'Socially contagious' gender dysphoria study retracted from journal after trans activists retaliate

A study exploring whether gender dysphoria is "socially contagious" among children and young adults was recently retracted by a major journal after transgender activists threatened to cease working for the journal.

Springer's Archives of Sexual Behavior is retracting a paper by Dr. Michael Bailey and Suzanna Diaz titled "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases."

The paper studied 1,655 adolescents and young adults who reportedly began experiencing gender dysphoria between the ages of 11 and 21. The researchers found that 75% of the cases involved females with pre-existing mental health conditions. Individuals with mental health problems were more likely to have socially and medically transitioned, the paper stated.

The study explored the hypothesis that the dramatic increase of young people claiming to suffer from gender dysphoria might indicate a "socially contagious syndrome" called "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria," a term coined in 2018 by Dr. Lisa Littman.

Bailey stated, "The new study is much larger than any other study of ROGD to date. It consists of parent reports from an online survey conducted on the website ParentsofROGDKids."

"The second explanation, called "rapid onset gender dysphoria" (ROGD), suggests that, for poorly understood reasons, adolescent and young adult females are susceptible to a socially contagious false belief that they are transgender," Bailey wrote in an UnHerd column. "Especially susceptible are girls with pre-existing emotional problems who have been exposed to the ideas that transgender people are common, and that an underlying and unrecognised transgender identity can cause emotional problems only curable by gender transition."

Springer claimed that the study was retracted because the researchers failed to obtain written, informed consent from its survey participants.

Bailey denied the claim and told the Daily Caller News Foundation, "These were parents concerned about their children, concerned enough to take a not-brief survey about the issues. Why would they do this if they didn't think the information would somehow be made available?"

The researcher shared a screenshot of the survey explaining that the parents' answers would be published.

"Your answers will help us gain a better understanding of which children are more vulnerable to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria and what we can do to help them better," the survey stated. "We will publish our data on our website when we have a large enough sample to make our results significant."

Bailey believes his study was retracted because of pressure from transgender activists who called for the paper's cancellation.

A May 5 letter signed by hundreds of activists and several transgender organizations demanded Springer retract the article and terminate Dr. Kenneth Zucker, the journal's Archives of Sexual Behavior editor.

"We will no longer submit to the journal, act as peer reviewers, or serve in an editorial capacity until Dr. Zucker is replaced with an editor who has a demonstrated record of integrity on LGBTQ+ matters and, especially, trans matters," the signatories threatened.

"What is entirely obvious, based on the people who spearheaded the attack, is that suppressing the idea of ROGD was the primary goal," Bailey said.

Springer did not respond to a request for comment, the DCNF reported.

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