With the re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and right-wing parties gaining ground across Europe, especially among the young, it’s tempting to assume that woke fads like transgenderism are now firmly relegated to the past.
Unfortunately, that’s not quite true. A new study by the Williams Institute has found that, while 1% of the U.S. population aged over 13 identifies as trans, that figure is much higher for teens than adults—3.3% of those aged between 13 and 17 apparently identify as trans. If this is accurate, that would mean there are 2.8 million transgender Americans; 2.1 million adults and 724,000 trans kids.
This figure indicated that the number of trans people has continued to rise. In 2022, there were apparently 1.6 million trans Americans, including 1.4% of 13-to-17-year-olds. That means that, in the last three years, the proportion of children identifying as trans has more than doubled.
Where on Earth did all those extra trans kids come from? The Williams Institute says that there have been significant “improvements” in how this data is collected and so making straight comparisons over time is difficult. But the discovery of 424,000 extra trans kids seems noteworthy. And we know from data in other countries—like from the now defunct Tavistock gender identity youth clinic in the UK—that there has indeed been a massive increase in young people identifying as trans in the past few years.
In 2009, the NHS Gender Identity Development Service received just 50 referrals of children, most of them boys. By 2016, that number was almost 2,000, the majority of them girls. In 2021/22, there were over 5,000 referrals to the service in total, and 3,586 to the Tavistock clinic in particular. There, almost 2,000 of the patients were biologically female. Bear in mind that this only includes children who were actually referred to receive treatment or therapy by the NHS, and that the number who merely identify as trans is likely much higher.
We don’t have a comparable gender breakdown in the U.S., although the data from some clinics do show that the majority of trans youth seeking treatment tend to be natal females. This is also the trend elsewhere, as recorded in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain.
To be clear, it’s important to reiterate that there is really no such thing as a trans child. Children cannot consent to the life-ruining surgeries and experimental, unsafe drugs referred to as ‘gender-affirming care.’ Trans children are entirely a product of the adults around them—and, in many cases, their own peers.
The fact that the transgender trend is so prevalent among young girls has led some to suggest this is a kind of social contagion, or a ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria.’ Parents of young girls have described how, practically overnight, their children—often already suffering from other conditions like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or autism—decide that they no longer feel comfortable in their own bodies and wish to transition. Kids who are searching for acceptance and meaning in their lives end up getting sucked into communities, especially online, where being ‘queer’ is not only the norm, but also a marker of belonging.
The trans lobby, naturally, rejects this suggestion out of hand, smearing it as transphobic and anti-scientific. Dr. Andrew Flores of the Williams Institute told the Guardian that the prevalence of trans identities among young people is not the result of peer pressure, but rather shows that “the growth comes as people are now in an environment that allows them to fully express who they are.”
Similarly, trans and LGBT activists more generally argue that the change in language and the invention of new words to describe identities is partially responsible for the huge increase in ‘queer’ youth. Older LGB people are far more likely to identify as gay or lesbian, while labels like pansexual and bisexual are more common among young people. The trend is the same for gender—identifying simply as a man or a woman is the norm among older trans people, while younger trans people are more likely to identify as ‘nonbinary’ or ‘genderfluid.‘
It’s likely no coincidence that the terms becoming more popular—pansexual, nonbinary, genderfluid, etc—are also those that allow people to opt in and out of visible ‘queerness.’ Identifying as pansexual doesn’t actually require you to be in relationships with members of the same sex. In the same way, very few ‘nonbinary’ people medically or surgically transition. The nature of these identities is that they are fluid and can be slipped on and off when the individual desires. This makes them incredibly appealing for teenagers who are experimenting with who they are. It also allows them to participate in the popular trend of being LGBTQIA+ and so on, in a relatively noncommittal way.
There are other reasons to doubt the language hypothesis. If the reason for this massive increase in gender-questioning kids is down to more nuanced language and a more accepting environment, why do girls vastly outnumber boys? We have seen this kind of thing happen before among teen girls. Before being trans was the ‘in’ fad, there were many more social contagions. Research from Finland, for example, gave us evidence that mental illnesses can pass from child to child, especially when it comes to eating disorders. It’s hardly surprising that a girl whose friend constantly complains about the way she looks is likely to also become more critical about her own body. In that same vein, if a teenage girl routinely expresses the desire to cut off her breasts and take drugs to stop puberty, this is likely to also encourage similar negative feelings among her close friends.
We saw a particularly bizarre example of this in 2021, when doctors across the world suddenly saw an increase in teenage girls suddenly developing Tourette’s Syndrome-like symptoms out of nowhere. Girls in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and elsewhere reported tics such as twitching, whistling, clicking, and blurting out random and sometimes obscene phrases, despite never having previously displayed signs of Tourette’s—a condition that normally develops early in childhood. As it turned out, the majority of the girls had been frequent users of TikTok, where they had been exposed to influencers with Tourette’s documenting their own tics.
We know that social-media influencers can have a similar impact in spreading gender dysphoria among young people, especially girls. In her 2024 review into the NHS gender youth services, Dr. Hilary Cass warned that social media and online influencers were helping to drive the popularity of trans identities among young people. Speaking to gender-questioning kids and their parents, she found that “online information that describes normal adolescent discomfort as a possible sign of being trans and… particular influencers have had a substantial impact on their child’s beliefs and understanding of their gender.”
Of course, it is normal for all teenagers—especially girls—to feel uncomfortable or confused about their bodies, identities, and feelings as they go through puberty. But instead of reassuring them that this is a standard part of growing up and will eventually pass, trans activists railroad them into adopting an identity that could lead to permanent medical mutilation down the line.
Whatever the reason for the transgender trend, it’s vital that gender-critical activists across the world continue fighting to keep kids away from this dangerous practice. Trump has made a good start in the U.S. by revoking federal funding for clinics that attempt to transition minors, and the UK has also made significant progress, banning children from receiving puberty blockers outside of medical trials.
But there remains so much work to be done. No child should be encouraged to despise their own body. No doctor in his right mind would prescribe Ozempic to an anorexic teen, or give a suicidal girl a loaded gun. So why is it still acceptable in so many countries to cut off a young girl’s breasts because she feels uncomfortable? Or to prevent the natural and necessary process of puberty just because a pre-teen girl prefers climbing trees to playing with Barbies?
Too many children are still being let down by the very adults who are supposed to protect them. Their teachers, doctors, therapists, and even parents are more interested in conforming to woke fads than actually helping them. This grotesque experiment on kids has got to end.
The Trans Trend Isn’t Dead Yet
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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With the re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S. and right-wing parties gaining ground across Europe, especially among the young, it’s tempting to assume that woke fads like transgenderism are now firmly relegated to the past.
Unfortunately, that’s not quite true. A new study by the Williams Institute has found that, while 1% of the U.S. population aged over 13 identifies as trans, that figure is much higher for teens than adults—3.3% of those aged between 13 and 17 apparently identify as trans. If this is accurate, that would mean there are 2.8 million transgender Americans; 2.1 million adults and 724,000 trans kids.
This figure indicated that the number of trans people has continued to rise. In 2022, there were apparently 1.6 million trans Americans, including 1.4% of 13-to-17-year-olds. That means that, in the last three years, the proportion of children identifying as trans has more than doubled.
Where on Earth did all those extra trans kids come from? The Williams Institute says that there have been significant “improvements” in how this data is collected and so making straight comparisons over time is difficult. But the discovery of 424,000 extra trans kids seems noteworthy. And we know from data in other countries—like from the now defunct Tavistock gender identity youth clinic in the UK—that there has indeed been a massive increase in young people identifying as trans in the past few years.
In 2009, the NHS Gender Identity Development Service received just 50 referrals of children, most of them boys. By 2016, that number was almost 2,000, the majority of them girls. In 2021/22, there were over 5,000 referrals to the service in total, and 3,586 to the Tavistock clinic in particular. There, almost 2,000 of the patients were biologically female. Bear in mind that this only includes children who were actually referred to receive treatment or therapy by the NHS, and that the number who merely identify as trans is likely much higher.
We don’t have a comparable gender breakdown in the U.S., although the data from some clinics do show that the majority of trans youth seeking treatment tend to be natal females. This is also the trend elsewhere, as recorded in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain.
To be clear, it’s important to reiterate that there is really no such thing as a trans child. Children cannot consent to the life-ruining surgeries and experimental, unsafe drugs referred to as ‘gender-affirming care.’ Trans children are entirely a product of the adults around them—and, in many cases, their own peers.
The fact that the transgender trend is so prevalent among young girls has led some to suggest this is a kind of social contagion, or a ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria.’ Parents of young girls have described how, practically overnight, their children—often already suffering from other conditions like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or autism—decide that they no longer feel comfortable in their own bodies and wish to transition. Kids who are searching for acceptance and meaning in their lives end up getting sucked into communities, especially online, where being ‘queer’ is not only the norm, but also a marker of belonging.
The trans lobby, naturally, rejects this suggestion out of hand, smearing it as transphobic and anti-scientific. Dr. Andrew Flores of the Williams Institute told the Guardian that the prevalence of trans identities among young people is not the result of peer pressure, but rather shows that “the growth comes as people are now in an environment that allows them to fully express who they are.”
Similarly, trans and LGBT activists more generally argue that the change in language and the invention of new words to describe identities is partially responsible for the huge increase in ‘queer’ youth. Older LGB people are far more likely to identify as gay or lesbian, while labels like pansexual and bisexual are more common among young people. The trend is the same for gender—identifying simply as a man or a woman is the norm among older trans people, while younger trans people are more likely to identify as ‘nonbinary’ or ‘genderfluid.‘
It’s likely no coincidence that the terms becoming more popular—pansexual, nonbinary, genderfluid, etc—are also those that allow people to opt in and out of visible ‘queerness.’ Identifying as pansexual doesn’t actually require you to be in relationships with members of the same sex. In the same way, very few ‘nonbinary’ people medically or surgically transition. The nature of these identities is that they are fluid and can be slipped on and off when the individual desires. This makes them incredibly appealing for teenagers who are experimenting with who they are. It also allows them to participate in the popular trend of being LGBTQIA+ and so on, in a relatively noncommittal way.
There are other reasons to doubt the language hypothesis. If the reason for this massive increase in gender-questioning kids is down to more nuanced language and a more accepting environment, why do girls vastly outnumber boys? We have seen this kind of thing happen before among teen girls. Before being trans was the ‘in’ fad, there were many more social contagions. Research from Finland, for example, gave us evidence that mental illnesses can pass from child to child, especially when it comes to eating disorders. It’s hardly surprising that a girl whose friend constantly complains about the way she looks is likely to also become more critical about her own body. In that same vein, if a teenage girl routinely expresses the desire to cut off her breasts and take drugs to stop puberty, this is likely to also encourage similar negative feelings among her close friends.
We saw a particularly bizarre example of this in 2021, when doctors across the world suddenly saw an increase in teenage girls suddenly developing Tourette’s Syndrome-like symptoms out of nowhere. Girls in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and elsewhere reported tics such as twitching, whistling, clicking, and blurting out random and sometimes obscene phrases, despite never having previously displayed signs of Tourette’s—a condition that normally develops early in childhood. As it turned out, the majority of the girls had been frequent users of TikTok, where they had been exposed to influencers with Tourette’s documenting their own tics.
We know that social-media influencers can have a similar impact in spreading gender dysphoria among young people, especially girls. In her 2024 review into the NHS gender youth services, Dr. Hilary Cass warned that social media and online influencers were helping to drive the popularity of trans identities among young people. Speaking to gender-questioning kids and their parents, she found that “online information that describes normal adolescent discomfort as a possible sign of being trans and… particular influencers have had a substantial impact on their child’s beliefs and understanding of their gender.”
Of course, it is normal for all teenagers—especially girls—to feel uncomfortable or confused about their bodies, identities, and feelings as they go through puberty. But instead of reassuring them that this is a standard part of growing up and will eventually pass, trans activists railroad them into adopting an identity that could lead to permanent medical mutilation down the line.
Whatever the reason for the transgender trend, it’s vital that gender-critical activists across the world continue fighting to keep kids away from this dangerous practice. Trump has made a good start in the U.S. by revoking federal funding for clinics that attempt to transition minors, and the UK has also made significant progress, banning children from receiving puberty blockers outside of medical trials.
But there remains so much work to be done. No child should be encouraged to despise their own body. No doctor in his right mind would prescribe Ozempic to an anorexic teen, or give a suicidal girl a loaded gun. So why is it still acceptable in so many countries to cut off a young girl’s breasts because she feels uncomfortable? Or to prevent the natural and necessary process of puberty just because a pre-teen girl prefers climbing trees to playing with Barbies?
Too many children are still being let down by the very adults who are supposed to protect them. Their teachers, doctors, therapists, and even parents are more interested in conforming to woke fads than actually helping them. This grotesque experiment on kids has got to end.
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