Martha Wexler

Long-time radio journalist, following Europe and the former Soviet Union, Jews anywhere, and anyone with a great story.

[Gerald Posner @geraldposner]

After 2015 — particularly following high-profile debates over Caitlyn Jenner, bathroom bills, and pediatric gender medicine — major U.S. news organizations quietly standardized internal style guidance around how transgender identity is to be reported.

Much of it is not public. But journalists know it exists.

The general direction was clear:

• Use preferred names and pronouns.
• Avoid language that could be construed as “deadnaming.”
• Do not foreground transgender identity unless “directly relevant.”
• Be cautious about linking transgender status to crime.

On its face, that guidance was framed as respectful and harm-reducing. Many MSM editors saw it as analogous to rules developed around race, sexual orientation, and mental illness.

But here is the problem.

When editorial caution becomes asymmetrical, it ceases to be neutral.

It is good to see the NY Times stop using the Rhode Island killer’s preferred pronouns. That is about time. But national outlets are mostly treating the term “transgender” as if it were radioactive.

So we now have two largely different editorial outcomes:

• In the Canada shooting case, sex was replaced.
• In Rhode Island, “gender identity” is withheld.

Both decisions appear guided by the same internal calculus: manage social impact.

Journalism is not advocacy. It is not social engineering. It is not harm-mitigation messaging.

It is the disciplined presentation of verifiable facts, applied evenly.

When newsrooms vary emphasis based on perceived cultural volatility, public trust erodes.

That is the larger story.

And it is not going away.

[Martha Wexler @wexler_m]

@TempusMalleo yes

[Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance]

In a moment that calls for courage we get this:

[Bev Jackson @BevJacksonAuth]

Everyone: please resist tribalism. Accept that some people you admire sometimes do or support things that are utterly wrong.
And people you loathe sometimes do or support things that are absolutely right.

As for what is right and what is wrong: form your own opinion but I suggest it’s best to resist expressing it until you’re sure of the facts.

The current polarization is deeply damaging.

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

God stop letting them own you like this! Just say women can get pregnant. Please, these people are instituting fascism and you can’t just say women get pregnant. Take one for the team, trans women. I beg you.

[Timur Kuran @timurkuran]

If you’re wondering why in the US trust in experts has nosedived, watch this medical doctor answer a simple question, “can men get pregnant?” Until the left disowns hallucinatory ideologies, Trumpism will keep spreading, with or without Trump.

[Thea Sewell @theasewell05]

Trans ideology relies on jargon rather than truth. Claims are not assessed by whether they are true or false, but by some other adjective: kind, inclusive, affirming, progressive etc

Accuracy has become completely secondary to moral tone. And as a result, disagreement is treated less as an error to be answered than as a moral defect to be named. Dissent is labelled ‘harmful’, ‘unkind’, ‘backwards’, but not ‘false’.

A society that conducts debate in this way has already lost the argument. In fact, it doesn’t even know what an argument is.

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

Once again, we do everyone a disservice and create distrust in science and news when blatantly obvious facts are denied. This is from NPR.

Males have a competitive advantage in 99.9% of sports. We have the data and research. And it's obvious...

Let's do better people...

[Jon Pike @runthinkwrite]

So @NPR, I've listened to this segment, and I follow this debate closely. I'm a leftist philosophy professor: your target audience.

This segment is *utter rubbish* from beginning to end. Sosin simply *lies* about the research, notably the paper by @FondOfBeetles in SM (2021). But the whole framing is wrong, and the spin that you put on this - on words like 'ban' and 'advantage' - is deeply dishonest.

On this evidence, you simply have no regard for the truth at all. It's *astonishingly* poor journalism. Your reputation should be in the ditch for this, including among liberals.

[Benjamin Ryan @benryanwriter]

More Misinformation from Jack Turban

Dr. Jack Turban, a child psychiatrist at @UCSF and an ardent supporter of pediatric gender medicine goes on @CNN and, as he often does, makes a series of false and misleading statements, including:

▶️Falsely claiming that all major medical associations endorse pediatric gender-transition interventions. (The American Society of Plastic Surgeons does not. See: https://t.co/KmteCmVDkL)
▶️Using causal language to characterize the supposed impacts of gender-transition treatments on minors. No study has been able to prove such a causal link. Studies have only found associations between these treatments and higher mental health metrics.
▶️Going along with the CNN anchor's misleading characterization of the notion that these treatments "have been used for decades." Until 2008, only about 120 minors in the world had had their puberty suppressed for gender dysphoria. It wasn't until about 2013 that cases of pediatric gender dysphoria shot up and these treatments started being used widely. So there really has only been about a decade of substantial use of the drugs.
▶️Falsely claiming we know that regret rates are low among those who received gender-transition interventions as minors. There has been woefully insufficient research on this subject, and follow-up has been too short and too sparse to make such definitive statements. See: https://t.co/3kmJjXuhtf.
▶️Mischaracterizing the Cass Review's recommendations by suggesting that Cass wanted access to cross-sex hormones in particular expanded. The report recommended that puberty blockers in particular only be available in clinical trials, which are starting soon. See: https://t.co/4N24ifNPK1. Cass has said that some kids stand to benefit from these drugs. But she has expressed great concern that the current system is not set up to identify which kids are the best candidates.
▶️As he always does, Turban stressed the quantity of studies backing the use of these drugs in minors and not the quality. All systematic literature reviews, which are the gold standard of science, that have assessed these treatments have found the evidence backing them weak and inconclusive.

[Martha Wexler @wexler_m]

@highbrow_nobrow @atrupar Article V?

[Carole Hooven @hoovlet]

On treating gender dysphoric minors with drugs and/or surgery: "Unfortunately, in the US, the issue has become politically polarized. But there's nothing intrinsically political about this issue. It is straightforwardly a medical issue, and shouldn't be split along party lines." @byrne_a

[DIAGdemocrats @DIAGdemocrats]

DIAG Board member Jenny Poyer Ackerman on Why We Need to Talk About Trans—Even in Polite Company https://t.co/tL3KATEBf3 via @YouTube

[DIAGdemocrats @DIAGdemocrats]

ICYMI, here’s our wide-ranging discussion with Ben Appel about his new book, “Cis White Gay.” A must read.

[Ben Appel @benappel]

This was awesome. Thank you!

[Martha Wexler @wexler_m]

@AdamMGrant @mattyglesias @lizandmollie It is not “being kind” that improves mental health. All too many people think of themselves as “kind” because they profess empathy. It is DOING something for another person, making a connection with someone beyond yourself that makes you feel good.

[eBos3002🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈 @evs2003]

Boston, Massachusetts, at the July 21st hearing for parental rights bill H.551. Liberal Democrat Beth Kurth testifies… “I am a strong yes on the provision within the bill that there cannot be a carve out for gender dysphoria to be treated behind the backs of parents or guardians.” Thank you for reporting on this important testimony @bostonherald
@DIAGdemocrats we want to see this bill get through committee!

[Martha Wexler @wexler_m]

@EithanHaim Thank you for posting this, Dr. Haim. I was puzzling over Justice Sotomayor's opinion. Please explain what specifically she gets wrong about hormone treatments administered to minors for various conditions (delayed puberty, hirsutism), other than the ethics of disrupting health.

[Martha Wexler @wexler_m]

Why are these people calling the former president “Bill”? If it’s such an honor, as you say, give him the respect of using his title — and not as an afterthought.

[Buzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson]

Bill can hardly walk.