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SOCIAL CONTAGION

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Pathways to sex-rejection​

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​Dramatic increase in youth identifying as “trans“

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Over the last 10-15 years, parents, teachers, doctors, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists in the West have noted an explosion in the number of young people rejecting their sex and declaring a “trans” or “queer” identity. “Gender dysphoria” has become an everyday term. Demands for name and pronoun changes have become commonplace, and social, medical, and surgical interventions have become normalized.

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Source: “Putting numbers on the rise in children seeking gender care,” Reuters, 10/6/2022, including data provided by Komodo Health.

 

Prior to the early 2000s, the vast majority of those distressed/confused about their sex were almost exclusively older males or very young boys, and both occurred in tiny numbers. Around 2010, sharp increases were seen, particularly in adolescent females. Instead of investigating the potential causes for this increase, clinicians across the U.S. responded by rushing to open new gender clinics.​

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  • From 2007 to 2022, according to an October 2022 report from Reuters, the number of U.S. pediatric gender clinics grew from zero to more than 100.

  • Planned Parenthood alone has over 100 clinics that offer “gender-affirming“ care.

  • The number of children and teens across the U.S. being referred to gender clinics increased from 15,000 in 2017 to 42,000 in 2021, a tripling over five years.

  • Oregon data from 2016 to 2023 reveal that by age 17, roughly one in 240 insured Oregon girls were taking testosterone.  ​

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Despite the unexplained growth in the new cohort, this shift toward medicalization was swift and largely unchallenged. These rapid, unprecedented increases occurred across the U.S. and Europe, with Europe’s centralized health system allowing the most straightforward tracking of this dramatic rise.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Source: Cass Review, U.K. Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). Figure adapted from Sex ratio in children and adolescents referred to the Gender Identity Development Service in the UK (2009-2016), de Graff et al., Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2018. 

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Source: Characteristics of children and adolescents referred to specialist gender services: a systematic review, Taylor et al., Archives of Diseases of Children, April 2024.

Peer Influence

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In 2016, physician and researcher Dr. Lisa Littman began to investigate the clusters of teen friend-groups who were suddenly declaring a “transgender identity.” Littman’s research surveyed parents whose children fit this description and in 2018, she published her findings in an article in which she coined the term “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” (ROGD).  

        

ROGD cases frequently emerged in tight-knit social circles, where multiple individuals claimed to have different “gender identities” within a short period. Friend groups tended to use the same “coming out” language, and typically had no history of confusion about their sex. This clustering suggested that peer dynamics helped spur an identity-based social contagion.

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Adolescents are uniquely and biologically wired to seek belonging and approval from their peer group, making them particularly susceptible to fads and peer influence. This developmentally challenging psychological period is often defined by identity exploration, heightened social sensitivity, and neurological immaturity. Impulse control, long-term planning, and risk assessment are underdeveloped. At the same time, the social reward centers of the brain are highly active—meaning that peer validation, social status, and group inclusion often take precedence over rational decision-making. Primed to fall into ideas of fixed identities, and eager for the hero’s journey of finding their “true selves,” entire friend groups and socially isolated teens alike turn to online communities for answers. All find themselves in the same digital landscape.   

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Online Forums: Turning Distress Into Identity

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Dr. Littman’s survey found that at least 63.5% of adolescents and young adults who announced a “trans identity” had recently increased their internet and social media usage. Social media exposes young, often socially-isolated kids to “influencers” who post regularly about their testosterone induced “euphoria” and other sex-rejecting themes. These influencers, along with algorithmically-targeted content, encourage kids to take online quizzes to determine if they might be “trans.” Explicit “coming out” steps are provided, with letter templates for kids to send to their parents, and “transition” resources, such as where to easily obtain binders and packers, as well as suggestions about how to hide these deliveries from parents. Young people are also informed about the ease with which hormones can be procured from Planned Parenthood or ordered online, further fueling the speed and volume of transgender ideation and practices. Risks, lack of evidence, and health impacts are rarely, if ever, mentioned.

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Online algorithms act as digital matchmakers by tracking behavior, identifying patterns, and ranking content so that social media feeds are curated to each individual’s specific interests. Questions about self, meaning, belonging, and discomfort will inevitably lead to “trans” content. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Discord, and Snapchat are rife with influencers repeating “if you don’t like your body, you’re probably trans” and promoting new identities and medicalization as easy solutions to normal adolescent discomfort. 

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“I was introduced to a belief system: if you don’t fit in, that's a sign that you’re trans, if you don’t like your body, that’s a sign that you’re trans, and if you transition, all these problems will be fixed.”—Helena, a detransitioner, in the film Detransition Diaries

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To an anxious teen experiencing discomfort with their changing body, the message is simple and  compelling, and promises salvation: by “becoming” the opposite sex, you can escape self-hate, insecurity, discomfort, and confusion. This continuous stream of online content creates a toxic echo chamber which promises body modification as the only way to become one’s “authentic self.“

 

Reinforcement by Schools

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What began in peer groups and online subcultures is now reinforced by adults in trusted institutions. Elementary, middle, and high schools continue to play a powerful role by incorporating these “identity” concepts into the curriculum and promoting the quasi-religious belief that one can have an inner gendered self that is separate from the sexed body. Transgenderism is celebrated, and presented as accepted truth across curriculum, and teachers have moved beyond education and into the role of psycho-social coaches or “gender identity” cheerleaders. 

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Content developed and/or delivered by external activist organizations, as well as books such as I Am Jazz (2014) and Grandad’s Pride (2023), promote false concepts such as “being born in the wrong body,” and normalize extreme body modifications and adult sex practices.

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Images from Grandad’s Pride, recommended for ages 3-6

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Common Cohort Vulnerabilities

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The cohort of affected individuals includes a disproportionately high number of those with prior diagnoses of anxiety, depression, or OCD, and neurocognitive challenges such as autism or ADHD. These conditions often lead to feelings of otherness and make peer integration more difficult. 

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Those who are struggling to accept same-sex attraction are also easily drawn to the idea of being “born in the wrong body.” Gender ideology exploits the allure of instant status, attention, and affirmation, creating an almost irresistible pull towards the security of a fixed and important new self.  

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Detransitioners 

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Regretters, desisters, and detransitioners offer important insight into the social contagion aspect of the rapid increase in sex-rejecting ideation. The cohort of those who pursued, and then regretted, medical interventions is growing. Many report being groomed and indoctrinated online, influenced by friend groups or authority figures, misled by therapists, and getting locked into echo chambers in internet subcultures.

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Hear from a selection of detrans voices on the topic of social contagion:

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Other social contagions and overvalued beliefs such as anorexia, bulimia, and cutting have also swept through social groups, but unlike trans ideation, these self-harming fads are not supported or lauded by teachers, doctors, therapists, institutions, politicians, or policy. The trans identity contagion is seen not as a dangerous social phenomenon, but as a social justice movement leading people towards their true selves, making it even more resistant to doubt or concern. Also uniquely, “trans” identities are not just cultivated underground in dark corners of social groups or online echo chambers, but are promoted and facilitated in mainstream culture. Transgender ideation therefore has very few systems or safeguards in place to keep the contagion in check. Like an infectious disease, without herd immunity or inoculation, the virus spreads easily and rapidly amongst the most vulnerable. 

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