Re: How-When-Where Does Common Sense Scream "The Transgenderism Emperor Has No Clothes"?
How-When-Where Does Common Sense Scream “The Transgenderism Emperor Has No Clothes!”?
Ghanaians worth their salt cannot possibly comment publicly on the British Medical Journal article by Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes [1] without using “Tafracher”, that valuable Ghanaian word I introduced to BMJ nearly 45 years ago [2] https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5953/329
DEFINITIONS
(a) In their article “Gender Dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism” Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes define Gender Dysphoria as “a conflict between a person’s biological sex (or ‘assigned’ gender) and the gender with which they identify”. [1]
(b) GIDS (Gender Identity Development Service) “based at London’s Tavistock Square and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is England’s only provider of NHS specialist treatment for young people with gender dysphoria”. [1] Madeline Kearns says it used to be called Gender Identity Disorder. [3]
(c) TRANS CARE - the process by which doctors (physicians, surgeons, psychologists, and others) treat those wishing to alter their gender.
(d) Ethical Approval is when an Ethics Committee allows or disallows researchers and doctors to go ahead and do something as serious as (Tafracher!) turning a boy into a girl, or vice versa - Transgenderism.
(e) Common Sense is defined severally as “Native good judgment”, or “Good practical sense especially in everyday matters”, or “A set of general unexamined assumptions as distinguished from specially acquired concepts”, or “Sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.”
THE SERIOUS CRITICISMS OF TRANS CARE
If the article of Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes which exposed certain goings-on is not a Wake-Up-Call I don’t know what is. Researchers have broken rules “when seeking ethical approval”. Negative data has been suppressed. Evidence about Puberty Blockers Outcomes, side-effects, and unintended consequences is lacking. Interim findings “that might suggest increased suicidality” have been downplayed. Full study findings remain unpublished. Some researchers were not “prepared to speak publicly for fear of reprisal” [1] and “protocol and information sheets were missing potentially significant information” [1]. One Ethics Committee turns down a procedure as unethical, only to be sanctioned by another Ethics Committee. Failure to submit regular progress reports. On … and … on were the concerns stated in the article of Cohen and Barnes and “GIDS declined to share (some) results ‘which could prejudice publication of the study’” [1].
I was disturbed reading the perspective of a girl, now 19, “who started taking puberty blockers when she was 16”. Equally unsettling was Researchers’ frequent use of “There is no evidence”, the phrase that we readers subliminally associate with “There is evidence” that the opposite is true! [4] Would we not be piling harm upon harm when, as stated by the authors, (Tafracher!) “Puberty blockers could now, also be considered for children under 12 in established puberty”? [1]
TWO PRIME MINISTERS AND ONE VICE-CHANCELLOR EXPRESS IN JUST 3 DAYS CONCERNS ABOUT OUR YOUNG
Monday 14 October 2019 during the Queen’s Speech Debate Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson included this statement “looking after young people growing up in this country”. [5]
Tuesday 15 October 2019 during Queen’s Speech Debate Immediate Past Prime Minister Mrs Theresa May said “Young people can suffer harm on line” [6]
Wednesday 16 October 2019 in his Annual Lecture University of Hertfordshire Vice-Chancellor Professor Quintin McKellar CBE said “Clearly the number of students and other young people with mental health is a cause for deep concern”. [7]
Now, although these three very distinguished personages who are admirably concerned about our children, grand-children, and our great-grand-children were not referring in their comments quoted above to gender dysphoria and its complications including suicidality [1], which of us UK-trained doctors would be brave enough to forecast that the recommendation that children be given “time to explore their gender identity" [1] starting as early as (Tafracher!) the age of 4, as will become compulsory from 2020, could not possibly contribute to future human and societal catastrophic wreckage? Anyone, but anyone, who raises an objection to this state of affairs promptly invites what I call a “Perversion of language and thought” from almost all quarters. This is what I mean:
PERVERSION OF LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
Imagine yourself driving on a very busy UK road. The vehicle just ahead of you indicates “Right” and you position yourself to overtake. But just as you accelerate to do that the driver turns left. And crash! You get out of your car, and so does the driver in front. You express your displeasure and ask to exchange papers. Before you finish speaking the driver vehemently accuses you of “dangerous-driver-phobia”. Sadly, others gathering round also agree with him/her. This, in my book, is Perversion of Language and Thought that produces wreckage; not just vehicle wreckage, but human and societal wreckage that lasts for generations. I’ve listed just a few examples of such human, and societal wreckage in Reference 8.
COMMON SENSE, I BEG YOU, SCREAM LOUDLY TO WAKE US UP!
Vice-Chancellor Professor Quintin McKellar CBE mentioned Common Sense at least twice in his masterly and informative Oration on Wednesday 16 October 2019. Sixty years ago, I qualified twice over as a doctor in England – (a) from The Royal College of Physicians London (LRCP) and Royal College of Surgeons England (MRCS) in January 1959 and (b) from University of London (MB BS) in April 1959. My teachers at Westminster Hospital School of Medicine in Horseferry Road, London SW1 who, being the very best in the entire world had a great deal of Common-Sense some of which rubbed off on me. After all, they included Clinicians of British Royalty – Sir Clement Price-Thomas operated on King George VI, and Sir Richard Bayliss was the superb Consultant Physician of Queen Elizabeth II. The British are known for reserving the very best for their Monarch. They chose Clinicians with Monumental Common Sense. I owe a great deal to them, as I spelt out openly in a speech on 5th September 2018 at St Albans City Cathedral [9]. Dare I say more?
Competing Interest: Imbibed a tiny bit of the Common Sense of my Illustrious Teachers who were Clinicians of the British Royalty.
Professor F I D Konotey-Ahulu MRCS(Eng) LRCP(Lond) MB BS MD(Lond) FRCP(Lond) FRCP(Glasg) DTMH(L’pool) DSc(Hon UCC) DSc(Hon UH) FGA FGCP FWACP FTWAS, ORDER OF MERIT (OFFICER). Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and Former Director Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell and Other Haemoglobinopathies Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Accra, and at Phoenix Hospital Group, 9 Harley Street, London W1G 9AL. [ www.sicklecell.md ]
1 Cohen Deborah, Barnes Hannah. Gender Dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism. BMJ 2019; 366: l5647
2 Konotey-Ahulu FID. PERSONAL VIEW – Tafracher (The Ghanaian devulgarizing prefix). BMJ Volume 1, page 329, February 8 1975. https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5953/329
3. Kearns Madeline. The origins of the Transgender Movement. [Gender Dysphoria used to be called Gender Identity Disorder, and “is still listed in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, so it’s still a disorder in the DSM, but that’ll likely change”. Causes “a massive cultural and political wave”] National Review.com 14 October 2019.
4. Konotey-Ahulu FID. Evidence – Do not forget the hidden human dimension. www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l4606/rr-11 “Evidence of Absence is not Absence of Evidence”. BMJ Aug 7 2019 Rapid Response.
5. Johnson Boris (Prime Minister): “looking after young people growing up in this country” – said in Queen’s Speech Debate House of Commons 14 October 2019.
6. May Theresa (Immediate Past Prime Minister): “Young people can suffer harm on line” - said in Queen’s Speech Debate House of Commons 15 October 2019.
7. McKellar Quintin CBE (Vice-Chancellor University of Hertfordshire): Dangerous Ideas – Will today’s students change the world? [“Clearly the number of students and other young people with mental health is a cause for deep concern”] Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Lecture 16 October 2019.
8. Examples of wreckage, not just of pupils, but doctors and parents too.
a. http://opr.news/2f33d35d191002en_ng Christian Doc Loses Job as UK Judge Rules ‘Biblical View of Male and Female’ Violates ‘Human Dignity’ opr.news
b. Schools pulled into row over helping transgender children ...https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/15/transgender-row-teache... May 2018 ... As more teens come out as trans, experts clash over how schools should help. ...
It's still not easy being a trans child. This is what schools can ...
d. Smith Samuel. Texas Dad could lose custody of 6 -year-old son for not affirming transgender identity. The father has reportedly been legally prohibited from talking to his son about gender and sexuality. 29 Nov 2018 www.christianpost.com>news
9. Konotey-Ahulu FID. Hon DSc Acceptance Speech Sept. 5 2018 Univ. of Hertfordshire, naming all my Teachers https://youtu.be/41a1FZSpHd4
Competing interests:
Imbibed a tiny bit of the Common Sense of my Illustrious Teachers who were Clinicians of the British Royalty.
18 October 2019
Felix ID Konotey-Ahulu
Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics University of Cape Coast, Ghana and Former Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell and Other Haemoglobinopathies and Director Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra and at Phoenix Hospital Group, 9 Harley Street, London W1G 9AL.
Rapid Response:
Re: How-When-Where Does Common Sense Scream "The Transgenderism Emperor Has No Clothes"?
How-When-Where Does Common Sense Scream “The Transgenderism Emperor Has No Clothes!”?
Ghanaians worth their salt cannot possibly comment publicly on the British Medical Journal article by Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes [1] without using “Tafracher”, that valuable Ghanaian word I introduced to BMJ nearly 45 years ago [2] https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5953/329
DEFINITIONS
(a) In their article “Gender Dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism” Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes define Gender Dysphoria as “a conflict between a person’s biological sex (or ‘assigned’ gender) and the gender with which they identify”. [1]
(b) GIDS (Gender Identity Development Service) “based at London’s Tavistock Square and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, is England’s only provider of NHS specialist treatment for young people with gender dysphoria”. [1] Madeline Kearns says it used to be called Gender Identity Disorder. [3]
(c) TRANS CARE - the process by which doctors (physicians, surgeons, psychologists, and others) treat those wishing to alter their gender.
(d) Ethical Approval is when an Ethics Committee allows or disallows researchers and doctors to go ahead and do something as serious as (Tafracher!) turning a boy into a girl, or vice versa - Transgenderism.
(e) Common Sense is defined severally as “Native good judgment”, or “Good practical sense especially in everyday matters”, or “A set of general unexamined assumptions as distinguished from specially acquired concepts”, or “Sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.”
THE SERIOUS CRITICISMS OF TRANS CARE
If the article of Deborah Cohen and Hannah Barnes which exposed certain goings-on is not a Wake-Up-Call I don’t know what is. Researchers have broken rules “when seeking ethical approval”. Negative data has been suppressed. Evidence about Puberty Blockers Outcomes, side-effects, and unintended consequences is lacking. Interim findings “that might suggest increased suicidality” have been downplayed. Full study findings remain unpublished. Some researchers were not “prepared to speak publicly for fear of reprisal” [1] and “protocol and information sheets were missing potentially significant information” [1]. One Ethics Committee turns down a procedure as unethical, only to be sanctioned by another Ethics Committee. Failure to submit regular progress reports. On … and … on were the concerns stated in the article of Cohen and Barnes and “GIDS declined to share (some) results ‘which could prejudice publication of the study’” [1].
I was disturbed reading the perspective of a girl, now 19, “who started taking puberty blockers when she was 16”. Equally unsettling was Researchers’ frequent use of “There is no evidence”, the phrase that we readers subliminally associate with “There is evidence” that the opposite is true! [4] Would we not be piling harm upon harm when, as stated by the authors, (Tafracher!) “Puberty blockers could now, also be considered for children under 12 in established puberty”? [1]
TWO PRIME MINISTERS AND ONE VICE-CHANCELLOR EXPRESS IN JUST 3 DAYS CONCERNS ABOUT OUR YOUNG
Monday 14 October 2019 during the Queen’s Speech Debate Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson included this statement “looking after young people growing up in this country”. [5]
Tuesday 15 October 2019 during Queen’s Speech Debate Immediate Past Prime Minister Mrs Theresa May said “Young people can suffer harm on line” [6]
Wednesday 16 October 2019 in his Annual Lecture University of Hertfordshire Vice-Chancellor Professor Quintin McKellar CBE said “Clearly the number of students and other young people with mental health is a cause for deep concern”. [7]
Now, although these three very distinguished personages who are admirably concerned about our children, grand-children, and our great-grand-children were not referring in their comments quoted above to gender dysphoria and its complications including suicidality [1], which of us UK-trained doctors would be brave enough to forecast that the recommendation that children be given “time to explore their gender identity" [1] starting as early as (Tafracher!) the age of 4, as will become compulsory from 2020, could not possibly contribute to future human and societal catastrophic wreckage? Anyone, but anyone, who raises an objection to this state of affairs promptly invites what I call a “Perversion of language and thought” from almost all quarters. This is what I mean:
PERVERSION OF LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
Imagine yourself driving on a very busy UK road. The vehicle just ahead of you indicates “Right” and you position yourself to overtake. But just as you accelerate to do that the driver turns left. And crash! You get out of your car, and so does the driver in front. You express your displeasure and ask to exchange papers. Before you finish speaking the driver vehemently accuses you of “dangerous-driver-phobia”. Sadly, others gathering round also agree with him/her. This, in my book, is Perversion of Language and Thought that produces wreckage; not just vehicle wreckage, but human and societal wreckage that lasts for generations. I’ve listed just a few examples of such human, and societal wreckage in Reference 8.
COMMON SENSE, I BEG YOU, SCREAM LOUDLY TO WAKE US UP!
Vice-Chancellor Professor Quintin McKellar CBE mentioned Common Sense at least twice in his masterly and informative Oration on Wednesday 16 October 2019. Sixty years ago, I qualified twice over as a doctor in England – (a) from The Royal College of Physicians London (LRCP) and Royal College of Surgeons England (MRCS) in January 1959 and (b) from University of London (MB BS) in April 1959. My teachers at Westminster Hospital School of Medicine in Horseferry Road, London SW1 who, being the very best in the entire world had a great deal of Common-Sense some of which rubbed off on me. After all, they included Clinicians of British Royalty – Sir Clement Price-Thomas operated on King George VI, and Sir Richard Bayliss was the superb Consultant Physician of Queen Elizabeth II. The British are known for reserving the very best for their Monarch. They chose Clinicians with Monumental Common Sense. I owe a great deal to them, as I spelt out openly in a speech on 5th September 2018 at St Albans City Cathedral [9]. Dare I say more?
Competing Interest: Imbibed a tiny bit of the Common Sense of my Illustrious Teachers who were Clinicians of the British Royalty.
felix@konotey-ahulu.com Twitter@profkonoteyahul
Professor F I D Konotey-Ahulu MRCS(Eng) LRCP(Lond) MB BS MD(Lond) FRCP(Lond) FRCP(Glasg) DTMH(L’pool) DSc(Hon UCC) DSc(Hon UH) FGA FGCP FWACP FTWAS, ORDER OF MERIT (OFFICER). Kwegyir Aggrey Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, Faculty of Science, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and Former Director Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics Ghana and Consultant Physician Genetic Counsellor in Sickle Cell and Other Haemoglobinopathies Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Accra, and at Phoenix Hospital Group, 9 Harley Street, London W1G 9AL. [ www.sicklecell.md ]
1 Cohen Deborah, Barnes Hannah. Gender Dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism. BMJ 2019; 366: l5647
2 Konotey-Ahulu FID. PERSONAL VIEW – Tafracher (The Ghanaian devulgarizing prefix). BMJ Volume 1, page 329, February 8 1975. https://www.bmj.com/content/1/5953/329
3. Kearns Madeline. The origins of the Transgender Movement. [Gender Dysphoria used to be called Gender Identity Disorder, and “is still listed in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental disorders, so it’s still a disorder in the DSM, but that’ll likely change”. Causes “a massive cultural and political wave”] National Review.com 14 October 2019.
4. Konotey-Ahulu FID. Evidence – Do not forget the hidden human dimension. www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l4606/rr-11 “Evidence of Absence is not Absence of Evidence”. BMJ Aug 7 2019 Rapid Response.
5. Johnson Boris (Prime Minister): “looking after young people growing up in this country” – said in Queen’s Speech Debate House of Commons 14 October 2019.
6. May Theresa (Immediate Past Prime Minister): “Young people can suffer harm on line” - said in Queen’s Speech Debate House of Commons 15 October 2019.
7. McKellar Quintin CBE (Vice-Chancellor University of Hertfordshire): Dangerous Ideas – Will today’s students change the world? [“Clearly the number of students and other young people with mental health is a cause for deep concern”] Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Lecture 16 October 2019.
8. Examples of wreckage, not just of pupils, but doctors and parents too.
a. http://opr.news/2f33d35d191002en_ng Christian Doc Loses Job as UK Judge Rules ‘Biblical View of Male and Female’ Violates ‘Human Dignity’ opr.news
b. Schools pulled into row over helping transgender children ...https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/15/transgender-row-teache... May 2018 ... As more teens come out as trans, experts clash over how schools should help. ...
It's still not easy being a trans child. This is what schools can ...
c. Virginia teacher sues after being fired for refusing to call trans ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/01/virginia-teacher-sues-af... Oct 2019 ... A Virginia high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender ...
d. Smith Samuel. Texas Dad could lose custody of 6 -year-old son for not affirming transgender identity. The father has reportedly been legally prohibited from talking to his son about gender and sexuality. 29 Nov 2018 www.christianpost.com>news
9. Konotey-Ahulu FID. Hon DSc Acceptance Speech Sept. 5 2018 Univ. of Hertfordshire, naming all my Teachers https://youtu.be/41a1FZSpHd4
Competing interests: Imbibed a tiny bit of the Common Sense of my Illustrious Teachers who were Clinicians of the British Royalty.