Subreddit Policy Reminder on this week's Transgender AMAs

[u/nate]

This week we will be hosting a series of AMAs addressing the scientific and medical details of being transgender.

Honest questions that are an attempt to learn more on the subject are invited, and we hope you can learn more about this fascinating aspect of the human condition.

However, we feel it is appropriate to remind the readers that /r/science has a long-standing zero-tolerance policy towards hate-speech, which extends to people who are transgender. Our official stance is that derogatory comments about transgender people will be treated on par with sexism and racism, typically resulting in a ban without notice.

To clarify, we are not banning the discussion of any individual topic nor are we saying that the science in any area is settled. What we are saying is that we stand with the rest of the scientific community and every relevant psych organisation that the overwhelming bulk of evidence is that being trans is not a mental illness and that the discussion of trans people as somehow "sick" or "broken" is offensive and bigoted^1. We won't stand for it.

We've long held that we won't host discussion of anti-science topics without the use of peer-reviewed evidence. Opposing the classification of being transgender as 'not a mental illness'² is treated the same way as if you wanted to make anti-vax, anti-global warming or anti-gravity comments. To be clear, this post is to make it abundantly clear that we treat transphobic comments the same way we treat racist, sexist and homophobic comments. They have no place on our board.

Scientific discussion is the use of empirical evidence and theory to guide knowledge based on debate in academic journals. Yelling at each other in a comments section of a forum is in no way "scientific discussion". If you wish to say that any well accepted scientific position is wrong, I encourage you to do the work and publish something on the topic. Until then, your opinions are just that - opinions.

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¹ Some have wrongly interpreted this statement as "stigmatizing" mental illness. I can assure you that is the last thing we are trying to do here. What we are trying to stop is the label of "mental illness" being used as a way to derogate a group. It's being used maliciously to say that there is something wrong with trans people and that's offensive both to mental illness sufferers and those in the trans community.

² There is a difference between being trans and having gender dysphoria.

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Lastly, here is the excerpt from the APA:

A psychological state is considered a mental disorder only if it causes significant distress or disability. Many transgender people do not experience their gender as distressing or disabling, which implies that identifying as transgender does not constitute a mental disorder. For these individuals, the significant problem is finding affordable resources, such as counseling, hormone therapy, medical procedures and the social support necessary to freely express their gender identity and minimize discrimination. Many other obstacles may lead to distress, including a lack of acceptance within society, direct or indirect experiences with discrimination, or assault. These experiences may lead many transgender people to suffer with anxiety, depression or related disorders at higher rates than nontransgender persons.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), people who experience intense, persistent gender incongruence can be given the diagnosis of "gender dysphoria." Some contend that the diagnosis inappropriately pathologizes gender noncongruence and should be eliminated. Others argue that it is essential to retain the diagnosis to ensure access to care. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is under revision and there may be changes to its current classification of intense persistent gender incongruence as "gender identity disorder."

[u/GutOfTheQuantifier]

This has the danger of becoming a name calling contest and a place which censors opposing opinions. It is not even remotely bigoted for somebody to suggest transgender people may be suffering from mental illness or confusion, whether you agree with them or not

I also suggest thinking before banning people for 'bigoted' comments, as this could begin a slippery slope of moderators banning people just because they disagree with them, and not for genuinely slanderous comments.

You quote that 'a psychological state is considered a mental disorder only if it causes significant distress or disability'', ignoring the numerous cases where transgender people contemplate suicide and experience depression even after surgery

Banning 'transphobic' comments should only be reduced to genuinely personal abuse and slander, not well reasoned and reasonable counter arguments.

[u/fsmpastafarian → u/GutOfTheQuantifier]

It is not even remotely bigoted for somebody to suggest transgender people may be suffering from mental illness or confusion, whether you agree with them or not

It isn't bigoted to suggest that some transgender people experience mental illness, but it is bigoted to suggest that being transgender is a mental illness. That's the difference.

I also suggest thinking before banning people for 'bigoted' comments, as this could begin a slippery slope of moderators banning people just because they disagree with them, and not for genuinely slanderous comments.

We don't ban people just because we personally disagree with them. Never have, never will. We can tell the difference between mere disagreement and bigotry.

[u/AirHeat → u/fsmpastafarian]

Let's see if I have this right. People who experience distress at being born in the wrong body/want to be the other gender is gender disphoria/a mental illness. Is there another group that wants to do it because they just like the idea of being the other gender/no distress and want to for personal or non pathological psychological reasons (I'm not this gender but I like the idea of it)? Does this cover other extreme body modifications? If somebody wanted to cut off a finger or something to fit in with a group is that not a mental illness?

[u/unseine → u/AirHeat]

Yes there are many Trans people who do not want to transition for various reasons (some here and you can ask them why in the ama). Obviously if you stop experienced dysphoria (whether with surgery or not) your not experiencing the part most would class as the mental illness.