The WPATH Files

Published: Thu, 03/07/24

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Friday, March 8, 2024

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

As promised yesterday, this morning I include links to the "WPATH files". WPATH = World Professional Association of Transgender Health, supposedly the world's foremost expert body on 'gender medicine'.

I include this information, not because I am opposed to recognising the existence of trans-sexualism but because I consider the field of 'trans medicine' to be akin to the phenomenon of 'recovered memory' - eventually exposed as 'false memory syndrome'. Not exactly the same, but similar.

That is, there are some phenomena that take hold of public imagination, often associated with sex and sexuality. I believe the phenomenon of transgenderism is like this: a trend that will, in due course, be exposed as dangerous pseudo-science.

Note I recognise the existence of 'trans-sexualism', not 'transgenderism'. As a feminist who fought long and hard against traditional social definitions of what is supposed to be feminine, and in parallel, what is supposed to be masculine, I think society (ie, all of us) should accept as natural a range of expressions of feminine and masculine traits without negative judgement. I think there are a very small number of genuine trans-sexuals, who benefit from medical and surgical intervention to change their secondary sex charateristics to look like those of the opposite sex, but these are few in number and not to be confused with those who simply don't feel 'traditionally' female or male. We all have a mixture of male and female characteristics and these should be accepted as normal variations of what it is to be human. In my view, it is grossly irresponsible and unethical to allow the conduct of consequential, sometimes irreversible and often harmful surgical or medical interventions on people just because they don't like the way they look or feel. We should instead be urging acceptance of the range secondary sex characteristics, both psychological and behavioural.

I invite those who are genuinely interested in science and medical ethics to spend some time reading at least some of these leaked files.

And let me know what you think! (write to president@rationalist.com.au)

Lead stories

The graphs below show the alarming increase in the number of children seeking medical treatment for gender dysphoria: the green areas show the increase in the number of young girls (aged 12 to 17 years old); the orange shows the increase in boys; from left to right, the increases in the UK, Sweden and Spain. Such extraordinary increases deserve clear-headed investigation, at the very least.

The WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) claims to be the leading world authority on "gender medicine". Its Standards of Care (SOC8) are considered the 'gold standard'. However, the latest version of their Standards of Care, published in 2022, eliminated minimum age limits for certain interventions, removed the chapter on ethics, and introduced a chapter on people who identify as eunuchs.

The WPATH Files Explained

Stella O'Malley is an Irish psychotherapist who has written books on parenting and mental health. Here, she introduces what has been revealed by the "WPATH files". Do watch this as a brief introduction (it's only about 10 mins).

The WPATH Files - Environmental Progress

For those interested, this website contains links to the full set of WPATH files. These files include a video-conference of WPATH members discussing their field of gender medicine, and it shows how their practice is neither scientifically sound or medically ethical. [Note: I did check the credentials of 'Environmental Progress', the organisation that received the leaked WPATH files and analysed them. I must say I am somewhat suspicous of their intentions, but the evidence - ie, what WPATH members actually say about their patients and their practices - is there for all to see.]

The full analysis of the WPATH files runs to 242 pages, but the Executive Summary says:

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) enjoys the reputation of being the leading scientific and medical organization devoted to transgender healthcare .. globally recognized as being at the forefront of gender medicine.

However .. we will show that the opposite is true. Newly released files from WPATH’s internal messaging forum [screenshots of these messages are included], as well as a leaked internal panel discussion [the video of this panel discussion is also included], demonstrate that the world-leading transgender healthcare group is neither scientific nor advocating for ethical medical care. These internal communications reveal that WPATH advocates for many arbitrary medical practices, including hormonal and surgical experimentation on minors and vulnerable adults. Its approach to medicine is consumer-driven and pseudoscientific, and its members appear to be engaged in political activism, not science. [emphasis added]

While there is a place in medicine for risky experiments, these can only be justified if there is a reliable, objective diagnosis; no other treatment options are available, and if the outcome for a patient or patient group is dire. However, contrary to WPATH’s claims, gender medicine does not fall into this category. The psychiatric condition of gender dysphoria is not a fatal illness, and the best available studies show that in the case of minors, with watchful waiting and compassionate support, most will either grow out of it or learn to manage their distress in ways less detrimental to their health. [emphasis added]

This report will prove that sex-trait modification procedures on minors and people with mental health disorders, known as “gender-affirming care,” are unethical medical experiments (that) cause harm without justification, and its victims are some of society’s most vulnerable people. Their injuries are painful and life-altering.

WPATH-affiliated healthcare providers advocate for the destruction of healthy reproductive systems, the amputation of healthy breasts, and the surgical removal of healthy genitals as the first and only line of treatment for minors and mentally ill people with gender dysphoria, eschewing any attempt to reconcile the patient with his or her birth sex .. this is a violation of medical ethics .. WPATH does not meet the standards of evidence-based medicine .. the ethical requirement to obtain informed consent is being violated, with members admitting that children and adolescents cannot comprehend the lifelong consequences of sex-trait modification interventions, and in some cases, due to poor health literacy, neither can their parents.