What’s driving the huge rise in gender dysphoria referrals for children and teenagers?

There’s been a huge rise in gender dysphoria referrals for children and teenagers. Jo Bartosch asks why and what happens to the lesbian and gay youngsters caught in the middle of this trendy conversion therapy?

Were you the little girl who wanted to play in mud? Or perhaps you were the small boy who dreamed of dancing? It turns out this isn’t unusual; many of us who are lesbian, gay and bisexual were ‘gender non-conforming’ as children and adolescents. This is not just anecdotal, a 2017 study of 4,500 children showed lesbians are 12-19 times more likely to be tomboyish as girls than their straight counterparts, whereas gay men 20-26 times more likely to be effeminate as boys. 

The 1970’s feminist dream of unisex dungarees and sensible shoes for all failed; today sex stereotypes are seared into every aspect of children’s lives.  Well-intentioned efforts to tell boys its OK to cry and girls that they don’t have to be pretty are drowned-out by an advertising industry that knows sexism sells. 

…in less than a decade there has been a 1,460% increase in referrals of boys and a jaw-dropping 5,337% increase in girls.

Given this back-drop of rigid stereotypes, those who don’t fit, the boys who like playing dress-up and girls who enjoy shoot-’em-up games, stand out more than ever before. Rates of referral to the Gender Identity Development Service reflect this; in less than a decade there has been a 1,460% increase in referrals of boys and a jaw-dropping 5,337% increase in girls.

When gender identity services were first opened the majority of those seeking help were boys. Today this pattern is reversed; 75% of referrals are of girls who wish to become boys. Most of those referred have a number of co-morbidities; around 35% are estimated to be autistic and many have suffered sexual abuse or other trauma. Reports from clinicians suggest that homophobia can also drive the feelings of body dysphoria that lead some children to identify as trans.

Debbie, who took testosterone and underwent full sex reassignment surgery before detransitioning, believes she wanted to change sex as a way of dealing with the sexual abuse she endured as a child.

To some girls ‘becoming a boy’ is a way to opt out of puberty and the unwelcome sexual attention that often accompanies growing up when female. Debbie, who took testosterone and underwent full sex reassignment surgery before detransitioning, believes she wanted to change sex as a way of dealing with the sexual abuse she endured as a child:

“I thought I was going to be on a journey to becoming a different person… I’d morph into someone else and leave that traumatised woman completely behind,” she said.

But through counselling, she added, it had become apparent “the transition was a way of trying to escape”.

There are now a few voices urging caution, many of whom are young women who have undergone mastectomies and testosterone treatment only to realise that they weren’t ‘trapped in the wrong body’ but rather that they are simply lesbian or bisexual women.

Whereas once a child might have confided in a school nurse or best friend, today confused kids turn online for support, and to bond with others who don’t fit in. River was one of those who adopted a transgender identity after spending time online. The teenager explained in an interview for The Guardian “The internet had a big role in me discovering myself. Online, I felt understood. I felt helped. I feel like the internet tells us stuff that we can’t learn in real life.”

From Tumblr to TikTok, the digital world is saturated by stories of teens ‘transitioning’. The message is clear, bodies exist to be bound, injected with cross sex hormones or operated on to fit a stereotypical idea of what it is to be a man or a woman. A new trendy conversion therapy.

There are now a few voices urging caution, many of whom are young women who have undergone mastectomies and testosterone treatment only to realise that they weren’t ‘trapped in the wrong body’ but rather that they are simply lesbian or bisexual women.

Whether this is a fad driven by internalised homophobia or internet spread social contagion, the pain these children experience is real. Being trans offers a clear answer, it is of course easier to locate the source of one’s pain inside, rather than to recognise it is the world that must change.

Jo Bartosch is a writer and campaigner for the rights of women and girls.