September 5, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Ken Hakuta—a multimillionaire better known as host of the Dr. Fad TV show—famously said, “Contrary to what most people believe, fads are made, not born.” On the more cerebral side, Nobel prize-winning scientist Eric Betzig pronounced, “Science goes through fads, and there are big ups and crashes.”
Add those two statements together and you have the explanation for the recent explosion of people declaring themselves transgender. It’s a fad, made by progressive elites, embraced by progressive commoners, and given unwarranted credence by progressive scientists eager for recognition as cutting-edge progressive visionaries.
What transgenderism is not is genetic. Like fads, transgenders are made, not born. A pending Supreme Court case makes this truth demonstrably evident. One of the several amicus briefs in R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considers the declarations of nine adults, all of whom once claimed to be born transgender. Now, each of the nine admits that his or her “gender fluidity” was not a biological reality; it was, in fact, little more than a fad, a phase they went through.
One of the nine, Laura Perry, a female who endured the unnecessary pain and expense of a double mastectomy in an effort to try to become a male, now says, “These people [in the LGBTQ community] are the most depressed people in the world.” Not too surprising. As Conway Twitty once said, “Fads are the kiss of death. When the fad goes away, you go with it.”
Will Sergeant, another singer/songwriter, put it this way, “You go through these little phases and fads, and it never turns out the way you think it's going to turn out.”
Yes, that’s the way of fads; they never live up to the hype. These days, if an impressionable young person wants to impress other impressionable young people, declaring oneself transgender is a sure winner—until the new wears off. Then, if the vulnerable young person took the fad very far, he or she is left with deep physical and psychological scars, probably some big financial debt—and, sooner or later, regrets.
That young person likely basked for a time in the adulation of his progressive peers. But after a while, those fellow progressives move on to another progressive cause and the one-time object of praise is left to assess the confused state of his being and the probable tangled trajectory of his future.
All this is not meant to discount the substance of what many gender-confused people feel and genuinely believe. Many—perhaps even most—gender-confused individuals sincerely believe, at least for a time, that they were meant to be the opposite sex. But the fact that many have awoken from that illusion and reverted to their birth gender argues strongly against the notion that transgenderism is biological.
The above-referenced Supreme Court amicus brief states the following:
Seeking to align one’s mind with reality has always been the preferred method for treating dysphorias, such as anorexia, xenomelia (the feeling that one or more limbs do not belong), or transdisability (believing one has a physical disability that does not actually exist). No one would ever address an anorexic person’s needs by providing a low-calorie diet, diet pills and stomach stapling. Moreover, one of the most comprehensive scientific studies tracking individuals who underwent sex-reassignment surgery revealed that (1) the rate of psychiatric hospitalization was approximately three times higher for postoperative individuals than a control group; (2) mortality rates and rates of criminal conviction also increased; (3) suicide attempts were almost five times more likely than before surgery; and (4) the likelihood of suicide following surgery was 19 times higher than the control group, adjusted for prior psychiatric illness.
Progressives might truly believe that their enablement of gender-confused individuals is an act of compassion, but, as the brief makes clear, indulging in this fad is downright dangerous. Some fads, like pet rocks, are innocuous. Others, like tattoos, might be expensive but mostly harmless. Others should be avoided at all costs. Currently, science is going through a fad of endorsing a dangerous sociological fad. Let’s pray both fads soon crash before they harm too many more lives.
Denise Shick is the Founder and Executive director of Help 4 Families Ministry. She is the author of My Daddy’s Secret, When Hope Seems Lost, Understanding Gender Confusion: A Faith Based Perspective, and When Daddy Leaves to be a Girl.