New podcast episode: Is "Gender Exploratory Therapy" Conversion Therapy?

[Betty K]

Hi folks, I have no idea if any of you are curious about this topic and if not I totally understand. Needless to say it comes with trigger warnings and tbh I feel as if this episode is a bit confused thanks to me doing too much research and struggling to tie it together at the last minute. I think it has some good stuff in it though. Let me know, as usual, if you have any criticisms. I see myself as a grasshopper training to be a public-education ninja, but if I just keep practicing...

 

https://tranzmission.pinecast.co/episode/b28157a9/is-gender-exploratory-therapy-conversion-therapy-

[kat2]

https://translucent.org.uk/gender-exploratory-therapy-get

 

more on the above link 

huggs kat

[kat2]

GET is promoted by two named SPLC “Hate Groups”, SEGM and Genspect, who have maintained that rather than medical treatments, young people should have “psychotherapy” instead. GET practitioners allege that their patients’ gender dysphoria is caused by sexual trauma, homophobia, social contagion, and autism, and they only approve of medical transition as a very last resort, often when people are in their mid-twenties. Further, SEGM has been named as the primary source of trans-hostile pseudoscience material.

[Vidanjali]

As usual, very well done, @Betty K. I didn't find your segment confusing. I thought it was well-organized - especially considering the time constraint. My only criticism is your self-criticism! I don't know what the show ordinarily highlights as I've only listened to the episodes where you co-host. Nonetheless, I don't think it's accurate to say that it's doom and gloom time when you're on the show. No - instead of playing some DUMDUMDUM music, as it was joked, there should be some triumphant superhero music. And I'm not just saying that due to personal feelings for you. You have never come across to me fear-mongering or depressing. Even though you speak about subjects which could, rightly so, be potentially be upsetting, you deliver the information as a powerful advocate and admirable role model. To wit, it is particularly touching and encouraging when you refer to your own narrative having come up in the 80s. Youth, and everyone really, need to see examples of survivors. You empower the listener to have more agency via knowledge. And the language surrounding civil rights for all disenfranchised groups had become more and more difficult to decipher, often totally counterintuitive (e.g. many groups which use the words "liberty" and "freedom". "Therapy First" seems to me to exploit the recent positive movement to destigmatize therapy and mental illness). So the crux of your message is to inform those interested parties about red flags and why they are so very alarming. 

 

Get some good rest, love. Thank you for your work.

 

P.S. Did I hear you say "astroTERF"? LOL

[Vidanjali]

PPS It later occurred to me that perhaps a part two of this presentation might entail some focus on how to survive conversion therapy for those who have been through it and for youngsters coerced into it against their will. A review of red flags and coded titles of things, and then how to access affirming resources on the sly as it were (like books, social groups, etc.), guidance on how to stay centered on your truth, how to endure incurring the least possible damage, maybe delve into demystifying specific "therapeutic" tactics currently used, etc. Seems like that would require some intensive, highly specialized resources and research. I dunno whether that's a useful or even practical idea. But thought I'd throw it out there just in case. Certainly, it's ideal to remain positive and do one's best to try to curtail the incidence of such abuse. But from what I gathered from your presentation, it seems that nonetheless there are and will be plenty of youth who will be brutalized by this "therapy". Really, the descriptions of such practices sound like things that might have happened in previous generations, but they're just ramping up. smh

[Vidanjali]

Just now, Nats said:

@Betty K That's really good, well done you.  As far as I know there's nothing like that in the UK.  

 

PS I know you're very well versed on Cass but you mention it without explaining it - I assume people in AU know what 'Cass' is? That is surprising, to me.   

 

Bette previously did a 2 part podcast on Cass. So regular listeners would be familiar. But also, I think Cass has become global news to those who keep up with trans issues. 

 

Part 1

https://www.transgenderpulse.com/forums/index.php?/topic/90705-podcast-episode-on-the-cass-review/

 

Part 2

https://www.transgenderpulse.com/forums/index.php?/topic/90883-cass-review-podcast-part-2/

[Betty K]

Aww thank you @Nats and @Vidanjalifor listening and sharing your thoughts. I am super busy on the campaign to save the local children’s gender service this morning, but I will reply in detail later. 
 

@kat2 thanks for that link, I don’t think I’ve seen it before and it looks useful. Also I completely agree with your quotation, and cover all that in the podcast.

 

Oh, and @Nats there is a UK-based podcast called What the Trans that sometimes does deep dives like this one. It isn’t a weekly radio show though. I think Tranzmission is quite unique in that respect.

[Betty K]

Just now, Nats said:

I hope it doesn't fuel anti-trans voices elsewhere

Nats I’m very sorry to say that bird has flown. Anti-trans voices will be fuelled by Cass internationally for quite some time imo. I learned yesterday that the government of Aotearoa / New Zealand is seeking to curtail GAMC for kids in line with the NHS. So sad, since NZ is a world leader in this field.

 

 

[MaeBe]

Just now, Betty K said:

Nats I’m very sorry to say that bird has flown. Anti-trans voices will be fuelled by Cass internationally for quite some time imo.

And now, in Ouroboros-like fashion, it's being used in the US. So US BS is being used to support Cass and Cass is being used to justify more US BS. It's a fascists' wet dream.

 

Lovely program, again, Betty. I'm so glad you're doing that work for your Aussie siblings!

[Betty K]

Just now, MaeBe said:

And now, in Ouroboros-like fashion, it's being used in the US. So US BS is being used to support Cass and Cass is being used to justify more US BS. It's a fascists' wet dream.

 

Lovely program, again, Betty. I'm so glad you're doing that work for your Aussie siblings!

 

Yes, that's how it works. It's because ultimately all these streams of BS issue from the same source, that is SEGM, Genspect, Therapy First, and the astroturfed (or "astroTERFed", as @Vidanjali would have it, lol) "anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network" identified by the Southern Poverty Law Centre. From the start, these supposedly various organisations, who all share a small core key players, have been citing each other as sources to create the illusion of a spontaneous grassroots network of "concerned" physicians. The other day I watched a video posted by Therapy First, in which Roberto D'Angelo, the current president of SEGM, said that Therapy First had been "very influenced" by the work of SEGM, as if SEGM was an entirely independent organisation. The Cass Review is simply SEGM et al's greatest achievement in influencing public policy.

[Betty K]

5 hours ago, Vidanjali said:

My only criticism is your self-criticism! I don't know what the show ordinarily highlights as I've only listened to the episodes where you co-host. Nonetheless, I don't think it's accurate to say that it's doom and gloom time when you're on the show. No - instead of playing some DUMDUMDUM music, as it was joked, there should be some triumphant superhero music.

 

Vidanjali, this is such a good idea, and if I were better at self-promotion I might implement it. Who knows, maybe I will! I get self-conscious because my input to the show is so different to everybody else's. Generally, the show is more chatty and lighter, with interviews with local trans folks who have services to promote or stories to tell. Having said that, I know at least a few people involved with the show and the station in general have been impressed by my input.

 

5 hours ago, Vidanjali said:

To wit, it is particularly touching and encouraging when you refer to your own narrative having come up in the 80s. Youth, and everyone really, need to see examples of survivors.

 

I'm so glad to hear you say that. I hesitated to include that section, but I get scared by all the talk of "life-saving gender-affirming medical care", as if being trans and unable to access HRT were a terminal condition. I want to empower even those kids who can't access treatment -- them most of all!

 

21 minutes ago, Vidanjali said:

PPS It later occurred to me that perhaps a part two of this presentation might entail some focus on how to survive conversion therapy for those who have been through it and for youngsters coerced into it against their will.

 

And this is an awesome idea! It would take a lot of research but I'm sure I could find some testimonies. Thanks!

 

22 minutes ago, Vidanjali said:

But from what I gathered from your presentation, it seems that nonetheless there are and will be plenty of youth who will be brutalized by this "therapy".

 

Yes, this will be the legacy of the Cass Review, I'm afraid. Boiled down to its essentials, the Cass Review is basically an apologia of conversion therapy, though I doubt Cass would see it that way. As I said in my original Cass Review episode, the stories coming out of Finland following the changes to service there have been brutal, and suggest the damage that can be done by poorly trained therapists operating from the SEGM handbook. If I think too much about the situation in the UK atm I can't function. It terrifies me. It makes me feel as if I am back in the 1980s.

 

On a personal note, I am headed to my first session of EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) with a therapist I trust this afternoon, in the hope that we can start to shift some of the grief I feel over my childhood. I will let you know how it goes. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to include the story of my treatment in my episode on how to survive conversion therapy.

[Vidanjali]

7 hours ago, Betty K said:

On a personal note, I am headed to my first session of EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) with a therapist I trust this afternoon, in the hope that we can start to shift some of the grief I feel over my childhood. I will let you know how it goes. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to include the story of my treatment in my episode on how to survive conversion therapy.

 

Good luck, love. EMDR can be very effective for trauma. First time I tried it many many many years ago, I was so acutely symptomatic that it proved too intense for me. But I mean, at the time simply deep breathing was too intense for me. But when I revisited it again many years later and after much healing, I found it quite helpful. XOXO

[Vidanjali]

9 hours ago, Nats said:

@Vidanjali Sorry sweetheart, slip of the keyboard, I was replying to you, not @kat2 It's midnight here so I'm clearly in need of my bed!!! Go do your thing, @Betty K

 

Lol no worries, dear.

[Betty K]

Just now, Vidanjali said:

But I mean, at the time simply deep breathing was too intense for me.

That sounds like a lot! As it turned out we didn’t start EMDR today. Instead we had one more preparation session. 

[MaeBe]

1 hour ago, Betty K said:

That sounds like a lot! As it turned out we didn’t start EMDR today. Instead we had one more preparation session. 

I hope you can find healing. <3

[Betty K]

11 hours ago, MaeBe said:

I hope you can find healing. <3

 

Thank you. And thank you @Nats and @Vidanjali for your kind comments. I forgot to say that earlier. Thank you so much.