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View submission: Do non-binary identities reenforce gender stereotypes?
Medical associations especially in a soft science such as psychology is not scientific law. Their findings are subject to changes and in this topic specifically, research is very much still new and inconclusive. "Studies say", "associations say" should not and is not a shut up pill. Science particularly doesn't work like that, science especially is built on questioning.
I'm particularly intrigued by this topic because it's something that is heavily politicized and there are so many strong narratives surrounding this disorder social political and otherwise yet very little actual science, certainly not enough to claim without a doubt that a man can become a woman and a woman can become a man.
These narratives are built on the back of the APA voting in the early 2010s on whether or not GD should be categorized as a mental illness or not. They voted to change the terminology citing that the disorder didn't cause distress in itself, rather it is the outside stigma that causes this distress. What consistant, longitudinal, long term, heavily replicated research affirms this? And how does the science differentiate the cause and the corelation especially when the improvement in trans individuals who have transitioned and live in far more accepting societies is minimal and most still have higher than average mental challenges and su*cidality?
The second reason given was to decrease stigma. Social stigma has direct corelation to mental health and that is long established. However how does science separate between internal and external distress. The only way they try to substantiate this claim is by saying that once they looked at studies of trans individuals in different countries, countries with less stigma and more acceptance had less mental health issues. What they don't tell you and what the research clearly shows, it's not by much, not by any significant number at all and those individuals still remain highly susceptible to mental illness and suicide.
After looking at cited research surrounding this issue, none of it is enough to without a doubt claim that it isn't a mental illness. Other than those two reasons, the APA gives no other reason for its declassification as a mental illness. Destigmitization is heavily stressed on as well as advocacy which make sense because this is more so a social political issue than a medical one
Even when all is said and done, medical associations simply make the claim that living as the gender the individual might perceive themselves as might alleviate some of the dysphoria.
The idea that if you believe you are the opposite gender then you are and how that relates to sex is purely a social science theory, one that has flimsy biological connection, and it's based on poor research and social political movements more than hard evidence. There is nothing that proves this claim. It's nothing more than a philosophical belief, a world view.
None of it is enough to change a fundamental belief and world view.
Medical associations aren't "god" their word isn't "gospel". Questions should still be asked and claims should always be questioned.
There's nothing here!