Evening lecture hosted by the IPU Sponsors and Fundraisers Association

The IPU Sponsors and Fundraisers Association is hosting an evening lecture held by Dr. David Bell on First Do No Harm: Psychoanalytic reflections on Gender Dysphoria. This paper takes as its focus the massive increase in children and young people (CYPs) seeking gender transition. It discusses the factors that have contributed to this both at the individual level and at the socio-cultural level. At the individual level there are many pathways to gender dysphoria (such as internalised homophobia, complex comorbid problems, histories of family trauma and so on). The author considers that a very large number of children have been seriously harmed through the penetration of the ‘trans’ ideology into child and adolescent services leading to their complex problems being seen only through the prism of gender, thus leading to these problems being neglected. The paper also looks at the broader socio-cultural processes that have contributed to this phenomenon - such as the commodification of health care, misogyny, relativisation of truth - all contributing to what the author terms ‘a peculiar mode of thinking’ that has come to dominate this debate.

David Bell:
First Do No Harm: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Gender Dysphoria