Flaws with Transgender Theory: The Wordplay Game

Addressing Transgenderism with Truth, Love, & Grace- Part 2

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Introduction

America has many societal issues. One of these significant societal challenges is the gender identity debate or transgenderism. The data shows that most Americans know someone personally who either questions their gender identity or has come out as transgender. Christians cannot ignore this cultural issue either since it has also impacted those in the church.

My goal with these transgenderism articles is to equip readers with key pieces of information so we can think rightly about this issue. Our aim is never to verbally beat down nor demean those identifying as transgender. Instead, we aim to help those caught up in the gender identity crisis trap. I call this series, Addressing Transgenderism with Truth, Love, & Grace. Our aim must be to help by showing the truth with the love of Christ and a tone of grace.

In the previous article, I introduced the concept of transgenderism/transgender. We explored some relevant data to paint the current picture of the gender identity issue in America. I also shared the cause of transgenderism from a Christian perspective. You can read the first article here.

This article will be the first of two that show major flaws with gender identity theory (or transgender theory). These fallacies prove to me, and I believe they should to any rational thinking person, that transgender theory is built on erroneous ideas. These key flaws can help people come to grips with the fact that transgender theory is illogical and in serious error. I hope Christian and non-Christian readers alike will see that transgender theory is irrational and does not warrant approval.

In this article, we explore how transgender theory is not driven by objective evidence but by subjective cultural shifts. I will use the terms modern gender theory and transgender theory interchangeably.

Modern Gender Theory is Culturally Driven

A critical flaw with modern gender theory (transgender theory) is that it is culturally driven, not scientifically driven. Transgender theory is subjectively based, not objectively based on evidence. It is a shifting sand-type theory. My claim is that when we examine the history of how the field of psychiatry has dealt with transgenderism, we can see that the 'experts' have most likely been following the cultural and political whims of change in how they have dealt with transgenderism. They have not been following the science.

Changes in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as an authoritative reference book for officially diagnosing and treating mental disorders. The current DSM in publication is the 5th edition, published in 2013. In 2022, the APA published a text revision to the 5th edition, the DSM-5-TR.

The DSM 3rd (1980) and 4th (1994) editions included a mental disorder labeled gender identity disorder. The DSM 4th edition, Text-Revision, defined gender identity disorder using two main criteria. First, it was a strong and persistent cross-gender identification.¹ This definition did not include the criteria of discomfort or distress over wanting to be another gender. The second criterion was a person's persistent discomfort arising from their belief that their birth gender is not who they should be.

The key word here is disorder. A disorder is when behaviors are considered abnormal, psychologically imbalanced, or distressing. A disorder is not normal; it is a deviation from the norm. The official psychological definition of a mental disorder is "any condition characterized by cognitive and emotional disturbances, abnormal behaviors, impaired functioning, or any combination of these."² Notice that up until the DSM-5, published in 2013, psychiatrists believed that a person's persistent desire to be a different gender and any resulting discomfort over this should be considered a mental disorder.

Before the DSM 5th edition, the term transgender was also included in the DSM as a mental disorder. Psychiatrists and psychologists understood transgenderism to be abnormal human behavior. The DSM 5th edition (2013) dropped the term transgenderism entirely. Gender identity disorder was replaced with the term gender dysphoria. The APA defines gender dysphoria as "a marked incongruence between one's experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least six months duration. It can vary in degree of intensity."³ The key criteria for gender dysphoria is it causes mental distress or discomfort to some degree.

A change in terminology is understandable if there is sufficient evidence to support the shift. This evidence would need to be consistent with updated research and findings in psychiatry. However, this is not the case when it comes to the APA's dropping of the terms transgenderism and gender identity disorder.

With the publishing of the DSM-5, the APA released a special note about the new term gender dysphoria and its rationale for dropping gender identity disorder. The APA said, "DSM-5 aims to avoid stigma and ensure clinical care for individuals who see and feel themselves to be a different gender than their assigned gender. It replaces the diagnostic name 'gender identity disorder' with 'gender dysphoria,' as well as makes other important clarifications in the criteria."⁴ The reason the APA feels the need to avoid stigma is because they no longer believe transgenderism to be a mental disorder. "It is important to note that gender nonconformity [transgenderism] is not in itself a mental disorder."⁵

This is a significant change we must take seriously to understand a flaw in the transgender theory. How can a mental disorder suddenly no longer be a mental disorder?

Mental Disorder Wordplay Games

The APA dropped transgenderism from classification as a disorder and currently only views the significant distress that can arise from being transgender as a disorder (gender dysphoria). But even in that case, they do not refer to gender dysphoria as gender dysphoria disorder. I firmly believe this is the APA following the winds of change in American society. It is difficult to see how the APA can justify the shift from gender identity disorder to gender dysphoria and claim they did this for justifiable reasons based on research findings. It is even more challenging to see how they believed for decades that transgenderism was a mental disorder, but as of 2013, it is no longer.

The APA goes on to say about the change, "This diagnosis (gender dysphoria) is a revision of the DSM-4's criteria for gender identity disorder and is intended to better characterize the experiences of affected children, adolescents, and adults." The APA believes the change in terminology is justified based on the experiences of those who are transgender. Before the DSM-5, psychiatrists viewed transgender people as disordered. With the publishing of the DSM-5, psychiatrists are to view transgender people as different but not abnormal. Therefore, the term disorder no longer fits.

There is an issue with the APA's logic of basing their determination of disorders on the experiences of "affected children, adolescents, and adults." I am not a psychiatrist, but it seems to me illogical to let the subject's experience determine whether they have a mental disorder. For example, suppose a man has schizophrenia. Would the psychiatrist determine whether this man needs clinical care based on the patient's experience? Or should the psychiatrist determine the care required based on objective standards from the field of psychiatry? The logical answer is the psychiatrist makes the care plan based on objective, known facts about dealing with schizophrenia.

Suppose a woman shows to have breast cancer after a mammogram. The physician informs her of the terrible news. However, the woman says, "My experience, though, is that my breast cancer is normal and not abnormal. Please do not stigmatize me by calling me a breast cancer patient." She has a right to think whatever she wants, but it does not change the fact that breast cancer is an issue to address; it is abnormal, not normal.

Someone could push back against my example by pointing out that something like cancer has been proven to be harmful to the body and is a malfunction in bodily function. Perhaps my example does not work for transgenderism since transgenderism is how a person feels, and it is not a disease causing harm to their body. We can respond to this using simple logic.

Using logic and rational thinking, let's be honest and ask ourselves if this situation sounds mentally healthy. Suppose there is a biological male. Around age 12, he firmly believes he should be a girl. His self-perception of his proper gender identity and expression is female, not male. This biological male begins to wear feminine clothing, adopts a feminine name, and desires others to treat him as a woman. He wishes he could go further and physically change into a woman. He begs his parents to let him take hormone pills so he can grow breasts like a woman.

I ask any sane, rational-thinking person this question. Does any of that situation sound mentally normal and healthy? Forget what culture says, what social media influencers say, and what politicians say. Use your logical faculties for rational thinking and ask if this sounds normal.

That situation I laid out is unfortunately not hypothetical. That is the experience of many people who identify as transgender. I believe any rational person would feel like they should step in and help this boy understand that who he is meant to be is the male he was born to be. Sane people would want to help this boy work through his feelings and bring him to a place of clear thinking and acceptance of the engendered body God gave him at birth.

It takes an irrational mindset to believe the best response to this boy is to affirm him in his quest to be the opposite gender from his birth gender. It seems ludicrous and unhelpful to encourage him to take hormone treatments and surgical alterations to be someone he can never be from a biological or spiritual perspective.

Would the APA ever entertain a revision of a future edition of the DSM that removes schizophrenia as a disorder because they do not want to stigmatize those who are schizophrenic? Would the APA reach a point where they believe schizophrenic behaviors can be considered normal and no longer abnormal? I hardly think so; at least, I hope not. Why does the APA treat transgenderism differently? I submit it is because the winds of culture and its accompanying politics have shifted to support and affirm transgender identities openly.

Those in opposition to my views might argue that perhaps society and its psychiatrists were too harsh on transgender people in the past. Maybe the APA was discriminating against transgender people, and it took decades to reach the point they came to in 2013 by no longer considering transgenderism a mental disorder. Can the modern transgender movement be seen in the same light as the civil rights movement? Are transgenders a class of people whom the majority of society has discriminated against for decades?

There is no comparison between the LGBTQ+ community and the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was about one ethnicity mistreating another ethnicity. A person is born with their ethnicity, and they do not develop it. There is no scientific evidence that proves transgender people are 'born that way.' So we cannot claim this is one class of people being mistreated by another. The issue at stake with transgenderism is whether it is a mental disorder or not.

The APA for decades believed transgenderism was a mental disorder and, in 2013, erased it from being a mental disorder. Did they do this for scientific reasons? No. They admit it was to avoid stigmatizing people who are transgender. Again, my claim is the only reason the APA was worried about stigmatizing transgender people is because the cultural and political affirmation of them had grown to historical levels, and the APA felt they needed to alter their wording.

The APA's move to drop transgenderism from the DSM is ironic because, within the pro-transgender community, there is debate over this action. If the APA had kept transgenderism as a mental disorder label, then kids, adolescents, and adults could have been diagnosed with it and had access to insurance-covered treatments and protections. By dropping transgenderism from the DSM, transgender people can no longer receive insurance-covered treatments. Instead, they can only receive officially covered treatments if they go one step further and express mental distress over being transgender (for six months) and consequently get diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Here is the irony as I see the situation for the APA. They wanted to avoid stigmatizing transgender people by labeling them as having a mental disorder, so they dropped transgenderism from the DSM. However, this action removed any access to care for them. They knew they had to provide a label for transgender people to receive treatment if they desired it, but the old gender identity disorder label was offensive. Thus, they call it a dysphoria, not a disorder. Ironically, though, to get access to care, the transgender person must be diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Yet we note that gender dysphoria is a mental disorder since it exists in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The APA wants to have its cake and eat it, too. They do not want to call transgenderism a disorder, but for someone to receive gender therapy treatments, they have to be labeled with the disorder of gender dysphoria. The APA is attempting to make distinctions that have no fundamental differences. The APA is engaging in wordplay not facts and evidence.

Conclusion

In this article, I have attempted to show that the American Psychiatric Association, America’s leading authoritative body of psychiatrists, is not following objective-based scientific facts in their handling of transgenderism. They engaged in wordplay as they attempted to avoid calling transgenderism a disorder like they used to, but the treatments for transgender people require a mental disorder diagnosis.

These facts show modern transgender theory is culturally and politically driven, not scientifically driven. Transgender theory is based on faulty, shifting-sand ideas. I hope readers use this information to guard their minds from succumbing to the erroneous claims that transgender theory is based on scientific research-backed evidence. It most certainly is not.

1. Gender Identity Disorder. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th ed., Text Revision. American Psychiatric Association. 2000, pg. 581.

2. https://dictionary.apa.org/mental-disorder

3. Gender Dysphoria. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association. 2013, pg. 452.

4. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/DSM/APA_DSM-5-Gender-Dysphoria.pdf

5. Ibid.