There are dueling headlines and dueling claims. Who should we believe? A conservative Christian website warns, “Parents beware: Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria a social contagion among girls.” But a secular psychology website downplays the idea, stating: “There Is No Evidence That Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria Exists.”

According to the latter,

Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is the name given to a hypothesized new clinical subgroup of transgender youth, which would be characterized by coming out as transgender out of the blue in adolescence or early adulthood. Under this hypothesis, which is unsupported by evidence, children with ROGD falsely believe they are transgender due to social influence, trauma, and experiences of sexual objectification.

So, people may claim that ROGD is real, but, we are told, there’s no scientific evidence to support this.

Evidence Aplenty

According to the Christian site, there is evidence aplenty, with reference to a recent article by Abigail Shrier in the Wall Street Journal.

According to Shrier,

ROGD-afflicted adolescents [overwhelmingly, female] typically suffer anxiety and depression at a difficult stage of life, when confusion is at least as pervasive as fun, and there is everywhere the sense that they ought to be having the times of their lives. I spoke with 18 parents, 14 of them mothers—all articulate, intellectual, educated and feminist. They burst with pride in daughters who, until the ROGD spell hit, were highly accomplished, usually bound for top universities.

I have received anecdotal confirmation for this as well.

The mother of a suddenly-trans-identifying 15-year-old daughter wrote to me in shock after discovering a website hosted by parents of children suffering with ROGD.

The site states,

We are a group of parents whose children have suddenly — seemingly out of the blue — decided they identify strongly with the opposite sex and are at various stages in transitioning.  This is a new phenomenon that has only recently been identified.  Researchers are calling it Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), and it is epidemic among our most vulnerable youth.

Yes, these parents continue,

Our children are young, naïve and impressionable, many of them are experiencing emotional or social difficulties. They are strongly influenced by their peers and by the media, who are promoting the transgender lifestyle as popular, desirable and the solution to all of their problems. And they are being misled by authority figures, such as teachers, doctors and counselors, who rush to ‘affirm’ their chosen gender without ever questioning why.

Social Trends and Peer Influence

As for the influence of media and peers, a 2017 New York Times article claimed that 1 in 137 teenagers identified as transgender. That would appear to be a reasonable figure, based on similar statistics for adults.

Yet another 2017 article says, “A new UCLA study finds that 27 percent, or 796,000, of California’s youth, ages 12 to 17, report they are viewed by others as gender nonconforming at school.”

Really? More than 1 in 4 (27 percent), as compared to 1 in 137 (0.73 percent)? Even if “transgender” does not directly correspond with “gender nonconforming,” this can only be explained by social trends and peer pressure — the constant normalization and even celebration of all things trans.

But it is not just societal trends that are influencing these young people. It is also the authority figures in these children’s lives — their teachers, doctors and counselors — who say, “If you think you’re trans, then you must be trans. We’ll help you transition. And don’t worry. Your secret is good with us. You don’t even need to tell your parents right now!”

Autistic Children Especially Vulnerable

It appears autistic children are especially vulnerable, thinking that some of their other, very real challenges, are due to gender confusion. If only they could be the opposite sex!

A teacher in the UK shared her concerns publicly. The Daily Mail had this headline: “School has SEVENTEEN children changing gender as teacher says vulnerable pupils are being ‘tricked’ into believing they are the wrong sex.”

The article states, “Most of the youngsters undergoing the transformation are autistic, according to a teacher there, who said vulnerable children with mental health problems were being ‘tricked’ into believing they are the wrong sex.

“The whistleblower says few of the transgender children are suffering from gender dysphoria — the medical term for someone who feels they were born in the wrong body — but are just easily influenced, latching on to the mistaken belief they are the wrong sex as a way of coping with the problems caused by autism.”

Tragically, there are already cases of autistic girls who had their breasts removed – for no good reason – because they wrongly thought they were transgender and were affirmed in their feelings by medical professionals and others. This is so very, very disturbing.

That’s why the parents on the ROGD website wrote, “We are skeptical of the current Standard of Care, the ‘Affirmative Approach’ which only seems to confirm and solidify our children’s misguided, externally-influenced sense of self. 

“And we are horrified at the growing number of young people whose bodies have been disfigured, their physical and mental health destroyed by transitioning, only to discover — too late — that it did little to relieve their dysphoria.”

They have every reason to be horrified. Can you imagine for a moment how you would feel if this was your own child?

“Devastating”

After reading the stories on this ROGD website — stories which are rightly described as “devastating” — the mother of the 15-year-old wrote to me, “I just learned about rapid onset gender dysphoria. Oh my word!!!!!! It’s like I’m reading her life! … Oh wow. Those stories are almost our stories to a ‘T’.”

Parents, please be aware and beware.

This is very real. It is increasingly pervasive. And it could be coming to your home next.

Your kids need your wise, loving, and committed parenting more than ever.