Rebecca WatsonLast year I promoted physicist Sabine Hossenfelder's YouTube channel, so I figured I should probably comment on her video last week, in which she takes the moderate position between both "crazy" sides of the trans "debate." https://skepchick.org/2023/05/physicist-sabine-hossenfelder-screws-up-on-trans-kids-care/
I went through Hossenfelder's video line by line and found it to be a mixed bag: some good and accurate information that sits alongside citation-free assertions, like "doctors in clinics report cases of 'rapid onset of gender dysphoria."
The main issue was false balance: a misleading preliminary survey of transphobes on an internet forum who came up with "rapid onset of gender dysphoria" (eventually corrected by PLOS One along with an apology) is considered equal to a study that found no such thing exists.
There's also the issue of dismissing the huge amount of evidence researchers have found that show that gender-affirming care literally saves lives, and the earlier the better. Here, she dismisses one study for a control group of 7...
...failing to note that they found a reduction in depression and suicidality not just at the end of the study but at the 3 and 6-month marks, when untreated patients numbered 38 & 24 (out of 108 total). Small total sample size? Sure. It's still one more piece of the puzzle.
I don't think Hossenfelder went out of her way to misrepresent the transphobic case. I think that, like the New York Times, she's fallen for the existing false balance framework that transphobes have established, devaluing science to equate it with anecdote & fearmongering.
It's a shame, because I enjoyed the other videos I saw from her. I hope she gets back to the science. https://skepchick.org/2023/05/physicist-sabine-hossenfelder-screws-up-on-trans-kids-care/
Graham Linehan is a basketball hoop set three feet lower than regulation. Yes it's easy, but dunking on him still feels so good
GreenSkyOverMe (Monika)@rebeccawatson Image description:
Social media post by Eye Toldyoosso: Graham Linehan gave us "Father Ted" And "The IT Crowd", and some people ruined his life and stopped / cancelled the "Father Ted" Musical Going ahead, just saying.
Reply by Rebecca Watson: yes "some people” by the name of graham linehan hahahaha
Social media post by Eye Toldyoosso: Graham Linehan gave us "Father Ted" And "The IT Crowd", and some people ruined his life and stopped / cancelled the "Father Ted" Musical Going ahead, just saying.
Reply by Rebecca Watson: yes "some people” by the name of graham linehan hahahaha
McChessers@rebeccawatson But a stage adaptation of a beloved sitcom featuring none of the original cast was BOUND to be gold!
Eat My Wings To Keep Me Tame@rebeccawatson tentacle porn guy strikes again