Popular children's YouTuber Mr Beast's sidekick Chris Tyson reveals gender transition

The sidekick of YouTube sensation MrBeast has announced that he has been taking female hormones for two months, calling the treatment "life-saving."

Chris Tyson, 26, made the announcement to his one million followers on Twitter on April 5 with a tweet saying "informed consent HRT" saved his life.

"Informed consent HRT saved my and many others' lives. The hurdles gnc people have to jump through to get life-saving gender-affirming healthcare in a 1st world country is wild to me. Just let people make informed decisions about their own bodies," said Tyson in response to a tweet calling viagra and hair transplants "gender-affirming care."

Tyson says he has struggled with gender dysphoria for years and that it was becoming a father that somehow prompted him to begin his medical sex change.

"If I didn’t have this little nugget I’d never have gotten this far," tweeted the YouTuber along with a photograph of him with his son. "He’s taught me so much about myself in such a short time. I can’t wait to learn through life together."

Mr Beast, who is the world’s most famous YouTube star with 144 million subscribers and 19.4 million Twitter followers, showed his support for Tyson by replying "Gotchu" to Tyson’s tweeted about how estrogen saved his life.

However, calling hormone therapy "life-saving" is perpetuating the transition-or-suicide narrative that a growing number of experts find concerning. Suicide is complex, and one long-term Swedish study showed the suicide rate post-transition to be high, meaning sex change interventions cannot reasonably be called "life-saving."

On March 28, Tyson tweeted to say that he and his wife Katie had been separated for over a year.

"For a little over a year now me and Katie have been separated. We are finalizing things soon but these things take time. We like to keep our personal lives private, which a lot of people don’t understand because we share so much, but this is the only time I want to discuss it."

On April 6, Tyson tweeted to say how glad he is that so many people are learning what HRT is and how it can help people.

"I’m genuinely so glad so many people are learning what HRT is and how it CAN and HAS helped so many people because of my tweet. I was super nervous to be public about this bc I’ve always been so private when it comes to this, but seeing conversations started bc of me is amazing," said Tyson.

In recent years, there has been a meteoric surge in young people identifying as transgender. Prior to 2010, gender dysphoria was extremely rare in children and adolescents, but in 2015, that all changed and pediatric gender clinics all over the western world saw exponential growth in referrals.

In 2018, Dr. Lisa Littman wrote a paper in which she outlined the theory of rapid-onset gender dysphoria, suggesting that peer influence and social contagion could be a factor in this sudden dramatic shift. Trans activists at the time accused her of transphobia and forced the journal to retract the study, but it was latest republished with only minor changes.

Since then, the evidence that social contagion is a factor has only grown, with a recent paper showing that over 60% of female participants came out as transgender after one or more friends announced a trans identity.

Cultural factors such as media messaging play an enormous role in social contagions. In the global epidemic of bulimia in the 1980s and 1990s, Princess Diana’s public struggle with the illness resulted in a spike in teenage girls and young women suffering from bulimia.

In 2015, the reality TV show I Am Jazz, about a male child who was transitioned at a young age, aired. It was watched by millions of people. In Season 2, Episode 4, which aired in 2016, Jazz visits a local high school where there were 10 or 12 trans-identified students, who viewers are told were inspired by Jazz.