Why the trend to copy gender identification is rapidly growing

After just returning from a glorious 12-day vacation from the Greek island of Crete, there were so many things that impressed me, but one especially stood out amongst all the others. It wasn’t the beautiful beaches or the calm and relaxed atmosphere. It wasn’t the wonderful grilled fish or the stunning bougainvillea which adorns the white-washed houses.  

For me, it was seeing almost all of the women, at our hotel, wearing dresses in the evening – something I haven’t seen for years. In fact, it impressed me so much, I actually went out, the next day, and bought several for myself at a nearby shop. Was I influenced by all the women I saw? You bet! One could say that their visual femininity inspired me to join ranks, but then that’s what’s been going on with many young girls who have been influenced by their own peers at school.

Regrettably, the trend to copy others works both ways. It was just this week that I heard a report stating that students from Ivy League universities are increasingly identifying as non-heterosexual. According to a NY Post article, this is happening at a rate five times greater than the general public. 

It’s only natural to want to fit in and look like everyone else. It’s how styles are made and how they fade away. But in this case, the sudden impulse, to change one’s gender, is not something that can be momentary and reversed when a new trend rolls around because doing so involves a full-throttle life change, too often accompanied by bitter regret.

Take the case of Chloe Cole, born a biological girl, but who misinterpreted her tomboy tendencies to warrant changing her gender. Had she been born 25 or 30 years ago, no one would have suggested that such a drastic measure be undertaken, but Chloe, who was born at the wrong time in history, was pushed into doing what is now being sold as the right response.  

So, when it became noticeable that, perhaps, she was born into the wrong biological identity, Chloe was placed on puberty blockers, at the tender age of 13, immediately followed with treatments of testosterone. By age 15, she had her breasts surgically removed. This was the sad tale she recounted to Fox News host, Jesse Watters on his evening show called, PrimeTime, just a couple of days ago.  

When asked by Watters if doctors and counselors had suggested that she wait it out, to see if she’d feel differently, her response was, that short of one doctor, who told her that she could risk brain damage by undertaking such a step, she claimed that no one else warned her or attempted to stop her from what ultimately became a terrible mistake which she sorely regretted almost immediately.  

In fact, her parents, who worried that she would commit suicide if not permitted to permanently change her gender, encouraged the surgery. Although Chloe admits that she was “socially awkward and had problems fitting in with other girls her age,” she, nonetheless, states, without hesitation, that she was a “perfectly happy kid” prior to the surgical procedure. She believes that just at the moment when she began to show signs of socially and academically adjusting a bit better, the process of transitioning changed all of that positive progress that she had independently made. 

Ironically, she claims that the treatments she had received were the real cause of any suicidal thoughts which began to emerge. Chloe also attributed the physical shock to her body, once losing her breasts, as well as the trauma to her nervous system, as being the catalyst, which caused her to experience loss, once it hit home to her that she would never be able to give birth.  

The harsh realization of being denied the experience of breastfeeding her own child or enjoying other aspects, which are only unique to biological women, caused her to finally internalize that her decision was made at an age when she could not possibly fully grasp the immense ramifications of taking on a new gender.  

Consequently, the rash mistake of being encouraged to act in haste is something that has irreparably hurt her, even though she has been able to de-transition and now seems to be at peace with the biological identity which she was assigned at birth. Sadly, she is far from alone in her tragic story.  

While the Internet is filled with articles that state the rate of regret is “scant,” among kids who choose to surgically transition into a different gender, one cannot ignore the fact that the gender reassignment industry is booming and one which is extremely lucrative. 

Amidst all those reports, which would lead us to believe that this surgery is the right thing for those who doubt that they were born into the right gender, another article reports that hundreds of young trans people are seeking help to return to their original sex. One woman, in 2018, stated that “there are many people who have had gender reassignment surgery who wish they hadn’t.” What does she know that all the others seem to deny?

For one thing, there seems to be a commonality among those who are plagued by this malady. According to the article, they are frequently in their mid-20s, female, attracted to the same sex and suffer from a degree of autism. 

But the good news is that there is help. One therapist has made sure that de-transitioners are welcome to receive guidance, counsel and just be heard. Many support groups are now forming, and one group, called beyondtrans.org is actually subsidized to help these troubled young people who now realize that they can never be a different person, as they once naively thought. They encourage insight and self-awareness, two things which, had many of these individuals gotten from the beginning, would not find themselves in this agonizing dilemma that could have so easily been avoided, with just a bit of time, conversation and further exploration.

The insidious truth is that the sex reassignment industry was estimated at “$1.9 billion in 2021 and expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 11/.23% by the year 2030.”

With numbers like that, it’s no wonder that the first dozen google searches, as it relates to regret from that type of surgery, assure those inquiring, that there is almost no remorse amongst individuals who have made the decision to change their sex. In fact, many of the articles take a very aggressive, activist type of approach as they go to great lengths to “debunk” what they state are false claims that the end result is unappreciated, risky or impulsive in any way.

But there is too much at stake to bury the truth, which can only be uncovered by digging for real stories like Chloe Cole’s. Many, like her, have taken to the airwaves to bravely warn their peers not to go the route they went because now they are the wiser. 

Big money cannot and must not be made at the expense of confused and troubled young people who see transitioning as a way to gain acceptance and inner peace because, in the end, it grants neither.