‘Let’s put this to bed – trans ‘social contagion’ theory is dangerous nonsense’

It is infuriating that we are still talking about ‘trans social contagion theory’ so many years after it was debunked as crackpot pseudoscience, but here we are.

Despite a tower of evidence refuting the theory so massive it would give the Burj Khalifa a run for its money, the ridiculous idea that gender dysphoria is somehow transmissible through societal pressure has been included in a draft report from the UN’s human rights office, OHCHR.

An advanced edited version of the report from Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, has the gall to suggest that under-18s, particularly young girls, are vulnerable to “socially contagious stereotyped roles,” which she says places them at risk of “erroneously adopting stereotypes as their core identity while experiencing dissociation from their sexed bodies.”

Her sources for this insane declaration include Dr James Cantor, who subscribes to Dr Ray Blanchard’s discredited typology on “autogynephilic” transexualism, Michael Biggs, who made an anonymous Twitter account to make offensive remarks and post about “tr***y porn,” and Alison Clayton, who, in 2023, was invited to speak for the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM), which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.

This is the only reason I feel compelled to discuss and debunk the disgusting theory often known as ‘Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD)’: That it has made it into a United Nations report requires it to be dispelled. No, more than that: it should be forgotten; thrown into the scrap heap with all the other inane theories cisgender academics have spewed about with their full, ignorant chest.

What is Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD)?

Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) is a discredited theory purporting that a subsection of those with gender dysphoria begin to express symptoms through “social contagion.”

Coined in 2016 by physician Lisa Littman – truly the Andrew Wakefield of gender dysphoria – her study hypothesised that young people could be influenced into identifying as trans after she noticed teenagers in the same friends group began identifying as trans.

Having no experienced studying gender dysphoria prior to the research, Littman’s study relied on a small survey of parents she found through three notoriously anti-trans websites – 4thwavenow, TransgenderTrend, and YouthTransCriticalProfessionals. She did not interiew a single trans person for her research.

Unsurprisingly, her survey of just over 250 parents found that 76.5 per cent “believed their child was incorrect in their belief of being transgender,” while 85 per cent said their child had begun using the internet more frequently before identifying as trans.

Upon its publication, the research quickly became a hit among the usual proponents of anti-trans dogma, but the actual experts weren’t convinced. Organisations and fellow academics, who described the paper as a knee-jerk study based on “moral panic,” said it was methodologically flawed since the three websites she used have a history of anti-trans bias.

In defending her method, she wrote that the websites were chosen to “maximise the chances of finding cases meeting eligibility criteria”, referring to youth who had suddenly become gender dysphoric according to their parents.

The study has since become a laughing stock among academics. Over 60 major medical organisations, including the American Psychological Association (APA), have called for the theory to be eliminated from clinical settings due to its its lack of scientific evidence.

Yet, remarkably, this is the theory that ‘gender-critical’ pundits use to justify their horrid beliefs. This pathetic, laughable theory is what serves as the basis of Alsalem’s claim of “socially contagious stereotyped roles.”

‘I hope you see the frustration in my words’

It’s difficult to know whether it’s because I’m a trans woman or because I have a functioning cerebral cortex, but this is so tiring. It’s tiring to sit here and debunk more myths about the trans community – myths that will be recognisable to anyone who remembers the gay moral panics of the 1980s.

No, we aren’t socially contagious and trans teens aren’t lying about their feelings – and anyone who genuinely spoke to or engaged with a trans person would know that.