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Bath Spa University is conducting an internal inquiry into claims that it turned down an application for research on gender reassignment reversal because it was "potentially politically incorrect" and would attract criticism on social media.
James Caspian, a psychotherapist who specialises in working with transgender people, proposed the research about "detransitioning" to the university in south-west England, which, he said, initially approved the application.
When he went back with his preliminary findings that suggested growing numbers of young people, particularly women, were regretting gender reassignment, Bath Spa said his proposal would have to be resubmitted to the ethics committee, which rejected it.
Caspian, who enrolled on an MA course at the university, said he was "astonished" by the decision and had sought legal advice.
"The fundamental reason given was that it might cause criticism of the research on social media, and criticism of the research would be criticism of the university. They also added it's better not to offend people," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday.
I was going to add some snark here but they pretty well covered making a mockery of academia for me.
Source: The Guardian
Also at: The Times
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @01:55PM (5 children)
You said it yourself: they're mentally ill. As diagnosed by someone who's an expert in the field.
The commonly accepted treatment for this is either coping or hormones.
So either you accept that these head doctors know what they're doing and are prescribing genuine medical treatment.
Or you call them quacks and now can't call transsexuals "mentally ill" anymore because you're not an expert and thus not qualified to make that assessment...
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Tuesday October 10 2017, @05:31PM (3 children)
They're mutilating a physically healthy person for a purely mental illness.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @07:25PM (1 child)
You are saying that X is more important than Y? I'm not sure that's been proven/justified. Why remain miserable just so your goodies remain pristine? Goodies aren't sentient (although sometimes seem to have a mind of their own).
I agree that if there are better alternatives (Z), take them, but as blanket statement, I have to question the implied assumption.
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Wednesday October 11 2017, @03:05AM
The problem is, we don't have yet the technology to produce functional genitals of the other gender. Not good for reproduction, not good for sex.
For the latter, while MtF can create something that looks closely enough to a vagina, you can find porn with such persons, and it's clear they don't feel any pleasure from such sex. As for the other partner — it's not like you can't find an artificial vagina-like object you can penetrate, without mutilating a living human.
Thus: the researcher in the article raises a valid point. There's a big loss but no gain from the surgery. Until a technology breakthrough happens, it's better to leave genitals as-is, and do at most a boob job / subcutaneous fat / hair growth / etc.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Tuesday October 10 2017, @10:35PM
Well, we already mutilate perfectly healthy babies at birth, so why not?
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday October 11 2017, @04:01AM
The doctors either don't know what they are doing, or are crooks making money off a newly normalized evil of mutilating children.
There used to be a time, around 10 ago, when I would see people pointing out logical fallacies [logicallyfallacious.com] and people shutting up when found using one red-handed. 10 years later we have an infestation of SJWs - same names appear, same talking points get repeated ("You hate *fill_in_the_blanks* I am not listening to you *lalala*, "I have friends and they disagree with research conclusion so the research and everyone who agrees with it is an a**hole", "the research actually shows opposite of what it actually shows"), complete lack of any citations and complete ignorance of any credible news.
This is what happens when an empire shakes. For all the hullabaloo of rising poverty, the poorest of Americans are driving gas guzzlers while rest of the world deals with mass starvation. Having solved most basic problems, everyone now wants to do identity politics. And under everyone's sight the roads crumble, education becomes politicized, public transport halts.
As a non-American, I welcome the equalization of status this brings - welcome to poor civics - but I know this deterioration is conscious - a kind of sacrifice - being made to ensure power structure remains the same: USA and its allies remains in control of oil drilling, nuclear bombing, sanctioning etc. while all other countries suffer. On a local level, rich female want to remain the privileged crooks they have always been, rich men remain the alphas. Trans rights? Because a rich female crook convinced a section of population that mass depression is all because of having penis or vagina? Trans people not getting accommodation while counties remove toilets and install features on park benches designed to make it difficult to sleep? Which problem would you solve? I know, if we make a law, then jail everyone who falls short of the law, our books will become clean! So what if 1 in 5 American is in jail! We can then have them do slave labor and that, will solve our economical problems of competing with China.