531. Irreversible Damage at Fourteen | Detransitioner Clementine Breen
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What led Clementine Breen to transition?
Did you tell them about the abuse? I did not. Well, how much investigation into your history took place? Very little, because the second we got into my history, it just came crumbling down. In my referral, it says that I had held a male identity since childhood. Besides just physical discomfort with my body and just feeling disconnected from girls, it was really no sign of prior gender dysphoria.
Discomfort with your body and feeling disconnected with girls, that's called puberty.
Right. I was already cleared for surgery, so I traveled to San Francisco. Recommendation of Olson, the specific doctor.
By the time I was there... Why the specific doctor?
Because he doesn't have age limits. No age limits. Yeah. What's interesting about my case too is even in my referral notes, which the surgeon saw, there's conflicting information. So immediately you can tell it's sort of rubber stamped and they didn't really look through it.
So now you wake up after surgery.
Yeah.
What's that like?
Yeah.
Hello, everybody. My guest today is a young woman who has quite a terrible story to tell, but before you can understand why I have her as a guest and why she's doing what she's doing, there's some individuals that I need to familiarize you with in some detail to set the context properly, and I'm going to read that. First and foremost among those is Dr. Joanna Olson Kennedy. Dr. Olson Kennedy serves as the medical director of the Center for Trans Youth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. That's currently the largest transgender youth clinic in the U.S. Dr. Olson-Kennedy has authored or co-authored numerous studies on transgender youth concerning such topics as chest reconstruction and its effects, the development of so-called gender identity,
the physiology of response to gender-affirming hormones, and the consequence of pharmacologically induced puberty blockade. In 2015, she led a $10 million NIH-funded research project to study the effects of so-called gender-affirming medical practice aimed at youth. This study was a major enterprise and very financially significant. by the standards of clinical investigation, one deemed publicly the largest such project in America. What were the study's results? As far as we can determine, no evidence emerged whatsoever of improvements in mental health in consequence of pharmacological blockade of puberty, which is, by the way, the purpose of such blockade. Why or why not? Well, Olson Kennedy hypothesized after the fact, which is not a scientifically appropriate thing to do fundamentally, that this was because most of the children were already doing well when the study began. Why the need then for puberty blockers, given their clear danger and the dangers of the surgical road ahead they so often establish?
In any case, the notoriously progressive New York Times reported that Olson Kennedy elected not to publish her study results so that political opponents of gender-affirming care could not use the results as an argument against the use of puberty blockers. It shouldn't be necessary, except in this insane time, to point out that the artificial suppression of undesirable findings warps the entire scientific and medical enterprise. and that's the point, as well as being utterly unconscionable, given the degree of public funding for the inquiry and the motivated psychological and social consequences of abandoning it. Olson Kennedy is not the only person named in the lawsuit mounted by today's guest, nor his replace of work, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the only institution identified and affected. Dr. Scott Mosser, a surgeon in San Francisco, has served or exploited, depending on your viewpoint, transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive patients for more than 13 years.
He's board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgeons. co-founder of the American Society of Gender Surgeons, and founder of the Gender Institute at St. Francis Memorial Hospital. That workplace formalized its Gender Institute in 2016, has received numerous grants to fund gender-affirming healthcare services, and is also a target of the suit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What led Clementine Breen to transition?
0:00–14:49
2
What role did early trauma play in Clementine's story?
14:49–29:08
3
How did medical professionals approach Clementine's case?
29:08–42:16
4
What were the effects of testosterone on Clementine?
42:16–57:10
5
How did societal pressure influence Clementine's decisions?
57:10–1:06:51
6
What is the significance of the lawsuit against Dr. Olson Kennedy?
1:06:51–1:18:55
7
What were the psychological impacts of Clementine's experience?
1:18:55–1:29:10
8
How does Clementine view her transition and de-transition now?
1:29:10–1:35:25