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

This research is so important, and it must be defended. Our daughter presented with all the symptoms of ROGD around the age of 12 (full disclosure: we were not part of the study in question). Because we love our daughter very much, we supported her in presenting herself however she saw fit (dressing in stereotypical male clothing and cutting her hair short), but also because of our deep love for her we chose to discourage her from carrying out a full social transition at that time (name change, pronouns, etc). Because she was clearly experiencing severe emotional distress, we connected her with a therapist who was able to help her deal with her intense depression and anxiety, and her pediatrician prescribed anti-depressants. Within weeks of her being on meds and in therapy, we witnessed a dramatic change in our daughter's mental health symptoms. Three years have passed and she has largely desisted from her transgender identity and seems likely to be same-sex attracted (though she has not declared as much, explicitly, and she is still too young to date!). The discourse around this subject is so fraught, and many parents in our situation are terrified of acting rashly, but equally afraid of not acting at all, and there is a dearth of quality research to which they can turn for answers. Dr. Littman's research is desperately needed because there is CLEARLY a cohort of young people, mostly female, who experience dysphoria spontaneously at the onset of puberty. We also know, firsthand in our case, that a subset of this group will desist from their transgender identity after an undisclosed period of time. There is currently no criteria for determining which young adults will desist, and which won't, and those who begin medical transition and then regret (detransitioners) are simply seen as collatoral damage. I cannot emphasize enough that this research is absolutely crucial to getting a more complete picture of what is happening with the shocking number of young people who

Reason must prevail!

Completely support this as my daughter is an e.g of rapid onset gender dysphoria as she never had issues with identity till she started exploring you tube and was immersing herself within trans community ..social contagion is an element that can’t be denied. She’s 19 and wanting to make life altering body decisions. She’s depressed, and has high anxiety -our family has been thru the suicide of her father in the past 3 years and her sister’s illness. The last 3 years have been tumultuous times dealing with tragedy of her father and dealing with her sister illness. She is not in a healthy mental state to make such life altering decisions. yet has been influenced by all of this social contagion , emerged herself in you tube sensationalizing transitioning which has brainwashed her in believing she was born in the wrong body. I’m not transphobic, I support HUMAN RIGHTS but I also will not stay silent when I see first hand the symptoms of ROGD RAPID ONSET GENDER DYSPHORIA in my daughter . Are universities afraid to lose their funding and or fear the ridiculous notions of looking as if they are transphobic by brushing this aside because it’s not “in” or looks anti liberal or trans phobic? Are they not going to truly research & give rapid onset gender dysphoria public attention and just hide behind sensational trans activists and operate in fear that could come at such a cost to our young people. Yes, their are people out there that are born in the wrong bodies , but it’s a hard very true low percentage so how can anyone just ignore the rapid growth of more young people coming forward at such a fast rate. This is not innate this is social INFLUENCE mental disorder .. depression, anxiety.

Stop the madness

Teacher, at an all girls high school, where we have a disproportionately high number of girls with gender identity issues.

I do not need a degree to say that this is worth investigating. Someone will eventually regret the outcome of surgery that cannot be reversed.

Yes

Political agendas should not have the power to stifle academic inquiry.

Keep politics out of science

Political correctness should never impede truth finding.

The only way to deal with bad ideas is to provide better ideas. Brown are challenging the right to free speech and academia freedom.

I cannot underestimate the importance of this research and it's findings. It is also imperative that organisations and institutions of all types (and in particular universities) review their policies and statements, regarding the influence of transactivism and political fear, having replaced systems and ideas that were not misogynistic and dangerous to women, with those that are repressive to women and contribute to the erasure of the female sex.

An ideology resulting in young and vulnerable people mutilating their healthy bodies requires, is screaming for debate and discussion from ALL concerned. At some point this won't be trendy, it will be horrific.

This needs to be done!

As a retired Transgender clinician I am writing in full support of Dr. Lisa Litman's research on ROGD. I worked with Trans clients for 28 years.

Freedom of speech should have no boundaries.

Special interest groups should not be dictating what researchers can study!

Freedom of thought.

Come on. Academic freedom. Get some.

Freedom of speech and scientific inquiry are essential to democracy and freedom of any kind. Please do not cave in to the billionaire-funded trans lobby; it neither serves society in general nor any trans-identified people.