Trans ideology robs women of their history and takes male privilege to a whole new level—all in the name of women’s rights. Like the idea that pornography liberates women, transgender theory is arguably one of the most effective male confidence tricks in recent history: Nothing that women can lay claim to as women is now off-limits for men. Hugh Hefner once declared that Playboy was good for women, to which Fr. Richard John Neuhaus responded, “As long as women know what they are good for.” Today, the progressive lobby presents trans rights as good for women, to which I might respond, “As long as women have no idea what a woman is.”
But the trans revolution goes far beyond allowing adult men to don the cloak of female victimhood: It is enabling the state-sanctioned abuse of children. We have had plagues of body dysmorphia before, most notoriously the anorexia and bulimia scourges of the late twentieth century. The difference is that those dysmorphias were seen for what they are: harmful conditions whose victims need love and care. Doctors and politicians worked hard to help the victims and enable them to flourish. Today, the latest form of body dysmorphia—rapid-onset gender dysphoria—is fueled by extremely wealthy lobby groups with a vested interest in identity politics. Backed by a medical establishment for whom ethics is little more than a supine acceptance of technological possibilities, and enabled by a political class that lacks a moral backbone, these groups are shaping the country’s pediatric care. And the cost will be catastrophically high.
Source: Liturgy of the Powers | Carl R. Trueman | First Things