A transgender psychologist fears many teens are making life-changing decisions about gender because it’s trendy and pushed on social media.
Erica Anderson, 71, told the Los Angeles Times she is horrified by 13-year-old kids getting hormone treatments without meeting with psychologists first.
Dr. Anderson identifies herself as a transgender woman after decades of life as a man. The psychologist began with hormone treatments and eventually had gender reassignment surgery at the age of 61.
“To flatly say there couldn’t be any social influence in formation of gender identity flies in the face of reality,” Anderson said. “Teenagers influence each other.”
Social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic included children becoming more isolated and many leaned on social media networks, according to the Times report.
“What happens when the perfect storm — of social isolation, exponentially increased consumption of social media, the popularity of alternative identities — affects the actual development of individual kids?” asked Anderson.
Anderson’s birth name was Eric she described feeling deeply ashamed when an endocrinologist refused to prescribe hormones when she first sought them at 45. According to a report in the New York Post, the transgender psychologist began taking hormones at age 58 and declared herself “thrilled to finally become a woman” after undergoing genital surgery.
While thrilled the country’s culture is now more accepting, Anderson fears things have swung to an extreme. She reportedly claimed she had a 13-year-old patient whose pediatrician put him on testosterone even though he had not met with a psychologist.
“I think a fair number of kids are getting into it because it’s trendy,” said Anderson, whom a report in The Washington Post said was married for 30 years and fathered two children before transitioning.
“I’m often the naysayer at our meetings. I’m not sure it’s always really trans. I think in our haste to be supportive, we’re missing that element. Kids are all about being accepted by their peers. It’s trendy for professionals, too.”
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