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(LifeSiteNews) — A major scientific journal has retracted a study on the social contagion of transgenderism in young adults and adolescents after transgender activists demanded the outlet retract the article and fire the editor responsible.

Springer Nature, which publishes the prestigious academic magazines Scientific American and Nature, has retracted the paper titled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases,” citing “a lack of documented consent by study participants.” However, comments made by one of the study’s authors and the fact that transgender activists pressured the outlet to retract the article casts serious doubt upon the sincerity of that justification. 

“Parents contacted Suzanna Diaz after seeing her invitation to complete a survey,” study author John Michael Baily wrote on Twitter. “These parents were concerned their children have ROGD [Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria]. They wanted the data out. Obviously.”

“These were parents concerned about their children, concerned enough to take a not-brief survey about the issues. Why would they do this if they didn’t think the information would somehow be made available?” Baily told the Daily Caller. 

According to a screenshot of the survey Baily and his co-author used in the study, parents were indeed informed that the data would be published once the authors “have a large enough sample to make our results significant.” 

Transgender activist ‘canceling’ scientific research? 

“I suspect there are two real reasons for the attempt to cancel our article,” Baily wrote in an article for UnHerd. “First, the IASR is increasingly dedicated to identity politics and activism. Second, the IASR’s unfortunate decay has led to activists, outside and inside, challenging the editorial process of the Archives of Sexual Behavior when it publishes articles they dislike.” 

The International Academy of Sex Research (IASR) is a scientific society for research in the field of sexual behavior, which is “closely associated with (but not the owner of) Archives of Sexual Behavior,” according to Baily. The Archives of Sexual Behavior is the journal, owned by Springer Science, that published Baily’s study. 

On May 5, a group of five transgender activist groups, including the “Center for Applied Transgender Studies,” and many individuals published an open letter demanding the retraction of the study “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases” and calling for the firing of the journal’s editor, Dr. Kenneth Zucker. 

“With this letter, we are informing you that we will no longer submit to the journal, act as peer reviewers, or serve in an editorial capacity until Dr Zucker is replaced with an editor who has a demonstrated record of integrity on LGBTQ+ matters and, especially, trans matters,” the letter states. 

“We encourage our peers to do the same,” the group added. “If the situation is not remedied in a timely manner, we will consider terminating any involvement with the IASR and with members of Archives of Sexual Behavior’s editorial board.” 

Shortly after the publication of this open letter, on May 10, Springer Nature added a note that stated that “concerns have been raised regarding methodology as described in this article. The publisher is currently investigating this matter and a further response will follow the conclusion of this investigation.” 

On May 16, the journal retracted the article “due to a lack of documented consent by study participants.” 

The article will remain online with a note that it has been retracted, and the journal may choose to remove access to it in the future. 

Vice president for research and innovation at the UNT Health Science Center and International Review Board (IRB) expert Brian Gladue told UnHerd that Springer Nature’s reasoning for the retraction was “extremely flimsy.” 

“This is an extraordinary after-the-fact requirement that’s being used by someone other than the legitimate authority,” Gladue said. “The IRB said that written consent wasn’t required but then Springer Nature asked for it afterwards. Why not insist on it for all publications that involve survey data? This is not only unusual, but precedent-setting.“ 

The negative consequences of transgender ideology revealed 

The study carried out by Baily and his co-author Suzanna Diaz found results that transgender activists certainly dislike. This appears to be the main reason why these activist groups put pressure on the publisher to retract it, according to Baily. 

“What is entirely obvious, based on the people who spearheaded the attack, is that suppressing the idea of ROGD was the primary goal,” Bailey told the Daily Caller. 

The study found that “[p]re-existing mental health issues were common” among adolescents and young adults experiencing gender dysphoria. 

Moreover, “[p]arents reported that they had often felt pressured by clinicians to affirm their […] child’s new gender and support their transition,” the study authors stated. 

The youth in this study “were disproportionately (75%)” female, confirming the findings of author Abigail Shrier, who wrote the book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

“According to the parents, […] children’s mental health deteriorated considerably after social transition,” the study furthermore notes. 

The paper finally discusses the possibility of ROGD being caused by “social contagion,” meaning that “[a]dolescents who know others with ROGD are more likely to acquire ROGD themselves.” 

Social contagion would be a sensible explanation for the rapid increase in people identifying as “LGBT” in the Western world.  

READ: President of trans organization admits that social contagion is behind spike in trans-identifying youth 

“There has been an explosion of gender dysphoria among adolescent girls in recent years,” Bailey said in his article for UnHerd. “In England, for example, annual referrals for child and adolescent gender dysphoria treatment grew in the 10 years between 2011-12 to 2021-22 from 250 (mostly boys) to 5,000 (mostly girls).” 

“Rapid onset gender dysphoria’ (ROGD) suggests that, for poorly understood reasons, adolescent and young adult females are susceptible to a socially contagious false belief that they are transgender,” Baily explained. “Especially susceptible are girls with pre-existing emotional problems who have been exposed to the ideas that transgender people are common, and that an underlying and unrecognized transgender identity can cause emotional problems only curable by gender transition.”

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