Gender: A Wider Lens

Today’s interview might be a bit different from what our listeners are used to, and we think it’s crucial to recognize the many arenas of life where gender identity beliefs have been elevated. Not only elevated over progressive or classically liberal institutions but even within religious institutions, which you might think are inoculated from a radical gender-identity takeover.

Our guest, Bernard Randall initially studied Classics and Ancient History (the subject of his Ph.D.), but after feeling the call to ministry he added theology to his studies and was ordained in the Church of England in 2006. After a spell in parish ministry, he entered educational chaplaincy in 2011, first in a Cambridge University college, and then at Trent College, a fee-paying K-12 school near Nottingham with a Church of England foundation. He had a general awareness of the issues around gender and gender identity but was forced to face them head-on in 2018 with the arrival of Educate and Celebrate, a pro-LGBT+ program in his school. Randall completely agreed with the organization’s aim of eradicating homophobic bullying, but when staff was instructed to charismatically chant “smash heteronormativity,” Bernard felt this was at odds with Christian beliefs. When a pupil requested, in 2019, that he give a sermon in the chapel outlining some of the differences between traditional Christian beliefs and LGBT ideology, he decided to take this request very seriously. He carefully crafted the sermon to honor everyone’s right to believe what they believe. He encouraged pupils to make up their own minds about these contemporary LGBTQ issues, but also to respect those with whom they disagreed. He was initially sacked for gross misconduct but then reinstated with a final written warning and censorship of all his sermons. When COVID-19 struck, he was put on furlough and eventually made redundant. He has sued the school for religious discrimination and unfair dismissal. The court hearing was in September this year, with the result not likely to be handed down before January 2023.

This is a remarkable discussion. In addition to Bernard’s story, we also delve into some of the philosophical and therapeutic issues with things like ex-gay, detrans, emotional fragility, and whether or not we put enough trust in young people’s resilience. This is our conversation with Bernard Randall.

Links:

• News Story on the Case: 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/04/chaplain-sacked-defending-students-right-question-school-lgbt/

• Live Tweet of the Case: 

https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/bernard-randall-vs-trent-college

• Bernard’s Sermon: 

https://christianconcern.com/resource/a-school-sermon-by-bernard-randall-competing-ideologies/

Extended Notes

• Bernard’s father is a retired Vicar and then God called upon Bernard to become an ordained priest as well.
• When Bernard promised to be the public face of Christian truth he did so with resolve.
• In 2015, he joined the school as a school chaplain and teacher.
• At the school in 2018, the pro-LGBTQ+ Educate and Celebrate organization gave staff training in queer theory and pushed their political agenda.
• Bernard felt forced to investigate the organization’s ideas because moral and ethical matters were his responsibility as school chaplain.
• Educate
  
  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.widerlenspod.com

NOTE: Since this episode’s original air date, the Gender Exploratory Therapy Association has updated their name to be Therapy First.

Two other members of GETA’s leadership team join Sasha and Stella for this special episode: Jungian Analyst, Lisa Marchiano and psychoanalyst, Joe Burgo join to discuss the new Clinical Guide that will be officially launched on December 3rd 2022.  

GETA, the Gender Exploratory Therapy Association and other groups have worked together to produce this guidance, which provides a loose framework for skilled and ethical therapists who are interested in depth-oriented work with gender-related distress. The launch of this document will be paired with a ground-breaking free workshop for any interested clinicians who want to learn how to work with gender issues in an ethical, exploratory fashion. 

Links:  

Dec 3rd Launch Event: https://bit.ly/GETADecember  

GETA, the Gender Exploratory Therapy Association: www.genderexploratory.com

Extended Notes

The group shares why they believe GETA should exist.

Gender can feel like an exception to everything you know for clinicians and therapists.

GETA is a psychological approach to psychological problems.

GETA created a thorough clinical guide for therapists who work with gender-questioning youth.

The new guide is not a model for working with gender dysphoria. It leaves room for different approaches.

The group discusses what the guide is and what it is not.

The guide includes full-assessment guidance.

This opens up further discussions around gender.

The guide looks at what a true, informed assessment is.

Gender exploratory therapy is not conversion therapy.

There is a difference between the clinical side to look at things and the political.

The guidelines will be free on the GETA website and will be launched with a webinar.

Clinicians who are considering joining GETA are welcome.

Dr. Leonore Tiefer is a native New Yorker, and an author, educator, feminist, researcher, psychologist, and activist whose work focuses on sexuality. She was a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine from 1981‒2018. She has been elected to office and received honors from major U.S. and international sexology and feminist psychology organizations such as the International Academy of Sex Research and the Association for Women in Psychology.

Today, Leonore tells us about getting her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1969. As a sexologist, she was studying hormones and sexual behavior in rats. When she got wind of the women’s revolution taking place outside her laboratory, she began a deep dive into feminist readings. Thinking about the cultural and social aspects of sexuality completely changed her paradigm. She came to believe that observing rat behavior in a lab could never help us understand how humans think about their own sexual experiences. She changed the direction of her work completely and eventually directed The Campaign for a New View of Women’s Sexual Problems to challenge sexual medicalization and Big Pharma trends. That was between 2000 and 2016. New View was a grassroots campaign focused on so-called “female sexual dysfunction” and the growing industry of cosmetogynecology. In 2011 the award-winning documentary on the subject, called “Orgasm Inc.'' featured Dr. Tiefer’s work and tracked one drug company’s race to develop the first female Viagra.

Leonore is also the author of hundreds of research and theoretical papers and book reviews and several books, including Sex Is Not a Natural Act. She’s recently taken a keen interest in pediatric gender medicine, which has some familiar elements for Dr. Teifer. Namely, the financial interests of drug companies, over-zealous physicians, well-meaning social justice elements, and eager patients themselves, can create the perfect storm for ethically questionable medicine.

You may notice that we had a hard time with Dr. Tiefer’s connection, and our editing team did the best they could with the audio. Things do clear up toward the middle of the interview, though. We hope this doesn’t become too distracting and we thank you in advance for bearing with us. Dr. Tiefer’s insights are so valuable; she is a wealth of knowledge and brings a very human yet analytical lens to the field of sexology.

We hope to have her back since there was so much to discuss. Some good bits had to get cut out because of sound quality when we’d just barely scratched the surface. Hopefully, this will be accompanied by another interview in the future. For now, here’s our first discussion with Dr. Leonore Tiefer.

Links:

• Dr Tiefer: https://www.leonoretiefer.com/
• Orgasm Inc.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm_Inc.
• Dr. Vajayjay’s! Privatize Those Privates: https://youtu.be/T9kCw0Lmaa0
• Throw that Pink Pill Away: https://youtu.be/YNouazagUtI
• Dr Tiefer’s CV: https://www.leonoretiefer.com/
• New View: http://newviewcampaign.org/

Extended Notes

• Leonore received her Ph.D. before the women’s movement in 1969.
• She underwent a personal paradigm shift to study the social, cultural, and historical sexuality of women.
• Being a feminist and sexual therapist offered Leonore a...
  
  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.widerlenspod.com

WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) has recently released its Standards of Care, Version 8 (SOC8) to a lot of criticism and controversy. Sasha and Stella provide a preliminary examination of WPATH and their SOC8, explaining why they believe glaring issues within these guidelines have discredited the organization.

Links:

• WPATH SOC8: https://www.wpath.org/soc8
• BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o2303
• Wesley Yang: https://wesleyyang.substack.com/p/of-eunuchs-and-wannabes
• The Daily Wire: https://www.dailywire.com/news/wpath-explains-why-they-removed-minimum-age-guidelines-for-children-to-access-transgender-medical-treatments-so-doctors-wont-get-sued
• Genspect: https://genspect.org/wpath-explained/
• The Economist: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2022/09/22/new-standards-of-transgender-health-care-raise-eyebrows

Extended Notes

• WPATH is a fringe organization.
• Many doctors are influenced by WPATH without knowing it.
• The Standards of Care are misguided and fully represent the citations they are based on.
• Stella shares the history of WPATH and its documents.
• In 1979, Harry Benjamin released his first Standards of Care.
• In 2006, the Henry Benjamin Foundation changed its name to WPATH.
• In SOC 7, a chapter on ethics was removed from the document yet the chapter on eunuchs remained.
• SOC8 has the feel of a shopping list of surgical interventions.
• Almost all of the minimum age requirements were missing from SOC8.
• The language is “lawyer language” because it is vague enough for no one to be held responsible.
• The document is more about political will than clinical care.
• Sasha shares the nonsensical parts of SOC8, referencing the non-binary chapter.
• Many items are categorized under gender but are truly body modifications.
• Many website references cited in the document include unsavory information.
• Detransitioners are badly depicted in SOC8 and the definition of a detransitioner is abhorrent.

Visit https://rethinkime.org/ and https://genspect.org/ to learn more.  

For more about our show: https://linktr.ee/WiderLensPod. 

Wesley Yang, an essayist and public intellectual, has written extensively about 21st-century America and the liminal position of the non-black, non-white person. Coining the term "successor ideology" in 2019, Wesley has carefully analyzed this particular kind of ideology among left-wing movements that is centered around identity politics. Wesley has recently turned his attention towards gender issues and, in this episode, he delivers a blistering analysis of how gender has become a socio-political juggernaut, infiltrating society in every possible way. 

His substack features his writing, and the writing of other authors who are covering all the shocking twists and turns in the gender debates. He is also covering the release of the new WPATH Standards of Care, and the subsequent talks given about various chapters, including the now infamous eunuch chapter.  As you’ll hear Wesley has a truly incisive mind and dynamic voice, and we’re so thrilled he’s pointing his attention towards pediatric transition and the horrible treatment parents receive when they attempt to protect their children. We’ll just let him speak for himself: here is Wesley Yang. 

Links:  

Wesley Yang’s Substack: https://wesleyyang.substack.com/  

Wesley Yang’s Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/wesyang  

The Face of Seung-Hui Cho 

• https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-6/essays/face-seung-hui-cho/  

Book the souls of yellow folk 

•  https://amzn.to/3BCtziO  

Eliza mongreen transexceptionalism and kids twitter  

• https://twitter.com/elizamondegreen/status/1494299809297178633?s=20&t=yF8H9TotYE_4ENzc41_JIg  

Swedish Documentary The Trans Train:  

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJGAoNbHYzk&t=265s  

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73-mLwWIgwU   

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3WqLT9NEnU  

Billboard Chris on Wesley’s Youtube:  

• https://youtu.be/AlacNs0b6Jw  

Teacher with gigantic prosthetic breasts is defended in Ontario: 

• 
  
  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.widerlenspod.com

Brian Belovitch is an author, actor, and mental health professional. As a longtime resident of NY, he has a storied career as a writer and gender outlier. He was a featured guest on The Moth Storytelling Hour on NPR sharing a story from his memoir, Trans Figured: My Journey from Boy to Girl to Woman to Man, published in 2018. In June 2019, Brian was named one of the 50 most influential LGBTQ authors of all time by Barnes and Noble and he participated in the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Gay Pride Parade in New York City. Brian was also the subject of a documentary film that made its world premiere at DOC NYC titled; I’m Gonna Make You Love Me directed by Karen Bernstein.

Most recently, Brian holds a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling, where he plans to use his lived experience as a cis gay man of trans experience to help others who are exploring their identity journeys. As a long-term survivor of HIV, Brian lives proudly as an out beloved gay 

man, advocating on behalf of the LGBTQ community in all its wondrous expressions.

We start today, all the way back to Brian’s childhood. He was always a feminine and flamboyant kid, and his parents and brothers ostracized him severely for it. He tells us about his complicated relationship with his family and early on beginning to live a life full of risks, adventures, and self-sabotage. In New York in the 70s, Brian was living through a whirlwind of drugs, nightclubs, prostitution, and drag shows. He could not find his place as a feminine gay man and the pull towards creating a beautiful, seductive, new self as a woman became too strong to withstand. Brian transitioned to Tish and embarked on new trans adventures, both enriching and self-destructive. Tish even married an army man and tried to settle down in a domestic housewife role that Tish thought was expected of women. Only after beginning his process of sobriety did Tish realize this was a dead-end path that would either lead to bottom surgery or, as Brian now puts it, death. So as the fog of addiction cleared and with the help of a supportive therapist, Tish decided to re-transition to Brian. There are a lot of adult themes discussed today, so please be mindful of who's listening. We hope you enjoy our discussion with Brian Belovitch.

Links:

• Trans Figured: Journey from Boy to Girl to Woman to Man https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Trans-Figured/Brian-Belovitch/9781510729643

Extended Notes

• Brian was often misgendered as a child.
• Growing up with five athletic brothers didn’t feel right to Brian.
• Brian was influenced by the homophobic and racist nature of his childhood home.
• Most of Brian’s earliest sexual experiences were not positive, loving experiences.
• Paulie was the first person to see Brian and appreciate who he was as a person.
• At 17, Brian’s mother kicked him out of his childhood home but was welcomed by Paulie’s mother.
• Dressing in drag offered Brian acceptance and validation.
• At 19, after starting the transition process, Brian attempted suicide when his family rejected him.
• Because of his beauty, Brian had passing privilege and married a soldier.
• Finally, at 30, a therapist asked Brian what he thought about being male.
• Therapy and sobriety changed Brian’s life.
• Brian never considered the consequences of being unfaithful to his husband.
• Living with the risks of sex work was only made easier by Brian’s drug and alcohol use.
• No one knew Brian was trans.
• Brian found it harder to transition from Tish to Brian than he did originally transitioning to Tish.
• Brian uses re-transitioned, not de-transitioned to...
  
  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.widerlenspod.com

Dr. David Bell retired last year from his position as a consultant psychiatrist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where he worked for 25 years. There, he led the Fitzjohns Unit service which provided long-term psychotherapy for those with enduring, severe psychological problems. He is also the former President of the British Psychoanalytic Society.

While he was in the Governor role at the Tavistock and Portman Trust, through a series of events, which we cover today, Dr. Bell discovered that something was going terribly wrong in the Children’s Gender Identity Development Service, or GIDS. Something I didn’t know before speaking to Dave is that the broader Tavistock Service had an established reputation for excellent psychoanalytic treatment models and for providing the highest quality of psychological care. So, clinicians who applied to work there were expecting to join the ranks of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable psychotherapists in the UK. Those young and inexperienced clinicians who were funneled into the GIDS landed in a very different kind of treatment setting. They started raising their complaints and getting nowhere, so they started trickling, one by one, to Dr. Bell with their stories. Not only were they ill-equipped to provide proper, thorough care to kids with incredibly complex stories, but they were also getting a clear message from their direct chain of command: concerns were not going to be properly addressed. In fact, there was a culture of fear about raising these issues and clinicians felt a strong pressure to simply get through their humongous caseloads without rocking the boat.

In 2018, Dr. Bell described all of this in a highly critical report on the GIDS which became part of the chain of events, which included critical involvement from our former guests, Marcus and Sue Evans, which led to the Judicial Review (the Kierra Bell Case), the thorough external Cass Review, and its recent decision to close down the GIDS.

Links:

• Guardian Article about Dave Bell: 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/02/tavistock-trust-whistleblower-david-bell-transgender-chilDr.en-gids

• Dave’s YouTube talk via Genspect:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGJeHcjtI4A

• Andrew Gilligan at the Times on Marcus Evans’ Resignation: 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/governor-quits-blinkered-tavistock-clinic-82db7wzq8

Extended Notes

• Originally, Dave was put off by psychiatry due to the overmedicalization so he involved himself in anti-psychiatry.
• Dave created a unit for providing psychotherapy for disturbed patients.
• Dave became a governor at Tavistock.
• He found little interest at Tavistock in investigating the validity of the GIDS unit.
• Other doctors at Tavistock had raised their concerns about GIDS, but cautiously.
• The major complaints at Tavistock were caseloads and unresearched affirmations of children with gender dysphoria.
• Unexperienced clinicians were often confused about the purpose of the organization.
• Against a legal recommendation, Dave sent his review of GIDS and the accompanying complaints to the board.
• There was very little follow-up with adolescent patients so statistics were unavailable.
• Dave still doesn’t know who leaked his report to the press.
• Marcus Evans resigned from Tavistock because Dave’s...
  
  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.widerlenspod.com