Op-Ed Follow Up

In my last post, How Does This Help?, I linked to an invitation to a dialogue in the NY Times. Responses were supposed to be submitted by Thursday, with publication in the Sunday Dialogue.

As a reminder, the topic is, Gender Identity.

I'm doing a little experiment, here, to see if I can predict some of the responses. Note the date on the post. This was not written after the fact.


1. I/my child suffered from gender dysphoria, and treatment was helpful.

2. I/my child suffered from gender dysphoria, and treatment was harmful.

3. Gender dysphoria is complicated, and Dr. Drescher did a good job explaining the controversy about treatment.

4. Gender dysphoria is complicated, and Dr. Drescher did a bad job explaining the controversy about treatment.

5. Psychiatry/Psychiatrists is/are evil.

6. I'm a therapist who treats gender dysphoria, and my method of treatment is the best.

The Times likes to present a "balanced" view. Let's see what happens.

How Does This Help?

In yesterday's NY Times, there's an Invitation to a Dialogue about Gender Identity, by Jack Drescher, with a request for responses from readers by tomorrow.

Dr. Drescher writes about Coy Mathis, a 6-year-old, born a boy, now identifying as a girl. He discusses Gender Identity, and the fact that it is unclear what, if anything, to do with or for young Coy, or similar children.

He admonishes, "Currently experts can’t tell apart kids who outgrow gender dysphoria (desisters) from those who don’t (persisters), and how to treat them is controversial."

And finally, he offers some advice:

I would advise parents to learn all they can about the different approaches so they can understand the limitations and how they are sometimes guided by personal beliefs about gender rather than by good research data. 

Is this supposed to be helpful? How? What kind of dialogue does the Times expect this to generate?

It's like saying, "No one knows what to do, so as the expert, I'm advising you to educate yourselves." What's the point of being an expert?

I'm not implying Dr. Drescher ought to know what to do, or that parents ought not to educate themselves. But if your best advice is, "Study up!", then you don't need to write about it in the Times.

So why am I writing this post? Not sure. Maybe it's to point out the hype anything related to DSM-5 gets. Or maybe I'm annoyed by the final blurb:

The writer, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, served on the D.S.M.-5 Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders. He is co-editor of “Treating Transgender Children and Adolescents.”

Oh, so that's the advice! If you want answers, buy my book!

An unpaid ad in the NY Times.