Documentary
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AFFIRMATION GENERATION (2023)
SYNOPSIS – Panacol Productions
Detransitioners Michelle, Laura, Cat, David, Joel and Abel tell the stories of their gender distress, transgender medicalization, and subsequent detransition. Without diagnostic clarity or mental health evaluations, their doctors quickly affirmed them as “transgender,” and mindlessly ushered them along the path of medical transition. (The “gender-affirming care” is the only treatment recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.) These young
people were harmed irrevocably by the doctors they trusted. AFFIRMATION GENERATION demonstrates how the “one-size-fits-all” medicalization – the “gender-affirming care” – has failed these patients.
The experiences of the detransitioners are examined by eight leading experts treating gender distressed patients and detransitioners: psychotherapists Lisa Marchiano, Sasha Ayad, Stella O’Malley, physician-scientist Lisa Littman, endocrinologist Dr. William Malone MD; Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Stephanie Winn. Their testimonies are further corroborated by investigative journalist Jennifer Bilek and LGB activist, desister & lifelong Liberal Democrat Joey Brite, among others. AFFIRMATION GENERATION is an indictment on the “gender-affirmative care” – a vast recruitment of vulnerable young patients for an uncontrolled medical experiment that has ruined many lives….
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Affirmation Generation (2003)
L E DAWES – 17 February 2023 – Dallas Morning News
Editor’s Note: At the columnist’s request, The Dallas Morning News is using a pseudonym for the writer of this essay to protect the identity and safety of her child. The News has verified the author’s real identity and her involvement with the film project. She is one of several parents of trans children who have shared their stories with The News but who aren’t willing to be named publicly because of concern for the health and safety of their children
Politically, the documentary film community is left of center. Very left. Over the last 10 years, I fit right in. I made films about women and children of diverse identities coping with sexual assault trauma, racism, homophobia and mental illness. Then in 2020, after I had sold my last film to Netflix and was wrapping primary photography on my next feature, I chose to begin a new film, one that I was driven to make despite my community’s disapproval.
It’s a film that is full of viewpoints that may be mistakingly characterized as conservative. I’ve done my best to ensure my work does not become fodder for right-wing hit pieces. But I need to tell the truth, and truth doesn’t always align with a political side.
COVID-19 had been hard on my youngest. Previously an extroverted, active and affectionate boy, over the lockdown he became quiet, easily agitated and withdrawn. He spent most of his time online.
Then he told us he was transgender.
He said he wanted puberty blockers and then he would go on estrogen. He matter-of-factly stated that he didn’t plan on getting “bottom surgery,” but would probably want electrolysis, voice training and facial feminizing surgery such as a tracheal shave. He knew our insurance would cover it all.
My husband and I were shocked at his pronouncement. Not because we are transphobic, but because our son had never exhibited any discomfort with his body or identity.
We had not imposed gender stereotypes on our children. Still, he was such a typical boy. Because we didn’t believe in toy guns, he turned his stuffed elephant into one. Spider-Man was the only thing he would be for Halloween — for years. He was well known for spending most of his time shirtless. And he loved to make everyone laugh doing pratfalls, farting on demand and making silly faces.
Despite our shock and confusion at his announcement, we were still liberal California parents. When he told us he was transgender, we nodded and said, “OK. We love you. We support you.”
Fearful of the pervasive mantra “Better a live daughter than a dead son” that insists non-affirmed trans kids are likely to kill themselves, we started using she/her pronouns and his new chosen name. I offered to take him shopping for women’s clothes, to do his nails, to teach him to shave his legs and to use makeup. (He declined.)
We called three local adolescent gender clinics, but in 2021, we could not get an appointment. The clinics had seen such a huge increase in new patients, they couldn’t even put us on a waitlist.
That’s when we realized we are not rare. Transgender identities were spreading rapidly, often within social networks. Five of the 10 kids in our son’s closest friend group are now identifying as trans or nonbinary. Our neighbors on both sides each have a trans kid. One of our son’s teachers told us he had so many kids with new identities, some “out to” their parents and others not, that he had to make a chart to know when to use which names and pronouns…