Hey! #TransMastodon (#Transtodon???) 
How about we pool our combined knowledge & experience to bust some common myths about #transitioning?
Please post details of any myths you can bust to help others in the community, including any unhatched/hatching eggs 🥚
"Why are so many more kids trans now?"
@SleepyCatten Some people are "worried" because it looks like more and more kids are becoming trans and/or non-binary nowadays. But the simple answer is: it used to be much more repressed. The same thing happened when schools stopped forcing kids to write with their right hand. "Suddenly" more and more kids were lefthanded. But eventually it hit a plateau at 9-10%. It's not that there weren't any lefthanded kids before - they were forced into invisibility.
"Why are so many more kids trans now?"
Your argument is for sure right, but there can be also environmental causes, linked to the exposure of plastic-derived estrogens. Up to date nothing is confirmed, but they are studying the effects. For example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1281309/
@mzan @MxAlba @SleepyCatten The article you link to basically says there's no proof of the kind of exposure to these things that humans receive having any impact on human development, but "if" they do...
This is how misinformation starts.
@AnnieKenyon2 @MxAlba @SleepyCatten
It has some effect also at current level of exposition. For example read the part "Although the researchers found no sign of frank genital malformations or disease, they did discover an association between elevated concentrations of four phthalate metabolites in the mothers and shorter-than-expected AGI in the infants, as reported in the August 2005 issue of EHP."
Up to date there are no proof that there are serious risks, but it must be investigated better.
@AnnieKenyon2 @MxAlba @SleepyCatten
If I can not point out that plastic acts like an estrogen in our body, it is not a discussion. And all hypothesis starts as unproven.
You are right saying that there are no proofs about big effects at current normal doses. But "no proofs" does not mean "they studied it in detail and they proved it is all ok". For sure there are no big effects, because otherwise they would find them. But there are still concerns, because there are visible effects in case of people and animals living near polluted zones. Moreover during prenatal phases also a little amount of estrogen can have visible effects. So they want to study better the effects also in case of low doses. Our exposure to plastic is increasing with time. So it is a problem that we must study better. Like any substance "the dose makes the poison".
Maybe I should rephrase in a better way my initial post, but there is still an informative part.
@mzan @AnnieKenyon2 @SleepyCatten still, even if there is such an effect, it would cause the EXACT OPPOSITE of what TERFs are claiming is happening. So the whole discussion is kinda off topic. Because if it turns out to have a significant effect, that will only disprove the anti-trans BS.
I think you said it just fine, and I agree with you. I'm just trying to point out that some people, being reactionary, will read your post and assume that science says plastic makes people trans.
Ergo, until such time as there is real evidence, vetted by qualified peers within the scientific community, the only outcome of injecting this hypothesis into a discussion is the potential of misinterpretation leading to misinformation.
So, I would encourage you not to.
@AnnieKenyon2 @mzan @SleepyCatten I can only agree with that! ❤️
@mzan @MxAlba @SleepyCatten
Sure, but injecting an unproven hypothesis into a discussion isn't helpful. If someone found a 0.003 positive correlation between eating apples and breast cancer in ONE study, should we comment on everyone's post about apples that someone, somewhere, is working on an apple/cancer connection so all the boomers on Facebook start panicking about apples, or just wait until the matter has substantial evidence before throwing out a, "Well, actually..."?