Expert Psychologist Blocked on Twitter for Expressing Clinical Opinion on Transgenderism
In the early hours of Sunday morning, an expert Ph.D. psychologist who helped write the official psychological position on transgender identity was blocked on Twitter for expressing his opinion informed by clinical experience. His well-reasoned position was flagged for “hateful conduct.”
On Saturday, Ray Blanchard — the Ph.D. psychologist and adjunct professor at the University of Toronto who served on the working group for gender dysphoria (the persistent condition of identifying with the gender opposite your biological sex) for the DSM V, the gold standard of definitions helping psychologists diagnose disorders for patients — tweeted out his clinically-informed opinion on transgender identity.
He still affirmed the controversial idea that sex-change surgery is the “best treatment” for “carefully screened, adult patients, whose gender dysphoria has proven resistant to other forms of treatment,” but he opposed “treating” children who may change their minds. (Even this position is debatable, as people who have undergone sex-change surgery after persistent gender dysphoria have later rejected their transgender identity and lamented the mutilation of their bodies.)
Earlier today I wrote this thread in response to a follower who asked me, “What is your actual position on transgender people?” It looks like my reply has not been delivered to a single person besides the original inquirer, so I am reposting it here.
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
My beliefs include the following 6 elements: (1) Transsexualism and milder forms of gender dysphoria are types of mental disorder, which may leave the individual with average or even above-average functioning in unrelated areas of life.
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
(2) Sex change surgery is still the best treatment for carefully screened, adult patients, whose gender dysphoria has proven resistant to other forms of treatment.
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
(3) Sex change surgery should not be considered for any patient until that patient has reached the age of 21 years and has lived for at least two years in the desired gender role.
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
(4) Gender dysphoria is not a sexual orientation, but it is virtually always preceded or accompanied by an atypical sexual orientation – in males, either homosexuality (sexual arousal by members of one’s own biological sex) . . .
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
or autogynephilia (sexual arousal at the thought or image of oneself as a female).
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
(5) There are two main types of gender dysphoria in males, one associated with homosexuality and one associated with autogynephilia. Traditionally, the great bulk of female-to-male transsexuals has been homosexual in erotic object choice.
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
(6) The sex of a postoperative transsexual should be analogous to a legal fiction. This legal fiction would apply to some things (e.g., sex designation on a driver’s license) but not to others (entering a sports competition as one’s adopted sex).
— Ray Blanchard (@BlanchardPhD) May 11, 2019
Although the Ph.D. psychologist supported sex-change surgery for 21-year-old adults whose gender dysphoria has persisted against other forms of treatment, he acknowledged that even post-operative transgender individuals are still biologically male or female beneath the surgical changes. No matter how good transgender surgery gets, a biological male still has X and Y chromosomes in virtually every cell of his body and a biological female still has two X chromosomes. No surgery or identity can alter this. . .
It seems transgender activists reported his tweets to Twitter, and the company chose to ban him. Helen Joyce, an editor at The Economist, called this decision “unreal.”
Ray Blanchard served on the gender dysphoria working group and chaired the paraphilia working group for DSM V. He is a world expert in the field. Twitter has just suspended his account for a thread setting out his findings from
A lifetime of research. Unreal pic.twitter.com/vgQCd4OzYs— Helen Joyce (@HJJoyceEcon) May 12, 2019
(Read more from “Expert Psychologist Blocked on Twitter for Expressing Clinical Opinion on Transgenderism” HERE)
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