2. How Activist Ideologies Hurt True Trans Women by Blocking Research

The Cost of Denying Gender Dysphoria

In recent years, a segment of ultra-liberal activists and bloggers has promoted the idea that being transgender requires no dysphoria—essentially claiming that gender dysphoria isn’t real or isn’t necessary. This perspective often comes from a desire to be inclusive: they argue anyone can identify as trans regardless of medical condition.

Slogans from these circles (sometimes dubbed “tucute” or anti-transmedicalist activists) include assertions that “gender dysphoria is not necessary to be transgender”.

While this stance might broaden the “transgender umbrella,” it has had serious side-effects: it delegitimizes the experiences of trans people who do have debilitating dysphoria and, importantly, it has been used to shut down research into the very condition that true trans women suffer from.

Rather than expand any so-called trans “umbrella,” we must restrict it. Trans women, who are not able to simply detransition the same way a nonbinary person can decide to just dress normal one day, we need access to these medical treatments to survive. True trans women must stand up and distance ourselves from this nonsense so that we can survive and be treated like the normal, regular people we are.

Research Backlash

Over the past decade, several researchers who study gender dysphoria and transgender health have faced intense activist backlash. In some cases, activists have even succeeded in censoring or retracting scientific papers.

For example, Northwestern University psychologist J. Michael Bailey recently revealed that “trans activists forced the retraction of my paper” on gender dysphoria.

This isn’t an isolated case—there have been multiple instances where findings that don’t align perfectly with activist dogma (such as studies on rapid-onset gender dysphoria, or on autogynephilia) have been attacked and suppressed.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which sets global guidelines, was recently found to have suppressed publication of systematic evidence reviews it had commissioned because the results didn’t support affirmative care policies.

Impact on True Trans Women

So, how does this harm true trans women? Simply put, if research into gender dysphoria is stifled, we lose opportunities to better understand and treat the condition that true trans women experience.

True trans women, as we’ve defined, often have a medical condition (gender dysphoria) that causes immense suffering if untreated. They stand to benefit the most from rigorous research into the causes, best treatments, and possible cures or diagnostic tests for gender dysphoria.

However, when activists insist “there’s nothing to see here”—treating gender dysphoria as a mere social construct or an optional experience—it chills scientific inquiry.

Researchers become hesitant to study anything that could attract controversy, such as biological factors in gender identity or differences between subtypes of trans people.

Over time, this means fewer studies are funded on, say, the neurological basis of gender dysphoria or the long-term outcomes of various treatment approaches, because those topics have become politically charged.

A concrete example of the fallout is in clinical practice: because the activist narrative treats all trans people as essentially the same, clinicians often fail to recognize the distinct needs of true trans women.

Bailey and Triea pointed out that “homosexual and nonhomosexual MtF transsexuals have different life issues and goals, and the persistence of the belief that they are similar prevents development of clinical interventions likely to benefit the homosexual subtype.”

In other words, when everyone is forced into a one-size-fits-all narrative (“all trans people are women trapped in men’s bodies,” or conversely, “no trans people have a disorder”), the unique struggles of true trans women (the “homosexual transsexual” subtype) get overlooked.

Therapists might treat a young androphilic trans girl with a natural inclination to having feminine interests and schema for interacting with the world the same way as a middle-aged transitioning individual who gets turned on by the idea of being a woman who has a very different background, and that can lead to inappropriate care.

Some trans women have reported that when they sought therapy, they were handed memoirs written by people whose trans experience was utterly different, making them feel misunderstood.

Denying the reality of gender dysphoria undermines advocacy for medical resources. True trans women need hormones, surgeries, and other treatments to alleviate dysphoria. But if a loud segment of activists claims that dysphoria is irrelevant or that being trans is purely self-declaration, insurance companies and health systems may question why costly medical treatments should be covered at all.

That misinformation gives ammunition to those who would deny transition-related care: after all, if being trans is not a medical condition in any way (as some activists insist), why fund medical solutions? You saw that play out in Skrmetti vs United States already, but let’s be clear:

The outcome in Skrmetti is correct in that minors should not receive irreversible medical treatments when we cannot conclusively determine someone’s true gender dysphoria, fads as we’ve seen, or potentially autogynephilic parphilia. Since we a) do not have the reliable diagnostics for children, and b) it is only in adulthood that the picture can be clear, then in general minors should be excluded form hormones and gender-affirming surgery.

It’s important to note that the intention of these activists is usually to destigmatize transgender identities—they want being trans to be seen as normal variation, not an illness. That is a noble intent, but the unintended consequence is that it invalidates trans people who do experience intense dysphoria as a medical issue. True trans women often describe gender dysphoria as a very real, sometimes life-threatening condition if untreated. Dismissing it as “not real” or purely societal can feel like gaslighting to those individuals. It also prevents society from appreciating why research and healthcare access are literally lifesaving for this population.

References

Fandom. (n.d.). Transmedicalism. LGBTQIA+ Wiki. Retrieved July 12, 2025, from https://lgbtqia.fandom.com/wiki/Transmedicalism
Bailey, M. (2023, July 10). My Research on Gender Dysphoria Was Censored. But I Won’t Be. The Free Press. Retrieved from https://www.thefp.com/p/trans-activists-killed-my-scientific-paper
Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender. (2024, June 28). Scandalous suppression of research on transgender health. CAN-SG. Retrieved from https://can-sg.org/2024/06/28/scandalous-suppression-of-research-on-transgender-health/
Bailey, J.M., & Triea, K. (2007). What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 50(4), 521-534. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041.
Retrieved July 12, 2025, from https://www.legis.iowa.gov/committees/publicHearings?action=viewAttachmentPDF&signupID=10240