I’ve got a new post up at Genspect on eating disorders and trans identification: Like trans identification, eating disorders and self harm sweep through social networks. Well-intentioned efforts to raise awareness about these conditions—in the classroom or through the media—may spread the contagion by popularizing templates for young women to understand and express distress, and outline action steps for distressed girls to undertake. Research documents a “
Interesting to note that Dr. Martha Peaslee Levine, (Rachel Levine's ex-wife--Rachel used to be Richard, and works in the Biden administration) is an expert on teens with eating disorders.
Link below, to the 6 papers debunking the bad methodology in the Dutch studies, the Jack Turban publications and Dr. Stephen B. Levine's "Informed Consent Reconsidered" revealing the small sample sizes, the surveys given to natal males that were designed for natal females and the data manipulation by Turban in which the sex of participants is obscured:
Great article. It seems that whenever we get too close to saying "patriarchy is harming women and girls", everyone suffers from a sort of collective denial and silence. To say out loud--or in print--that a trans identity is a way for girls and women to escape objectification/misogyny is almost heretical. Judith Herman talks about a similar phenomenon around the development of "hysterical" neuroses. Rather than admit that many of his female patients were suffering from having been sexually abused by their male relatives, Freud blamed the girls -- they had "repressed desires" to be sexually exploited. Rather than admit that things like anorexia, a trans identity, domestic violence, passive suicidality, active self-harm, and all forms of sexual exploitation are the natural consequences of the systemic oppression of females, we engage in denial. It COULDN'T POSSIBLY be that patriarchy is harmful AF. No. Not that.
I realized when my 16-year-old daughter explained why she ordered illegal testosterone gel over the internet, had it sent to a friend's home, and started taking it w/o my knowledge, which I discovered 98 days later, that anorexia and trans-identification have much in common. (She stopped taking it once I discovered and confronted her, and is now in therapy - hopefully not being indoctrinated further into this insanity.) These were my thoughts on the similarity of the two, fresh from the trauma of realizing what my daughter was doing to herself: 1. all problems are focused on the body (she indicated that she is otherwise perfectly fine and has no issues whatsoever - not at all accurate, but she believes it) [ anorexics think they just need to be thinner and all will be well]; 2. her whole explanation for the desperation was that she needs to not have a female-appearing body and cannot live in her body as it is [anorexics cannot live in their "fat" body]; 3. her breasts, hips and other signs of femaleness, including the period, are what bother her [anorexics starve until they lose every curve in their body, stop menstruating, their breasts shrink, their faces are more angular]; 4. it is worth anything, even dangerous drugs and binding, if it makes the body look less female [diet pills, vomiting, starvation, whatever it takes to be thinner]; 5. the delusion that she could never be happy in her true female form and the total disgust and rejection of her body as is, and finding glee and satisfaction as her body becomes more male-appearing (she said she likes her body more now, because, after 98 days of hormones, she is bulkier) [anorexics get more excited with each rib that shows, and they become thinner and thinner]; 6. not even noticing the lack of attractiveness because it meets her goals (she looks like an awkward girl/boy and it is not attractive at all, but it's less feminine so it's great) [anorexics see themselves as beautiful because they are so thin even though, objectively, they look scary]; 7. social contagion (she and her friend, whose parents are affirming and authorized prescribed hormones and a double mastectomy, sharing their experiences as their voices began cracking, legs became hairier, etc., and they goaded each other on and encouraged it)[exact same for anorexics as they compete for who's thinner and admire each other's obvious ribs].
The biggest difference - society doesn't applaud and encourage anorexia, bury any discussion of its harmful effects, and vilify parents and anyone else who is genuinely concerned about children starving themselves.
Why on earth is Veganism cited in this article as a restrictive diet? The only restriction is that your diet is healthy and based on compassion, a Vegan diet (which alone does not define who is or who is not a Vegan) is not restrictive at all, other then you choose not to add the flesh of slaughtered and abused animals or any output from their bodies which is usually coerced and doctored for maximum output, irrespective of the pain and discomfort to the animal, the production of milk involves tremendous suffering
She means that anorexics will segue into new restrictions that are seen as healthier in order to maintain their harmful mental habits and, more likely, escape scrutiny.
Yes, this, thanks. I don't think (or say) veganism is an eating disorder. I think some people who have not fully recovered from disordered eating move on to socially acceptable forms of restricted eating like veganism, extreme clean eating, religious fasting, and so on. Of course veganism involves restriction -- not of calories but of range of what one eats based on ethical considerations. For someone consciously or subconsciously seeking cover for disordered eating, this is appealing and can extend to other forms of restriction (quantity) as well. No need to pounce.
This is an excellent connection. Having had close encounters with anorexia in family and high school friends I saw some different motivations, but central to it was control and a common thread for (anecdote I know) for 4 out of the 5 were so-called “good divorces” just prior to or during puberty. The shared custody arrangements whilst ‘fair for both parents’ the constant change of address for the kids were destabilising and added a layer of complexity to their lives which collided with puberty in all its intensity. They wanted to be invisible and be in control, with that desire to be invisible intensified when remarriages and halfsiblings came along. Treatment was also nightmarishly more complicated with the two family dynamics to accomodate and the introduction of step parents.
I can imagine these dynamics would be present and exacerbated even more intensely with trans-id kids and the moral high ground so readily available for affirming pathways.
Random anecdote too on religious fasting in the Catholic context. All healthy people aged 14-70 are obligated to fast during Lent and and Advent and abstain from meat on Friday’s, with exceptions for pregnant and breast feeding women, chronic illness sufferers, being cognitively impaired, or a special feast day like St Patrick’s day falls on a Friday or in a fasting period. I did ask a priest and canon lawyer about whether a someone in the throes of an eating disorder or is in recovery is obligated to fast and he said defiantly not, but would encourage non-food related spiritual practices to compliment the themes of any therapeutic intervention, such as meditating on the humanity of Jesus and incarnation, God becoming flesh because it is good and holy and not our enemy.
Random diversion done.
Keep doing what your doing. It’s quality thinking.
Smart kid who made the connection that no PhD or therapist or "educator" was making. They put her from frying pan directly into fire. Tragic.
Moneyed parents need to lease farms where parents can go with their kids at the first signs of gender contagion. They've done as much for sports and for outdoor-experience type stuff. No reason why private funding can't help parents all experiencing this similar emergency. And governments can't be involved, since they're the source of the problem.
The moment gender obsession begins it's ramping up daily via "education" and media systems. Nothing simple about such a proposition and I'm not pretending it is. But a kid needs to be removed from the environment and made to be physically occupied from dawn to dusk AWAY from the toxic soup that created the psychological obsessions. No toxic internet; and no "therapy", which has failed to accomplish any measurable good for anyone in a century. Reconnect a kid to their body, and to nature. Rebuild gut biomes, which rebuild the brain.
Can't have a worse outcome than we're seeing by PhDs, therapists, expert educators, etcetera, ad nauseum.
Interesting to note that Dr. Martha Peaslee Levine, (Rachel Levine's ex-wife--Rachel used to be Richard, and works in the Biden administration) is an expert on teens with eating disorders.
Link below, to the 6 papers debunking the bad methodology in the Dutch studies, the Jack Turban publications and Dr. Stephen B. Levine's "Informed Consent Reconsidered" revealing the small sample sizes, the surveys given to natal males that were designed for natal females and the data manipulation by Turban in which the sex of participants is obscured:
https://wordpress.com/post/uteheggengrasswidow.wordpress.com/4879
Ute Heggen, author, In the Curated Woods, True Tales from a Grass Widow (iuniverse, 2022)
Great article. It seems that whenever we get too close to saying "patriarchy is harming women and girls", everyone suffers from a sort of collective denial and silence. To say out loud--or in print--that a trans identity is a way for girls and women to escape objectification/misogyny is almost heretical. Judith Herman talks about a similar phenomenon around the development of "hysterical" neuroses. Rather than admit that many of his female patients were suffering from having been sexually abused by their male relatives, Freud blamed the girls -- they had "repressed desires" to be sexually exploited. Rather than admit that things like anorexia, a trans identity, domestic violence, passive suicidality, active self-harm, and all forms of sexual exploitation are the natural consequences of the systemic oppression of females, we engage in denial. It COULDN'T POSSIBLY be that patriarchy is harmful AF. No. Not that.
Thank you for a very insightful and informative read!
These people will not age well.
I realized when my 16-year-old daughter explained why she ordered illegal testosterone gel over the internet, had it sent to a friend's home, and started taking it w/o my knowledge, which I discovered 98 days later, that anorexia and trans-identification have much in common. (She stopped taking it once I discovered and confronted her, and is now in therapy - hopefully not being indoctrinated further into this insanity.) These were my thoughts on the similarity of the two, fresh from the trauma of realizing what my daughter was doing to herself: 1. all problems are focused on the body (she indicated that she is otherwise perfectly fine and has no issues whatsoever - not at all accurate, but she believes it) [ anorexics think they just need to be thinner and all will be well]; 2. her whole explanation for the desperation was that she needs to not have a female-appearing body and cannot live in her body as it is [anorexics cannot live in their "fat" body]; 3. her breasts, hips and other signs of femaleness, including the period, are what bother her [anorexics starve until they lose every curve in their body, stop menstruating, their breasts shrink, their faces are more angular]; 4. it is worth anything, even dangerous drugs and binding, if it makes the body look less female [diet pills, vomiting, starvation, whatever it takes to be thinner]; 5. the delusion that she could never be happy in her true female form and the total disgust and rejection of her body as is, and finding glee and satisfaction as her body becomes more male-appearing (she said she likes her body more now, because, after 98 days of hormones, she is bulkier) [anorexics get more excited with each rib that shows, and they become thinner and thinner]; 6. not even noticing the lack of attractiveness because it meets her goals (she looks like an awkward girl/boy and it is not attractive at all, but it's less feminine so it's great) [anorexics see themselves as beautiful because they are so thin even though, objectively, they look scary]; 7. social contagion (she and her friend, whose parents are affirming and authorized prescribed hormones and a double mastectomy, sharing their experiences as their voices began cracking, legs became hairier, etc., and they goaded each other on and encouraged it)[exact same for anorexics as they compete for who's thinner and admire each other's obvious ribs].
The biggest difference - society doesn't applaud and encourage anorexia, bury any discussion of its harmful effects, and vilify parents and anyone else who is genuinely concerned about children starving themselves.
Why on earth is Veganism cited in this article as a restrictive diet? The only restriction is that your diet is healthy and based on compassion, a Vegan diet (which alone does not define who is or who is not a Vegan) is not restrictive at all, other then you choose not to add the flesh of slaughtered and abused animals or any output from their bodies which is usually coerced and doctored for maximum output, irrespective of the pain and discomfort to the animal, the production of milk involves tremendous suffering
She means that anorexics will segue into new restrictions that are seen as healthier in order to maintain their harmful mental habits and, more likely, escape scrutiny.
Yes, this, thanks. I don't think (or say) veganism is an eating disorder. I think some people who have not fully recovered from disordered eating move on to socially acceptable forms of restricted eating like veganism, extreme clean eating, religious fasting, and so on. Of course veganism involves restriction -- not of calories but of range of what one eats based on ethical considerations. For someone consciously or subconsciously seeking cover for disordered eating, this is appealing and can extend to other forms of restriction (quantity) as well. No need to pounce.
Thanks to Lysonder and Eliza, I stand corrected and seemed to have jumped in feet first, can be a bit defensive about Veganism sorry
No worries. Take care
This is an excellent connection. Having had close encounters with anorexia in family and high school friends I saw some different motivations, but central to it was control and a common thread for (anecdote I know) for 4 out of the 5 were so-called “good divorces” just prior to or during puberty. The shared custody arrangements whilst ‘fair for both parents’ the constant change of address for the kids were destabilising and added a layer of complexity to their lives which collided with puberty in all its intensity. They wanted to be invisible and be in control, with that desire to be invisible intensified when remarriages and halfsiblings came along. Treatment was also nightmarishly more complicated with the two family dynamics to accomodate and the introduction of step parents.
I can imagine these dynamics would be present and exacerbated even more intensely with trans-id kids and the moral high ground so readily available for affirming pathways.
Random anecdote too on religious fasting in the Catholic context. All healthy people aged 14-70 are obligated to fast during Lent and and Advent and abstain from meat on Friday’s, with exceptions for pregnant and breast feeding women, chronic illness sufferers, being cognitively impaired, or a special feast day like St Patrick’s day falls on a Friday or in a fasting period. I did ask a priest and canon lawyer about whether a someone in the throes of an eating disorder or is in recovery is obligated to fast and he said defiantly not, but would encourage non-food related spiritual practices to compliment the themes of any therapeutic intervention, such as meditating on the humanity of Jesus and incarnation, God becoming flesh because it is good and holy and not our enemy.
Random diversion done.
Keep doing what your doing. It’s quality thinking.
Smart kid who made the connection that no PhD or therapist or "educator" was making. They put her from frying pan directly into fire. Tragic.
Moneyed parents need to lease farms where parents can go with their kids at the first signs of gender contagion. They've done as much for sports and for outdoor-experience type stuff. No reason why private funding can't help parents all experiencing this similar emergency. And governments can't be involved, since they're the source of the problem.
The moment gender obsession begins it's ramping up daily via "education" and media systems. Nothing simple about such a proposition and I'm not pretending it is. But a kid needs to be removed from the environment and made to be physically occupied from dawn to dusk AWAY from the toxic soup that created the psychological obsessions. No toxic internet; and no "therapy", which has failed to accomplish any measurable good for anyone in a century. Reconnect a kid to their body, and to nature. Rebuild gut biomes, which rebuild the brain.
Can't have a worse outcome than we're seeing by PhDs, therapists, expert educators, etcetera, ad nauseum.