Spotlight

January 12, 2026

Treatment of young people with gender incongruence requires more than consent

This article appeared on Aftenposten on November 17, 2025, and is translated and reproduced here with permission.
Health care services for children and young people with gender incongruence have received increased attention in recent years, both in public debate and within the health sector. It is an important step forward that these children and young people are seen and listened to. At the same time, society...
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December 1, 2025

Notable Publications in Gender Medicine, September–October 2025

SEGM Digest, Issue 4 (September–October)
This fourth installment of the SEGM Digest continues our work tracking the rapidly expanding literature in pediatric gender medicine. This issue brings together five papers that illuminate the core challenges now facing the field: insufficient methodological rigor, a lack of openness to debate, and...
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November 3, 2025

NHS England opens call for evidence on detransition

NHS England seeking input from professionals with experience in detransition care

Last week, NHS England announced that it is inviting healthcare professionals and professional bodies to share their experience surrounding detransition....

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October 31, 2025

Notable Publications in Gender Medicine, July–August 2025

SEGM Digest, Issue 3 (July–August 2025)
With some delay owing to hosting a major conference, we have now released Issue 3 of the SEGM Digest, our new initiative highlighting recent influential publications in pediatric gender medicine. Our Digests help busy professionals stay on top of important publications that relate to youth gender...
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October 22, 2025

Transgender identification in college youth is at an all-time high but may be reaching a plateau

Recent commentaries of a "free fall" in trans identification are limited by biased survey questions and questionable weights

Strong conclusions of a “free fall” in transgender identification among U.S. youth may have been greatly exaggerated. SEGM’s analysis of a large sample of U.S. college students over time suggests that trans/nonbinary identification is at an all-time high as of spring 2025—ranging from 4.7%-6.7...

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July 7, 2025

Notable Publications in Gender Medicine, June 2025

SEGM Digest, Issue 2 (June 2025)

We continue our series in this month’s SEGM Digest, which highlights a shift in the youth gender transition debate, with growing focus on ethical and regulatory concerns. We review key bioethics publications and court rulings likely to shape future regulation which came out in June 2025. Despite...

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May 30, 2025

Notable Publications in Gender Medicine, April-May 2025

SEGM Digest, Issue 1 (April-May 2025)
Introducing the SEGM Digest

This issue is the first installment of the SEGM Digest, a new series that will highlight recent influential publications in pediatric gender medicine. When we first launched our Spotlight series in 2019 the field was producing relatively few publications. As of 2025,...

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May 11, 2025

The Economist Coverage of the HHS Report on Gender Dysphoria

A government report evaluates gender therapy and medical care for children
The summary cuts to the chase. “The evidence for benefit of paediatric medical transition is very uncertain, while the evidence for harm is less uncertain.” When medical interventions pose unnecessary, disproportionate risks of harm, “healthcare providers should refuse to offer them even when they...
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March 26, 2025

2025 German Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Gender Incongruence and Gender Dysphoria of Childhood and Adolescence

Despite the new cautious tone, the Guidelines remain non-evidence-based and pave the way for ongoing inappropriate youth transitions
The field of youth gender medicine remains in disarray, with increasing recognition of the harms of gender-affirming interventions clashing against continued reliance on unscientific “consensus” guidelines that bypass rigorous evidence-based standards. The German Guidelines acknowledge that most...
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February 21, 2025

Recognizing How Cognitive Biases Shape—and Distort—Clinical Evidence

Prof. Baxendale's new publication "How to be a Better Doctor" explains cognitive biases that plague gender medicine research
Sallie Baxendale’s new article "How to be a Better Doctor" in the British Journal of Hospital Medicine shows how personal biases can overshadow objective evidence, highlighting pediatric gender medicine as a key example. She contrasts systematic reviews (like the Cass Review) with expert-consensus...
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December 30, 2024

Looking Back on 2024 and Ahead to 2025

The arc of history has bent toward protecting gender-questioning youth from medical harm
What has SEGM been up to this year? As we reach the end of 2024, we wanted to look back at this year's major developments in the field of youth gender medicine and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities 2025 presents.
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October 22, 2024

The Cass Review, the “Yale” Report, and the Importance of Keeping Special Interests at Bay

A new analysis from BMJ’s Archives of Disease in Childhood (ADC) concludes that the McNamara et al. critique of the Cass Review is not a genuine scientific effort, but a politicized attempt to influence outcomes of ongoing U.S. litigation.
McNamara et al 2024's “An Evidence-Based Critique of the Cass Review” alleges that the Cass Review “repeatedly misuses data and violates its own evidentiary standards,” is “rife with misapplications of the scientific method,” and fails to evaluate the evidence "in a neutral and scientifically valid...
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September 24, 2024

Swedish Transgender Treatment Guidelines for Youth

Unofficial translation of 2022 Swedish guidelines made available in recent court documents

Unlike Europe, where national health service (NHS) agencies regulate the practice of medicine, the decentralized nature of the US healthcare system presents a distinct challenge when it comes to healthcare regulation. This is especially evident in the case of youth gender medicine, which relies...

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July 12, 2024

Research into trans medicine has been manipulated

Court documents offer a window into how this happens
The following publication appeared in the Economist online on June 29, 2024. It appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “WPATH/Marking their own homework.” The article has been reproduced below fully, with permission.
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July 11, 2024

WPATH Influence Undermines WHO’s Transgender Guidelines

WHO's inclusion of WPATH leaders involved in suppression of evidence sets a troubling context for the WHO effort
The World Health Organization's guideline development group leans heavily on prominent members of WPATH, including WPATH leadership involved in the suppression of unfavorable evidence related to cross-sex hormones.
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May 20, 2024

The German Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Gender Incongruence and Gender Dysphoria of Childhood and Adolescence

The German guidelines' marked divergence from the Cass recommendations is explained by their failure to systematically appraise the evidence
This Spotlight reviews the German Association of Scientific Medical Societies' 2024 draft guidelines for treating gender dysphoria and gender incongruence in childhood and adolescence and the role of evidence in the process of guideline development.
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March 29, 2024

NHS England Stops Prescribing Puberty Blockers and Updates its Cross-Sex Hormones Policy for Minors

NHS England will no longer allow puberty blockers for gender dysphoria, while the updated cross-sex hormones policy suggests a move toward caution as the country awaits the final Cass report due April 2024
In March 2024, NHS England (NHSE) updated its puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones policies for gender-dysphoric youth. The release of these policies coincides with the launch of the new service model, which will replace the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at Tavistock as of April 1,...
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February 1, 2024

The World Health Organization Clarifies its Plans to Issue Guidelines on Trans and Gender Diverse People—Significant Concerns Remain

WHO clarifies that “gender-affirmative care” is not supported by evidence in children and adolescents, but signals that it will recommend expanded hormone availability and legal recognition of self-determined gender for all others.
The World Health Organization issued an update on its plan to develop guidelines for "trans and gender diverse people." This Spotlight shares additional analysis of the WHO guideline development process and raises new concerns.
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