- While it seems the transgender ideology came out of nowhere, schools have been teaching children that their identity is separate from their biology, and that gender is a choice, for a long time. Today, transgender ideology is being taught to children as early as preschool
- Transgenderism is primarily a social contagion, although exposure to synthetic chemicals, in utero and in early life, may play a role in some cases, especially in boys identifying as girls
- Classic gender dysphoria primarily affected boys, and always presented at a very early age. Now, teens and young adults claim they’re transgender, which was never the case before. Girls identifying as boys now make up about 60% of cases
- Many in the affirmative care field insist that you can block puberty without negative effects and that hormone therapy effects are reversible, neither of which is true. Proponents of transgender ideology also claim that unless trans kids are affirmed in their new identities and provided medical and surgical treatment to transition, they’re at high risk of suicide, and that’s not true either
- “Lost in Trans Nation,” written by Dr. Miriam Grossman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and board-certified medical doctor, provides parents with the required knowledge and tools to protect their children from the transgender ideology contagion
In this interview, Dr. Miriam Grossman, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and board-certified medical doctor, discusses the dangers of transgender ideology, which is her specialty, and, more importantly, how to protect your children from it.
She’s the author of two books, “You’re Teaching My Child What?: A Physician Exposes the Lies of Sex Education and How They Harm Your Child,” and “Lost in Trans Nation, A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness.”
Grossman is also a senior fellow at the Do No Harm Medicine, which fights “against identity politics” and “for individual patients.” “First, do no harm” is part of the Hippocratic Oath that doctors through the ages have sworn to abide by. Unfortunately, the Hippocratic Oath has been massively perverted and “do no harm” has basically fallen by the wayside.
“Do No Harm is a pretty recently formed organization of medical professionals who feel that our profession has lost its way,” Grossman explains.
“It has become politicized — by identity politics and other issues — to such a degree that our patients are suffering and our profession is suffering. DoNoHarmMedicine.org was founded by Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a retired nephrologist from the University of Pennsylvania.
I believe he had the responsibility of organizing the curricula for medical students at the University of Pennsylvania, and he recognized the degree to which politics had entered into the curricula and was very alarmed. So, he retired and formed this amazing organization, which I would encourage every medical professional to check out and join.”
The Rise of Transgender Ideology
While Grossman has only recently become known as a leading voice opposing the mainstream transgender narrative, her involvement and concern about this unscientific belief system goes back about 15 years. For the casual observer, it may seem that transgender ideology sprang up from nowhere, overnight, but that’s not the case.
“The explosion in cases did actually happen quite rapidly, but the teachings, the ideology that says our identities can be separate from our biology — which is not based in science — and the belief that we can be someone different than what our body says we are, that’s been taught to kids in sex education for a long time,” Grossman says.
“I became aware of it in the mid 2000s when I was writing my book, ‘You’re Teaching My Child What?’ I was a psychiatrist for students at UCLA, and a lot of the kids coming to see me with anxiety and depression, especially the young women, were there as a result of unhealthy sexual behaviors.
A lot of them, an alarming number, had a sexual transmitted disease, an STD. They had herpes or genital warts, and these diseases are caused by viruses that are incurable essentially. Once you have a diagnosis of genital warts, the human papillomavirus or the herpes virus, you’ve got that for life.
It can be controlled, but not eliminated. So these are serious diseases … These were smart kids, and these were kids who were ambitious, yet they had made these foolish sexual decisions of hooking up with random strangers …
So I started looking into what kids are being taught in sex education, and I discovered that sex education … is not about health. It’s not about staying healthy. It’s about … promoting sexual freedom — all sorts of risky behaviors — and it’s about changing society.
My book, ‘You’re Teaching My Child What?’ … delves into the origins of sex education in this country. It is about sexual freedom. It’s about rejecting Judeo-Christian values. It is most certainly not about fighting bacteria and viruses. And sex education is introduced at a very young age, in kindergarten.”
Gender ideology is introduced even earlier, in preschool. Books read to preschool children will say things like, “Adults make mistakes when babies are born and only you know if you’re a girl or a boy,” and “Adults may have made a mistake when they decided that you were a girl or a boy,” or “Some people are born with a boy’s brain and a girl’s body.”
“These outrageously false ideas are introduced to children at a very, very young age,” Grossman says, “and that’s the danger. These ideas are going to reach your kids before you do.”
Transgenderism Is a Social Contagion
Grossman’s most recent book, “Lost in Trans Nation,” which came out in July 2023, provides parents with the practical information and tools needed to protect their families against the “transgender contagion.”
“It is a social contagion,” she says. “If your child ends up in a friend group, either in school or in the neighborhood or online, in which there is one or more kids who are identifying as transgender, nonbinary, or one of these other made-up words, there’s a much greater chance that your child … will also end up identifying.
So, no family is immune. I’ve talked to hundreds and hundreds of parents, and I’ve seen many, many kids in my office who get drawn into this belief system. And trust me, it’s a very difficult thing.”
The transgender contagion is so widespread at this point, Grossman suspects most of the college, high school and elementary school students believe that sex and gender are two separate things, and that you can choose your gender at will, because that’s what they’ve been indoctrinated to believe.
“When I use the word indoctrinated, I mean that this has been relentlessly pushed at them over and over again. They’re bombarded with this idea, presented as if it is a fact. It’s not a fact, it’s a belief. And it’s an outrageous belief. It’s an irrational belief that you can be something other than what your body says you are.
But this belief is pushed at them 24/7 from every direction, and it’s presented as fact. And, it’s presented in such a way that questions are not permitted. If you doubt, if you hesitate, if you ask questions, well then you are a hater and you are transphobic.
Kids want to belong. Kids want to be accepted in their social group. They don’t want to be seen as an outsider and certainly not as transphobic. That’s the equivalent of being racist, sexist and all those other awful things.
So, that’s why I use the word indoctrinated, and that’s why a majority of them are going to believe it. It’s being presented to them by authorities, educational authorities, medical authorities, government authorities, and they don’t hear the argument on the other side of it.”
Gender Dysphoria Then and Now
When Grossman was a medical student, rapid onset gender dysphoria (when a young child suddenly insists he or she is the opposite gender) was exceedingly rare. That all changed around 2015, when the number of cases suddenly exploded.
However, contrary to classical gender dysphoria, these more recent cases typically involve teens and young adults, which had never been the case before. What’s more, in the past, gender dysphoria predominantly affected boys, at a ratio of about 6-to-1. Today, girls identifying as boys make up about 60% of cases.
I, like many others, suspect synthetic chemicals, many of which have estrogenic activity, may be playing a role, especially in boys identifying as girls. Grossman doesn’t dismiss that possibility, but based on her work, she suspects social media and peer pressure are still the primary contributors.
“The kids say as much,” she says. “They develop symptoms of being unhappy with their bodies after binging on these YouTube videos of kids who are chronicling their own dysphoria and their own path. So there’s definitely a social contagion element.”
Transgenderism Is a False Cure for What Ails Them
Not surprisingly, children with a history of psychiatric issues, such as being on the autistic spectrum or struggling with anxiety, depression or emotional trauma, are more prone to falling victim to gender ideology.
“They learn about gender ideology, and they’re told that this could be the reason for your distress — ‘You’re feeling that you don’t fit in … because you are in the wrong body.’
And they come to believe that all their problems are going to be solved by this one solution, that identifying as the opposite sex, change their name, their pronouns and their appearance … that will be the solution.
We hear this over and over again from detransitioners, the people who went through the ‘affirmation’ and when they got more mature, they realized, ‘Oh my god, what have I done to myself?’ and regret what they’ve done.
I don’t like using this language because it’s Orwellian language, but let’s just call it what the mainstream medicine is calling it, which is ‘gender affirmation,’ which of course means you deny biology.
One of the main things that detransitioners talk about is how they were convinced that this would be the solution to all their mental health problems. Instead, they go through the process, their bodies are sometimes permanently disfigured from hormones and surgery, and their mental health problems have not been addressed.”
Kids and Parents Are Being Lied To
Making matters worse, children and teens are being lied to about the ramifications of hormone therapy and surgery. These are permanent changes being applied for what is likely a temporary emotional problem. You cannot undo the damage inflicted once you change your mind.
Remarkably, many in the affirmative care field insist that you can block puberty without negative effects and that hormone therapy effects are reversible, neither of which is true.
Proponents of transgender ideology also claim that unless trans kids are affirmed in their new identities and provided medical and surgical treatment to transition, they’re at high risk of suicide, and that’s not true either.
In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Detransitioners are at high risk of suicide because not only is it a struggle to get back to their real identity, but many now have severe medical problems brought on by hormones and surgery.
Those who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery, in particular, face the very real possibility of lifelong medical troubles and associated depression. Many have urological problems, recurrent infections, chronic pain and sexual dysfunction. They’re also sterile and will never be able to have children.
“In my congressional testimony that I gave a few months ago, I pointed out that in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, where they have made these medical treatments essentially unavailable to kids for the past few years, there has been no increase in suicides or decreased mental health.
So that is simply not true. It’s terrible misinformation and emotional blackmail [to say] ‘The only chance your child has of living a happy and fulfilling life is if you go along with their new identity and give them whatever it is they say they want, even if your child is 10 or 12 years old.’ And this is what’s going on in the gender clinics.
It’s very, very important that people read my book, not only families in which they are in the midst of this difficulty, but families who in the future may face it, so that they are prepared and can understand what it’s about, so they know how to respond and how to protect their child before they’re indoctrinated.”
A Generation of Damaged Youth
Even if they don’t go through with surgery on the sex organs, boys are given massive doses of estrogen, a known human carcinogen that has a plethora of ill health effects. Girls taking high-dose testosterone also face serious adverse health effects, including irreversible voice changes and blood clotting disorders.
An ever-growing number of teenage girls are also getting double mastectomies. There are no hard numbers on how many top surgeries are being done, because no one is tracking transgender treatments and gender reassignment surgeries, but it’s definitely not a rarity anymore. Grossman comments:
“When I was writing my book and working on the chapter on double mastectomies, there were 47,000 young girls raising money on GoFundMe to have breast surgery — 47,000 … You have a whole population of young women who were led to believe that their breasts are simply disposable sex objects that don’t serve any other purpose.
Young women are never taught about the magnificent biology of nursing and of the nutrition, which is the gold standard nutrition, for newborns. There is nothing better for a newborn than mother’s milk.”
The Madness Is Coming From the Top
Children’s lives are being ruined by lies, and we need to be just as aggressive in sticking to biological facts as the indoctrinators are being aggressive in pushing vulnerable kids to make destructive health choices.
A major part of the problem is the educational system, as most schools are teaching transgender ideology. The solution, then, would be to get your children out of those schools. Grossman agrees, saying:
“Because gender issues have been framed as a civil right, every teacher can introduce it in their class — into English literature, social studies, civics, history.
Parents also have to be aware that … there are activist teachers, activist social workers and guidance counselors, who are out there to influence your child, and they will go as far as to keep it a secret from the family if the child requests to make some sort of identity change at school.
The school will keep it a secret from the parents, which is another outrageous element in all of this because it’s a parent’s right to know such a thing. So yes, you can remove your child from not only public school, but there are also private schools that push this ideology …
Their professional organizations — the National Educational Association, the professional organizations of social workers, school counselors, guidance counselors and principals — they have all bought into the narrative. So they are obligated to follow those policies, and the policies call for keeping the parents in the dark if the child says that’s what they want.
I tell a story in my book of teachers who have felt that it is wrong to keep the parents in the dark about their child’s gender identity at school and shared the information with the parents. They’ve been fired.
There are teachers, especially the younger ones, who have been indoctrinated. But I have people writing to me who are school psychologists and teachers, and they say things like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m leaving this field. I’m retiring, I simply can’t do this anymore, it’s wrong.’
So parents need to be aware of that. And I provide in the book an appendix written by attorneys who are specialists in child and parental rights, and they explain exactly how to be proactive.
Even if your child is entering kindergarten, you can go into the school and you can, with a form that I provide on my website, merriamgrossmanmd.com, that puts the school on notice that they have no constitutionally based rights to direct the education of your child, that you don’t want your child being taught gender ideology and that you do not permit your child to be a part of any program or club in which this ideology is being taught.
And you certainly are not giving permission for your child to be called by a different name, or for your kid to use the opposite sex bathrooms. You have to [do that].”
Inoculate Your Children Through Biological Affirmation
Another important strategy that parents need to adopt is to affirm the biology of their children from the start. By teaching them the value and permanence of their biological sex, you can effectively “inoculate” them against deranged ideas being brought in later. Grossman explains:
“You can say to a 2-year-old or a 3-year-old, ‘You know you’re a boy, and you’re always going to be a boy. From the very first moment of your creation, you were a boy.’
This phrase, ‘sex assigned at birth,’ drives me crazy because it is so, so false. It is so outrageously untrue. Sex is not assigned at birth. Sex is established at conception and it is permanent.
Kids are being led to believe that sex — being male or female — is randomly assigned. Some doctor or nurse in the delivery room takes a look at you and makes this random decision that really isn’t based on anything real. No, you want to inoculate your child against that idea.
You want to tell your child that ‘You always were a boy or a girl, and you always will be. And that’s a great thing.’ Also, [teach them that] there are many different ways of being a girl or a boy. There isn’t one way.
There are some girls who love makeup and do all those stereotypically feminine things, and there are other girls who never want to put on a dress and they’re into building things and sports. And that’s great. That’s one kind of way of being a girl.
So from a very young age, we can tell kids that there isn’t just one way of being a girl or a boy, because what the ideology is telling them is that if you don’t fit into these ridiculous stereotypes, you may not actually be a girl (or a boy). So, you want your child to recognize that as not making sense.”
Another thing that children need to be taught from a young age is that being male or female has an impact on every system of the body. It’s not just a few skin-deep anatomical differences.
Your biological gender — immutable due to the presence of XX or XY chromosomes in every cell of your body — impacts how your brain works, your cardiovascular system, GI system and the immune system, and no amount of sex hormones and surgery will change that.
By taking hormones to feminize or masculinize the body, you’re wreaking total havoc on the entire system, because it wasn’t designed for those hormones. The only predictable outcome of transgender hormone therapy is health problems.
More Information
The transgender ideology is a pervasive threat to our children, and parents need to educate themselves on how to battle it most effectively. Grossman’s book, “Lost in Trans Nation” is the only book out there right now that gives parents the necessary tools. So, if you have young children, pick up a copy. Also gift the book to new parents. It could be the most valuable baby gift they can get. In closing, Grossman says:
“Parents, it’s really essential for you to know as much as you can. I’ve put my heart and soul into writing this book [‘Lost in Trans Nation’] because I have seen too much. I have seen people, marriages and families destroyed from this ideology.
That is why I wrote this book. It was not an easy book to write. It’s not an easy book to read. But we have to live in reality and know what’s going on. Parents that contact me all tell me the same thing. They say, ‘We were blindsided. We never imagined that this could happen. We weren’t prepared for it.’ And so I want parents to be prepared …
I have tons of information that families can use to protect themselves. Once your child is involved, it can be really tough to get them out because they are essentially brainwashed.
In addition to believing that they may be born in the wrong body, they have been brainwashed to believe that anyone who challenges them, anyone who won’t use their new name and pronouns, is a bad person. [They’ve been told] their home might be unsafe if their parents won’t use their new name and that they may need to live somewhere else …
This is a push to change our culture, change our society — to place a wedge between kids and their parents and for the state to say that we know what’s best for your child, not you. It’s a very dangerous situation.
And I think it’s important just to mention that other countries, very progressive countries such as Sweden, have all done a 180. Those other countries are saying what the kids need is psychotherapy. This is an emotional disorder.”
In addition to her book, you can also find more information on her website, miriamgrossmanmd.com, including the “Parent’s Notice to Schools.” If you want to follow her on Twitter/X, her handle is @Miriam_Grossman. Also consider becoming a member of the Do No Harm Medicine.
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EDITORS NOTE: This MERCOLA column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.
