We are in a strange place. Some have referred to our age as a Gnostic moment, and the spirit seems to have triumphed over the flesh. Many people feel free to disregard religion in general and Christianity in particular. They believe anything that interferes with their desires can be overcome. Even though humanity has been comprised of male and female individuals from the beginning of time, these individuals want human beings to be able to transition between male and female. Due to social contagion, we have an increasing number of people who believe they have been trapped in a body that does not represent their gender. They think that science, observation, and our deepest intuitions are wrong. No longer are we designed with a purpose. Instead, we are to be interchangeable.

Previously, the number of people with gender dysphoria was meager. However, as our culture has become more centered on individual fulfillment, a Gnostic mindset has taken hold, and we see many more people who wish to be the opposite sex.

Most people understand that changing from one sex to another is impossible and that the desires of those who attempt to make this change cannot be fulfilled. No matter how much surgery, no matter how much money, and no matter how much effort is invested in making this change, it is not enough. Men cannot become women, and women cannot become men. The realization of this truth has been shattering to some who have had hormonal therapies to develop secondary sex characteristics and surgeries to change their physical appearance. In the end, a growing number of people have had only disappointment and anger as they realize that their transition did not provide the fulfillment they desired. Even worse, they could not return to who they had been. Both the surgeries and the hormones had made irreparable changes in their bodies.

As individuals have detransitioned, they have had difficulty getting their stories told. This is because we live in an ideological age and are more interested in ideology than facts. Still, these detransitioners have some excellent advice, delay transitioning until adulthood. Then if a decision is made, it is made with a better understanding of how that decision will affect life. Adolescence is too soon, and many of those with gender dysphoria will resolve their difficulties and eventually identify with their birth sex.

Recent scientific developments may impact trans women. Scientists have developed the ability to transplant uteruses from one female to another. It is believed that this surgery could be modified so that a trans woman could receive a uterus. This would allow a biological male to function as a woman. Of course, that person would need to take anti-rejection medication and hormones for the rest of their lives and endure the side effects of those medications. But assuming that those two things could be done and were reasonable, would that mean that the person with the uterus was now a female? What do you think?

No, they still would not be a woman. It is essential to understand why; they would be individuals with male DNA and a male body type with a surgically grafted uterus that must be maintained through artificial hormonal therapy. Even with a uterus, they would still not be female. Women are women before they can conceive and continue to be women well after their ability to conceive has passed. It is not the uterus that makes a person a female; it is a constellation of factors involving DNA and body type. God has created us male and female, and no amount of money, no surgery, and no amount of effort will change that reality. A society that encourages and nurtures the idea that individuals may be born the wrong sex but that this mismatch can be remedied by surgery does individuals with gender dysphoria no favors. The way the issues around the entire trans movement have been handled is an embarrassment to both medicine and psychology.

People with real gender dysphoria do not need hormones or surgery; they need encouragement and therapy to become comfortable in the bodies that God has provided. Those with a social contagion need to be discouraged from their fantasies, and the current trendiness needs to be quashed. Gender transition surgeries should be forbidden. It is ironic that well-intentioned groups work in the third world to stop genital mutilation of girls. But in the first world, it is encouraged. It is hard to see why one would be favored and the other discouraged. Both are inappropriate and harmful. The newly disclosed UK Cass papers have exposed the movement as medically harmful to all those who undergo “transition” therapy. Hopefully, we will see an end to the mutilation of otherwise healthy youth.