GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: Brown researcher under fire for questioning transgender narrative

lunes, 3 de septiembre de 2018

BioEdge: Brown researcher under fire for questioning transgender narrative

BioEdge: Brown researcher under fire for questioning transgender narrative

Bioedge

Brown researcher under fire for questioning transgender narrative

by Michael Cook | 2 Sep 2018 | 10 comments

Last week BioEdge reported that PLOS One had published the first serious study of a new condition which Lisa Littman, a researcher at Brown University, called “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD). She suspected that teenagers who had suddenly announced that they were transgender were influenced by social media and friendship networks – raising the possibility that they were not genuine.

Almost immediately the journal and the university were attacked for supporting transphobia. PLOS ONE responded that it would do “further expert assessment on the study’s methodology and analyses”. The editor told Science that “This is not about suppressing academic freedom or scientific research. This is about the scientific content itself—whether there is anything that needs to be looked into or corrected.”

And Brown removed a press release about the article from its website and replaced it with a letter from the dean of public health, Bess Marcus, who declared that it was important to listen to “multiple perspective”. She cited concerns that the article “could be used to discredit efforts to support transgender youth and invalidate the perspectives of members of the transgender community.”

There was a backlash from academics who felt that academic freedom was under threat. Jeffrey S. Flier, a former dean of Harvard Medical School, penned a vigorous attack on the journal’s response:

In all my years in academia, I have never once seen a comparable reaction from a journal within days of publishing a paper that the journal already had subjected to peer review, accepted and published. One can only assume that the response was in large measure due to the intense lobbying the journal received, and the threat—whether stated or unstated—that more social-media backlash would rain down upon PLOS One if action were not taken.

He also criticised Marcus’s letter and its suggestion that the findings could harm the transgender community:

Virtually any research finding related to human health may be used for unrelated and inappropriate purposes by independent actors. Indeed, this happens frequently in medical science, as when nutrition research is used to promote diets far beyond the validity of the underlying data. When this occurs, responsibility lies with those committing these acts, not the paper or its author.

The controversy raises an interesting question: is it ethical to publish findings which might be used to critique assumptions underpinning the existence of sexual minority groups?

Why do I keep screwing things up? This is, IMHO, the first question of moral philosophy. I know what the decent, sensible and right option is, and yet I choose the nasty, mad and wrong option. Bad ideas, said Plato. Bad education, said Rousseau. Desire, said Buddha. Capitalism, said Marx. Nature red in tooth and claw, said Darwin. Myself, I’m partial to the notion of Original Sin, which, as G.K. Chesterton observed, is the only Christian doctrine which can be proved by reading the newspaper.

The second question is how do I stop screwing things up? Theoretically, this can be solved without answering the first question. A number of bioethicists believe that we could live the good life if we spiked the water supply with a kind of morality fluoride. This sounds a bit too much like living as a Delta in Brave New World for my taste, but their concern is preventing very bad hombres from destroying the world. Perhaps the loss of a wide range of human emotions would be worth it.

However, there are other considerations – should we force people to drink the water? Should we tell them that their water has been spiked? All interesting questions – read all about in this week’s newsletter below.