Freddie is at it again again

Part Deux

In one of the most disingenuous pieces of writing I have ever had the misfortune to encounter, Freddie responds (sorta kinda but not really) to nameless faceless critics that he refuses to quote or cite, putting up straw-man arguments that he then proceeds to (oh so bravely!) knock down. He says

People attacked me for turning off comments, under the false pretense that I am afraid to debate. On the contrary, I’m more confident in my ability to out-argue anyone than I am in the orbits of the Moon and Sun, I was raised by wolves and trained in the halls of Shaolin, I have done this longer than you have, I am better at it than you are, I fear neither God nor man when it comes to arguing.

But he won’t quote or cite anyone.

Seems pretty candy-ass to me.

Now here’s how I know that Freddie is being disingenuous. In his earlier piece, he wrote

To begin with, every indication is that the number of trans children receiving hormones remains low, and the number undergoing surgical interventions vanishingly rare.

Now I am very tired of this “vanishingly rare” meme. After spending more time than it was worth thinking it over, I decided to send Freddie the actual numbers. Here is the entire email:

Subject: some numbers

>At least 14,726 minors started hormone treatment with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2017 through 2021, according to the Komodo analysis [of insurance claims in the US].

>In the three years ending in 2021, at least 776 mastectomies were performed in the United States on patients ages 13 to 17 with a gender dysphoria diagnosis, according to Komodo’s data analysis of insurance claims. This tally does not include procedures that were paid for out of pocket.

>The Komodo analysis of insurance claims found 56 genital surgeries among patients ages 13 to 17 with a prior gender dysphoria diagnosis from 2019 to 2021.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/

To my surprise, I got a reply. It’s short and anodyne enough that I feel it’s OK to quote it without getting prior permission from Freddie:

And you want the government to get involved in this how, exactly

Well, good question, Dr. deBoer! So I replied

In the exact same way that the Food and Drug Administration currently regulates all medical treatments, requiring proof of safety and efficacy before allowing doctors to prescribe them for patients.

Reviews of the available evidence on pediatric sex-trait modifications (by drugs and/or surgeries) have been done by the not-for-profit health care systems of several European countries, all coming to the conclusion that they should be drastically restricted. Here, for example, is a report on the conclusions in Sweden:

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230208-sweden-puts-brakes-on-treatments-for-trans-minors

No response. Which is fine, I didn’t expect one.

But now we get to Part Deux, which, I have to say, really pisses me off. Freddie writes

With the few correspondents that I replied to, I did what I usually do when it comes to this issue: I asked them what they want. Literally, what do you who oppose so-called “trans ideology” want? What do you want that trans people won’t let you have? What do you want to do, that trans people won’t let you do? This is very instructive, and I think it points to a core reality for a lot of this “gender critical” stuff: those who espouse it are mostly motivated by feelings that trans people are freakish or revolting or ungodly, but know that such arguments have little purchase in modern society, and so dress up those feelings in a lot of argumentative kabuki that doesn’t really add up. I asked in the last post, do “gender critical” types want to prohibit trans people from referring to themselves with certain pronouns or taking a particular, gendered name? They say they don’t, and indeed, they would have no power to do so. Nor do they have the power to stop other people from respecting those pronouns and names, nor do they have the power to stop trans people from dressing how they would like, getting the gender affirming or cosmetic surgery they would like, wearing makeup…. They say they don’t want to stop any of those things. So I think it’s an important step to repeatedly ask, what then do you want to happen? What’s your goal?

Well dude, I told you my goal: to stop the cutting up of kids!!! Is this so goddamn hard to understand???

But here’s the thing: no mention of this issue, at all, in the rest of the piece.

And it wasn’t just me. There was the stunningly brilliant open letter to Freddie by Arty Morty, who wrote

I can’t think of anything less compassionate, less caring, than turning a blind eye while countless young, flamboyant and wonderful gay men not unlike [movie character] Hollywood get lured into a belief system that says they can’t be their true selves unless they take synthetic hormones, get silicone breasts, and have their penis and testicles removed and replaced by a surgical facsimile of a vagina — ideally before they’re even old enough to apply for a driver’s license.

Please read the whole thing. But again, from Freddie in response to this impassioned (and very well informed) plea: zip, zilch, nada, rien de tout.

Did Freddie see Arty’s letter? Did he read my second email? We dunno, because Freddie chooses to tilt only at the windmills he constructs for himself. We are assured that Real Women ackchyually think it’s fine if penis-havers are in the house. No need to quote or cite any ackchyual woman on this, of course.

And then somehow it all has to do with Jesus.

OK, I’m done. My cup of disgust runneth over.

If you are in California, or know anyone in California, please help us get this initiative on the ballot for 2024:

https://protectkidsca.com

Update: I deleted some of the overly snarky bits.