Blocked – the battle over gender youth care proved once again that the ABC is an activist group with a narrative to promote. The Four Corners program was led by ACON-sympathizer Patricia Karvelas who hosts functions and lends support to the trans activist group.

It was hardly expected that the program would be fair considering the ACON ties and the track record of the ABC. See here and here. And also here and here.

Unsurprisingly, the program promoted lies, falsehoods and outright deception. It was manipulative, feelings-based and ran more like an advertisement and campaign for the medicalised trans industry.

Every child or parent that advocated the lie that a person can change sex relied on outdated, regressive stereotypes to support their argument.

“She was born in a boy’s body and has a girl’s heart and mind”

What does that even mean? Can anyone actually define what a girl’s mind and heart is without relying on stereotypes?

A male trans identified teen said, “I always imagined myself having long hair, putting on make-up, wearing dresses and I would be like, oh I wish I was a girl.

Wishing you were a girl doesn’t make you one. Drugs, costumes and surgery don’t turn a boy into a girl. Nothing can change your DNA and the fact your biological sex is a tangible, physical, biological reality.

One mother said her son would always be a princess, or dressed up or pushing a pram, wearing fake high heels, and not really a typical rough house boy, which to her, proved he was a girl.

Those references are simply stereotypes. Stereotypes we have spent decades trying to dismantle. Why can’t these parents let these children be gender non-conforming instead of pushing them down a pathway that makes them conform to gender stereotypes?

Tragically, a story of child suicide was included in the program. It is devastating when a parent loses a child. There is no doubt it is tragic and beyond comprehension. 

The report noted that the eating disorder and mental health issues that the child suffered were not to blame, according to the mother. It was because her child could not access drugs to block puberty as far as she was concerned. 

People tragically suicide for many complex reasons. To include it in this program was emotional but nowhere near conclusive or helpful for the debate.

Four Corners failed to note that the suicide rate of trans identified people, post-surgery, was shown to increase according to a Swedish study. 

There were references to the side effects of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones but no considered investigation or explanation of how detrimental they are. No mention of the fact that along with sterility, zero sexual function, brain and bone development issues, the child will become a lifelong medical patient fuelling the industry that relies on drug dependency and surgery.

Binary ambassador Professor Dianna Kenny, addressed the issue of ROGD, rapid onset gender dysphoria.

If the young person has been exposed to the ubiquitous media onslaught, both social media and the internet, and also in peer groups, at school, in rainbow clubs and so on, there are rather vulnerable young people who will be drawn into that sphere of thinking that they are transgender.

Professor Kenny offers a psycho-therapeutic approach to help gender confused children and their families, to “understand all of the complex dynamics that have resulted in the young person experiencing gender dysphoria.” It is safe and allows young people to explore who they are.

Dr Jillian Spencer, a senior psychiatrist who has been stood down from the Brisbane Children’s’ Hospital, said she believes a vast majority of doctors have serious concerns about the “affirmation model”:

It is a really hard thing as a doctor, when you feel to be in a position where you need to do an intervention that you don’t agree with. Being able to speak about it was a relief.

I worry about the harm to children and of concern is the knowledge that it is much more common for children who will later be gay or lesbian, to show cross-sex identification and gender dysphoria in childhood. So there is that worry there that we are changing the trajectory of those children.

My main concern with puberty blockers is they stop the healing of the gender dysphoria that naturally occurs through the course of adolescence.

Watchful waiting is a medical term that tended to describe taking time to see if a problem resolves before intervening. But in terms of watchful waiting for children with gender dysphoria that would involve engaging with them, treating mental health co-morbidities and engaging them in therapy, and family therapy if need be, optimizing their school functioning and engagement and trying to get them connected to peers and activities that help them to feel good about who they are. 

Of course there was opposition to that view and far more airtime was given to promoting the lie a child should have access to medicalised pathways that give the impression they have changed sex, rather than addressing all of the complex issues that have resulted in gender dysphoria.

It is heartbreaking that lies and deceptive practices, driven by activism, are putting so many young people in harm's way. If granted access to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery, these children are guaranteed a life-time of dependency on the medical industry. 

The ACON subscribed ABC didn’t do anyone any favours by broadcasting the lies and hyperbole of gender ideology proponents. An urgent inquiry is required into such practices to ensure children are receiving the best and most appropriate care.