Transphobes reintroduce faulty Finnish study while ignoring its credibility issues

JK Rowling and other transphobes are amplifying an anti-trans study as if it is new. In reality, it an old piece of nonsense which was called out in April for inaccurate conclusions and the author's problems with bias and objectivity.

The tweet above is from arch transphobe JK Rowling amplifying a study which claims that gender-affirming care does not improve the mental health of trans youth.

Rowling and others amplified this study last weekend while arguably implying that it is a new discovery. That implication would be a lie.

The study came out in earlier this year and when it did, many people called out its errors which can be summarized by the graphic below:

For those who want more intricate information other than a graphic, I wrote a blog post about it. My post included a wonderful critique of the study by Dr. Laura Targownik, who has been called "a prominent leader in advocating for gender equity and transgender health rights within the medical profession."

I also wrote a second post calling attention to the fact that the author of the study had a serious conflict of interest which put to question her objectivity. I said the following in the piece:

According to trans activist and substacker Erin Reed:

The study, published in the low-impact journal Acta Paediatrica, comes from Riittakerttu Kaltiala, a Finnish psychiatrist with extensive ties to at least one anti-LGBTQ+ hate group and a history of anti-trans political advocacy. The study uses Finnish registries and psychiatric visit data to support these conclusions. However, a closer examination reveals the study to be fatally flawed: it does not actually measure what it claims to measure, its headline finding is a massive artifact of surveillance bias, the clinics practices were abusive, and it operates within a system where its findings were essentially baked in from the start—regardless of what the actual mental health impacts of gender-affirming care might be.

The anti-trans hate group Kaltiala is connected to is SEGM - the same group which praised her study. 

In a piece Reed wrote in June 2024:

Importantly, members and associates of the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) have recently played a significant role in the Cass Review, a supposedly “independent” review now being cited to crack down on transgender care in England and the United States. Recent investigations revealed that multiple SEGM members and associates were part of advisory groups to the review with secret memberships. One such person was Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, a Finnish psychologist who prominently presented at the latest SEGM conference and has been closely associated with SEGM, which denies her membership due to the organization having “no official members.” Dr. Kaltiala facilitated a meeting between Dr. Cass and Dr. Patrick Hunter, a DeSantis medical board pick and member of Genspect. Dr. Cass later shared information with the team according a letter obtained exclusively by this publication. Dr. Kaltiala went on to “meet regularly” with the DeSantis appointees and even testified in favor of Florida’s ban on transgender care.

What's interesting about that particular post was the visceral reaction I received by some who read it and others who obviously did not. I don't think I have ever received such an ugly reaction from anything I had published before:

These comments didn't upset me because it was obvious that I struck a nerve amongst the wolves. That's why I am amazed at how some of the same individuals are attempting to polish up the study while ignoring its past controversies in a sad attempt to make it seem new and fresh.

Then again, I am amazed, but I really shouldn't be. Nor should I be completely shocked.