Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council is due to present an interim report shortly as it works its way – at a glacial pace – towards the creation of national clinical guidelines for trans and gender-diverse youth. Enough of an excuse for the ABC’s 7.30 current affairs program to give us a 15-minute plug for puberty blockers on 28 July. Stephanie Dalzell opened her piece with quotes from Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson (what self-respecting ABC viewer would ever agree with anything they said?) and used the term ‘sex assigned at birth’ in her opening salvo. (Sex is observed at birth, Stephanie. Pu-lease!)
The segment did include the opinions of a couple of medical opponents: Dylan Wilson, a paediatrician but not a psychiatrist; and Philip Morris, a psychiatrist but not a child psychiatrist – a fact the segment went to some pains to point out. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Jillian Spencer would’ve been perfect for the program. But no.
While we’re at it, we should also mention that in the segment the ABC once more trotted out Associate Professor Ada Cheung, and once more failed to tell us she’s a self-described ‘unwavering ally’ of the trans community. Instead she’s described as just an ‘endocrinologist’.
We also note there wasn’t a hint anywhere of the existence of a feminist critique of gender identitarianism in general. The segment didn’t take on the evidence of children being diagnosed and treated as having been ‘born in the wrong body’ when they do not conform to traditional sex-role stereotypes, or of young people who are same-sex attracted being identified as suffering from gender dysphoria.
Source: What 7.30 didn’t tell us about puberty blockers – Women’s Cooee