Leading manual of psychiatric treatment redefines terms in favor of trans advocacy

The latest update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the standard for definitions and explanations of psychiatric care, has fully embraced trans-affirmative language.

"The term 'desired gender' is now 'experienced gender,' the term 'cross-sex medical procedure' is now 'gender-affirming medical procedure,' and the term 'natal male'/'natal female' is now 'individual assigned male/female at birth'," Psychiatric News reports.

The terms themselves indicate that the correct and appropriate treatment for a person who claims they are a gender that is opposite to their biological sex is to agree with them and to treat them as though they truly are the opposite of what their sex dictates.

Language is a fundamental component of the debate over transgender ideology. Trans rights activists already claim that the term for a biological male who is gender non-conforming and identifies as a woman is a "trans woman", as opposed to a "transwoman". The difference is entirely rhetorical. In the former, now preferred, understanding of the condition, a trans woman is just a kind of woman, wherein the latter, a transwoman is something wholly different from a woman at all.

With use of the term trans woman, other modifiers can be added to the term woman. There can be, most notably, a cis woman, who is a woman who is not trans, or there can be, presumably, any other kind of woman a gender-nonconforming person can dream up.

The terms that the DSM 5 deems appropriate are also affirming in their approach, and the terms themselves dictate the approach to take. If a person is gender dysphoric, the gender they claim to really be on the inside, despite the biological constraints of their sex, is to be referred to as their "experienced gender," as opposed to their "desired gender." This distinction gives the impression that gender dysphoria is not actually dysphoric, but is instead reality.

Once the person who "experiences" a gender that is not reflected by their sex begins exploring medical options to surgically and chemically alter their bodies to look like that of the opposite sex, the term for that surgical transformation is meant to be called a "gender-affirming medical procedure," as opposed to a "cross-sex medical procedure." This linguistic subterfuge means that the medical, surgical option of removing a young woman's healthy breasts, for example, or removing a man's healthy penis and replacing it with an open cavity, are perceived, from the outset, to be the correct course of treatment.

The many records and testimonies of people who desisted from gender transition, attempted to reverse the procedures that drastically altered their bodies, or regret having become life-long medical patients at the hands of gender-affirming doctors, indicate that implementing medical procedures to correct the condition of gender dysphoria is not universally the correct solution.

This language also gives too much power to the medical establishment to be able to correct a psychological condition through the use of drugs without evidence to show that this trust has been well-placed.

The psych manual has also made another, notable change in how males and females are classified, taking up the terms used by trans activists to say that babies are not born with a sex, but are in some way given a sex by attending doctors. The terms "natal male" and "natal female" are now "individual assigned male at birth" or "individual assigned female at birth."

Medical doctors presumably know that a person's sex is defined and determined prior to their journey through their mother's birth canal. Doctors, nurses, or midwives who attend birth do not determine the biological sex of babies they deliver, they observe the sex. Sex is not assigned, it is identified.

The changes made to the DSM in the area of gender dysphoria is a complete capitulation to the bastardized reality trans rights advocates would have us believe. Instead of giving psychiatrists the language to diagnose, treat, and consider their patients in their unique circumstances, it prescribes one course of treatment for all of those who experience gender dysphoria.

Many parents who seek out help for their gender dysphoric children find that they are unable to access neutral care. Doctors, psychiatrists, and therapists often have a full-throated bias toward "affirming," instead of questioning and exploring, a child's dysphoria. A medical community that does not even have the language to offer a neutral approach will lose the trust of patients, parents, and caregivers.

The language in the new DSM does more than alter definitions, it predetermines a course of treatment.