In recent years, the number of young people with gender dyspho­ria, or extreme discomfort in one’s biological sex, has skyrocketed in the US and Western Europe.

Professor Lisa Littman, a re­searcher at Brown University, was the first to publish a report that indicated that many transgender-identified children experience “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” a clustering phenomenon in which one, several, or even all the friends in a group become transgender-identified within a similar timeframe. Other researchers have since published similar findings.

Littman proposed the hy­pothesis that this transgender iden­tification could involve a novel form of peer or social contagion that contrasts with our classical un­derstanding of gender dysphoria dating back about a hundred years. Some of the novel aspects of the phenomenon include:

1.  The initial age of onset has markedly shifted, from pre-school aged kids to the teenage years, typi­cally around the age of 16;

2.   The sex ratio has flipped from mostly young boys prior to 2010, to now more than 75 percent adoles­cent girls; and

3.   The prevalence of the phenome­non has risen dramati­cally in recent years, both absolutely and rela­tively, leading some to suggest we are facing an “epi­demic” in Rapid On­set Gender Dysphoria.

In other words, teenage girls with no prior history of gender dysphoria are now the predomi­nant demographic identifying as transgender.

Discussing the phenomenon in Psychology Today, Christopher J. Ferguson, Ph.D. notes that the “sudden surge in the number of teen girls identifying as trans boys is due not to gender dysphoria or transgenderism but rather to girls with other mental conditions who are mistakenly self-identifying as trans because there is social capi­tal built into marginalized identi­ties.”

When surveyed by Littman, over 60 percent of parents re­ported that the announcement of their child’s coming out had re­sulted in a popularity improve­ment at school and in other set­tings.

These young people appear to be escaping into a victim group into which they don’t actually fit, in part because within the broader culture, gender dysphoria has be­come one of the few victim iden­tities one can choose.

Many of these youth report­edly had one or more psychiatric diagnoses and almost half were en­gaging in self-harm prior to the onset of gender dysphoria. There is evi­dence that transitioning can worsen mental health and correlate with sui­cidal thoughts. Claims that gender transitioning reduces the risk of sui­cide remain highly controversial and unsupported by well-designed and properly-controlled scientific studies.

The surge in transgender-identifying adolescents may also be partly explained as a maladaptive coping mechanism for teens strug­gling with the challenges and stresses arising from their adolescent journey through puberty and their explora­tions of sexuality in a hyper-sexualized society. Prior trauma, whether sexual, peer, or family, may also play a role.

The steep spike in the phe­nomenon of rapid onset gender dysphoria appears to be connected to other social factors as well.

For example, YouTube influ­encers and internet advocates of gen­der transitioning often have charis­matic personalities and offer compel­ling personal testimonies and confes­sional stories that draw the attention of youthful audiences. These enter­taining and well-produced videos strongly encourage young people to transition, promising happiness and a new lease on life. Prior to announcing their new transgender identity, over 65 percent of the teens were reported by their parents to have spent ex­tended time, sometimes even several weeks of to­tal immersion, watching YouTube transition vlogs and other trans-ori­ented social media.

A second relevant factor is that various authority figures in the lives of teens, including teachers, thera­pists and doctors, have started en­couraging and affirming the idea of gender transitioning. These respected individuals may energetically advocate for a young person to transition, claiming they know best what the young person needs, and it is virtually always: “transition.”

When parents are hesitant to go along, these authority figures may adopt a savior posture by bringing up a coercive suicide narrative, asking them whether they prefer to have a live son or a dead daughter, while actively seeking to re-educate the al­legedly naïve and transphobic par­ents.

Gender-affirmative advocacy applies powerful pressure on impres­sionable youth and vulnerable par­ents. These approaches can tragically seduce our adolescent daughters, re­sulting in permanent and irreversible damage through hormonal treat­ments, mastectomies and mutilative genital surgeries.

Thankfully, medical profession­als in several European countries  are beginning to change course. Treat­ments for youth with gender dyspho­ria have become decidedly more cau­tious. The paramount importance of psychological care is being recog­nized, with transitioning becoming restricted to research protocols.

We need to begin promoting a more wholesome and balanced per­spective to girls, namely, that being a woman is good and beautiful. Thera­pists need to counsel patience in the face of adolescent claims of discom­fort with their biological sex, recog­nizing that some may be seeking gen­der transition as an escape from other emotional difficulties. Many who have transitioned are now regretting their choice, with “detransitioning” occurring at an accelerated rate among the same females who pre­sented during adolescence with gen­der dysphoria.

Young people facing rapid onset gender dysphoria need authentic sup­port and encouragement, rather than surgeries and hormones, especially in the face of data revealing that most of them, if not offered “affirmation therapies,” will outgrow their dyspho­ria and come to accept their birth sex once their turbulent adolescent years have passed.

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