Girls Will Be Boys: The Transgender Epidemic, and the Institutions That Spread It

• Post by: Nicole M. King
• October 13, 2023

In 2020, a U.K. high court issued a ruling banning the use of puberty blocking drugs to children under aged 16 without court approval. The decision stemmed from the case of Keira Bell. A child of divorce, Bell struggled for years with depression and anxiety. She felt more comfortable in boys’ clothing, was athletic, and had a good group of male friends. In childhood, this wasn’t a problem, she writes. But when puberty hit, the realities of femininity were too much, and she became deeply uncomfortable in her own body and lost her circle of male friends. Her mother, who was herself an alcoholic and deeply disturbed, asked Keira if she felt like a boy, as did her father’s partner. The thought had never occurred to her, but then she began reading on the Internet. When she was 16, Bell was referred to the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, a “gender-identity development” facility. After only three one-hour appointments, Bell was put on puberty-blockers. She went on to start testosterone, and at 20 underwent a double mastectomy.[1] At 23, Bell detransitioned, but the drugs had done their work. She looks and sounds like a man, and wonders why such powerful drugs were given to her without a more thorough clinical investigation. She thought that transitioning would help her; it didn’t. So she chose to fight the clinic that so blithely put her on a body-deforming path. (The other claimant in the British case, known only as “Mrs. A.,” is the mother of a 15-year-old autistic girl who was awaiting treatment at the clinic. The Trust treats a high number of autistic young women seeking treatment for gender dysphoria.) Keira Bell is not an anomoly. The Economist tells the story of “Andrea Davidson” and her daughter, “Meghan” (not their real names).[2] Meghan told her mother at 12 that she was “definitely a boy.” Ms. Davidson was shocked when her daughter’s doctor congratulated Meghan on her new identity, asked which pronouns she preferred, and t