成人快手

There was one statistic that stood out for me in the Cass Review into gender care for young people, published this week amidst, as author Hilary Cass put it 鈥渋ncreasingly toxic, ideological and polarised public debate.鈥� According to the report, 15 adolescent girls wanting to transition from female to male were treated in 2009 by the clinic she investigated. But by 2016 the number treated in one year had shot up to 1,071.

Cass concludes it鈥檚 too great an increase to be explained just by a greater acceptance of transitioning. She argues that this striking increase in the number of adolescent girls wanting to transition has coincided with major changes in society.

Cass paints a picture of young girls bombarded by social media, citing scientific studies that link social media use with body image concerns, eating disorders, bullying, mental distress and suicidal thoughts. She is calling for more investigation into the consumption of online material that affects self-esteem, body image, and gender dysphoria.

There are surely many reasons why young people may wish to change their gender, and the belief that by transitioning one can best express authentic identity long predates the existence of social media. It might also be that many of these adolescent girls are feeling distressed because they need to be accepted for who they really are. In other words, they want to be treated with dignity.

Just a few days before the Cass Review came out, a new document on dignity was published by the Vatican. There have been plenty of headlines about its critique of what it calls gender ideology, but there鈥檚 a lot more to it than just gender. There鈥檚 something very notable about what it says about dignity that seems to me helpful when thinking about what is happening to young people.

It mentions four types of dignity. There鈥檚 moral dignity, dependent on people鈥檚 judgement. Social dignity refers to living conditions, while existential dignity can be affected by issues such as anxiety, loneliness, or very serious illness.

But while all those types of dignity can be diminished by society the fourth type always remains 鈥� I believe that comes from God, willing our very existence, and loving humanity. In other words, each and every person is uniquely special, in their very essence.

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