And I get that people don't give a shit about this stuff if it doesn't directly affect their children/family/relatives. But that doesn't make it right. Yes, there are bigger problems in the world, but it still feels wrong to be letting kids drastically (and often irreversibly) alter their bodies before their minds have settled...
There's also a lot of room to really try to understand what's driving this - all the factors (even COVID, apparently
)
She believes that the dramatic rise in teens seeking treatment is likely driven by peer pressure as much as wider acceptance of trans issues.
“A fair number of kids are getting into it because it’s trendy,” she previously told the Washington Post. “I think in our haste to be supportive, we’re missing that element.”
In her latest interview, she told the LA Times, “To flatly say there couldn’t be any social influence in formation of gender identity flies in the face of reality. Teenagers influence each other.”
That appears to have been exacerbated by the pandemic, with children becoming more isolated and also leaning more on networks on social media.
“What happens when the perfect storm — of social isolation, exponentially increased consumption of social media, the popularity of alternative identities — affects the actual development of individual kids?” Anderson asked the LA paper.
