US university falls foul of trans activists

An Ivy League college is involved in a dispute with transgender activists over an article that suggested gender dysphoria was spreading among children. Brown University removed research from its website that hypothesised that teenagers who came out as transgender were more likely to have friends transitioning and were influenced by social media. Academics accused the university of bowing to pressure from activists.

AN IVY LEAGUE college is involved in a dispute with transgender activists over an article suggesting gender dysphoria was spreading among children.

Brown University has removed research from its website that hypothesised that teenagers who came out as transgender were more likely to have friends who were transitioning and that they were influenced by Youtube videos and social media.

Academics accused the university of bowing to pressure from activists after it removed a news article and link to Lisa Littman’s research. A tweet promoting the paper was also deleted.

The research concluded “social and peer contagion” was a plausible explanation for “cluster outbreaks” and a high number of cases where the majority of children in a friendship group became “transgender-identified”.

Bess H. Marcus, dean of Brown university, said concerns over methodology prompted the removal, adding that people at the university had also complained. The announcement was made after critics raised concerns about the political stance of the 256 parents who took part in the study, entitled “rapidonset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults”. They had been sourced from online discussion groups, including Transgender Trend, a British site, and US site 4thwavenow.

Comments on the article, published in journal PLOS ONE, describe the sites as “politically bent websites” that hold a “variety of anti-lgbt stances common to the religious Right”. On Twitter Transgender Trend said: “Desperate attempts to undermine Lisa Littman’s important study include defamation of the websites where parents were recruited, including the ridiculous claim that Transgender Trend is ‘farright’ and wants to ‘criminalise’ medical transition. We are not and we don’t.”

But Susie Green, of the British charity Mermaids, which supports young trans people and their families, said the methodology of the study was flawed.

“The places they went to get these responses were anti-trans websites. They haven’t talked to young people and the parents are sourced from gender-critical

‘It’s like recruiting from a white supremacist website to demonstrate that black people are an inferior race’

websites, who do not believe that trans children exist,” she said.

“As a colleague, a clinician who works in this field has stated, it’s like recruiting from a white supremacist website to demonstrate that black people are an inferior race,” she added.

James Caspian, a psychotherapist who is pursuing a legal case against Bath Spa University for blocking his research into people who decide to de-transition, said: “Mine was censored in anticipation of being criticised. It appears this has been attacked… by people whose agenda it doesn’t suit.” Bath Spa said it rejected his study on methodological, not ideological grounds.

Next to Dr Littman’s article, the journal said: “We will seek further expert assessment on the study’s methodology and analyses.”