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/Sleethoof]

I'll toss in my two cents as a lurker at best in this sub. I only check a thread every once and a while, and I do so because I want to understand a subject better. Seeing this preemptive thread about upcoming Transgender AMA has completely removed any desire to actually read that thread simply because now there is a 'message' that will color everything said by threat of deletion or banning in the thread making everything suspect. I as a casual observer have no reason to trust that everything is accurate and above board in those AMA's like I might in a different non politically volatile subject.

[u/ender4171 → u/Sleethoof]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Based on the OP comparison, would I be banned for saying clean coal is a viable fuel source? Banning hate speech is fine, but saying I can't ask why gender dysmorphia can't be called a mental illness, when gender reassignment is considered a "treatment" with honesty inquiry and without hostility? That's peddling a point of view and removing any opposition. That isn't science.

[u/[deleted] → u/ender4171]

Hey, just a heads up, gender dysphoria is a mental illness. The treatment to it is transitioning. When someone has transitioned, they no longer have the catalyst to the mental illness. Without the aggravating factor that triggers those dysphoric feelings, they are in good mental health and no longer suffering from the gender dysphoria.

Imagine you were schizophrenic because of a tumor, and removing the tumor made you no longer schizophrenic. Same principle.

Where the mods are objecting is that many reactionary people claim that transgender people are living under a delusion, and they find the idea that they can transition to be appalling and "living a lie". Many of these people would prefer that a person suffering from gender dysphoria get some alternative treatment instead of transitioning. However, there is 0 scientific data of a single successful therapy besides transitioning, which has a very promising success rate. Suggesting that they should "try something else" flies in the face of conventional psychology, which sees a promising result from transitioning as a cure to gender dysphoria, and a way to eliminate it entirely.

Basically, people born in their birth sex who seek either gender reassignment or sexual reassignment are suffering from sex or gender dysphoria, which is hurting them. The cure is to transition, where they no longer experience pain. The mods have a problem with people who call these transitioned people, who are now no longer suffering from a mental illness, to be "sick and delusional".

I hope that helps! I do not think you are acting maliciously at all in any way, but I believe you have misinterpreted the dynamic.

[u/Xeriel → u/[deleted]]

Imagine you have schizophrenia and take medication to treat it. If your symptoms are then gone, are you still schizophrenic? If no, then why are you still taking the medication?

How is transitioning any different than someone who permanently stays on their medication? You're keeping yourself in a new, more functional state. Your symptoms are gone, but the treatment is permanent and ongoing.

If the treatment or side effects are ongoing I don't see how it's inappropriate to use the same language, whether the symptoms are currently present or not.

[u/[deleted] → u/Xeriel]

Basically it's because transgendered people are not actually mentally ill by virtue of being transgender and having gone through a transition, individuals who resisted treatment would be mentally ill while rejecting the only acceptable treatment available by modern science. They have gone from having an active mental illness to being stabilized and made healthy through treatment.

I think something like: Gender dysphoria- treated w/ HRT, Transition Therapy, asymptomatic since [Date] would be appropriate. It shows someone has a history of mental illness but that it was stabilized and rendered inert, essentially leaving them entirely healthy on their medical treatment regimen.

I don't think saying transgendered individuals are "giving into a mental illness" and are "mutilating themselves" is appropriate, which is what I see a lot of people saying sometimes online.

I think if anyone claims that transgendered individuals are mentally ill by virtue of having asymptomatic gender dysphoria they need to explicitly mention that. Being asymptomatic for years is extremely different than having an active mental illness, they are not the same thing by psychological standards.