not newly less supportive, less supportive full stop). This is the line of argument Lewis takes, and it’s the exact same line taken in the exact same outlet less than a week ago, by Frieda Klotz.
Just as was true yesterday, today there are no new studies out of Europe that cast doubt on the efficacy of gender-affirming care. Some European countries have recently expanded access to such care, while others have bowed to exactly the same activist pressure that has resulted in bans on treatment for gender dysphoric youth in the US. A recent Assigned deep dive looked at the four European countries most often named by opponents of gender-affirming care (the UK, Sweden, Finland, and Norway) and explained what has (but mostly hasn’t) actually changed for them.
So why, when there’s no new evidence out of Europe and even the cherry-picked countries don’t show any straightforward evidence of having changed their minds, has the Atlantic published not one but two articles claiming that there are growing concerns about gender-affirming care in Europe? Well, it’s been a popular talking point of online trolls, it’s being heavily pushed by organized anti-trans activists, and is appearing in the text of numerous bills banning gender-affirming care in the US. Surely the Atlantic couldn’t be taking marching orders from anti-trans activists and promoting misleading propaganda, though. I’m sure there’s some other reasonable explanation for their decision to publish the same misleading story twice in 7 days.