In February 2022 Dr Hilary Cass issued her interim report of an 'Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people'. There is, however, an assumption underlying this misconceived publication, evident in the very title: that gender identity and the related idea of gender dysphoria are valid concepts for which ‘services’ may be needed. Although Dr [...]
Dr Jason Rafferty, a Pediatrics Specialist at the disconcertingly named Thundermist Health Center in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in the US, has attracted a one-star review: My child described him as ‘weird’ and ‘creepy’ after he repeatedly grilled her about her gender identity. She said she didn't identify as anything, so they put ‘genderqueer’ on her medical records even [...]
I have written previously about the problems of using puberty blockers in adolescents. In this post I’ll look at what the NHS has to say about gender dyphoria in adults. As I mentioned, the NHS defines gender dysphoria thus: A sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their [...]
First, a definition: the word ‘stonewall’ as a verb means to delay or obstruct someone or something by refusing to answer questions or by being evasive. Second, a very brief history lesson: the Stonewall riots were a series of violent confrontations in 1969 between the police and patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York. [...]
There was a news item on the BBC recently about a trial of cannabis in patients with Parkinson’s disease who also have visual hallucinations. Parkinson’s disease is undoubtedly a brain disorder but are visual hallucinations also abnormal? One such patient was presented, an elderly man who had hallucinations – they might better be called visions – of his [...]
What’s the difference between sex and gender? It’s like a question that’s reputed to be asked of those wishing to qualify in accountancy: what’s the difference between residence and domicile? Residence is where you live; domicile is where you think you live. Thus, sex is whether you’re male or female; gender is how you ‘identify’, that is, whether [...]
What has Professor David Nutt been up to lately? He’s been appointed Chief Research Officer, no less, to an organisation with the unpronounceable name of Awakn [sic] Life Sciences. And what will his role be? It’s as muddled as the name and repetitively set out thus: Prof. Nutt Will Drive Progression of a Pipeline of New Psychedelic Medicines, [...]
Allen Carr—he of Easy Way to Stop Smoking fame—published a book in 2004 called The Easy Way to Control Alcohol. There have been later editions but since he died in 2006 if the text has been rewritten it would have been by someone else. Easy Way to Stop Smoking, in spite of its shortcomings—I describe these in a [...]
There’s something faintly ridiculous about sitting like a lemon for forty-five minutes while expensive vitamin-laced salt water is transfused into your bloodsream via a vein in your arm. Yet this is what will happen if you fall for the blandishments of clinics offering to boost your immune system, detoxify your body, and abolish all your unhappiness. These claims, [...]
Wouldn’t you like to strengthen your immune system, detoxify your body from the inside out (!), reduce your stress levels, and be helped to recover and rehydrate quickly after exercise? All these so-called benefits, and a lot more besides, are available – for a nice fat fee – at private clinics springing up in cities in the UK, [...]