Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 69(3) August 2019

Letters

You may have missed - Gender Ideology

from Dr Steve Brennan FRCP

Dear Sir,

Clearly we need mature dialogue on the complex issue of "gender ideology" and I don't see that the Vatican's recent document, stating the obvious, disturbs this in any way. Almost everybody is born with either male or female anatomy and ends up following that identity for the rest of their lives. The simple clothing experiments of the pre-school years soon pass, but the tumultuous times of puberty are more difficult. One of the problems we face as parents is that we are all "amateurs", at least with our first child, and we need help from others, our own parents and other relatives and friends, teachers and doctors. Most people will know that it is very common during puberty to go through periods of strong homosexual and heterosexual feeling, as well as all sorts of problems about body image. Most pass through this, in a year or two, without the need of a "gender dysphoria" clinic. It must surely be wrong, during this time, to let doctors alter anatomy and physiology irrevocably, with surgery and hormones. What happens with adults is different, but children must be protected from these experimental procedures. Your editorial of 15th June mentions suicide which has happened before anything is done, but it has also happened afterwards.

Yours truly,

Dr. Steve Brennan.

This letter was published in the Tablet on 29th June 2019.

References

Linked to this letter see also

  1. Michelle Cretella (2017) The American College of Pediaticians: Statement on “Gender Ideology”: A note of caution. Catholic Medical Quarterly, Volume 67(4) November 2017. http://www.cmq.org.uk/CMQ/2017/Nov/letters-gender-­identity.html
  2. Treloar A, (2017) The American College of Pediatricians Statement on “Gender Ideology”. A Note Of Caution. Catholic Medical Quarterly, Volume 67(4) November 2017 http://www.cmq.org.uk/CMQ/2017/Nov/letters_gender_identity2. html