The expert who led the review into children\u2019s gender healthcare says young people have been \u201cweaponised\u201d and misled about the realities of transitioning by social media.<\/p>\n
Baroness Hilary Cass, whose review of NHS gender care for under-18s led to sweeping changes including a ban on puberty blockers, welcomed the draft published by the Department for Education earlier this week but accepted it is impossible for it to be \u201ccompletely foolproof\u201d.<\/p>\n
Baroness Cass told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: \u201cThere are a tiny number of people who will never be comfortable with their biological sex, with the gender associated with their biological sex.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor them, a medical pathway is the only way they\u2019re going to live their life comfortably. We don\u2019t understand why that is, but we have to try and help those people thrive as much as the young people who are going to grow out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cass Review. Credit: PA<\/p>\n
She also warned of \u201cunrealistic images and expectations on social media\u201d when it came to the realities of \u201cwhat transition would really mean and how hard it would be\u201d, including \u201cquite intensive medical treatments\u201d and \u201csometimes quite brutal surgeries\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked if children had been let down by the adult-led debate on gender reassignment, Baroness Cass added: \u201cAbsolutely\u2026 (they) were also caught up in all the issues about single-sex spaces and sports and safe areas for women which were actually not to do with the children but they were somehow part of a football within it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a real shame that children have been weaponised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked why the number of children who have gender dysphoria is increasing, Baroness Cass said social media and gender stereotypes had both contributed to the rise of cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what has kind of misled children is the belief that if you are not a typical girl, if you like playing with trucks, or boys who like dressing up or that you have same-sex attraction, that means that you\u2019re trans and actually it\u2019s not like that but those are all normal variations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think children and young people were being given a narrative that it\u2019s not ok to be anything but absolutely typical of the other girls on Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed guidance, published late on Thursday, states schools should consider avoiding \u201crigid rules based on gender stereotypes\u201d and should take time to understand children\u2019s feelings while being aware of \u201cpotential vulnerabilities\u201d such as them facing bullying or needing mental health support.<\/p>\n
If a child or their parent makes a request for them to socially transition, schools should take a \u201ccareful approach\u201d, the guidance says, discussing it with families and taking account of any clinical advice that may have been received.<\/p>\n
Schools should seek parents\u2019 views, with only \u201crare circumstances where involving parents or carers would constitute a greater risk to the child than not involving them\u201d cited.<\/p>\n
Baroness Cass told the Press Association earlier this week: \u201cWhen I was doing my (NHS) review, the default seemed to be to not contact parents, whereas this (guidance) is saying that you should contact parents unless you really think there\u2019s a significant risk to the child if you do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it has turned it completely the other way around. So I think there\u2019ll be much less risk of the sorts of things that I was hearing of children being socially transitioned without their parents knowing as a routine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The updates, which have been put out for consultation for the next 10 weeks, have been proposed after the 2024 Cass Review and last year\u2019s Supreme Court ruling on biological sex.<\/p>\n