Brown University and PLoS ONE: Defend academic freedom and scientific inquiry

Nothing in my studies of evolution or human sexuality leads me to believe that our gender identity is baked in at birth - even when it implies gender dysphoria. Just as a person can be made to switch their dominant hand, a person can become convinced that they're something they're not when they haven't been giving the time and space to fully examine their own identities. When I was a teen I identified very strongly with men and emulated them. It took a while for me to recognize that I was identifying with their strength and self-confidence. I'm a strong-ass woman! In the past few years I've watched my teen daughter go thru a similar experience and I was very afraid that she would decide she was trans before even getting to know herself. If you know it as certainty when you're a little kid, you deserve support. If you're just really confused about who you are and you identify with both genders, you need a little time to work your own stuff out w/out interference from well-intentioned ideologues.

I support academic freedom!

No room for opposing views...the basis of democracy.

Well done!

Once again, were suppressing freedom for political correctness.

If you're not pissing people off - you're not relevant. Grown a spine

It is not transphobic to research the causes for gender dysphoria, and to see whether some cases of dysphoria can end without medical intervention. There may very well be multiple causes of gender distress, and multiple ways of helping to ease that distress. For some, transitioning is the best answer, but considering there do exist de-transitioned people, it shows that this is not the best route for everyone. This is about finding the best ways to help young people, rather than assuming all gender non-conforming teens are the same and have the same needs. Please allow for research to help us learn more about these complexities.

Faced with the stress of entering a middle school, our previously gender-conforming, "unique", high functioning autistic spectrum 12 year old girl had told us she thought she was a boy--after the school "helpfully" introduced her to this concept as the explanation for "feeling different". Fast-forward a few awkward years of androgyny and questioning, she grew into a beautiful, confident high school student, excelling in socially and academically and fully embracing her feminine self. Now she went off to college, and the old beast reared its ugly head, with queer dorm arrangements and the university clinic on stand-by to start giving her testosterone. There is no denying that our kids are becoming gender dysphoric at unprecedented rates. What's also clear is that it often happens in social groups, and more importantly--that can resolve, if these kids and young adults are given the time and proper support. We should be doing all we can to learn what proper support is for these kids and young adults. People transitioning in their full maturity, as adults with lots of life experience is one thing--but allowing kids and young adults to make such irreversible changes without exploring every possible alternative first is not just irresponsible, but criminal. Physicians prescribing hormones to youth--what happened to "do no harm?" Don't you realize many of the effects are irreversible after just 2 months? Mental health professionals--what happened to helping your clients develop insight, explore underlying causes for their suffering, connect the dots with their mental health conditions? Are you affirming your body dysphoric anorexic patients too? Are you so-so sure this one is "totally different"? Insurers--what happened with your role as a quality control entity and requiring medical necessity before paying for experimental, medically unnecessary cosmetic treatments? Academic institutions/Brown, what happened to freedom of thought? America--what happened to freedom of

Research isn’t there to please or give the answers that people want to hear. ALl sides must be studied!

What’s the point of science when you hide the answers that it concludes!

This is an issue about child safety and it is unthinkable that a University would try to hinder exploration of this challenging issue at the behest of lobby groups.

I am the parent of a 15 year-old biological female who came out as transgender at age 13 with no signs of gender dsyphoria in childhood. I have met at least 20 young people in their teens and early 20's who identify as transgender, all but one of them were assigned female at birth. We've never seen anything like this and this trend needs to be studied. I think experimentation with gender identity is fine, but I do not believe that teenagers are ready to make permanent and irreversible changes to their bodies before their brains are fully developed. If my child is transgender I will accept it, but I think it's too soon to tell. Further study of this issue will help these teens and their parents navigate this confusing and difficult time and make informed decisions. Dr. Littman's study is an important step in that direction.

My ex, whom I have known for a decade, has become convinced by her nonbinary (mostly online) friends that gender transition will solve the depression & self-esteem issues she has had her entire life; she has already started on testosterone and is planning on surgery in the next couple of years. I am all in favor of LGBTQ rights, and think gender dysphoria is real, but am terrified of transition being employed as a solution to mental health problems that are not actually related to gender dysphoria.

We have experienced ROGD firsthand. Without warning or inclination, our 19 yr old son (during a time of high stress, depression, and anxiety at a college he disliked and felt isolated in) began experiencing ROGD. These last few years have been damaging, unsettling, and undermining. His “truth” has not been a rescue. It has caused greater depression and anxiety. For a while, he wasn’t able to function. Finding help has been VERY difficult. Why can’t this be a discussion? Why are politics allowed to dictate experiences??

This subject must be further studied. We are not responsible citizens if we do not do all we can to encourage a future without a huge regret.

Research like this is so important. You have to question why transactivists want to bury it when it could help with how to treat kids who think they are trans.

Because we need academia to pursue truth, not kowtow to aggressive activists.

Further study is required, not political supression of this information

This phenomenon must be observed, documented and studied, to ensure that probable future ramifications of gender reassignment can be understood with greater clarification and insight

I'm non-binary, support same-sex marriage, and believe trans people deserve the same rights and protections as everyone else.